A Slight Delay

That last post that I put up was my update letter that I sent out to a bunch of people. There should be some available at Port Elgin Missionary Church, Bakerview Mennonite Brethren Church in Abbotsford, and my parents house (My mom has some). If you would like a paper copy of it, don't hesitate to ask them.

Besides that, I should probably mention to you guys about a few other things. 

First things first though,

It has been awhile. I have had an amazing time in Abbotsford doing my initial training period. The last time I had posted was right after Thanksgiving. I mentioned that we had shared it together as Trek and had a blast.

I think I also mentioned that I cooked my first turkey, which if you would like to see it...

There it is. I am quite happy with what came of it. The wings had fallen off, and juice was seeping out of it. Sorry if this makes you hungry.

Ok, well enough of food...for now.

So that is kinda what happened last time...like one month ago. So here is what kinda happened since then. We talked about a range of different things from Evangelism to Spiritual Authority, and also Cross-Cultural Relations. We had amazing speakers who taught us a lot and were able to speak and work in all our lives. During our second last week we had the opportunity to hear from Bryan Born. Some of you may know this man, others may not. He has been at CBC for the past few years and is actually the director of my program...well he was. He is now the President of the College and will be a wonderful addition to the leadership team at the school. He has spent many years in the country of Botswana and was able to teach us about Cross-Cultural Relations. It is amazing how I still learned so much from this man even though I had heard it all 5 times before in some of his classes. He has had such a life serving God that I am honoured to be taught by him. Some of the things that we talked about were the concept of time, the importance of language learning, and most importantly culture shock. Its amazing to think about the fact that I have had more conversations on culture shock than situations where I will actually experience it, and yet it always catches me by surprise. I can have as much training as possible, and I would still be caught off guard a couple months into the experience. Once the "honeymoon stage" leaves, will I even realize what is going on? I hope that I will be able to, but at least I have that extra possibility.

So I should probably tell you about what we are doing now. As most of you know, I should be in Central Asia now...key word being should. Thats right, we have not left yet, but are still enjoying the rainy weather of the Lower Mainland in BC. Because of the delay of one of our visas, we as a team have been held back an extra week. So all of those prayers that you may have sent out this past Saturday were very much appreciated...but they will also be very needed this coming Friday. We will be flying from Vancouver at 1 in the afternoon this friday the 9th. Please pray that there would be no complications and that everything will go well.

So, just so you know what we have been doing this past week, we have not been in limbo. Last Thursday we had our Trek Commissioning, and right after that, Ministry started. Friday and Saturday we finished cleaning up the Mark Center and moved out to our new place. We have been blessed to be staying with some amazing people. That afternoon and evening we went into Vancouver to have some time to relax as a team. Sunday we went to church with one of our amazing interns and then were at the disposal of our host family. We offered ourselves to do some work around the house, but they were intent with playing a few rounds of Settlers of Catan with us. Then Monday we spent the morning at the Gleaners cutting up peppers, and the afternoon was spent in silence at the Westminster Abbey in Mission. Finally there was today. This morning we spent some time at a coffee shop writing letters and then this afternoon we spent at the office doing work duties. It has been quite busy, but God has blessed me immensely during this time. I am going to head to bed now, it has been a long day, and tomorrow is going to be even busier. Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to the last team to leave (besides us) and it is going to be a sad day.

Well until the next time I write something, I will talk to you guys later.