Finding direction

8 November 2023

Travelling is…

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 0

Travelling is good – a blessing – and also difficult.

We’ve been travelling for 5 months, which is a long time to live out of a suitcase, be out of your routine, be away from familiar surroundings. And if we’re here much longer, it will be a record time away from home.

But travelling has been a blessing as well. We’ve been able to spend time with family. We’ve been involved in ministry in many different churches. We’ve visited friends, and even made new friends.

We got together with some people at Avant who do so much for us (not pictured was Carolyn – we appreciate you too!):

One church even put together a pretty cool Mexican display for me to stand in front of (Prairie Tabernacle):

Prairie Tabernacle Mexico display (and I).

Shari shared at a women’s prayer meeting, and is preparing for another. And for those who have been asking, my Mom is doing a lot better! Here she is at the prayer meeting (front and centre)…

Shari, Beth, and other women at a prayer meeting.

And of course there was another Where did the Bible Come from? seminar. Here’s a group pouring over “ancient” manuscripts of the fabled story of Javier the Louse…

Where did the Bible come from? - studying "ancient" manuscripts

Well, there has been so much happening that I won’t go into it all here. But it’s been fun!

But we’ve also been missing Mexico. In fact, we even missed a church anniversary service for the first time – although we were “there” in spirit, and we did record a video message for the service.

And so the time is coming to prepare for travel back to Mexico. We would appreciate your prayers for reasonable tickets, and that God would give wisdom as to timing! There’s a lot to do before we go, so I’d better get to it.

7 November 2023

Retro: Cake Decorating Class

Jim Just for fun, Ministry glimpses, Retro 0

Ten years ago today was the epic cake decorating class – one of many baking classes that Shari taught at the community centre in the community of Jesús María.

Just click the picture below for a larger version:

Baking class in Jesús María — Cake decorating class – November 2013

20 October 2023

Retro: A Little Flood

Jim Just for fun, Retro 0

Ten years ago today we woke up to discover no water in the house – and lots of water outside! It was a Sunday morning, and I was heading off to a music practice in Jesús María, when I saw this…

We called the water company of course, who told us they would come that day. But come evening, no water company, and the fountain was still pouring water out.

The next day we were heading out to a team retreat – still no water in the house – still a lot outside – and finally later that day the workers came, smashed the sidewalk, ripped up the ground, and fixed/replaced the plastic pipe. And we still made it – slightly late – to our retreat. Where we were finally able to get some water!

10 October 2023

In the Middle of Canada

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

So there we were, right in the middle of Canada, and I decided to ask the dangerous question, “Where are you from?”

No, literally, we were right in the middle of Canada. See?

Ok, well, the middle of Canada from east to west, anyway.

We saw another family there, and my Mexico spidey-sense went off, and I asked them where they were from. Sure enough, Mexico! But they now live in Canada. We enjoyed a long chat with this family right there – pulling out our slightly dusty Spanish – right smack-dab in the middle of Canada.

Well, we’ve had all kinds of interesting experiences here in Canada. For two weeks we travelled through Saskatchewan and Manitoba – and finally, at the pinnacle (or at least mid-way point) of our trip, we visited our mission office in Winnipeg, in spite of rain and hail on the last leg. 🙂 We appreciate everything that the folks at Avant do for us! And we’ve had some good times with various people, and did some ministry in a couple of churches.

And by the way, the new friends from the middle of Canada weren’t the only Mexican people we’ve met. We even enjoyed an evening with a Mexican pastor and his American wife, who are planning to go into full-time ministry in Mexico. It’s always an encouragement to hear of more people joining the work of the Kingdom!

And, once in a while, Mexican food has been a part of our travels…

We’re looking forward to some ministry at the Prairie Tabernacle in Three Hills, and will also be returning to Cremona to run the Where did the Bible Come From? seminar. As always, the upcoming events are all here.

In family news, you’ll be glad to hear that my Mom is doing much better after a fall at the end of August!

Without going into all the details – it’s crazy-busy, we very much appreciate your prayers – and that’s all for today!

18 September 2023

Retro: Drama Class

Jim Just for fun, Ministry glimpses, Retro 0

Not everything that we try at the community centre “works”. The drama/theatre/cinema course was one of those things.

I created a complete course in the community of Jesús María, but for whatever reason it fizzled out. Time of day? Promotion? Time of year? A poor teacher? Who knows!

That’s not to say it won’t be resurrected someday! Meanwhile, all I have are the memories, and lots of notes and course materials.

This poster represented some basic “house rules”. The other photo shows two students doing some improv.

House rules for the community centre drama course.

13 September 2023

Unusual Summer – or Silent Summer?

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

If you’re on our Support Team, you should be getting our quarterly newsletter soon, with the theme “Unusual Summer”. Well, it’s been unusual all right, for a lot of reasons! But here on Finding direction, it’s also been rather – silent!

But here I am, finally, taking a moment to write. So, yes, as you might guess, it has been pretty busy, in many ways! If you’ve been following on Instagram or X or Facebook, I’ve at least been trying to keep you up to date on our speaking engagements and seminars (which reminds me, I should send out a reminder about this Sunday! *adding to list*). Our schedule is also here, of course. But there have been a lot of other things going on.

We’ve enjoyed visiting quite a few churches in Alberta. As a bonus, I had the opportunity to teach a seminar on The Environment in Glendon, taking a look at the Bible’s teaching and how it relates (quite often clashes) with current views on environmentalism. We have a lot to think about and talk about!

We’re thankful that Nathanael has found a job – er – jobs. So both he and Hannah are keeping busy, and will likely be even busier as fall activities rev up. But this past Saturday we were able to celebrate Independence Day (Mexico) a little early, by going for tacos together! We even had the chance to chat with someone there from our home state. It was a rare time for the four of us to hang out together for a while!

We’ve had a lot of personal things to get done while in Canada, for ourselves and for family, so that means a lot of trips hither and yon. As I mentioned in our newsletter, when you’re missionaries visiting your “passport country”, you’re usually trying to cram a lot into a short period of time!

Ministry will be continuing in the weeks ahead, in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and back to Alberta, including another Where did the Bible Come From? seminar. I have some fun tweaks planned for the seminar, so I’m looking forward to that.

Anyway, I can’t promise I’ll be stopping by here more often, but I’ll try! Meanwhile, if you’re going to be in the neighbourhood during any of our upcoming engagements, it would be great to see you. 🙂

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