Dear Diary

Sometimes when I sit down to write on this blog I feel like a little girl again with my diary open before me and I can think of nothing to say, so I write "Nothing new happened today!"
That's really not true, for each day is new. Last week, for instance I went, by train, to Toronto for a resource committee of the Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec. We are working on the materials for the years 2005-2006. Our theme is great (can't reveal it yet!). The meeting was stimulating and I'm anxious to use the material in our own church next year. I worked on reading the books for our recommended reading list and was especially enchanted with the book "Daughters of Islam", which I hope you can read too. It's great. I also loved "Your God is Too Safe". I loved the participation in the meeting. I enjoyed my visit with our friends in Toronto, the Keidann's. They truly make me feel at home.
When I got home I hit the ground running. No time to breathe. I taught my English class (I'll write more about that on another day). Then I went off to a 50th birthday party where I got to be a murderer (calm down - it was one of those murder mystery games and I acted the part of the murderous housekeeper).
Then this weekend we started rehearsals for our Christmas program. It's called "The Not-So-Silent Night" and is quite a comedy. We even have a Christmas rap in the middle of it.
The highlight of the week is my sister's arrival. Jeri came to spend a week with me. It's not Thanksgiving here, but it is in the US, so we might enjoy a baked chicken together. Mostly we will give thanks that we can spend time together.
Hope your week was an uneventful... no! I mean as "exciting" as mine!

Lift the Load

I am so excited! Since September we have been running a low-key campaign in the church for a Canadian Baptist Ministries Christmas Project, called “Lift the Load”, to help child labourers in India be able to study in schools and eventually be able to lift their families out of grinding poverty. The church chose to do this rather than operation shoebox, feeling it would truly make a difference in one child’s life if we could raise at least $400. You won’t believe it, but when we counted the offering today, we had a total of $1290. I was so thrilled I just cried with joy. The kids, who were really the focus of the campaign (children helping children) were jumping up and down they were so excited when they found out. Isn’t that just fabulous? And interesting since João preached about the church in Antioch today and their willingness to care for those in nead. Our next project? We will be caring for the needs of seven families for Christmas, quite a large undertaking. Also we are trying to help the mission for homeless people. Our people’s generosity is always amazing to me, when I know how much everyone is struggling financially. I know God will bless their sacrifice. And I know I was blessed. And in India three children will now have their load lifted. What a wonderful day today!

João in the pumpkin patch

I thought I would just wish you a very happy fall with one of my favourite autumn photos (taken over in Gatineau, Quebec by our friend and neighbour, Wing).

Hallelujah

Unfortunately, even in Canada, October 31st is "Halloween". Our church had a family night, which we call our "Hallelujah" party. We had such a wonderful time. Since old and young come out and play together, we really do feel like one big happy family. It's amazing to see an older bachelor playing ping-pong with a girl of 10, and teen-agers playing foosball with their parents. It seems such a healthy way to spend the evening. I played pin the tail on the donkey, and fishing pond with the younger kids. Adults played UNO, Dominos, Scrabble, etc. I'm not sure, but the main sport just might have been chewing the "fat" or maybe eating cupcakes and guacamole (what an awful combination).
The real hit of the night was our jail. For $1 you could put someone in jail (a locked room) for 10 minutes. They could bribe the jailer to get out, paying a double fee. One woman paid for all the men and that set off a real war. I was the sherrif, so I had quite a workout chasing people around the room. Toward the end of the evening, they took up a collection, stole my keys and put me in JAIL. I was glad for the rest, actually. With our little game, we raised $73 for our Christmas missions project, which is for the Samatha Child Labourer School in Tuni, India.
We did fill goodie bags for the children (up to age 16!), who left very satsified with their haul. The adults looked very longingly at the bags and I think some children will be forced to "share". To satisfy the adult's sweet tooth, we had a "candy bar" walk (just like a cake walk), but it was funny because mostly the teen-agers won the kit-kat bars!
Isn't it great to have such a good time in our community? I've been thinking so much about that lately. Last week, our women took food, everyday, to a woman in our church who has been ill. In addition, one single gentlemen has been unable to do his laundry and a couple in our church went by and picked it up and washed a month's worth of laundry and took it back to him. Saturday the folks turned out to do a fall cleaning of the church - right down to scrubbing the oven and fridge. It all made me feel very warm and good about being those who Jesus said would be known by their love. Pray that we may continue in that love.