It was great to see many of you in central/northern Alberta over the weekend! I wish we could have visited longer with everyone.
From a spontaneous visit as a family to Johnson Lake…
We are looking forward to being in central Alberta for the next couple of weeks, so I just thought I’d stop by again to update our schedule for you, in case you can come and see us.
18 October 2020 (10:30am): Innisfail, AB – We will be sharing at Innisfail Baptist Church. Please contact the church for more information.
25 October 2020 (10:30am): Provost, AB – We will be sharing at New Hope Gospel Church. Again, please contact the church for more information.
I hope all of you in Canada enjoyed a very thankful Thanksgiving! We were able to be with some of Shari’s family. We’re also thankful to hear that most of the crops are in here in Alberta, thanks to God sending some great weather late summer/early fall.
I hope we can see some of you soon! I’ll try to post again when I have more information.
I’m finally taking a breath and sitting down to give you a bit of an update. But it will take more than one post to get through it all! So let’s go in order. 🙂
So after we talked to you last, we spent some time in Saskatchewan, in the Lashburn/Maidstone/Lloydminster area, with my Mom and other friends there. We enjoyed some time with the folks at Grace Community Church in Maidstone, and as planned I spoke there on the 13th of September.
Also in September I spoke at our church in Mexico! By recorded video, this time. 🙂 Actually, this was much more of an “adventure” than we intended. We have had tremendous technical difficulties with one laptop, and since then we’ve gone through hours of tech support, and the problem still isn’t solved. So that has certainly thrown a wrench into the works.
Preaching on the last part of Romans 5 from Saskatchewan to Mexico!
However, thank the Lord, the sermon somehow got edited and uploaded, though not quite with the excellence I would have liked. 🙂
Now, big news. For quite a few months (actually, even longer), my Mom has been batting around the idea of moving to Three Hills. Why Three Hills, you ask? Well, because of the lovely view of the three imposing hills, casting their massive shadows over the landscape of the vast Canadian prairies, of course! Well, a lot of reasons.
First, she has family here now (Hannah, her granddaughter), as well as “in-law” family – Shari’s parents. Also, there’s a place for seniors here (the Golden Hills Lodge), which has the bonus of providing meals (my Mom’s a good cook, but she’s been busy with a lot of things, so this is one big time-saver).
We came to Canada knowing this was a possibility, but she didn’t finally decide until we were in SK last month. Now, how this went down was interesting. Hannah was graduating on the 26th (more on that later). I believe my Mom decided to move on the 16th. And she also decided that she would like to move before Hannah’s grad, so that she could be there for the celebration. Which, when we worked in all the logistics, meant that we basically had 7 days to move, start to finish.
I’m not sure I would have been that ambitious, but since that’s what my Mom wanted to do, we decided to give it a try (and when we had time to think, we realized that there were a number of reasons why this may be a good idea, but we won’t get into all that).
So – the short story — we did it! By God’s grace and through a lot of insanity!
All packed up and ready to leave Lashburn, SK! (or, “Three Hills or Bust”)
So, my Mom has moved to Three Hills! Her address, phone number and email will all be changing, but there are forwarding services in place now. So get a hold of her while you can, and you can get updated on all the new info. 🙂
There’s still a lot to do while she gets settled, but we’re trying to lend a hand where we can. Otherwise, she’s doing well and enjoying catching up with friends and family, and making a lot of new friends.
So I’ll try to update you on our next speaking engagements, and also other adventures (including Hannah’s grad!) when I have the change to take another breath.
Thanks again to everyone who has been praying for us during our time in Canada! Here’s a brief update…
We’ve been able to enjoy a little time with family, so that’s cool.
On Sunday, we enjoyed the service at First Evangelical Free Church. It was great to see many of you there! We’re always thankful to get together with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
We were also encouraged to hear that the service went well at our church in Mexico. Lord willing we’ll catch up by watching the video sometime! 🙂
Also, I know that many of you have been praying for Hannah as she’s been looking for a job and a place to live. Well, the Lord has been bringing things together in many ways! Lord willing, this week she will start work, and also move into a new basement suite which she will eventually share with a room mate. More on that later, no doubt!
And, for a further clue that we really are in Canada, here’s a picture I took today:
Every Tuesday night, for 15 weeks, they crammed into the small room that we used to meet as a church. On the 24th of August, 2010, we finally finished the Chronological Bible Study – the first time I taught it. We took this picture to celebrate – what a lot of memories in these faces!
The theme of the final study is “The Triumph of the Lamb”.
Final Chronological Bible Study in Jesús María – 2010 (Click the photo for a higher resolution version.)
We were very thankful to be able to join our church in Mexico once again on Sunday, even though we’re in Canada. Although the church continues to meet in person, our friends were able to set up a remote link for those who couldn’t attend.
So we very much enjoyed the service, and were even able to say “Hi” to everyone from here.
And as a special bonus, after the service one couple in the church had a mini “gender reveal” party! Everybody had to guess boy or girl, and the winners got a prize. And, of course, the losers got a prize too! We gave away our prize, but the biggest prize is this blessing of a new baby. 🙂
About to pop the balloon to reveal – pink or blue?
We’re mostly recovered from our trip here, I think. So we’ve been working hard on a variety of things. This morning I’ve been preparing to teach my hermeneutics class this week – another Canada-Mexico link up.
We continue to be thankful for friends who have provided us a place to stay, and for all of God’s blessings. May you experience God’s blessing today too!
Last Sunday we celebrated baptisms together, this Sunday it was communion!
Setting up a tent – just one of the coverings we used
This past Sunday we met outdoors, a place we’ve met before, at a property owned by a friend in our church. We will probably meet here for a few weeks, because they place we used to meet in is not currently available. But we’re used to moving around!
It will probably take a while, though, before everything goes smoothly. But there were lots of people on hand before the service to help set up tarps and tents and hook up sound equipment and set up chairs.
This was our special monthly adoration service, and we’ve been learning about the fruit of the Spirit. This week, goodness! And God has been good.
On Friday we also completed our virtual kids’ club! We had only a handful of kids, but mostly not church kids, which was neat. And with the online format, a small group probably works better anyway. In spite of some technical challenges, the kids and their families were exposed to God’s Word and clear presentations of the gospel throughout the week. The teachers found creative ways to present the truth in an interactive way. Thanks to all of you who were praying!
Playing a game to review a Bible verse at the kids’ club
So this week we continue with our hermeneutics class, and we also finish our 15 week Discovering Life bible study.
And we also appreciate your prayers as we continue to work on the challenge of a visit to Canada. A lot of work, short time, full of change and uncertainty. But God is in control of it all!
