Ten years ago today, in the community of Jesús María, we were having a big Independence Day celebration! There were all kinds of activities and carnival-type games. Even a contest to see who could eat the most hot peppers (“Who is most ‘Mexican'”?).
Here’s one of the pictures from the day – two lovely Mexican ladies… Cathy Fry and Hannah Cottrill!
(Actually, you can see a video of the activities right here – Independence Day Fiesta 2012!)
It wasn’t a surprise when the flight was cancelled. We had already heard lots of horror stories about travel in Canada – and around the world.
So we were flying from Mexico City to Vancouver, and then Vancouver to Calgary. The cancelled flight was the second one. But the new flight that we were assigned to was only 1 hour later. And once we arrived in Vancouver, we realized that we actually needed that extra time to catch our next flight. God is good.
In fact, a verse was going through my mind during our time in Canada – the words of Joseph to his brothers: “…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20). There is so much going on that is intended for evil – but we saw God use these things for our good. We don’t always see how God is working, but this summer He allowed us a few glimpses.
That being said, we certainly saw for ourselves how difficult travel is becoming. But God allowed us to make the trip!
We went to Alberta first to spend some time with family, and to take care of a few practical matters. And, of course, to actually plan our trip, which happened very last minute!
We enjoyed a week off, all four of us, which was a real blessing!
And then we had a time of ministry in Ontario, travelling as far south as Dunnville and as far north as Moosonee.
We’ve never had a tour quite like it, for several reasons. For example, we were able to see firsthand how much Canada has changed in two years. Drastic changes. And we were able to talk to all kinds of people – from many walks of life, many contexts, two provinces, believers and unbelievers, old and young, people from all over the world (we used a lot of Spanish!). And we were able to hear their stories.
What kind of stories? Well, first of all, Christians especially can see how quickly the culture around them is falling, and they see what’s coming. They may not agree on all the details, but they can see what’s happening to some degree. They are also personally experiencing the results of their community’s active rejection of Christ. Families are being attacked and destroyed. Churches are being torn apart. Jobs are being lost. Resources disappearing.
But once again, we saw God’s Hand. Although we heard a lot of sorrow and concern, we also heard people sharing the gospel. People finding new ways to reach out and help others. People getting on their knees and calling out to the Lord. People being faithful. What an encouragement!
I just went through some notes and pictures from our trip, and I’m amazed again at the number of activities and visits that we packed in, the experiences we had, and the variety of people we saw and/or talked to. And, of course, an important part of our trip was reporting on our ministry to our supporters, and serving them where we could. And we will certainly continue praying about some specific needs we heard about.
We’ve only been home for just over a week, although it seems longer! I think I’m still “debriefing” in my mind, and we’re still dealing not only with things that relate to our trip, but also things that we intended to do over the summer (originally thinking that we would be here in Mexico), and with our re-integration into ministry here. We’ve essentially been disconnected since we left for the conference in Panama on the 7th of June. There’s lots to talk about, but I’ll stop there for now!
Ten years ago today, Hannah was involved in a presentation at her school. I’m sorry I didn’t get better pictures than I did, but here she is as part of an exercise demonstration. Just click the image for a larger version of the picture.
My father was an expert on the history of hymns, having spent countless hours over many years researching and collecting resources. He published one book of hymn stories, and had manuscripts for two more.
I’ve been working through his articles and other materials, publishing them in blog format online. And at the beginning of this month (June) I started on the Hymn Almanac.
For every day of the year, he has facts and stories about hymns, often including a video or audio version of the hymn.
For example, yesterday featured the story of a hymn that was written when Elvina Hall’s mind began to wander during a sermon (shocking, I know). And have you ever wondered what in the world the “Balm of Gilead” is all about?
So for the next year, Lord willing, I’ll be publishing mostly posts from this almanac, every single day of the year (2022-2023). If you know someone who is interested in hymns, would you do me a favour? Would you send them the link – http://wordwisebiblestudies.com ?
I think you’ll find the information fascinating, and sometimes it will be information you won’t see anywhere else (for example, my father met more than one hymnwriter. And guess why he called up a circus museum one day to find out about one hymn writer, who had been a clown?).
Check it out, and share! 🙂
In 2012 we had a very quick visit to Canada – and here’s why.
During our visit, we were able to visit some grandparents! One stop was in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan… 10 years ago this very day.
Well, “Manic May” is upon us once again – traditionally our busiest month of the year. And this year is not disappointing.
You don’t want a long litany of what’s happening, but I’ll give you a quick overview of some things.
Our institute classes are up and running for another semester. This time around it’s church history! So I’ve been making visuals for each week. I’m almost up to the year 600, so that’s certainly progress. Here’s a little segment from the timeline:
I also have a couple of sermons coming up which I’m preparing for. One of them is a continuation of our journey through Exodus, which I’m enjoying very much.
We’re hoping to get the church leaders together for a mini afternoon/evening retreat soon, so I’m getting ready for that.
On a family note, Hannah just celebrated a birthday (Happy Birthday!) and we were able to spend a little time with her and some others in the family virtually. And Nathanael has a birthday coming up – so we’re getting ready for that. I think a cake is being created, among other things!
There are some official/paperwork things that will need to be dealt with over the summer, so that’s happening. And we’re getting some other plans together for the summer, which I’ll be announcing in our next newsletter. Which I’m also working on!
It’s nice to take the time to check out the flowers, many of which are popping up as a little bit of rain starts here and there. It’s really still dry season, but the clouds give it a try once in a while.
Nathanael is frantically trying to finish up his grade 11 year. He had another exam today, with more to come. Less than four weeks until he’s done – we hope!
We recently celebrated Mother’s Day at our church, so here are some of our mothers…. click for a larger image:
So anyway, lots happening! At the moment we’re just hanging on for dear life, but I wanted to at least stop by and give you a quick update.