It’s been a whirlwind of an adventure over the last month and a half. Now, I know what you are thinking… what about the other 6 months since you last posted. Well, it’s only actually been four. But let’s not get into the preverbal in my head argument.
It all started with a phone call from a friend and church member in the last week of April, for the sake of protecting their identity let’s call them Amanda and Kris. They had been trying to move out of their home (AKA the place that they were renting) since January, but had failed to find anywhere in Port Alice to rent. As an aside, if you are considering investing in a rental property Port Alice might be a good option. They waited a couple months and then through the rumour mill of port alice, they became aware that the house across the road was going up for rent. So they made the arrangements to move in there. The rent was less, the house was more suitable, and they got along great with the landlords. It was all going so well, they had given their one month notice, and then came the Mold.
Now it isn’t too much of a shocker that in Port Alice there is mold in some of the homes. Considering all the factors of our climate and whatnot, it is to be expected. But there is a limit to the level of mold that would be considered livable and for all intent and purposes that level had been exceeded. That brings us back to the phone call that I got.
Amanada was somewhat calm. She figured that there would be something that would come up, but in the worst case they were going to move in with Her mom and a friend. This is where I said, “Well, you can always move into my house and I’ll move into the church.” Amanda thanked me but blew the offer off as an invalid option. That was Monday.
Saturday arrived and I showed up at the town house that was available to rent. Amanda and several others were hard at work scrubbing and scrambling to continue to finish the cleaning and moving out the remainder of items from the previous occupant. Then at about 2-3, we found mold. Once again refer back to the comment about living in Port Alice and the likelihood of mold being in a home here. But this was worse that the previous place, there was a rotten hole in the floor, pieces of the drywall came off the bathroom walls revealing more of this black demoralizing epidemic of a plague.
Exhausted and Exasperated we all sat down on the floor of an un-quarantined room. Amanda looked at me and said: “so does this mean we are moving into your house?” And two days later I was living in the loft of the church. Which I have to admit isn’t that bad of a bachelor pad.
My square footage has increased, I now live on the water, and I now have no reason why I can’t wear fuzzy slippers to work.
However, this has presented some interesting challenges. Like, I’m still trying to figure out how it takes me longer to get to work every morning when I live at my work place? Or now I have to keep my kitchen clean because I share it with 40 other people. I also can’t skulk around in my pj’s on my days off.
But there are some big bonuses. I’ve gone from 2 Bathrooms to 5. I now have internet, and a wood stove in the basement. Both of which are lots of fun.
All and all, my life has presented lots of fun and creative ways to redefine what it means to be a pastor. Living in the church and giving up my home is one of the many.
