Christa's First Weekend

This weekend, as the Smiths prepared to leave to tour the West, Christa visited the Jones family, home to many daughters. She went to see "A Prairie Home Companion" on Friday with Lydia, 14, the youngest of the 6, and an International Baccalaureate student in Montreal, as Christa is in Sandy Springs. On Saturday she returned to spend the day with the Smiths and to view the movie "Cars" for Andrew's birthday. Then she spent the evening with the Joneses, seeing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and watching a chick flick before bedtime. The families converged at Renaissance church which meets in a cineplex. Then Christa went to the Joneses to rest for the afternoon, on to Impact--a college worship service, and to experience one of Montreal's many summer street festivals, where they encountered the music of Mali (where 2 of the Jones' girls did missions) and ate Lebanese food. Christa learned about some of the Canadian universities--Concordia where Nadia attends, as does Amy [who is a former summer missionary who returned to Montreal to marry a French Canadian]; McGill, Amanda's alumnus, which is said to be the Harvard of Canada; and the universities of the French-cultural-immersion experience within Quebec's capital, Quebec City. Today Christa was immersed in daycamp prep with Alex, her hostess for the next couple of days, then to dinner with Sue's good friend, Julie, a local doctor. On Wednesday night, she returns to the Jones' girls until her 11:00 bus to Maniwaki through Ottawa on Saturday. Since she will travel alone, we ask your prayers for her safety and peace on the trek to her French-speaking host family, the Alraies, and their 3 children, 8, 5, 9 months.