On the Road Again

Here's a familiar feeling from the last 4 years; marking time in an airport, waiting for the gate to open. When we arrived in Toronto in July I was happy to be finished with the airport routine. The security is irritating (take off your shoes, your hat, your coat, empty your pockets, raise your arms as you walk through . . .), the seating is cramped (oh no, what to do if my seat mate spills over onto me?), dragging our luggage through security and paying for carts to move it . . . yep, glad to be done with all of that.

Yet here I was, anticipating more travelling. My on-the-road-again feeling competed with my good-to-be-back-home-again feeling. There was much work to be done at our house, I wasn't happy to let that all for Wanda and the girls. But the thought of meeting old friends and connecting with new ones was exciting.

So I was off to Akron, PA to meet with MCC folks on the itineration, then to Goshen, IN to do storytelling and finally to Albuquerque, NM to wrap up my flying tour.

Was this my first time? Nope. In August 590 News in Kitchener did a radio interview with me. Wanda and I were on a CTV news spot at the MCC Thrift Shop in New Hamburg. In September I visited Conrad Grebel University College to participate in a panel discussion on food and peace issues. In October Wanda & I led a chapel at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate. I also did some storytelling in a number of churches on the Sundays in October (Stirling Ave., First Mennonite, WKUMC in Kitchener and East Zorra in Tavistock).

So I've been feeling more and more comfortable in each setting. In Goshen I spoke at the MCC Alumni gathering/ potluck, offered a mission moment at Waterford MC and did storytelling in a young adult SS class. I was up front at Faith MC in the evening storytelling again. Monday I was at MCC Great Lakes offices over lunch for a short presentation, then on to Goshen College to speak in Jan Bender Shetler's 'History of Global Poverty' class. Tuesday I visited MMN's offices, then to AMBS to present during the lunch colloquium on Mission and Peace with Walter Sawatsky and Ted Koontz, then wrapping up at Bethany HS in Dan Shenk's Church History class.

In Albuquerque I'll be speaking together with my sister Anita in a Saturday evening session, a storytelling duo! And Sunday I'll offer a sermon at AMC. Then on Monday I get to go back home!

But that won't be it for me, I have agreed to at least one more itineration; going down to PA and VA in January to be in another round of churches, schools, institutions and groups.

It is my hope that God is using this time to nudge people here and there to think of ways to do service or at least continue to support the work of those serving in MCC 'in the name of Christ'.

Getting You Up to Date

So many of our good friends and family have asked us to keep them updated and I haven't forgotten. But it seems like; 1) time has flown by since we landed in July and 2) I haven't had a moment of rest to ponder and report all that has happened. But I need to be honest and admit that I am no longer a great diarist/ journaller/ blogger in terms of regularity. Haven't been for 20 years (yikes).

So what has happened since our big trek through the summer? Well, we settled down in Kitchener, Ontario. Wanda had a job waiting as an interim pastor at Stirling Ave. Mennonite Church and the beginning of September she began. She is 'back in the saddle again' and likes it. It was hard to know how she, or I, would feel after having been gone doing a different job for 4 years. But really, an MCC Country Rep position has alot of similarities with a pastoring position, especially in the land of Ethiopia where we worked closely with the Meserete Kristos Church. There are highs and lows in pastoring and that certainly is true as well with the CR positions.

Our daughters were anxious all summer about where they would go to school in the fall. We had mentioned Rockway Mennonite Collegiate to them as a possibility, but I don't know why. It is a private school with fees, it's not free education. Were we setting them up for a fall (from high expectations?). We approached Rockway and a date was set to come visit the school with our girls.

As we walked through the school with Tom Bileski, our guide and director of admissions, as he explained all the opportunities in Rockway for a well-rounded education, I began to feel tugs on my sleeve intermitently from each of my daughters, Dad I really like this place, I want to go here to school. Wanda got the tugs too. I didn't know what to say other than, no promises, we're going to look into it. Finally it was time to send the girls outside and go into the office and talk to Tom. The long and the short of that conversation was this; 1) your daughters are the kind of students we want to have at Rockway and 2) we'll make it work to have them come here. They were willing to take into account our 4 years of MCC service and work with us. We are truly grateful. And of course our girls were beyond excited, it made all the tension, worry and wait worth while. God is good.

So what about me? I often have gotten the question, in one form or another, have you found a job yet? The short answer is no, but a qualified 'no'. We did not have a house, vehicles and our worldly belongings were spread out from Ontario to Ohio. It made sense to both of us that one of us would work for money and the other would work for the family. We found a house at the end of August, put a bid in on it, a bid that was providentially accepted (even though the other party bid a bit more). But we couldn't move in until October 4. What to do with Wanda working and our girls going to school in Kitchener and us living in Tavistock above Quehl's Restaurant? Once again the kindness of friends and God's care intervened. Our friends Peter & Cath Woolner invited us to live with them in their Kitchener home until our house closing. We gratefully accepted and for a month we lived together in peace and harmony. Still, having one's own home and space is the desire of all families as well as not to impose on others.

Since we finally moved in on October 4 it has been a whirlwind of activity. I have managed to round up all our storage stuff from Ohio and several places in Ontario. We were blessed to have my parents and my brother Lon for a short week helping us paint, pull up carpets and get all the bedrooms in live-in condition. We have also finished the family room, contracted with a home renovator to redo our ensuite bathroom in our Master bedroom. Stage 2 is waiting for me to finish painting and pulling up carpets downstairs in the living and dining rooms as well as move in some furniture we bought before calling it a wrap up on the 1^st phase of our home make over.

And back to the question, what about me? I have been following job opportunities in Kitchener that relate to pastor or conference openings. I can still feel my blood flowing when I am in church. I still enjoy relating to people in the church. I still enjoy sitting down and preparing a service and sermon. I still look forward to connecting with peers and colleagues in the ministry. I could try to get back in the classroom and teach. I could wait and see if a position opens up in MCC Ontario. I truly don't know what I will be doing a year from now but I can envision myself in ministry (as well as the other aforementioned jobs).

But what I still feel called to do is to work in the church, whether it be ministry, teaching or in MCC. If the doors open, as they have in the past, then I will take it as a sign that the Lord still has a need for me to work in this part of His Vineyard, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.