Our 2nd Set of 17 days!

         How cryptic you may say...the story behind the title is that way back in June (it seems so long ago) we spent 17 days in Lethbridge before heading over to Belgium to finish our MTW training.
         After 32 days there, we arrived back in Lethbridge on July 31st, but since we can write off at least 2 days for jet lag and time change, we will start our counting of actually-being-functional-while- back-in-Lethbridge at August 2nd.
         So what have we been up to in the last 17 days, and what do we have planned for the next 3 months?

       On August 2nd we had a great planning meeting with our fearless Leader and his family just before they left on some well deserved rest with their family in Australia. On August 3rd we were left with our list of  "TO-DO's" and "SEE IF YOU CAN'S".  So Howard and Sandy and Jack and Margaret are keeping busy in August:


      We are so grateful that we have Jack and Margaret Phillips here since May. They have helped us immensely with paperwork and computer-work, cooking and camps, driving and dogs, and lots of other behind-the-scenes work that needs to get done with any ministry work.
       Jack and Margaret are from California and are volunteering with Amazing Grace Community Church and Amazing Kids for 5 months. They arrived in May and will leave the first of October. I hesitate to put them in the category of "Interns" because of their age and experience, I'm looking for a much better name, but for now I will call them our "Ultra-Interns". Pray for them as they try to keep up with those who are younger and pray also for their home in California as it isn't too far from many of the fires that are burning there.
       Thanks for your "minutes" Margaret and your time searching for elusive documents and information Jack!



     August 3rd!  On our first Monday back in Lethbridge we had a holiday! after we met with Jack and Margaret to set up our weekly game plan.  I have always bemoaned the fact that the U.S. does not have any holidays in August. Well - Canada does have a holiday in August, I have heard two different names - it's either CIVIC DAY or FAMILY DAY. Either way, we spent the afternoon and evening out in Crowsnest Pass visiting new friends, the Veenendaals, out at a cabin they are helping build. It was a hazy day so we couldn't see too clearly, but it was cooler for sure.

After taking a spin in a kayak we have decided we may have to look into
purchasing a couple of them to cruise the many rivers and lakes here
on our days off.

The view from inside the kayak

I love taking photos of the new flowers I find in some of the grasslands.

   After our August holiday we began our work week. 

     We would love to post that we have begun a great work here - or that we have met many new Blackfoot friends - but the reality is that it is a slow, patient work that we have begun. Yes, we have kept ourselves busy, but there have been times of frustration also.

     Howard has gone on many walks through the neighborhood we are living in and each walk has produced a contact or two that we are following up on.  One is the possibility of Howard doing some counseling and Sandy to use her sewing skills at a local ministry called Streets Alive where there is quite a bit of contact with First Nations people. We are also hoping to get to know people at the local community college.

    August 8 - We participated in a local neighborhood festival with the Amazing Kids trailer and did Face-painting for any kids - and adults - who attended. We shared about the ministry and opportunity for kids through the after-school program held on Mondays here. We had a lot of interest.



August 18 - Yesterday we participated in the Whoop-Up days parade (more on that in another post) and while waiting to take our place in line met some folks from a local First Nations Society and found out that they offer FREE language classes to anyone who is interested. So, we will be spending Thursday evenings in school!  We look forward to learning at least a few Blackfoot phrases and most importantly meeting new people and making friends.




    In addition, we continue with the daily tasks of life: laundry, cooking, paying bills, grocery shopping and going to the YMCA - yes we joined on August 4th. We are also both working on Sunday School lessons and materials, Bible Study possibilities and times, calling up new friends from Amazing Grace Community Church to stop by for visits, and Howard is working on his 2nd and 3rd sermons for the next few weeks.

We were able to attend the summer potluck at a local lake with Westminster Chapel PCA
We met many of the people who attend that church which support us and the Amazing Grace CC.
We also met up with some people Howard flew in Nigeria 29 years ago when they came to visit
and volunteer there - it pays to move around!

Howard playing Bocce for the first time - kind of fun!

     We are working on trying to establish a routine for ourselves, something that is hard when you don't have a 9-5 clock to punch.  We are also making sure we have some down time each week to explore our new home.
 

Lundbreck Falls near Crowsnest Pass.

   There is the Big Fall Festival coming up at the end of September where I will continue to hone my Face-painting skills and Howard will be manning a grill and entertaining as only he can. (I love that he enjoys being silly just as I do!)

We have Presbytery to help host and attend (all the leaders in our denomination in western Canada meet together each fall for encouragement), and then Native American Field Council to host in October.




            And the Amazing Kids after-school program and AY (Amazing Youth) program begins on October 5th & 6th, where we get to follow up on what Camp Courage taught the kids this summer.











    We are busy spending time preparing for all those activities in addition to looking for opportunities to meet and get to know our Blackfoot neighbors.  I'm getting tired just typing this all out.


  I hope this gives you a bit of a flavor of our lives in Lethbridge.  Thanks for all of you who support us, we really do appreciate it and ask for you to continue to pray for us as we struggle to be bold in looking for opportunities to meet the Blackfoot people.

Sunset at Park Lake - we drove out to a deserted road near that lake a few days later
to watch the meteor showers.

A Month of Knowledge in Review

**Disclaimer - this is a longer than usual read**

   One of the most interesting things we learned a year ago when we began the process of starting our support team building with MTW was the little phrase

"R & D"

It took us a while to see the advantages of using this little tool, but now we use it often, as do many other people in ministry adventures.  It stands for

ROB & DUPLICATE. 

Nothing evil or sinister mind you - just a way of sharing great ways of reaching out to friends and family through "borrowing" others ideas, knowledge, photos, and great synopsis' of events to let you know what we are doing.
  That being said, the following is from our fellow Summer In Belgium CCMI family member Drew Laughlin. He did a great job of "wrapping up" our month of learning and so I am borrowing (with his permission) his short email to share with you, with emphasis by us. (CCMI - Cross Cultural Ministry Internship)

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

The verse above from Ephesians 3 wraps up the hope that we carry with us as we leave CCMI and begin the journey to our various fields. As we have learned over and over this month, the task that lies before us is greater and more challenging than anything we could ever do on our own. We are moving to places where atheism, Islam, agnosticism, and idol worship run rampant. We are moving to places where Christianity is not the "norm." In one since, this gets us very excited. The harvest is plentiful and God has called us to labor in it. On the other hand, it's terrifying because we are leaving everything and everyone that we have known and that has comforted us for the last 25-40 years. However, we go with a great promise that our Father is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever hope or imagine. He is able to take the dry bones and build them up and breath life into them. He is able to shine light into darkness and that darkness cannot overcome it. Yes, we face a great challenge as we all move forward but our God is greater than every challenge we will face!! Therefore, we go forward into our fields not with fear but with confidence!!! We know, because He has promised, that He will be with us and that His kingdom will advance to every tongue, tribe, and nation!!

I could tell you a lot about what we've done at CCMI this summer. We've practiced team building. We've learned strategies and be practices of learning a language. We learned about cultures and how to adapt to them. We've built relationships with different churches. We've shared our faith. We've laughed. We've cried, we all have a few more grey hairs than when we arrived, but the greatest thing we have learned at a deep, heart level is this: Our God is faithful!! He is working!! He will accomplish His purpose!! 

Thank you for your support and prayers over the past 4 1/2 weeks. Thank you for loving us well. We look forward to continuing our journey together as we take the next steps in our calling.  (Drew & Marianna Laughlin, MTW missionaries in Bulgaria)

   Drew summed it up perfectly and we echo his THANKS for all the support we have recieved from you all.  We would like to add a few more highlights for you from our month in Belgium.  

This is our Bethelkerk "Outreach Team" that shared some hands-on love with the families and children who visited the Park Josafat in downtown Belgium in the afternoons of the week of July 19-22.  We played games, painted faces and did puppet shows for them. Well, we followed along while Pastor Gottlieb (back row left) led it all in French with his two sons and another church member. It was a privilege to work alongside the Flemish church as they are trying to reach out to their changing community of mostly Turkish and Armenian families.

And this is how moving works in the big cities with small stairways! There is no
way we can share with you all the sights and sounds and smells of Belgium - but one interesting
photo of how different it is in another country is good.

Our classroom for 30 days. We had 8 mentors from MTW who shared the month
with us and several other special guests
who joined us for sometimes a day or several days at a time
 to lead us in topics ranging from
Language Learning to Church Planting,
 from Thriving on the Field to being Culturally Intelligent,
and from learning to live in community to conflict resolution.

Howard was on the worship team for our month in Belgium along with Curtis, Marcus and Cat.
Every morning we began the day with a half hour of song, devotion and prayers.
 It was a special privilege to pray for the other people heading out into the field.
Mission to the World CCMI summer 2015 had folks heading out to
 Tasmania, Malaysia, Turkey,
Japan, Mexico, Canada, Spain and Bulgaria.

Look closely - you should see small mirrors, and funny shaped mouths, and possible our
tongues making funny shapes - we learned that different languages make different
sounds than the English language does by moving their tongues to different places
and by stopping air in different parts of your mouth. It was hard work and sometimes hilarious.

And we went over a whole bunch of tests that we took before we headed to Belgium -
 tests that reviewed our Cultural Intelligence, our Personality type,
our Emotional Intelligence and our Conflict Resolution type.
All things that you need to know in a high stress environment.
Very interesting and very humbling.

Getting to know another language is not the only thing you need to learn -
you need to know how the people in your new home think.
What do they think about their politicians?
What do they think about religion?
What about their history? What about laughter?
Is it a matriarchal society?
Howard found a Belgium businessman who was on his lunch break one day
and asked him some interesting questions to find out what he could.
Sandy found a Spanish lady who was born in Belgium, but whose parents
came from Spain over 45 years ago to find work and have raised their family here -
she loved the country and spoke Spanish, Flemish and some French.
She also recommended a good local restaurant and loved to go swimming at the local pool!

And then there were those surrogate grand-kids we were able to love on for the
month - here are Mary Claire with one of our mentors, Tricia, and Samantha
 with her mom Heather.

And I wanted to make sure that Heather and Marcus's son knew all about
posing well for photos!

Howard and Michael discussing the finer points of traveling around Belgium by train (or not).
The Parks family is heading to Tasmania.

Our "leading ladies" for the month - Mischa, Minette, Jan and Tricia.

There was so much cool graffiti everywhere - especially along the train lines.
I am working on a special blog just with cool photos.

Howard and I met and spent time with a local business owner, Rene, who was 84 years old .
He used to be a cobbler,
making over 100 prs. of shoes a week. Now he does some small shoe repairs
and has a small shop were he sells household goods and wood crafts that he makes.
We got his address and will stay in contact with him.

We ate well at the Zav Center (Operation Mobilization) in Zaventem. Here we are enjoying
our final big lunch - a buffet set out for us with fruits and seafood.
There were many interesting and unknown tastes - but we were game.

The final Wednesday evening we were there we held a special dinner for the Pastors and families
of the churches where we worshipped all month.
There were 4 churches we attended - a Flemish (Dutch) church,
a French church, a Turkish church and an Armenian church. 

On our final day morning, each family group spent 15 minutes or so sharing what they
learned from their time in Belgium - we all got very creative. Here Curtis and Marissa are
seeing if we were "Smarter than a Missionary" in what we learned during the month.

And here are the Interns who came and helped with the children of the families who attended.
There were 7 interns and 2 leaders of the interns.
 Even the children had booklets that they went through
 to help them cope with their new lives in another country and culture.

Our last meal in Belgium - Howard sharing olive eating skills with Calder.

Sandy and Heather and Samantha enjoying our Italian food.

And the month wore us out! We are back in Canada and excited to begin
our work here full-time.