Resting after the Storm

10:30pm, a few Kenny G licks rise above the constant din of bugs chirping noisily in the encompassing darkness, otherwise all quiet and shut down for the night.  A time to rest....

The last few days have been hectic to say the least.  The Pastors Leadership Conference has now come and gone, the last of the speakers, besides Cathy and I have flown the coop and headed back North to the US and beyond, returning to the cold Canadian winter.  The conference presentations went well, were well received, especially from the dozens of questions from all corners after each session.  As one of the main speakers, Dan Cochrane from Crossroads in Red Deer was delayed getting here, Cathy ended up speaking two days early which suited her just fine as she was anxious about it but did a great job and I heard from many people, the Holy Spirit ministered deeply to many families and parents through her.  The word she brought challenging them to live lives of purpose, and make their families ground zero for ministry to their spouses and children.  She is an excellent speaker and really touches people’s hearts.  I was blessed too.  I ended up closing the conference, speaking on the purpose and need for vision in our personal lives, then focusing on pertinent issues specifically relevant to marriage.  That opened a floodgate of questions and comments in the subsequent Q&A re: divorce, sex, submission and a few other choice issues that was quite lively.  At least the conference ended with a bang! ...and nobody slept through the last session.  At the very end several pastors were blessed with either a chicken, goat or a pig and a final meal before the 250-300 attendees started shifting away.  

This past two days we’ve been catching our breaths, and today starting to get up to speed on our specific jobs here as Team Hosts and Facility Managers.  There is a lot to be done so we’ll certainly be kept busy.  Last night we attended the first day of a local evangelistic campaign in town but ended up leaving early before it really got rocking... exhaustion is a bear.  HAM’s first big team arrives on the 10th so we’re trying to get up to speed with everything by then, learn all the local staff’s names as well as get going on Creole lessons, assist with the ESL classes and visit all the EachOneBuild One house construction sites (6 currently) which I’m going to be monitoring on an ongoing basis.  

Tonight we had a treat of a movie night, as Lisa brought out the projector and a bunch of kids, we cooked up some popcorn and watched Letters to God.  Unfortunately the Bluetooth speakers couldn’t get matched, and we had to work around forgetting the correct power cable connector, but those small things are pretty standard and not to be fretted over.   The only issue from the evening was the giant 4" hairy spider that ran down the wall and decided to scamper across the floor using the shadow of my prone body, and of course right over the top of my hand halfway through.  I jumped, but needn't have, I guess they don't bite!

The best thing to date is we are starting to settle in and get to know the people, developing relationships and communicating with them.  There is  a tremendous amount of positive stuff going on here and people’s lives are being touched.  We’ll try and share some stories over the weeks...