On our way back soon...

Maple Creek was great. We miss everyone there already.

When we returned to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, we were greeted by a former cellmate of Susan's who didn't recognise us. Her first words for us were "this isn't a place for kids." We then checked into our cockroach, lice infested hotel room...it's good to be home (-:

We are now at our other homes on the Island - a little different.

Pictures are available at http://sheepspeak.spaces.live.com/ in the 'Summer Assignment' and 'Vacation' folders - Next week, CFOT again for another round....
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Michael Ramsay
www.havelock-viha.com

Monday

Today I went to the corps before anyone else was up. That is a good time to get some work done.The funeral for the baby (the twin) that died the other day was today. We started setting up early. Todd helped. We had some difficulty locating an important key but Susan prayed and it surfaced. We helped with the funeral. We did not conduct it though.

The funeral was significant. It was the first one that anyone could remember for a First Nations child that was held off the reserve. (The mom is not First Nations). We had a wake of sorts - an all night viewing last night at the church and it continued until the service began today. The service was very Christian. The child's ethnic heritage and traditions were certainly respected and the Officer and the Funeral Director worked very closely with the family (The Army has known the family for a long time) and the Funeral Director has been doing this for many years, grew up here, and knows everyone. It was very good, respected everyone and was -in my opinion- God honouring for sure.

It was interesting to be involved in the graveside ceremony as well. The wind blew and the hawks circled. It was strange to be involved in placing the child in her grave...

One interesting image was painted for me of our time here. While serving the Lord in our time here, it is a tour of duty. We have come from home to fight for God on earth. Some of us only have a short tour of duty. Some of us get to return home earlier to others. Whenever others are called home, we should celebrate if they successfully completed their tour of duty and earn peace...

We also helped a lady move from town today. We also visited a friend in the hospital. It is busy but we did have an opportunity to watch a movie with the girls today...it was good and I always try not to miss story time with the kids...

Sunday

I went up to the Church early this morning to practise my sermon and tidy the washrooms and whatever else needed to be done. I then went home got ready and Susan, Gord and I went up to prepare for the meeting. (Gord is on the WT this week). We had some last minute changes but we were able to take them in stride and even prepare the PowerPoint properly. I thank the Lord for Brett's willingness to operate it. It saves me a lot of difficulties. It is not so easy to work it from the pulpit and still be open to be led into any changes.It is also more difficult to worship when you are always glancing over your shoulder to make sure the the right thing is on the screen.the service went really well. There was an excellent turnout - better than expected for the summertime here for sure, praise God. Susan and I have been sharing the leads here and this works great, great, Great! It is a great way for us to do it. Afterwards we went to weed someone's garden. There was some setting up for a wake that is happening at the church this evening. We are in and out around that. We had dinner with the Taylors. We had a pie that Joan baked. Everything was good. It was another late night though.
       
Saturday       
       
We had the men's breakfast today. I went there right after having finished moving out of our place. It was good. We had it at the Bakery. Currah`s bakery is great! Susan worked at the Store with Sarah-Grace this morning. We met them for lunch and then Becca, Sarah-Grace and I headed up to the Church. After all was said and done for the day, we were able to play SETTLERS again this evening. It is an enjoyable game but maybe I should do my pastoral care homework, hmmm.
       
Friday

Today I opened up the Thrift Store with one of the people on the employment programme here. I showed him how to work the till and get everything set up. Susan stopped by later and showed us both how to do everything else. I was called away quite a bit. There were some Family Services things to deal with. There was also a number of people with whom I was able to visit today. That was great. I was glad that I was able to meet with them. There is one lady in the hospital here from out of town. I prayed with her, gave her a Bible at her request and really enjoyed meeting her. I will stop by again with more things for her to read.

I finished (more or less) Sunday's sermon - well, they're never really finished until they are delivered.

We moved out of the house tonight...It was a long time tidying and cleaning. I had done what I could do by 7am Saturday in time for the men's breakfast...
       
Thursday       

Today was another LONG day. It was very good though. We had the final VBS Adventure Camp day. We took the kids to Cypress Hills Park for the day. They had a blast.One of the events we experienced was a Scientist-Creationist talk. He had brought some neat exhibits with him. He gave us some interesting information about dinosaurs and argued that some of the meat-eaters may have really been plant-eaters or omnivores. He argued this based on a comparison of the teeth and the jawbones to other animals.It was a good argument...He probably went too far in some other directions ..but that is too be expected, I think, given his profession and environment. Everyone probably has there own areas where we venture beyond reasonable arguments - we debriefed with the kids later. All in all it was good though.
       
We experienced the grace of God and some miracles around a van that stopped and wouldn't even try to turn over again. The Lord got us all home safe and sound and the van is running fine now.
       
I put some of the pictures from our outing today on the PowerPoint for the corps to see this Sunday.

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Wednesday

We held our last meeting at the lodge today. Susan preached, I led. It was good. We'll miss the people here. We have met some good folk here. We had the reception for a funeral here today. The ladies did a great job of pulling it all together and preparing the food, etc. They did a great job. I have been working with a local business owner who is bringing people over here from Philippines - that has been interesting (good). I have also had the opportunity to help the people in our employment programme here develop some new ideas about directions they could head. This is good as well. It is neat to see some people who really want to make a change in their lives and are able to as they turn to the Lord. It is neat. We heard of another baby (1o months old) who might have cancer. This is sad and worth a few prayers for sure..Susan has WT practice tonight. I am staying home with the kids.SGV has already fallen asleep. We are planning our trip to the Island and Vancouver now...it will be nice to see some people there again. I hope we can schedule enough time in the cites where we have our friends and family and still have some time back in Winnipeg to relax before we get going again in September...I can't believe that this is coming to an end. People are already asking us if we can come back - I hope so....

Tuesday

The Taylors are back today. They seemed to have a good holidays. There have been a number of tragedies around the town. A baby twin (8 months old, I think)passed away. Please pray for the family.. Susan went to the women's prayer meeting today. These are great.I'll let her tell you about them. I was up until 3 this morning working on my sermon for Sunday, polishing a lead for Wednesday and designing our end of programme activates for VBS on Thursday.there are some late nights and early mornings to be sure..

Monday

We met at the corps at 5:30 this morning to drive the kids up to camp. It was a good ride but it made for a long day. I did not arrive back in Maple Creek until well after 7pm. I did have a chance to stop by the hospital to visit my friend in the hospital in Swift Current that was good. When I returned I met Susan and the girls for dinner with some friends from the corps. It was good. I am sick though.

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Thursday

 

Kids club today. It was good. The local reporter came by to ask about some photo opportunities as we were playing soccer on the front lawn. She'll come with us next week on our field trip. Susan is leading the Bible Study tonight that should be good as well.

 

Friday

 

Did a lot of prep today for Sunday's meetings. We have two scheduled at the Corps and the Lodge. We confirmed all the kids for Monday's 5:30 am bus ride up to Beaver Creek. Susan has her class 4 licence. They just built a Staples in Swift Current so we should be able to get some supplies on the way home too. I have been quite sick but I think my voice is coming back so that is good.

 

This evening we got to go out to some friends' ranch. Rebecca and SGV collected eggs from the chickens and we had a good time talking with them for a while.

 

Saturday

 

I was working in the Thrift store all day. Susan and the kids came down to help out for a while. I had some problems with the till after closing time. Providentially I was able to reach someone to come and help me. After dinner, I drove a lady and her kids out to the reserve. They were stuck in town. Her husband goes before the judge on Tuesday about some old matters in Swift Current. Hopefully, this will clear up all the old business and they can move on with their life..

 

Sunday

 

So I did it. It was me. I locked the key in the van. So now I am waiting the 8 million hours it takes for someone to get here who can open it up...

 

Today was good. We had a good number of people come out to our meetings this week. I preached my 2nd and 3rd to last scheduled messages here in Maple Creek... Susan will cover the last couple. It has been good. I like preaching. I had a good chance to discuss things with people relating to the sermons as well. It is good. Susan, of course, is great at leading the worship time and is itching to do her next sermon this Wednesday!

 

We also had the corps potluck -fellowship meal -today. it was a lot of fun. It is a good way to get to know people more...

 

I'm tired and we have to get up by 5 am tomorrow so I hope a tow truck can get here soon...

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Monday

 

Day off. We went into the Thrift Shop early to set up for a sale. Susan and the girls then went home for breakfast. I had some running around to do in town still... After breakfast we headed up to the corps for a while before we left for Medicine Hat.

 

It was fun. It is really near to here. It is the 'big city' (50 -60 thou) but it has everything. Wow. It reminds me a bit of Nanaimo - not that many people but lots of malls, and big stores, etc. We did a lot of running around and picked up some things that we can't get in town - office supplies, Bibles, etc. On the way there we stopped at a playground for the girls. At the end of the day we went to a pretty big INDOOR pool. It was neat. The kids loved it - a big waterslide that looked like a giant rattler, a wave pool, a very warm kid pool...we had fun.

 

Tuesday

 

A very busy day. I am losing my voice. A number of people required our help at FS today. Susan had a great time at the Prayer meeting today. It is really neat to see the miracles of God...I'll let her tell you about all this stuff...I was starting to put some stuff together for Sunday. I tried that new programme that was recommended to us for PowerPoint. It is simple to use and will probably be very good but I think it is a little difficult for me to use in this ministry situation here. I will keep it in mind though - those of you who know what I'm talking about should try it!

 

We registered a potential employee for our 'fresh start programme' today.

 

Harvey was in conducting some restorative justice meetings (or something like that, I think) from the SA's corrections in SC. It was great to talk with him for a while...there are so many outreach and ministry opportunities in corrections. It was exciting to talk about some of these possibilities...it was a ministry that weighed on WB's heart as well...

 

I was going to drive some people out to the reserve today but they disappeared before I was able to pick them up. That was strange...I also counselled a friend of mine for a couple of hours here today. One could really see the Lord at work here in his life. We talked for quite a while, read the word, I listened to his story. We have been working together trying to help him get a job and get settled in town. I can't write too much more but - God is good!

 

Wednesday

 

Had a great prayer meeting this morning. We hosted the small ministerial prayer meeting here. Near the end of the time Vidal joined in. We prayed for the leaders in the churches, province, country, world, etc. It was powerful. It really was. It was good.

 

I helped a friend work towards securing employment today...

 

We had 35 or so people out to toonie lunch today. These guys are great. as part of my speak before they eat, I always tell a joke. They are a good audience. It is good! Who'd ever have thought that those e-jokes one receives would be actually useful....

 

Spent the evening up at the corps helping Susan prepare for tomorrow's kids VBS, etc...

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Friday

 

Today was a bit of a blur. There was a lot of office organisation to do...I needed to get the calendars up and printed for next month and confirm things there. We also are planning for a couple of different services this Sunday. I am sure that something really exciting else has just slipped my mind...

 

Today we took the training wheels off Becca's bike for a little while, just as an experiment, too...

 

Oh yah, you have to love ranching territory. I went to a BBQ the other day and had steaks -lots of steaks. Yesterday we went out for dinner and I had a massive steak sandwich - One of Susan's gifts for her birthday - massive T-bone steaks - steaks everywhere. Wow. (-:

Saturday

Susan went in really early to get things ready for her 'Super Saturday Sidewalk Sale' at the Thrift Store. The girls and I rode there later on after we had cleaned up the house a bit. Rebecca is still not feeling perfectly well. We helped out there for a while and then tended the store for Susan's lunch break. The girls and I then rode to the church to get the place ready for an evening rental and prepare for the Sunday meeting some more as well....I entered in some more of the numbers from the Thrift Store into the DB; you know this thing has potential...We helped Susan close the store and headed home for dinner. Then after dinner, I went back up to the corps to write a sermon for tomorrow. I already have two written for the two speaks that I knew I was giving. I had a new speak that arrived on my plate this afternoon. I had a half-finished one, so I completed that one.

Sunday

So I am getting a little sick...sore throat, etc. One of our speaks for today was cancelled as the Seniors' Lodge is under quarantine (sort of) still. That is fine. I just pray that the quarantine will be lifted soon. Some of those in there don't really understand when their routine is mixed up and some of them, that have family in town, miss their daily visitors from family. Some family members even come in and feed them regularly. It is difficult - even if they don't really know what is going on - for the people inside. It is also difficult for the family members who do visit everyday. I pray that it is lifted soon.

Susan did an excellent job at executing the lead today. I wrote quite a few songbook songs into it and Susan even on the spot added in one or two more of her own! It was great. The congregation loved it! We loved it. We had a time of testimony. Wow! It is always great to hear what God is actually doing in people's lives - it always chokes me up a bit. The sermon seemed to go over well, as well. We looked at John 21 -  the restoration  of Peter and how we can all be restored to a right relationship with God. It was good. They have a good microphone system here. I do prefer a wireless though. If you walk around without one, you can still easily be heard with proper voice projection but the quality of sound changes dramatically...and I like to move. It was fun. The WT seems to be really blessed and a blessing these days. I think that the Lord is using the WT a lot here.

The service at the manor went well. I had the opportunity to not only write the lead and do the basics of it.... I also was able to lead the songs....I am not a singer. I am not a clapper. Oh well, the Lord uses us in our weaknesses, eh? Oh yah, I'm losing my voice.

I felt sort of like Jonah a bit today too. I found a great preaching binder-type book. It is a very good weight and size. I used it for my speaks today. It is gone now though. I don't know where it is. I miss it. Weird. I felt sort of like Jonah must have when God provided the plant at the end of his adventure and then took it away...well maybe not entirely. Jonah seems to get a little more angry about things than I do but I noticed the comparison....