Mandarin and More (podcast)
So this past Sunday we shared in English and Mandarin. A little about that, and a little about what’s coming up, in this podcast…
Ministry glimpses
A quick hello
Hi everyone!
I’m just stopping by again to catch you up on the news. First of all – all of you in the Calgary area that we haven’t seen yet, don’t forget we will be in Calgary this Sunday! We’ll be at the South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church at 11am. It will be a special Thanksgiving service – I’ll be sharing about Mexico and preaching as well. Don’t worry, the service is in English (if you want to go to the Mandarin service, I’ll be sharing about Mexico through a translator – 9:30am).
By the way, I remember one time when we were at the SCCEFC and I lost my song… ah the memories!
For details on our other events in Alberta, check out our Tour 2011 page. There may be another event or two added in the next week or two.
The search for a van continues. I looked at one possibility, but it just wouldn’t fit into our price range no matter how hard I pushed and shoved and crammed. I’ve searched out some other possibilities in person and online, but nothing yet. Thanks so much to those who are praying!
We had a great time up in Glendon last weekend – thanks to everyone there for your encouragement and fellowship! I hope we can do it again! 🙂
So that’s the story for now. From here on in we’re going to be doing more travelling around – continuing, of course, with travel all the way to Mexico! But not yet…
Sunday in Provost (video)
Yesterday we were at New Hope Gospel Church, enjoying fellowship (and great food) with our friends there.
Normally I don’t take a lot of pictures or video when we’re leading something at a church, but this time I took just a few clips during our Children’s Ministry Seminar, which we gave in the afternoon.
First, here’s a picture from the road on the way to Provost:
And here’s a very brief (about 2 minutes) video. I didn’t take any video of the more interactive times, so you’re missing out on all the fun parts. Still, it will show you a little of what we’re up to. 😉
Thanks to all the enthusiastic people who took the seminar this time! If you’d like this or another seminar at your church, find out more about them here.
Tour in August – things I’m noticing
Hi everyone!
I’ve been wanting to give you all an update on our tour for a long time, but things have been pretty hectic, so it’s hard to find the time to write. But here I am! 🙂
Let me start by mentioning a few things I’ve noticed:
- People’s kindness. I am awed and humbled by people’s hospitality and kindness. You know, we visit people for the first time in years, we may be tired, we may have a lot of things on our mind – we may even be dealing with van trouble. 🙂 But people are so kind, so hospitable, there’s no way we can ever thank them enough. Travelling is hard, but the kindness of friends and family has been unbelievable. I’m humbled by their service to the Lord, and to us. They are teaching me a lot, and I pray that I can show just a hint of the unselfishness that they have shown to us. Our friends and family, and even people we’ve just met, have been an example to us. Thank you! I pray we can give something small back to you all.
- Canadian culture. It’s different than Mexican culture. And after five years in Mexico, sometimes we don’t know how to act here anymore. Of course, we were kind of strange to begin with… 😉
- Relationships. Surprise surprise, when you’re in another country it’s hard to maintain relationships with people here. And the longer you’re gone … well, you get the idea. But I hope people know how much we care about them, even though we’re absent. We’re glad we can catch up a little, and know better how to pray for our family and friends.
Canadians and winter. Sometimes it seems that there are only two types of weather in Canada when it’s not winter. 1) Winter is just past. 2) Winter is coming.
So we’ve enjoyed a couple of Sundays this month, and have a couple more to go. We’ve been able to share from God’s Word, and share about Mexico. I had fun in Prince Albert teaching a Sunday School class on the Gospels. This coming Sunday, in the afternoon, Shari will be presenting her Children’s Ministry Seminar, so we’re getting ready for that.
We’ve had fun catching up with people, and meeting new friends as well.
Yes, we had some more van trouble. Maybe I’ll talk about that in another post. It’s in the shop now.
Today (if the van gets fixed in time) we’ll be heading up to west central Saskatchewan and getting ready for the Sunday service in Provost, Alberta. Don’t miss our tour schedule, which continues to be updated. Notice we still have some time free if your church or small group or Sunday school class (etc) is interested in having us come. Here are some of the things we’ve offered to help with, but we’re open to other ideas.
But for now – I need to get these kids some breakfast. Bye for now! 🙂
What is all this travelling like?
Sometimes I don’t think a lot about travelling. I just get into the groove, plan, get it done, and move on.
But I have been reminded by some people along the way that we’re not exactly doing what "everyone else" is doing. (For example, one man figured I must be writing a book when he found out we were travelling from Mexico City to Canada!)
So for all of you who have been wondering, I thought I’d tell you what travelling is like. I’ve been thinking about it, rolling adjectives around in my head, and I’ve come up with an answer.
Travelling is gruelling.
Yep, that’s the word. It’s truly gruelling. I’m not saying that just because we’ve been travelling for a while and I’m getting tired. It was gruelling from the start, and it’s still gruelling.
Gruelling: extremely tiring and demanding
Origin: mid 19th century: from the verb gruel ‘exhaust, punish’, from an old phrase get one’s gruel ‘receive one’s punishment’
– Oxford Dictionary
Now, that being said, I have learnt that you can have pain and difficulty, and still enjoy yourself. After all, I have pain every day, but I’m still pretty happy.
And I can’t ignore the kindness of the many people we’ve visited. People have been so hospitable, and I’ve enjoyed getting together with them all. And I look forward to seeing many more people – I love it!
And no, it hasn’t escaped my attention that we’ve privileged to travel, and see things that many people will never see, and do things that many people will never do.
Maybe I should write a book. 😉
However, it’s still gruelling. And it would have been a whole lot easier to stay home in Mexico City.
So why in the world do we do it? Why are we here?
We’re here (at the moment in Saskatchewan) because we believe that the job of reaching the world for Christ is a team effort. We believe that the many people that pray for the Church in Mexico ought to hear from us about how things are going. We believe that the many people who give toward this ministry financially need to hear a report about what’s happening. We believe there are others who may want to come short term or long term to be involved, and they need to learn more. We believe that we need to be accountable to the Church here, and get in front of them so that they can ask hard questions face to face.
So here we are. Gruelling it may be, but we’re still glad we’re here. And we’re going to keep going, not because it’s what we would choose if we wanted to be comfortable, but because getting people together and building relationships is one of the means God uses to build His kingdom.
And we want to glorify God in His Church for all that He has done and will do.
And so … onward!
Tour 2011 -Phase 1-
We’re almost done with our days of travel in Mexico (for now). It’s been great!
We enjoyed time with some missionary families along the way. We’ve heard about the struggles people have had in various aspects of the ministry, challenges people face in different areas and in different situations. We have more specific things to pray for, and also rejoice about. And we’ve shared ideas and brainstormed together. One of the families we met are new friends, and hopefully we’ll be able to see them again!
We’ve also had some interesting moments – reaching the hotel just ten minutes too late, and unloading in the middle of heavy rains, for example. I think I’m still drying out.
In Guadalajara, I was so sick (migraine) by the end of the day, that I walked into the hotel room and fell into bed fully dressed, and didn’t know anything until the morning (and I was convinced it was still night time, in spite of my watch…). That hasn’t happened too many times.
But all in all, we’ve enjoyed seeing parts of Mexico we’ve never visited (Mexico is GORGEOUS), and visiting old friends and new friends – it’s been fun.
And now it’s time to get organized, get a little sleep, and head across the border for the USA phase of the trip – lots more coming up!
Thanks for your prayers – we’re thankful for the Lord’s blessing on the trip so far! 🙂