Starting a year in Toronto

Hello Readers, 

My name is Lukas, and I am a volunteer from Germany. I’m currently supporting Toronto City Mission’s (TCM) Outreach Workers at three communities in Toronto: Don Valley Village, Jesse Ketchum, and Orton Park. 

My journey with TCM started around one year ago. At the time, I didn’t know anything about TCM. I was looking for something to do after I graduated from high school.  A friend of mine told me about Liebenzell Mission in Germany, which later on connected me with TCM, bringing me to Toronto. 

TCM was a perfect fit for me since I’ve always loved working with kids. It felt like TCM is the place God wants me to be. I believe that God is calling me to work with the kids and to help them start their own personal journey with Jesus.

The last few months have been extremely interesting for me as I could see God working in my life, as well as the kids' lives. I got to see how the kids interact with us and how they treat their leaders and each other. It has changed my way of thinking about kids and families affected by poverty. I noticed that for most of the kids, it is hard to build a trusting relationship and open up to new leaders. Although they struggle with trust, we are blessed to see gradual improvements in the past few months. Some of them started telling us about their stories from school, or hugged us when they came in. It makes us extremely joyful to see the growth in the children.

My goal for the coming months is to build even deeper relationships with the kids and lead by example in my Christian faith, hoping to help them grow closer to Jesus.

Thank you all for reading.

Lukas