Hello all.

I apologize for how long it's been since I posted last. I'm having problems uploading pictures right now, but I'll work on it.

It is still very snowy up here in Canada. I'm not used to snow that doesn't melt immediately.

Right now I'm mostly working in the office at Sorrento Centre. We're getting ready for the summer program. I'm putting together the training program for my summer staff and also the theme for the youth and the children programming. Next week we begin interviews. We could use a few more applicants, but I think it's still pretty early.

In January I got some exciting news. Bishop Nedi called and asked me to accompany her to South Africa in March for an Anglican Communion meeting. the topics are AIDS, malaria, and poverty and how the church is meeting these problems. For more information check out the website: www.team.org.

In January I also had the opportunity to preach at the church in Salmon Arm. I was more than a little nervous, but I think it went really well. the readings for that day were Jeremiah's call, Jesus being run out of Nazareth and Paul's commentary on love. It felt good and I got a lot of great response.

this weekend I'm going to the Vancouver area for the BC Youth Council's meeting. they've asked me to be the speaker at this spring's conference. the theme: Mission Impossible.

It has been a long time since I've posted and I apologize for that. Things have been busy and I'm having some computer issues, but I should still be posting more. The last few weeks have been pretty eventful and full of fun things.

Yesterday we said goodbye to 70 ordained women who had come to the centre to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the ordination of women in Canada. It was very exciting to meet one of the first six women ordained on November 30, 1976 (she's the one presiding in the picture on the right). There was a spirit of commraderie and pride in where we've come since then. It was wonderful just to watch all of this. On Thursday evening there was a closing Eucharist in which all the women were able to renew their ordinations.

Here is the whole group.

As 'unofficial' photographer, I was also able to get this shot of them not quite as composed.

Earlier this week I went to the local church to help with their Advent party for the local children. It was a lot of fun. I'll post a picture when I get them.

I spent some time with my roommates making a gingerbread house. Here is the side I worked on. Notice the gummy bears having a snowball fight. And the gummy bears on the left are hanging up 'lights.'

Here is a front view of the house:

Last week I spent in Silent Retreat. The director of the retreat fashioned it after Ignatius. It was a wonderful and very introspective time. It was a huge gift to be able to take part.

One more thing - there's been snow! Lots of snow!!!! The first snow was right after Halloween...

This last week has also been very snowy!

I've been keeping an eye on the weather back home, and I've been thinking of you. I'm going to be coming home to Seattle in a few weeks for Christmas!

October 10, 2006

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for me here. Over the last week and a half I have been in the far eastern part of the province for a synod meeting and then to the farthest western area of the province for a youth conference. There's not a lot to talk about regarding the Synod. It was your run of the mill church meetings.

I felt like I learned a lot more at the youth conference. The youth of the Province are actually their own Society called BCYAYM - British Columbia and Yukon Anglican Youth Ministry - I think. During the weekend they held elections to their council and held their Annual General Meeting. One thing up here that is very different from what I've seen with youth work is that the conference was for youth ages 14 - 25. Kind of a big age span - and there wasn't a lot of opportunity to talk in smaller groups.

At one point in the weekend we split into focus groups. I went with the group speaking about Sorrento. Apparently Sorrento and BCYAYM used to have a very good relationship, but over the years they've drifted apart and have been looking to reconnect over the last year or so. I asked what sort of things people would be interested in attending at Sorrento. A couple of things that came back were young adult retreats - focused on people in their 20s. In the same vein, some youth expressed interest in youth gatherings that were focused on fellowship for teenagers. We'll see what can happen in the next year, but I am looking into what sort of things we can sponsor here at Sorrento.

Otherwise, I will now be sitting on the council throughout the rest of my time up here. I've talked with the adult rep to council about doing some exchanges with the Diocese of Olympia. We talked about the possibility of bringing some youth and maybe staff down for Winter HYC (and then I could come to!).

One cool thing that happened last week was that my director decided to send me down to our Diocesan Convention in Seattle. I'll be putting a display on for Sorrento Centre, but I'll also be chaperoning the youth presence and pages. I'm coming down on Wednesday the 25th and staying until the morning of Monday the 30th. Dinner or coffee anyone?

That's enough for now - I'll add more soon!

October 2, 2006

I'm feeling a bit homesick tonight. We just got home from the weekend trip. Last night we went to Viewmont Hot Springs and stayed the night. It was incredible. I have a lot of pictures that I want to post, but I'm going to have to do that tomorrow. I'm a bit tired tonight and I know that I don't have to work tomorrow, so I'll have time to post. Until then.

30 September 2006

This weekend I'm in Cranbrook for the Kootenay Synod. We drove over yesterday. It was a 7 hour drive through beautiful mountains and valleys. Here is a map of the route we took (highlighted in yellow):

What I thought I would do is put up the map each time I travel to give an idea of where all I am going. Our travels yesterday put us in the Mountain Time Zone and we are above Montana to give you an idea of how far we went.

Last night during the opening of Synod I was given voice for the duration of this year's meeting. Bishop Privett warned me that I could only speak for 30 minutes. He said he figured he would need to limit me. Somehow he's got my number! I've really enjoyed meeting all of the Bishops. Last week the House of Bishops met at Sorrento Centre and then the Provencial Synod met. I've met many interesting people and have started planting seeds to get out and visit the different areas.

There is so much I want to include in this Blog. I'm starting a new blog for my action-figure Jesus adventures. The link is on the right. For those of you who don't know, before I left the wonderful staff at Diocesan House gave me a camera and a few other wonderful gifts. One of which is an action-figure Jesus. I was charged with taking pictures of Jesus everywhere I went and those will be posted in that blog.

I wrote out the previous post yesterday and have been arguing with my computer about including pictures in it. I decided to go ahead and post while I work on winning the argument.


I'm here. It's been three days and I haven't been put to work yet, but that changes in 2 1/2 hours. I spent most of Monday unpacking and exploring the area - it is really beautiful up here, but you'll see that when the pictures go up. I've also been getting to know my roommates - Alex and Christine. They are both incredibly welcoming and I will be working with them, especially Christine, closely over the next year.


The director of the centre is Barbara Andrews. She and I were able to sit down and talk about the next year might look like. For the next couple of months I'm going to be working in different capacities around the centre. For example, in two and half hours I will spend my first shift in the kitchen. I will also be going to different Synod meetings (which is like Convention) and be introduced to the different dioceses. I am actually being sponsored by the entire Province here and not one specific diocese. What that means is that hopefully I will be moving around a good deal and experiencing different things. When Spring comes along I will permantly be here at the Centre doing the children's and youth ministry for the summer.

I will be using this year as a discernment for what my next step in life will be. Barbara is very excited in assisting with that, so there is some great potential here. Well I'm off now, I will try and post again this evening.

Peace.

The Trip Up to BC...

Well, I'm finally here. It feels like a long time coming. I came up on Sunday, September 17th. Here's a journal from the trip up:

17 September 2006

On my way – I’m currently in the back seat of a very full station wagon. It was a little hairy getting over the border. Apparently they had to be sure that I wasn’t going to be working with children in a capacity that would require me to have an immigration medical check – whatever that means. Then they wanted to check out the car – we warned the inspector not to open the back too quickly. It really was packed.

Now we’re driving through the mountains. We just went through Hope, BC. Check out Jesus with the sign of hope.


I’m full of anticipation as to what is going to happen. There are so many unknowns and I’m excited to have some questions answered. For one, I don’t know how often I’ll have access to the internet, so I’ll let everyone know how often they can check when I know.

My ears are popping. It is beautiful around here. I know I’ll get some great pictures (thanks D-House staff for my camera!!) and I’ll be posting them here.

Until later – God’s peace!