Mission Scribbles and Scratches

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. A...

 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...

 As my wife and I celebrated New Year's Eve this year, I was reminded that this was a year of some big changes for our family. A new grandson in February. A new job offer in May. A new job starting July 1. Sometimes, things stay the same year after year...and sometimes there is much that changes. December was a time of visits and trips for my work with LAMP. Highlights included a visit with the president of Mount Carmel Bible School in Edmonton, Alberta. I first met Nils Reuter a few years ago when a youth from my former church attended Mount Carmel. We've enjoyed getting to know each other over the last few years as we've met for coffee. Nils spoke at our youth group event at one point and I spoke at an event for the school at another point. Nils was excited to hear about my new job with LAMP and all the things that LAMP is currently doing. While we are in the very early stages of this conversation, we also briefly talked about having some Mount Carmel students get involve...

 In our part of the world, we are lucky to make it to Halloween without snow. I remember many times as a kid wearing a big winter coat under or over my Halloween costume as I went out for treats in the cold and snow. This year has been very unusual...in a few more days, we'll have lived through a November with no snow at all. The snow we got in October has gone away. The temperatures have slowly dipped and winter may be on its way, but this month has been unusual.  Things in November started off with a real treat for me and my wife Lynne. We were able to head down to Rocky Mountain House, Alberta and stay with our dear friends Mike and Marie. I worked with Marie for many years at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rocky. Mike also served in leadership at the church and they remain special people to us and our family. On the Sunday of that weekend, I headed to the church to help with worship music for the service that day. That was something I used to do as part of my work...

I started the month of October with my second positive COVID test (first one was June 2022). In a certain sense, I was thankful because I was feeling very sick. This required clearing my calendar for the week and trying to rest and get better. My wife Lynne and I tried to isolate from each other as much as we could in our house and that was tricky. Thankfully, Lynne did not get COVID. We were also sad to cancel plans to host a Thanksgiving meal with our local family members. Not fun! I tested myself again and was glad to have a negative test for COVID several days later. The extra rest helped a lot. I also received lots of help and care from my wife Lynne...she's good people! One of the highlights of October involved me getting my assignments to communities and LAMP teams for the next year or so. I'll be working with some communities and their associated LAMP teams in Saskatchewan (Deschambault Lake, Grandmother's Bay, Hall Lake, Wollaston Lake) and with some communities an...