Both good memories and frustrating memories accompany this picture of the family.
We were at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary (good memories), and we asked the pastor to take a few pictures for us, so that we could use them for a prayer card (still, so far so good).
He was kind enough to take a whole lot of pictures (I think it was with my phone), and we finally got some that were half decent (thanks, Barry!).
Later we discovered – yes, somehow we had the phone set to low resolution photos. And knowing how hard it was in those days to get a good family picture (not to mention any names), we weren’t about to go through the ordeal again.
We still used one of the photos for a little while, but let’s just say it wasn’t our greatest prayer card of all time.
I don’t think this is the actual picture we used, just one of many … so here it is, published for the first time ever, from 10 years ago today!
I hope you like the picture. If you want me to send you a hi-res version, tough luck!! 😀
Ten years ago today! A group from First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary was serving with us in Ixtapaluca. Good times! And here they are at the community centre in the community of Jesús María, teaching English – head and shoulders, knees and toes, as I recall – well, here in the picture it’s eyes.
For more about what the time was doing (and a toes picture!), just go to English/Canada Class.
Hi everyone! I’m just stopping by to let you know a couple of things that we’ll be doing, Lord willing, in the month of September.
I am planning to preach at First Evangelical Free Church [facebook] in Calgary on the 6th of September. The church is meeting in person, and streaming online as well. You’ll want to contact the church office for details if you would like to attend. Actually, I should contact the church office for details too! 🙂
We should be in the Calgary area for the next week and a half.
And on the 13th of September, I’ll be preaching at Grace Community Church [facebook] in Maidstone, SK. Once again, it would be wise to contact the church if you’re interested in attending. (We can help you with that if you don’t have the information.)
We’ve had a busy week here, even from quarantine. This morning we enjoyed our regular Old Testament Survey class. Only two more classes to go, and we’ll have a bunch of new graduates! 🙂
As I said before, I’ll try to keep you informed as much as I can.
I haven’t talked too much here about our upcoming visit to Canada, so I’m just swinging by to give an update.
We had actually planned to go to Canada earlier this year, but our plans were changed due to the situation with COVID-19. We’re going to serve in ministry where we can, help out family where we can, complete some minor paperwork, and take care of some other things that must be done in Canada.
We’ll be mostly in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Partly due to the reality of travel in 2020, we’re finding everything to be far more complicated, and by necessity far more last minute. So I don’t have a detailed schedule to share with you. But I will say that we will, Lord willing, be enjoying our mandatory quarantine during the last half of August. And at the moment I’m scheduled to preach at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary on the 6th of September.
We just recently confirmed a place to stay for the first few weeks, although we may be looking more for a place a little later on. Yeah, it’s complicated. But we are so thankful for the people who have helped us with the details so far!
And no, we don’t know for how long we’ll be in Canada.
But it’s all good, because as you all know, we never plan much ahead anyway. Ok, that may not exactly be true.
So we do appreciate your prayers as we continue our last minute planning, and for endurance as we travel! It will be a long trip for us, because we’re flying to Toronto and then to Calgary (I know, all you world travellers are laughing at us for calling that a “long trip”).
Meanwhile, there’s lots going on here during our last little while in Mexico – Bible study, OT survey class, preaching, and lots of other details!
You see that? That’s snow. In summer. People in Alberta aren’t impressed. The stores don’t have any winter stuff even for sale.
Hannah is trying to find a winter jacket – but it’s not so easy. There are only a few around, and they’re the pricey ones. 💲💲💲 Must be a run on the stores to find something warm!
Just for the record, last Friday it was 28℃. WHAT is up.
2000 Years of MissionsOk, enough ranting. We’ve had a busy week here. Lots of fun at the 2000 Years of Missions seminar on Tuesday. More appointments and errands this week. And tonight we’re celebrating Mexican Independence at Viva Mexico, which is actually a dinner to welcome the ABC Daycare burn survivors from Mexico. Who, by the way, are searching for donations of warm jackets. Sizes 4-16. Seriously, what is UP with this weather. Oops – how did I get back there? Actually, on the bright side, it is an unexpected delight for some of our guests from Mexico to experience snow for the first time (warm jackets needed).
Anyway, I wanted to give a look ahead, that was the original purpose of this post, right?
In the short term, we would appreciate your prayers as we go to Innisfail tomorrow to share at Innisfail Baptist Church. The service is at 10:30am, if you’re in the area.
We’re a little disappointed that we haven’t been able to see more people here, but everyone is pretty busy. But you’re welcome to join us tomorrow!
We will hit the ground running when we get back to Mexico. There’s a conference for missionaries in the country, just a few days after we get back. So we’ll be loading up the suitcases again.
There’s a church in California that is interested in partnering with the ministry in Ixtapaluca, and they’ve invited the church leaders to come join them for the Expositores 2018 conference (Expositors Conference, in Spanish). So Lord willing I’ll be up in the US for a weekend for some teaching and fellowship. It will be a good time to get to know the church, but also a good time to catch up with what’s been going on in Ixtapaluca while we’ve been gone.
A few weeks ago we found out that our coworkers will be in the US until the end of December, so we’ll be under an extra load when we get back. So we would certainly appreciate your prayers as we hear from everyone about how things are going and what new and old needs there are, and as we seek to shine the Lord’s light in Mexico again.
Tomorrow is Independence Day! So enjoy some Mexican food, and – if you want to be involved – pray for the people of Mexico – especially those we will be serving when we return.
I’m just about ready to pack the car with our gear for part 2 of 2000 Years of Missions, the seminar that we’re presenting tonight at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary. If we haven’t been able to see you yet, and you’re in the area, I hope you’ll come! 7:00pm tonight. 😊
We would appreciate your prayers for the seminar tonight, as I have been somewhat sick the last couple of days, so I need energy.
We had a very active weekend – kind of ridiculous, actually – but we had some great visits with people, and got some details worked out for Nathanael’s school, and a good time of ministry in Cremona.
Actually, I had the neat opportunity to pray for the Reddekopp family as they prepare for future ministry in Mexico – praise the Lord!
Praying for the Reddekopps in CremonaAnd – Hannah was able to join us for the weekend! Yay! Now she’s back with her class – on a bike trip in Drumheller. 🚴â€â™€ï¸
Next weekend we’ll be together again, actually. We’ll be serving at Innisfail Baptist Church. Be sure to come and hear about what God is doing in Mexico! The service starts at 10:30am.
We do appreciate your prayer for our ministry over the next few days. Also, please continue to pray for our coworker who has been healing from cancer treatment, but is still greatly struggling with health issues. She ended up in the hospital again today – she’s doing all right, but please pray that she would be encouraged (her family too!), and that God would continue to bring her healing.
You see that? That’s snow. In summer. People in Alberta aren’t impressed. The stores don’t have any winter stuff even for sale.
