We made it to Ontario!
1:28pm, 24 July 2009
Yes, we made it to Ontario! After a whirlwind trip visiting family and getting other business done (everything from paperwork to shopping to x-rays), we’ve made it at last to Ontario – a place to stand, a place to grow (as an old song says, for the uninitiated). No doubt we’ll be growing, but we won’t be doing a lot of standing!
We’ve got another full day of travel ahead before reaching our first main destination – Cochrane (see our schedule here). I’m looking forward seeing everyone there again – it’s been a long time.
As we go I’m finishing some updates on my Maximizing Your Short Term Mission Trip seminar, which I think should be useful to people considering short term missions (and those who have been before). It looks like I’ll be presenting it at least three times (but if anyone else is interested while we’re in the area, let me know and I’ll see what I can do).
And although we finally have all our places to stay booked while we’re in Ontario, we’ve still got a lot of work to do to make sure we can see as many people as we can while we’re here.
Meanwhile, the trip is interesting too. We’ve learnt where the cleanest washrooms in Canada are (in Lloydminster, SK, according to the sign and the local reputation) (and if they’re the cleanest in Canada, the country where even the dirt is clean, they must rival any in the world!). Today east of Winnipeg we visited the washrooms that must be competing for the dirtiest, but for some reason they had no sign.
Oh, we’re also trying to teach Hannah and Nathanael more useful information about the country (then again, what can be more useful than "where’s the washroom?"), like geography and history and how to pronounce Kapuskasing and all stuff like that there. Even saw a bear and a moose today. And didn’t hit either.
Well, I’d better go – we still have some driving ahead of us today! And we’re looking forward to landing in Cochrane tomorrow and enjoying our time with people there. Tomorrow night our mad dash east is finished!
25 July 2009 @ 5:49 pm
Wow! It’s great to see that sign! And what an education for Hannah and Nathanael! I’m sure you’re ALL getting a fresh sense of how very B-I-G Canada really is.
26 July 2009 @ 8:26 pm
I remember the first time I tried to pronounce Kapuskasing…. Ka-PUSS-ka-sing I believe is how it came out 😛
This must be quite the adventure for Hannah and Nathanael!
27 July 2009 @ 9:20 am
Hey Jim, glad to hear that you guys are doing well as you travel. I was wondering if you were going to make your seminary material available to anyone. We would love to read it as we look forward to our church coming down to see us when we move to Guatemala; as well as have some information for someone in our church who has never led a mission trip/group. Thanks and Godspeed!
28 July 2009 @ 7:28 am
Yeah, Ontario itself is pretty big, and we just more or less drove across the widest part. 🙂
Regarding the seminar material, it’s in a seminar format. I’ve thought about putting it in a more “shareable” format… maybe I need to do that. A few people have expressed interest.
This seminar is more focused on helping the individual get ready for a trip, although I do have other materials more focused on training a team. But again, I would need to do some work on it.
Let me email you, I may have other ideas as well…