Rosemere Neighborhood

My friend Paula and I went to the Rosemere neighborhood as it is considered one of the poorer areas of Vancouver.  It always seems there are more people open to talking in the poorer areas. The first door we knocked on,  we were greeted by Ida & her grown daughter, Burle.  Although they claimed to be believers, they didn't have a church home.  Ida most recently had been visiting a Kingdom Hall, which is a Jehovah's Witness church.   Although she agreed that they were cultish in that they believed they were the only true church; Ida liked to go to there bible studies. I tried to hammer home the idea that it didn't make sense to be under the teaching of a cult no matter how much you liked their teaching.

Paula mentioned Shiloh Church, where she attended, & the lady sounded interested in trying it. We spent a good 30 minutes or more at that first house. Almost everyone we talked with seemed friendly and open which is unusual.  One home we went to, a Samoan lady said both her father and grandfather were pastors, and she said she always prayed outside on the front porch for all her neighbors.

This helped me understand why it was so pleasant a neighborhood.  I think all those prayers had an effect! Another young man was Catholic; said he almost lost faith when his sister, who he prayed fervantly for when she came down with cancer, died.  But he said after awhile he resigned himself to the fact of God's will.  He said the experiance did make him more empathetic to others that have problems.

Finally we talked with John, a man who looked about 35, who was recovering from a trucking accident. He said he almost died last December, but felt like God pulled him through. He didn't go to church, although he said his mother does. He was sad that he has to depend on his folks who are elderly, since he is not fully recouped from the accident.  I went over a bible tract with him  & he seemed to agree with it; although God only knows his heart.

The experiance that resonates the most with me is the thought that the Samoan lady's prayers had an effect in tempering the nature of the neighborhood.  It encourages me to pray more for my neighbors.