Prayer and Praise

31 August 2009

Ontario Days Ending

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At The Beaches in Toronto, Ontario
If all goes according to schedule, tomorrow will be our last full day in Canada! The time sure has flown by, as we knew it would. So I thought I’d stop and give you an update and let you know what will be happening the last few days.

Basically, we’ve been zipping around southern Ontario, visiting family and friends. On Sunday, we enjoyed a visit to Heise Hill Brethren in Christ Church, where we shared and sang in the morning service.

On Sunday evening I had a great time sharing the Maximizing Your Short Term Mission Trip seminar, also at Heise Hill. We had a great group, some of whom had never been involved in missions, others who had quite a bit of experience, some who had even received teams as long term missionaries, or who were involved in missionary training. There were also a few members of a team that will be serving in Cuba this fall.

So we had a great time (well, I did, and it seemed like most everyone was having a good time!) going through the material, and then we took some extra time brainstorming specific topics, like – how can we get others interested in mission trips, when they’re not the ones going? What kinds of things can we do or bring with us that will help us interact with people of other cultures? We came up with some great creative ideas.

Today we were at The Beaches (or The Beach, depending on who you talk to), Toronto, with our friends the Beaches. And yes, while we were there we visited the beach.

And now… continuing south…

And now we continue our trip south, heading south of Lake Ontario to Wainfleet tomorrow, then on Wednesday we’ll be crossing the border into the USA. We’re looking forward to visiting Shari’s sister Amy and her husband Nate (and maybe… maybe… their new baby… will it arrive in time??), who you may know from their famous blog Under The African Rain.

From there we plan to continue south on the weekend, arriving in Mexico City the following week. As I have more specific dates I’ll let you know – we would appreciate your prayers as we travel and especially as we cross borders.

Lots more to say, but no time – maybe we can have an "Ontario Week" when we get back to Mexico, and catch you up on some of the interesting news. 🙂

26 August 2009

Southern Ontario Update (Condensed Version)

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Between a very packed schedule and very little time with internet access, I’m afraid I haven’t had a lot of time to update you. I have a feeling we’ll have to be doing some trip reviews once we get back to Mexico … sometime … ! 😉

Anyway, I’m going to have to give you the very condensed version at the moment, because I’m in a rush to get out the door.

We’ve spent a lot of time visiting people here in southern Ontario, which has been great. We also had a week of holidays at Fair Havens, which was a great time as a family (highly recommended, by the way, if you’re in the area).

We enjoyed a very encouraging Sunday at Garside Bible Church, where I shared about Mexico and preached. Always wish we could come more often and stay longer. 🙂

At the moment we’re zipping around Lake Ontario – north of it, south of it, and over to the west in Kitchener/Waterloo. That’s more or less what we’ll be doing until we leave Ontario on September 2nd.

If you still want to catch us on a Sunday, we’ll be at Heise Hill Brethren in Christ Church this coming Sunday (the 30th). We’ll be sharing about Mexico and singing, and I’ll be doing the Maximizing Your Short Term Mission Trip seminar in the evening (6-8pm). Feel free to call the church for details. It will be great to be back at Heise Hill.

Gotta run for now! See you soon. 🙂

11 August 2009

Quick Ontario Update

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Hi everyone! I haven’t had a lot of computer time lately, and that situation is probably going to continue at least for a couple of weeks. But I wanted to at least stop by and give you a quick update to let you know what’s going on.

Hannah and Nathanael picked blueberries in Sudbury. Yum.

I think I talked to you last from the train from Moosonee to Cochrane. Well, we had a good but brief visit with some friends in Cochrane, then we headed south to Sudbury and Peterborough.

We enjoyed reconnecting with friends in both places, and had lots of fun times too – I’ll try to get some pictures and video up later. On Sunday we shared at Lansing Avenue Baptist Chapel in Sudbury. We’re thankful for these churches and individuals who have such a big part in the ministry in Mexico.

So now we’re in Mount Forest, and will be all over southern Ontario over the next little while. Starting on Saturday, though, we’re looking forward to a much needed week of holidays before diving back into ministry again.

So, that’s the short story! Everyone’s health is better – you may remember that the kids had a little 24 hour flu or something back in Moosonee, and they’ve had a bit of an ongoing cough, but they’re a lot better overall. I still have a nasty cough, but I think I turned the corner toward better health on Sunday.

So God has been good, and it’s been great telling people a little about what He’s doing in Mexico!

Now I’ve got some errands to do so I’d better run. Talk to you later!

3 August 2009

Moosonee … and turning South!

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This evening we took the second turn of our trip – the turn south! We’ve gone as far north as we’re going to be in Ontario, now we’re going to be moving south (generally speaking) until eventually we arrive back home in Ixtapaluca. 🙂

A street in Moosonee, Ontario

We really enjoyed our time in Moosonee. We didn’t get to spend as much time with people as we would have liked – some were away, which is the way things are in the summer. But we really enjoyed visiting with a lot of old friends and new friends.

Another reason we didn’t spend as much time with people as we would have liked was because three of us spent some time sick. Hannah and Nathanael had fevers – thankfully only a 24 hour thing, but it hit them hard at the time.

And me, I’ve been sick too. "Just" a nasty cold in my case, and some pain issues, so I was thankful to have some time to rest.

Sign at Tidewater Provincial Park

But it wasn’t all rest! For example, we got to eat with various people and hang out with them. The Carter family generously let us crash their campsite on Saturday at Tidewater Provincial Park (locally called Charles Island). The Clarks generously paid for a little excursion to take the boat to Moose Factory, where we saw some of the sites and enjoyed some fresh bannock.

Sunday was when the kids were sick, so Shari sadly missed the activities. But I got to share in Sunday school in the morning and talk about Mexico and preach in the evening (and my voice held out!) (barely!).

As I write we’re on the train, the Polar Bear Express, heading back south to Cochrane. Tomorrow we’ll Lord willing get to spend a little more time with some friends there, before heading to Sudbury tomorrow. We’ll be travelling around between Sudbury and Peterborough and places in between this week, ending up in Sudbury on the weekend to spend some time with friends there. Should be a fun week!

24 July 2009

We made it to Ontario!

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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!

16 July 2009

A little extra prayer for Nathanael…

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A few things have conspired to give Nathanael a difficult week. Late last week he got a slight cold, which shouldn’t be a problem in itself. But it seems these slight things sometimes have a major impact on his overall health, whether because of his medication or something else related.

Nathanael and other children at the kids club

Nathanael (right) in construction gear at the "Construction Zone" kids club

So he ended up being very worn down. He enjoyed going to a kids’ club for a few days, but with the time change it meant we ran him hard all morning, and then tried to sit him down to eat when he normally would be having a nap.

All these things conspiring against us, he’s been having a rough time and so have we. So do pray that we will be wise with his schedule, knowing when and how to give him the rest he needs; wise with activities and discipline and meal times and all those things; and that he will be feeling better soon.

If the tiredness drags on, we may need to check on his medication and make sure everything is in balance. That could be tricky while we’re on the road, but I’m sure we can find a way.

Other than that, we are all well (even Nathanael did have a good time for the most part at the kids’ club – he was the freshest first thing in the morning) and as I write we’re on the highway somewhere in Saskatchewan driving east. We’ve been enjoying time with the abuelos (grandparents) here in Saskatchewan before finishing our drive to Ontario next week.

I hope to post more details about our time in Ontario soon so that those of you in the area will have an idea where we’ll be when. Look for that over the next few days (Lord willing)! 🙂

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