Another Busy Week!
Part I Valentine's Day
As a married couple, you'd think that Valentines Day would be a holiday we'd look forward to! Weirdly enough, neither of us were particularly eager to "celebrate" the day in cupid fashion. I basically told Leigh to buy me a $5 pair of slippers and I would be very happy. Later on, I headed to the airport to pick up an old YWAM friend and staff member Renee Dueck, who had come to visit us. She has been on an across the USA Wave tour, and had ended up in New York battling cancer for the last while, so we hadn't been able to see her until now. We were so excited to have her! After picking her up, we stopped at a favourite spot - good ol' Tim Horton's and I got the regular double double. This is where I had my great Valentines idea - Are you ready for it? Yes? Well....
I got Leigh a Canadian Maple donut. Isn't that romantic? I was surprised I remembered to get him something. Anyways, we went to drop Renee's stuff off at our house, and lo and behold I found a huge bouquet of flowers there from my favourite flower store. They were beautiful!
Hmmm..My donut began to lose it's Valentine's appeal. Never the less, I returned to the office and handed the prized possession over to him. He was delighted. But then, I went to my desk and found a box of very expensive specialty chocolates from the Dutch shop. They were absolutely delectable.
I felt like a schmuck. I was going to have a big V'tine's dinner, but I think instead, we ate tuna and watched the Olympics. Sigh. Oh well. Next year?
Part II The Pastor Episode
On Wednesday morning, we were to meet with a local pastor here at the YWAM centre, as he was interested in our Mission Adventures program. We arrived 5 min early so that we could be prepared before he arrived, only to find him already here.
We hurriedly prepared our office for him, and invited him in. I indicated a chair that he could sit in and sat down myself.
I forgot that we didn't have any "pastor friendly" YWAM chairs in our office, and was horrified when he sat down and the chair flipped backwards throwing his legs into the air! He barely missed banging his head on the desk behind him by inches.
I was so embarrassed and apologized profusely. You see, I indicated the chair he should sit in - It looked like a set up joke!
Oh man. Anyways the rest of the meeting went without a hitch - and I hope he will still come and be a part of our program. We shall see I guess.
Part III Good Connections
Not only Renee made it to see us this week but also Lisa Bloomer, who is a past YWAM'er as well. It was good to connect with her again, and be able to house her at our house as well.
We met with another local pastor this week who is in the throws of planting a church right in our community. I had met him over a year ago at Missionsfest in Winnipeg when they were still deciding where to plant. One of the places they were considering was our community. It was quite a connection to be able to encourage them to come to our community and plant their church here.
A year later, here they are and developing their ministry quickly. In our meeting this week we discussed ideas of networking with their church denomination in providing their teams with a week long outreach/ministry into this community. We are excited for the prospects of this endeavor.
Part IV Mission Adventures
2 of our staff hosted a Mission Adventures team here from Birch Hills Sask. This is the last spring team before the summer. Leigh and I felt strongly that we were to let the program rest before we officially took it on, to prepare for what's ahead. The team that was here this week had these comments to say about the program:
15 year old girl:
"These people (that they worked with) are so much like me and everyone else. Maybe I am cut out for a ministry position of some sort. I have learned to listen to people more rather than just ignore them because they are dirty or scary looking"
13 year old boy:
"I need to love everyone regardless of who they are or what they do"
The Team leader:
"I have to say that I enjoyed being out on the street and seeing first hand the homeless, being in backyard, and experiencing the sites, the smells - unique people who God loves just as much as me"
As a married couple, you'd think that Valentines Day would be a holiday we'd look forward to! Weirdly enough, neither of us were particularly eager to "celebrate" the day in cupid fashion. I basically told Leigh to buy me a $5 pair of slippers and I would be very happy. Later on, I headed to the airport to pick up an old YWAM friend and staff member Renee Dueck, who had come to visit us. She has been on an across the USA Wave tour, and had ended up in New York battling cancer for the last while, so we hadn't been able to see her until now. We were so excited to have her! After picking her up, we stopped at a favourite spot - good ol' Tim Horton's and I got the regular double double. This is where I had my great Valentines idea - Are you ready for it? Yes? Well....
I got Leigh a Canadian Maple donut. Isn't that romantic? I was surprised I remembered to get him something. Anyways, we went to drop Renee's stuff off at our house, and lo and behold I found a huge bouquet of flowers there from my favourite flower store. They were beautiful!
Hmmm..My donut began to lose it's Valentine's appeal. Never the less, I returned to the office and handed the prized possession over to him. He was delighted. But then, I went to my desk and found a box of very expensive specialty chocolates from the Dutch shop. They were absolutely delectable.
I felt like a schmuck. I was going to have a big V'tine's dinner, but I think instead, we ate tuna and watched the Olympics. Sigh. Oh well. Next year?
Part II The Pastor Episode
On Wednesday morning, we were to meet with a local pastor here at the YWAM centre, as he was interested in our Mission Adventures program. We arrived 5 min early so that we could be prepared before he arrived, only to find him already here.
We hurriedly prepared our office for him, and invited him in. I indicated a chair that he could sit in and sat down myself.
I forgot that we didn't have any "pastor friendly" YWAM chairs in our office, and was horrified when he sat down and the chair flipped backwards throwing his legs into the air! He barely missed banging his head on the desk behind him by inches.
I was so embarrassed and apologized profusely. You see, I indicated the chair he should sit in - It looked like a set up joke!
Oh man. Anyways the rest of the meeting went without a hitch - and I hope he will still come and be a part of our program. We shall see I guess.
Part III Good Connections
Not only Renee made it to see us this week but also Lisa Bloomer, who is a past YWAM'er as well. It was good to connect with her again, and be able to house her at our house as well.
We met with another local pastor this week who is in the throws of planting a church right in our community. I had met him over a year ago at Missionsfest in Winnipeg when they were still deciding where to plant. One of the places they were considering was our community. It was quite a connection to be able to encourage them to come to our community and plant their church here.
A year later, here they are and developing their ministry quickly. In our meeting this week we discussed ideas of networking with their church denomination in providing their teams with a week long outreach/ministry into this community. We are excited for the prospects of this endeavor.
Part IV Mission Adventures
2 of our staff hosted a Mission Adventures team here from Birch Hills Sask. This is the last spring team before the summer. Leigh and I felt strongly that we were to let the program rest before we officially took it on, to prepare for what's ahead. The team that was here this week had these comments to say about the program:
15 year old girl:
"These people (that they worked with) are so much like me and everyone else. Maybe I am cut out for a ministry position of some sort. I have learned to listen to people more rather than just ignore them because they are dirty or scary looking"
13 year old boy:
"I need to love everyone regardless of who they are or what they do"
The Team leader:
"I have to say that I enjoyed being out on the street and seeing first hand the homeless, being in backyard, and experiencing the sites, the smells - unique people who God loves just as much as me"
Comments
A Canadian Maple is a great gift. I mean really, it's like as Ministry, you are only celebrating CHRISTIAN holidays...Easter, Christmas...you know the IMPORTANT ones. I think Leigh should re-align his priorities.