PHOTOS/VIDEO: Closing Rally for The 40 Days for Life Closing Rally -- Assemblée de Clôture de 40 Jours pour la Vie

Report from Wanda....

We are now winding down with our last week of the 2015 Fall campaign. Don’t let that stop you from coming down to pray at the vigil site. We need to keep up the momentum. No church or group is signed up for Wednesday, so come then if you possibly can.

Join us on Sunday, November 1st at the Closing Rally, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Please remember that the time changes this weekend and we need to set our clocks back one hour.

 We are gathering at the Vigil Site on Bank Street, Sunday evening at 7:00 pm. There we will have some closing remarks and music from NET Ministries. At about 7:30 we will take our candles and have a procession to St. Patrick’s Basilica, where there will be a reception in the basement Scavi.

There were no major incidents at the vigil this past week. One thing I will comment on is the support of pro-lifers who see us faithfully praying. I arrived one day to find coffee that was dropped off for the vigilers and one was left, so it must have been meant for me. Another time I was praying with another lady and I noticed a gentleman across the street slowly walking and reading our signs. He then crossed the street and said, “You ladies deserve a nice warm coffee for what you are doing” and he passed us the money to buy some.

If you get the daily emails from the main organizers of the 40 Days for Life campaign, you will have noticed that last Saturday, October 24, they did a story on Ottawa and our counter protestors.

I, personally, have had so many mishaps these last few weeks – that I know they were meant to prevent me from taking part in the 40 Days for Life campaign. This reaffirms to me that something is stirring in the spiritual world. God is working! We don’t see it, but something great is happening.


So be faithful and keep up the prayers and hours at the vigil site.

Report on the Mid-Point Rally

Last Sunday, over 50 people gathered to acknowledge that we have passed the mid-point of our 40 Days for Life campaign. We were blessed to have Rev. John Counsell speak and encourage us onward. He spoke about the historical biblical times of Daniel, and how God's people, who were living among a culture which did not honour God, resembles our own, and how God used his faithful followers to work within an alien culture to bringing about positive changes.

Mike Travo, from NET Ministries, led the crowd in a modern version of Amazing Grace. His second song, 10,000 Reasons, appropriately blended in with news from the key organizers of the 40 Days for Life campaign, that over 10,000 babies have been saved from abortion since the beginnings in 2007.

Doris Gagnon gave us an update of her experiences at the site as a sidewalk counselor and she related stories of three different expectant moms. Everyone was moved by Linda Rangango's testimony as she spoke of abortions during her teens. And Deacon Chuck wrapped it up, urging us on to continue to the end.

A collection was taken up to purchase some new French signs and we collected enough money to buy 10 new signs. They are being produced locally and they should be ready soon.

Our closing rally will take place at the vigil site on Sunday November 1st. at 7:00 pm.

Please remember that we still need your prayers and your presence at the Bank Street vigil until the conclusion of the campaign. There are gaps: on Saturday October 24, no one is scheduled for the afternoon and there is no group vigil scheduled on Wednesday October 28.

See you there, Wanda

Doris Gagnon

Linda Rangongo

Mike Travo

John Counsell speaking to the Crowd

Report from Wanda

We are making an impression!

Last Wednesday we had a group of counter protesters picket our vigil. Then on Saturday morning a by-law enforcement officer stopper his car in front of the vigil site and, without any warning, proceeded to take the total number of our remaining French signs, which were hanging on the fence around the tree, and throw them in his vehicle. It seems we are breaking a city by-law by tethering signs to city property. When the people who were praying at the vigil, came to find out what was going on, the by-law officer said we were breaking a city by-law and the signs were being impounded. In order to retrieve them, we will have to pay a fee of $50 for each sign.

This came as a total surprise! The 40 Days for Life vigil has been held on this spot since 2008, and never before have we been told that we cannot hang our signs on the tree guard.  It’s too pricey for us to get the signs back, at $50 each, so we are now in the process of ordering new French signs. In the meantime we have no French signs, only English ones. All the English signs are being kept in the bin and we are asking everyone to put their sign back in the bin before leaving. We don’t want to lose any more.

Thank you for helping to fill up the unassigned vigil days last week. This week we need people to come out and pray, every day of course, but especially on Wednesday and Friday.

Remember to join us at the mid-point rally on Sunday October 18 at 7 pm at the vigil site, across from 65 Bank Street. Rev. John Counsell, CFRA radio host and pastor of the Biker’s church, will be our speaker.

Keep up the good work. When we see the other side working to suppress our prayer vigil, we know that we are doing greater things than we realize.

Wanda

(Désolée, je suis grippée dans le moment donc, pas de traduction mot-à-mot. Mais en somme: Mercredi passé, nous avons eu une contre-manif et samedi, un agent de la ville est venu prendre les pancartes en français qui étaient accrochées sur la cage d'arbre. Il a dit que c'était contre la loi de les accrocher là et que ça couterait $50 chaque pour les retirer. Alors, comme c'est trop dispendieux de les repêcher, on va commander des nouvelles.

Le ralliement pour le mi-temps aura lieu le 18 octobre à 19h00 devant 65 rue Bank (l'autre bord de la rue.) Le pasteur John Counsell de CFRA y sera.)

Counter-Protest at 40 Days - Contre-Manif à 40 Jour pour la Vie

Yesterday a small group of young ladies who work in the downtown area decided to protest the Bank Street prayer vigil. They showed up on their lunch break with homemade signs to vocalize their objection to our presence. The vigilers called the Campaign Life Ottawa office and Paul quickly responded by coming down to the site to see what was happening and to reassure those taking part in the prayer vigil.

The brazenness of the young ladies was contradicted by the fact that they hid their faces and turned their backs as they were being photographed. Later, one of them asked me about the 40 Days for Life campaign – said she had never heard of it before and she questioned our right to be there. I told her we are here for 40 days and we have a permit from the city.

Although we come daily to pray and witness silently, and it seems that most people don’t even acknowledge that we are there, when we raise the ire of those who see us and they put together a counter protest, we know that we are having an impact.

Wanda Hartlin Co-ordinator 40 Days for Life Ottawa

Voici la traduction du compte rendu de Wanda:

Hier, un petit group de jeunes dames qui travaillent au centre-ville ont décidé de contre-manifester la vigile sur la rue Bank. Elles se sont présentées pendant leur heure du dîner avec des pancartes faites à la main pour communiquer leur objection à notre présence. Les veilleurs ont appelé Campaign-Life Ottawa et Paul est venu au site pour voir ce qui se passait et pour rassurer ceux qui prenaient part au vigile.

Les jeunes dames se sont montrées le dos et ont caché leur face pendant qu'elles se faisaient photographier, en contraste avec leur audace. Plus tard, une d'entre elles m'a interrogée sur la campagne 40 Jours pour la vie. Elle a dit qu'elle n'y avait jamais entendu parler et elle contestait notre droit d'être là. Je lui ai répondu que nous sommes là pour 40 jours et que nous avons un permis de la ville.

Bien que nous venons quotidiennement pour témoigner et prier silencieusement, il semble que la plupart des gens ne reconnaissent pas que nous sommes là. Lorsque nous choquons ceux qui nous reconnaissent et ils s'organisent une contra-manifestation, nous savons que nous avons eu un impact.