I’m just stopping by to update those of you in Alberta about a couple of upcoming services we’ll be involved in, Lord willing. If you would like to come and see us, please be in touch with the churches below to be sure you know what restrictions or limitations they have due to COVID-19 regulations.
11 October 2020 (11am): Glendon, AB – We will be at a joint service of two churches in town. Please contact Glendon Evangelical Church for more information (but we will not be meeting at their church, but at a different location).
18 October 2020 (10:30am): Innisfail, AB – We will be sharing at Innisfail Baptist Church. Please contact the church for more information.
I hope we can see many of you at these services! If I get more information, I’ll try to update this post.
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:
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.
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!
So without going into all the details, let me tell you a little bit about our trip. First, things were a bit rushed at the airport in Mexico, because we arrived a bit later than we planned. It wasn’t bad, but we were wondering if things would go faster or slower than in pre-2020 days. Well, things did go a little slower.
So we didn’t have time to eat at the airport, and no meal on the plane. They did give us a little packet with things like a face mask, water, anti-bacterial gel, and gloves (when were we supposed to use gloves??).
Steward in his protective gear.
Actually, if you’ve ever been in the hospital having surgery, you’ll have some idea what the ambience was like on the plane. Stewards and stewardesses roamed the isle as little as possible wearing face masks and long white robes, reminding you to do things for your own good. We were given another unusual form, based on new quarantine laws. (We had already filled out a form online, and one at the Mexico City airport, so I guess that makes three.)
So we arrived in Toronto, and of course the reminders of COVID-19 continued. Going through one line, we stood in front of a white background while an official with what seemed to be a camera asked us to remove hats/glasses and look up. It wasn’t until later that we realized that he wasn’t taking a picture at all, but taking our temperature. I’m not sure if smiling makes your temperature higher or lower…
There were some things open at the airports, though not as much as normal. For the most part, it didn’t look like the stores were temporarily closed, but permanently out of business. However there were still some of the usual places to buy a magazine or souvenir, or a bite to eat.
Anti-bacterial gel was everywhere, although it generally wasn’t “forced” on us (as it tends to be in Mexico).
Anyway, due to a bunch of problems (including our first flight arriving late), we missed our flight out of Toronto. So it wasn’t until late that night that we finally got something to eat, at the hotel, thanks to the fresh deli items that they had on hand. A hard boiled egg never tasted so good.
So, a very short sleep, before dawn, we were off to try again. We did finally arrive in Calgary, a day late.
And we have been very thankful for friends who changed their schedules to pick us up, and now to provide us with a place to stay for our quarantine!
But, yes it was a long couple of days, so we need a little recovery time. But we’re getting organized and doing a little work today, before getting more into regular work tomorrow.
