Castle

We had another long day, but a good day. We traveled by train to bus then 2 subway trains to reach the above ground train. On that train we had about a 30 minute trip to the castle we were visiting. From the train stop we walked about 5 minutes to the base of a tall hill. The road up the hill was a winding road, sometimes pavement and sometimes cobblestone. Our trip to the top was at our own pace, with freedom to stop at the many tourist shops along the way. We took about 2 hours up and about 1 hour down, looking in the shops. Most of our students purchased things for their families. Several members of the NB team purchased replica swords – I have to say I’m glad that no one on our team did, as I didn’t want to get stopped in customs.

At the end of the trek up and down we returned to Prague where we ate supper at a monastery turned into a restaurant in a location above the castle. It was traditional Czech food – pork, bread dumplings, and cabbage. Not a bad meal at all!

Tomorrow we head of early in the morning for our journey to Leipzig, beginning the third chapter of our trip.

Touring in Prague

It was great to have a day off yesterday, and another today. After being involved in our ministries for over a week we were tired, perhaps more than we were aware. Our day began yesterday with me waking up at the lovely hour of 630am - which in the end was a blessing of a sort, as we were able to have showers before the mad rush. Following breakfast we attended chapel, and then traveled into Prague. We were able to shop at some of the tourist shops and the market, which was smaller then when I was here before.

Following that we had a tour of Prague castle, and the church within it. I was again amazed at the size of the church, I think that each time I see these large cathedrals, I’ll be reminded of Bruce Fawcett’s comment to me as he and I toured the Vatican. He said that the people who created these buildings, who spent all of their working lives on the smallest parts of their design, saw their service as an act of worship to God. This form of worship, the dedication of your life to the creation of something in an artistic way, is something that I don’t think we fully understand or appreciate in the same way in our generation. I may not usually understand art and I definitely can’t create anything that you could call art, but I am becoming increasingly aware of the many different forms that the word worship encompasses.

Last night we had supper in a restaurant in Prague with the combined, teams from Atlantic Canada. It was a great experience of some down time. Jeff Carter said that it was good that we did take over the whole restaurant, as Canadians in large groups are quite loud. I think we proved that statement to be true.

When our group finished supper we went to a few more stores and then headed back to IBTS. When we arrived the quad was setup for musical performance and a large choir of young American students arrived. They are a travelling choir heading to Leipzig. Their music was amazing, one girl had an outstanding voice. Our own Alicia, Leah and Travis volunteered to sing as well and were able to perform their song from Sunday, this time without accompaniment. The Americans cheered when they came down from the stage, and congratulated them on having great ‘skills!’ Late last night, before going to bed, two more of our team were able to make phone calls back to Nova Scotia, and
Today, following breakfast here at IBTS, we’ll be taking a train for a about 30 minutes to visit a castle. More on that tonight, as I don’t know much about it right now.

In Transition

[Sunday] I will always be amazed at how easily we can worship God together with people of languages other than our own. It is, I believe, because of the common bond we share in Him. This morning we attended worship at Litomerice Baptist Church [the red church] with Martin and Petra and a few others from Bethel. Our team sang two songs in English and their worship team sang once in Czech. Travis, Leah and Alicia sang as a trio, singing ‘Who am I,’ a song by Mercy Me. They were amazing. I spoke to the children for the children’s moment [translated by Martin] and Rob delivered the morning’s message [also translated of course]. In the service, the children from the congregation sang several songs that they had learned at Kids Camp, where they had been for the past week. The similarity and unity were remarkable between those who are Czech and we who are Canadian.

After lunch and packing we said our goodbyes to Martin, Petra and the team. Just before we began to eat Martin and Petra, with huge smiles, came to me and invited me to come back in two years with a mission team from Canada so that I could attend their wedding. They said that they wanted me to come if I could and insisted that if I come that I bring Sharalyn with me. I value my new friendship with them; I wish that there were a way for me to have more regular contact. Perhaps through email, but relationships which are solely electronic can be difficult. I know that were we in the same space that they would become close friends. With luck and God’s providence we shall see them in Leipzig later this week.

After a 1 hour bus ride to Prague we arrived at the bus terminal. It was not the terminal where Jeff expected us, but after a little confusion and some text messaging, we were united with him. Jeff took us through 2 subway trains and 1 bus to arrive safely at IBTS [International Baptist Theological Seminary] in Jeneralka, outside Prague. This is the place I studied and stayed when I was here 2 years ago. I had forgotten how beautiful it is here. At night the fountain the middle of the main yard outside is amazing when it’s lit by the lights around the area. When we arrived we connected with the NB team [including Josh Daniels] who had been serving in Brno, in a camp settings. By all reports, they also had a fantastic week. Their setting was a camp run by Brno Baptist Church, and whereas it was an overt Christian setting [people who came knew they were coming to a Christian family camp] they were able to lead worship and speak each night and their English lesson content was able to contain a great deal of Christian content. Several people came to Christ at the camp!

Tomorrow we will have breakfast and attend chapel here at the seminary and then travel into Prague to begin our 2 days as tourists before we travel to Leipzig. Tomorrow we’ll be touring the city of Prague and hitting all the major tourist areas, including the city market. Tuesday we’ll be traveling about 30 minutes to visit a castle. I know we all are looking forward to the break before travelling to Germany for the World Baptist Youth Conference.

Sorrow

Today was a sorrow-filled day in some respects. Sorrow filled because we said final goodbyes to many of our students from the English Camp. Some will attend church tomorrow morning, but not all. Tonight was the garden party which was the end of camp. For the party there was a show case of the things that were learned during the week in the workshops. The afternoon singing workshop presented 3 [I think] songs. The English and Czech students sang together songs from both countries in both languages. It was great to watch. Then the whole party moved inside Bethel House, and in there we began with a showcase of dance by Anci and those who learned Jewish dance this week. This was mainly English students who were taught in the later hours most nights. Anci insisted at the end that many other people rise from their seats and try. I tried, I confess, with little coordination.

The other big reason for this day to be labeled as sorrow-filled is because of our trip to nearby Terezin. For the trip we were joined by 3-4 of our Czech students. While we were there we received a tour of the smaller fortress in English, and we learned the history of the area. We stood in places designed for 75 people into which over 600 prisoners were crammed at the height of the second world war. We saw the wall and the hill where over 300 people were executed by rifle by the Nazi SS. We walked the tunnels that were designed for the fort to be defended by pre-world war 1 Prussian invaders who never came. We stood in the solitary cell which once held all the Jewish prisoners – so many that they would not have been able to lay or even sit to sleep. This same cell was used as the solitary confinement cell for many months to hold Heinrich Jockel, the former Nazi Prison Commander, as he awaited trial and eventual execution following his capture after the war. We watched a video of the history during which it was difficult for me to hold back my tears. How can we, created in the image of God, be such an evil people? Even though I understand the origin of the sinfulness of humanity, I still find myself with a loss for words. The whole time we where there, most people did not laugh, did not talk loudly, and had an attitude similar to that of attending the visiting hours in anticipation of a funeral. We were indeed attending a funeral, the death in the hearts and minds of our students, of any presupposition that the world is indeed good.

The highlight of my day personally, was spending much of the afternoon in conversation with Martin and Petra. I asked and heard the story of their relationship, and was surprised by the depth of the story. They are again remarkable people. In some small ways they remind me or Sharalyn and I when we were the age that they are as our relationship began. I would not do any part of those days in my own life over again in any other way; I appreciate the freshness of the relationship I see in Martin and Petra, the love that spills over from their eyes as they look at each other and share meaning filled glances. I enjoy watching and listening as they wrestle together with just what God has called them to.

Tonight back at the hostel we had a debriefing time with our New Minas team. I had each team member share for a few minutes about what they believe that God has been teaching them so far. It was really interesting to listen to our students talking about God stretching them, and interesting to be able to read between the lines and see the changes that God is still in the process of making. I can already tell that they are becoming more mature in some ways, and that God is creating within them a greater sense of the world that he has made.

Tomorrow afternoon we head for Prague, and IBTS where we will stay for a much needed break until early Wednesday morning.

Last Day of English Camp

It’s hard to believe that today was the last teaching day of English class at Bethel.  I’d say that it was a great week, we have established great relationships with the students there, and I believe that the staff of Bethel will be able to continue to build these relationships.  The presence of Canadians for English Camp adds credibility to the ministry of Bethel.

Today from my class we were missing 1 student, which brought us to 4.  Wendi and Michal [mother and son] were only able to stay until lunch time as well.  When they left, Wendy read us a note that she had written in English which said thank-you for our time, and our effort.  She said that she was very pleased to have met us, and she gave us gifts.  Her gifts were from her business, which seems to sell [we can tell from the pictures, not the words] body building supplements.  Interesting.

For our afternoon class we only had the two young girls, so we took them out for ice cream nearby.  While we were out we actually ran into Jana’s mother.  She wanted to meet us and through Jana’s translation said that she was very pleased... apparently Jana has talked much about us at home in the evenings.  I’m glad that we were able to build relationships with these girls, hopefully over time as they grow they’ll attend future English camps, and will learn more about and accept Christ.  In the Bible it says that often one person plans a seed, another waters, and another harvests – all by God’s direction.  I think that God has used us to plant good seeds this week.

Tonight we had a longer prayer / worship time as a combined Canadian – Czech team and this time included a song in Czech which had been sung at church on Sunday.  Petra was glad to teach it to us, as it’s her favourite.  It’s interesting to watch her play the guitar and lead worship; she is a person who is shy, or perhaps lacking in confidence, most of the time.  However, when she’s playing and singing, she seems more confident.  She and Martin are remarkable people, for me it’s them who I’ll miss most; I hope that in the future God will allow our paths to cross again. 

Tonight I was able to talk to Sharalyn for a few minutes and also to Reuben and Caleb.  I’ve been away for a whole week already, for 8 of the 18 days of our trip.  As with other times that I’ve been away, the one week mark for me is when I am most ready to go back home.  I know there is much left to experience as we head to Prague and then to Germany, but part of me longs to be home.

Tomorrow we are going to a place nearby called Terezin [probably spelled wrong] where there was a Jewish concentration camp during the second world war.  I’m really looking forward to going there in some ways.  The prayer that I will be praying tonight and throughout the day tomorrow is a request to God that he move our hearts because of the injustice and horrible inhumane acts which happened nearly 70 years ago at the place we’ll visit.  I hope and I know that just as he already has, God will continue to transform us and that we will never be the same.

Thursday was Quick

Today everything seemed to go quickly. It may be that we are tired and are no longer as connected to the passing of time, but in reality I think it has more to do with our falling into the rhythm of how English Camp runs.  We go from Breakfast to preparations, to the large group opening, from there to the first two hours of class with a break in between.  After lunch in the school cafeteria about 5 minutes walk away, we have workshops [Fitness led by Pam and sometimes Sarah Machan, Drama led by Leah and sometimes Sarah and Lindsay, Sports led by John Thompson and Cory Stewart, and Singing led by Rob from West Oro and Alicia and Travis from New Minas].  Following workshops there are two more hours of classes with a break in the middle and then supper in two sessions [the Canadians plus the Czechs are too many to eat all at once].  After supper there is a brief break and then the evening program led by the West Oro team... usually consisting of a large group game which causes us to speak English together.  The whole camp schedule runs very smoothly.

In some ways it’s a strange experience.   We arrived exhausted and now that we have entered into the rhythm of the camp we are almost finished and no longer as tired.  It’s very different than my experience with things like summer camp and Vacation Bible Camp as the tiredness is at the end rather than the beginning. 

I am very proud of our students from New Minas [and West Oro].  They have been doing an excellent job as leaders, teaching English to the Czech students, but more so living in such a way as to honour God in their choices. I’m looking forward to seeing them challenged in Germany at the conference in not only their language skills and life style, but also by their thoughts as they are led in worship and are taught from God’s Word.

PS: The two girls in the photo are Jana [Yan-na] and Carolina from my English class.

Updates and a Side Trip

Last night I was too tired to write, so tonight’s update will be about two days.  Our first day [Monday the 21st] was a very rocky day for our English classes.  I’ve come to understand that this is always the way, but still there are many things that I wish I knew before hand.  That said, the past two days have been fantastic in comparison.

In my class there are only 5 students – but mine is the smallest class.  There are over 40 students in the whole English Camp.  In my class the students are Jana [pronounced Yah-na] who is 9 years old, Carolina who is 11, Michal [pronounced Mik-al] who is 12, his mother Wendy [this may be the way she chooses to be addressed in English , her name is different in Czech, I think] and Honza [the Czech form of John] who is roughly 20.  They are a very interesting mix of students, but work very well as a class.  The Canadian students with me as leaders are Cory, Sarah and Lindsey.  We are teaching the Lower Intermediate class, which is the lowest level.  Much of our preparations were not adequate and we have spent a lot of time adapting, but we are having a lot of fun at the same time.  From my incredible background in English grammar [oh brother!] we have been teaching verbs and tenses [present, present continuous, and past], pronouns, and much more.  Although in some ways I feel very inadequate to this task, I know that what we are doing is beneficial, and that the greatest need our students have is confidence in their ability to speak from the knowledge that they already possess of the English language.  Wendy is our saving grace in class, though she may have less knowledge that the others, she has more confidence and often translates to Czech things that we are trying to say in English.  Michal is a typical 12 year old, who wants to impress sometimes, and wants his mother to leave him alone other times.  The girls are hilarious!  Now that they have become more comfortable with us they spend much of their time giggling out of control, often at things we don’t even understand!  They are a lot of fun, and all 4 of us as Canadians think now that we have the best class!

From a team perspective we’ve had a few bumps.  Linda, our leader from CBM, had to go to the hospital on Tuesday night.  She injured her leg and had to have an x-ray.  Turns out [after prayer] that she is fine and her swelling will go down in the next few days.  One member of the Ontario team has been sick to his stomach, though only him and no one else, and several members of the Canadian team have bumps and bruises [I think from tiredness and the clumsiness that follows, as we’ve adjusted to the time difference and rid ourselves of jet lag].  We are all truly doing fine.

The food here is very different than home in some ways.  They have a lot of meat, rice, and potatoes – every meal it seems.  The humorous thing in that regard is that one of our students from Canada [several?] were wishing for a broccoli salad today.  On the whole we are being well fed and well taken care of.

Today, Cory, Rachel [Ontario] and I had the opportunity to go with Martin, the leader of the camp from Bethel House [more about him and his soon to be fiancé, Petra, later] to a home for mentally and physically challenged individuals.  The trip there took about 30 minutes in Martins tiny old car [we stopped at a store on the way there and I thought I saw root beer, but it was only some variety of Czech cola, sorry Dave]. While we were at the home for these people we had a fantastic experience.  The people are all high functioning, though at different states of intelligence.  They were very excited to see us, to see pictures from Nova Scotia [I created an impromptu slide show earlier in the afternoon in preparation for this trip], and to hear me speak from the Bible while Martin translated.  Many things about this experience were very moving.  Speaking through translation was a first for me, and something that I think takes practice.  I only spoke briefly.  Another aspect of this visit which was moving was to see the compassion that Martin has for these people, and the relationships that he has built with them.  I learned that he goes there every other week. Those aside, the most moving part was that we asked for prayer requests and one mentally and physically handicapped teenager, through translation by Martin, conveyed that he wished us to pray for his parents who no longer liked him.  I had a hard time holding back tears on hearing that, God I believe was making me aware of how fortunate I am, and how much in my life I take for granted. On funny moment also came from our call for prayer requests – there is a man there who is very fond of Metallica [not that I truly understand way] and he asked that we pray that Metallica would visit him in his room.  We laughed, but did not pray for this.

This has become longer than I first intended, so for now I’ll go.  I am praying that God will give us strength for tomorrow and each day after – we are growing both more tired and more willing to follow Him at the same time.  I can see God at work in the lives of our students.

English Camp Day 2 or Everything As You Knew it Has Changed

In missions everything changes and we must be flexible. This is what we were told, and over the last 30 hours or so it has proven true over and over. The wait in the bus terminal on Saturday, even though we were tired, seems insignificant now. Though our first change in plans of the trip, it was only a small twist compared to the twist we heard on Sunday night and felt today.

We prepared for our English classes in such a manner that we would teach one thing each day and would repeat it 4 times as the students rotated to us for each of 4 teaching times during the day. Four teaching times, four groups of students, one lesson. Our first realization that something was going to be different was when we came to understand that the class sizes were vastly different [the range is 6 to 18, I believe]. This meant that the students would need to be in certain rooms and could not physically rotate. As we were thinking about how we might move all of our supplies quickly 3 times each day we were given a third twist. We informed that the rotation really wouldn’t work [why is it that we couldn’t have been told this before? We did explain the idea!] Instead each of our 4 groups would have 1 class and would teach their class 4 times during the day. This means that we had roughly ¼ of the material we needed. After discussion as leaders we decided to fall back on the ‘be flexible’ principle and go with it.

The fourth twist in some ways affected myself [I’m leading the lowest English proficiently level] and Lynn [who is leading the advanced level] the most. We realised today at lunch time that the advanced class knows much more than we understood and the lower intermediate class knows much less. Ah well, being flexible again, we can live with it. So tonight, while the whole group had a fun event I sat in front of the computer brainstorming and researching our whole set of material all over again. Some of the things my group of 4 had prepared would be helpful, some would not. We needed much more material. I’m happy so report that after some prayer, a short walk to clear my head, an about 2 hours of research we now have a plan.

In some ways, I prefer it this way. It’s much more work, much harder and it required much more of us. [I did pray before we left several times that God would frustrate us and stretch us so that we would be challenged to rely on him instead of ourselves.] We are getting to know the Czech students in our classes better [we have 3 younger girls – age 9, 11, 12 - who are adorable!] and we are relying on God more to provide what we need. We are being flexible not only in the big picture but in each moment as we see what works and what does not. God is very good, and I know that we will be fine. I am reminded again of the words of Jesus in John 3:21 which are: “…so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” This is my prayer, that our students would see Jesus in us as we teach English to them.

Day 2

Today was our first full day in the Czech Republic. We attended church at the red church [color and name], lunch in a wine cellar, and in the afternoon had a tour of the city. I’ll talk about them backwards. The tour of the city was very interesting, all the streets we’ve been to so far are cobblestone. I enjoy the sound that the cars make as they drive by. The city has a rich history dating back far enough that it is twice as old as Canada. We stood beside a building that is from the 1500s, still standing and used, it is the oldest building in the city.

For lunch we went to a restaurant. Often we are eating at Bethel House, their cook preparing our meals. However, for lunch today we were taken to a restaurant nearby [5 minutes walk]. I don’t know the English name of the restaurant, but I can describe it. It is completely underground. In fact, it is the former wine cellar of a building. We went down several flights of stairs and arrived in a room with a banquet table. We were offered 3 choices for lunch: beef, chicken or duck. I chose the duck; Martin [out Czech host] reassured me that it would be dead and no longer walking when it arrived. One of the students attempted to order root beer as a beverage, and created a laughable moment as the confused server asked them to repeat their choice and say if they wanted dark or light – as it turns out they do not have root beer in the Czech Republic, only lots and lots of different beers. She changed her order to Sprite.

Church was a very interesting experience as it was a Czech service by there was a visiting English speaking pastor from a region in India. He spoke very well, and it was interesting to listen to Martin translate. The preacher is the general secretary of the Asia Pacific Baptist Union [an equivalent to the Canadian Baptist Federation. He let us know that in his region [province?] that over 98% of the people have converted to Christianity. He said that in India there are over 4 million Baptists and that in his federation there are over 10 million. In his sermon he spoke about the will of God, and talked about how it is God’s will that we offer ourselves in sacrifice to God. He said that there is always the fear of slipping into nominal Christianity where like some Hindu, we pray to God in the morning before we open up shop, and then we go about our day, cheating most customers who come in. He said we must be different. His message tied very closing into the words I read from John’s Gospel this morning.

Day 1

I am in a hostel in Litomerice, Czech Republic. In some ways it seems like a surreal place to be. I’m here because I’m leading a team from our church on a mission trip. We’ll be a part of an English language camp here in this city and then we’ll return to Prague and then go on to Leipzig for the World Baptist Youth Conference next week.

Traveling was long but uneventful until the then. We left Halifax at 230pm on Friday and arrive in Montreal 300pm local time. We then had a 5 hour wait in Montreal before leaving at 800pm for Frankfurt. There we had a 3 hour wait before a final 1 hour flight to Prague. While we were in Frankfurt we met the other half of our mission team from West Oro Baptist in Ontario, and also our team leader from CBM, Linda Naves. When we arrived in Prague and collected our luggage [it all arrived thankfully!] we were met by Jeff Carter, one of our partners in mission. Jeff facilitated our travel through 1 bus, and 2 subway trains to head to the bus which would take us to our final destination. Unfortunately we arrived 10 minutes too late, and had to wait an additional 2 hours outside in a bus terminal. Although this was unwelcome news to us as weary travelers, it gave me a chance to catch up with Jeff and gave our students a much needed break from all the sitting we’d endured on our journey. When we finally boarded the bus for Litomerice, a one hour trip, I was so tired that after ensuring our whole team was settled I drifted to sleep. I’ll need to make a point of being awake on the trip back to Prague so that I can actually see the Czech countryside.

Tonight we were greeted at in Litomerice by our host, Martin, and his team. Graciously they fed us a great meal and pointed us in the direction of showers and bed. So here I sit, not knowing really what God has in store, but eager to be transformed as I offer myself and my energy to him.

Airport

Right this moment I'm sitting in the Halifax International Airport ready to fly. Well almost... my mission team is due here in about 20 minutes and our flight actually leaves in about 3 hours. I have to confess that I have mixed feelings about all of this...

Excitement: I'm looking forward to visiting Europe a second time. I look forward to the mission part of our journey in Litomerice and I look forward to visiting Prague. I'm also eager for the World Baptist Youth Conference, as I know this may be a once in a life time experience for me and for some of the students traveling with me. God will transform me and my team from who we are.

Nervousness: I have never led an international team before. I have also never led a group traveling by air before. There are a lot of unknowns about this whole process and I'm a control freak. I imagine that one of the things that God will have me learn over the course of this trip will be to release more of that control to him.

Sadness: This morning I left my family behind. I can remember 2 years ago how hard that experience was [for me even more than them, I imagine] and am not eager to endure again. My favorite place in the world is my home and my family there with me. I'm not looking forward to being without them for almost 3 weeks. I will miss much, and that makes me sad.

Hopefulness: Each time I step into a place, and more specifically and adventure, God changes me and makes me better for it. I look forward to relying more on him as he stretches me over the next 3 weeks. I look forward to being able to return and tell the stories of where we've been and what we've done, but more specifically what God has done in us.

The presence of God in the Temple

I've begun to read again through the Gospel of John. I've been reading the Old Testament so exclusively over the past year or so that I thought it was time for me to enter again into the New. However, having read chunks of the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, I'm seeing so much OT imagery in the NT that its as though the Gospel of John has become to me a new book entirely.

This morning as I was reading in John 2, I read Jesus words in verse 19 in which he referred to himself as the Temple. These words reminded me quickly of John 1:14 which read "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory..." I can't help but picture in my mind, not only the disciples in the presence of Jesus, but also Aaron and Moses in the presence of God; Moses on the mountain, and Aaron in the first Temple. I am convinced that John, the author the Gospel, is making clear early in his writing, Jesus divinity - his connection to God whom we met in the OT.

The more that I read the OT and then follow up and read the NT, the more that I see how the whole story of God is connected.

3 Weeks of Vacation

For the first time ever we had 3 weeks of consecutive vacation. Today is the last morning or our vacation. In the past we've taken only 2 weeks in a row, but this summer with the Czech / Germany mission trip that I'll be on for three weeks with students and leaders from our church, it was really not possible to take our vacation in any other way. Now that we've had three weeks in a row, I think we'll do it again. It was a good choice. We're tired still, but its vacation tired, and I think we are refreshed.

For the first week of our vacation we mostly hung around home. We had lots of home-type things to do [including cleaning the house after a long busy spring]. During that week we did take a couple day trips - to Roos in Greenwood and to the Discovery Center in Halifax. It was a good start to vacation.

The first weekend we were in Shediac for our annual MacDonald family vacation. As usual it rained and was foggy, but it was a great time. Our kids love seeing their relatives. We ended that vacation by going to Centennial Park in Moncton to the greatest outdoor children's water area ever!

For our second week of vacation we stayed in a cottage for one night, went camping for one night, spent a 5-6 hour day in the Truro mall while our van was fixed on one day, came home for a transition day, and then went to another cottage this time with our small group for 2 nights. Also, a great week / weekend of vacation [excusing the van repair day].

For our third week we went to Camp Peniel. This was a new concept for us. I was speaking at their age 10-12 camp. I really wondered if this would be a true vacation or if it would be just a different type of work. In a lot of ways it was the best vacation we've had. We were extremely well fed, we didn't have to do dishes, the kids went swimming every day, camp fire most days, we went in a paddle boat, Katie in a mud pit, and lots more. The trade off for me to speak twice a day [vespers and staff meeting] was fantastic... and in some ways, to focus only on speaking was a welcome vacation for me as well. It was a great week! We'd look forward to doing it another year!

Starting tomorrow we're back from vacation. It seems as though 3 weeks went by quickly, I'm sure these next 5 days before the mission trip will go even quicker. For now though, I need to unload and clean the van, and then go strawberry picking!

Vacation: Small Group and Camp Peniel

After a couple of days break between our MacDonald Family vacation & camping as went on vacation again with the members of our small group.  At an auction for Inter Varsity in the spring we bid and won a weekend cottage vacation.  While we were there we went canoeing, swimming, rest in hammocks [there were lots of them!] had 2 scavenger hunts, a camp fire, and sparklers.  It was a great time, very restful.

We are now at Camp Peniel in Yarmouth County.  We left the cottage and came straight here.  This week I'm speaking at the camp, which doesn't on the surface sound like vacation.  However, other than a 1 hr staff meeting in the middle of the afternoon when our children have quiet time, and 1 1 hr vespers time in the evening, our time is our own.  We can go swimming, canoeing, play in the mid put [Check the photos of Katie!] play checkers on the huge board [photos later] and be together.  We're having a great time!  Sharalyn and I talked after the children went to bed last night that this is one of the weirdest ways we've had vacation - we have little that we are responsible to do [meals are prepared for everyone and the staff clean-up] and we don't even have to plan the fun things, the are already scheduled - this may be the most restful vacation we've had before.

Along with everything else, I've had a chance to reconnect with a couple of great friends [hi Mitch & Christine!]. I'll post more later, but its breakfast time, I know b/c the bell just rang.

MacDonald Family Vacation

More posts later, but here is a link to my photos from our Macdonald Family [Sharalyn's family] vacation last weekend: Click Here.