This past Sunday we enjoyed spending the day in Mirror, Alberta. In the evening I presented the Maximizing Your Short-Term Mission Trip seminar. Below I’ve shared some clips from the first half hour of the seminar, so you can hear a little of what we talked about.
For more on some of the seminars we’ve offered, see our seminars page.
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.
So our travels in Saskatchewan have had their ups and downs. I’ve talked about some of the ups already.
The downs? Well, we did have an electrical issue with the van. Took it in, got it fixed ($150) – and less than 24 hours later it was broken again.
So we haven’t gone back, because that was the last day of our stop there, and we had already left. I’m not sure if we’ll have time to take it back and complain… we may just have to go somewhere else and pay for it… again… *gulp*
On our way to another stop, a clunking that I had heard in the back of the van suddenly got worse – a lot worse. I couldn’t see the problem right away, but it was obvious something was seriously wrong.
So we decided to drive very carefully to our next stop, hoping for the best, so that we could get the van fixed there (or near to there).
Actually, we cancelled a drive out to a camp to visit some friends, because it didn’t feel like the van could make it on any back roads (or drive any farther than was necessary!).
We made it.
It turned out to be a suspension issue. Had we gone up to the camp, we quite possibly would have some serious damage to the van. So we’re thankful that we made the right choice there!
Thanks to some help from our friend Daryl, we got the part at a wrecking yard yesterday and were able to get the van fixed this morning. Only a little over two hundred dollars – less than I expected, but a whole lot more than I hoped to spend this whole trip on repairs!
On the bright side, all of the problems we’ve had during the trip have been "minor" issues. Things that tend to wear down eventually. Still, we’re edging up toward $2000 of extra expenses, due to a van that we were planning to sell soon.
But we’ve been safe, and we’re on the road again. God will get us where He wants us, no matter what shape our van is in (or we’re in!). 🙂
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:
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! 🙂
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!
For those who remember the sad story of the cat that wound up meeting his end in our engine…
This is what I found when I was checking fuses this morning.
But believe me, we carefully checked the location of every kitten before we left (and I checked under the hood before I started the van).
That kitten doesn’t know how close it came to being #2.