Mission Scribbles and Scratches

 The month of March began for me with a conference at the University of Alberta. I've been a graduate student in the department of History, Classics, and Religion at the university for several years now. The conference was a conference for graduate students from our department and beyond. I appreciated all the different students and their varied presentations, reminding me that one lifetime could never be enough to learn all the interesting things in the world. My paper discussed an emerging trend I've noted among some evangelical Christians online called "faith deconstruction". This was a bit of a departure from my regular research (religion in Irish literature) but also interesting and fun to discuss. I appreciate being able to attend the conference and share my work. March continued with good things when I had a chance to visit some friends and their classes at the University of Alberta. My friend Paul G teaches in the Native Studies department and I enjoyed attend

February began for me with a gathering of the pastors and deacons in our area at Bethel Lutheran Church. Our hosts at Bethel treated us well as they led us in worship (great sermon, Pastor Matt! great music, James!) and provided refreshments and a space to meet. We grabbed lunch at Average Joes in Sherwood Park and it was good to catch up with everyone there. The next day, I hopped on a plane and headed to Winnipeg, Manitoba. My primary purpose there was to join Pastor Heide as we set up an exhibit booth for LAMP at the Missionfest event hosted at Church of the Rock. We were glad to see our friend and former LAMP missionary Gordon Gilbey there. Here are some photos of the church, our display, and Gordon and I.  It was fun to talk to lots of different people over the weekend including many who are involved in all kinds of different mission work in Canada and other places all around the world. On Sunday of that first weekend, I was able to go and worship with the good people of St. Aidan

 After a wonderful Christmas break, January 2024 arrived with some wonderful family moments. Our oldest son along with his wife and daughter were able to celebrate my wife's birthday with us. We had a lot of fun together, heading over to West Edmonton Mall and getting all dressed up in "old timey" clothes for a photo shoot. Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory followed...delicious! Here's my wife and I pretending we're from the Victorian era. I feel like I make that top hat look good!! Other January 2024 highlights included snow (finally!!) and some very cold winter temperatures. My friend posted this screenshot of temperatures in both Celsius (left) and Fahrenheit (right). I've been in cold temperatures like this before but it's been awhile...ouch!!! Even though it was very cold, I enjoyed attending the Edmonton Circuit Conference meeting. It's always good to see the LC-C pastors and deacons who serve in our local area and catch up the news from our lo