Almost Weekly Report

Well, it’s been almost 2 weeks since my last report. Which effectively illustrates the “almost” part of the Weekly Report. Once again the two main factors for my failure to post anything has been due to my busyness and the lack of internet access I have.

Right now, I’m writing to the cyber world via my Parent’s house in Duncan, BC. I made the trip down yesterday after dropping a friend off at the ferry in Nanaimo. It is nice to have a break, last week was a whirlwind. The church helped out with the canada day celebrations, so in the morning I was up at 8:00 getting ready to flip pancakes, then at 10:00 it was off to put together a float for the church, then the parade, then a brief break, then we had a community barbeque at which we fed about 200 people. It was lots of fun.

We finished the night off by getting together to watch the Movie ‘the burbs’. And let me say, it was quite the cultural experience. I’ve never watched the movie before and I was watching it with people who had watched the movie hundreds of times. So rather than having an instant replay, I had an instant preview of what was to come in the movie. This was because the people on either side of me were on the edge of their seat with expectation of what the next line was in the movie.

The most exciting part of the day was when I got to go for a ride on a Coast Guard zodiac. I had always dreamed of riding on one and seeing how fast it could go. It was an absolutely thrilling experience, so as a result, I just had to film it with my camera. Check out the video on youTube here: Canada Coast Guard Ride

Well, I know it’s been a long time, almost 2 months since I’ve posted about the experiences that I’ve been having in Port Alice. I can always tell that I need to say something or update the almost weekly report, when my parents start making comments about it being the “almost monthly” or “almost quarterly” report. Thanks for the reminder mom and dad.

It has been a whirlwind of the past two months, I’ve had tons of things happen and when there is so much happening two distinct problems occur. 1) I don’t have time to write about it, 2) I don’t know how to differentiate and write about specific occurrences. So, now that I have some time, I will make an attempt to give you an overview of what has been happening in my life in Port Alice.

In the Last two months, the events of note are as follows:
I found a Gun, was inducted into the church by Ken Russell our District super intendant,  Was visited by My family Twice (Once with my nephew Noah), Saw an average of 3 bears on each trip into Port Hardy (times an estimate of 14 trips = approx. 42 bear sightings), Had a clean up day at the church, Planted 3 Gardens, helped the Hovde’s re-roof their house, Prepared about 8 sermons, Helped George Ewald in Port Hardy lead worship, visited Duncan, Victoria and Sidney, watched 5 seasons of Startrek TNG, attended a wedding for my friends Mike and Michelle, and put 8000 km’s on my  car.

I must, however, make note that the hardest part this two months was when we had to say Goodbye to Marilyn Cox. Although she’s now in her new home with Jesus, we all miss her.

So, as you can see it has been a busy two months, hard to choose from if you are going to write about what’s happening. This last weekend, was another eventful one. Our church was blessed to have a worship team come up from Campbell River Christian Fellowship and lead worship at our church.  They were kind enough to let me play the piano and sing with them, but I think that might have been the trade off for them invading my house. They are a crazy bunch of people which meant that we had a lot of fun, and even more food.

Home is a tricky thing. It’s strange for some of us it is a foundational concept and place. It never changes and never moves. It is our security.

Last week I was in Langley for our district conference, It was good to be able to connect with peers, mentors and friends. But it was a long and busy three days. During that time I was able to stop by in Surrey and say hi to some of the Staff and Kids I worked with, then I had lunch with a couple of good friends. Then more food with more friends.

By the time I was on my way back to Port Alice I was ready to be at home. The only problem for me is that Home hasn’t always been a foundational, unchanging thing in my life. It has at times eluded me. In fact, the entire week before conference I was questioning whether or not I had actually settled in at my new ‘potential’ home.

Well, after a long and busy conference, and an even longer Drive. Tired I pulled into Port Alice and realized: I was home.

Well, reality has set in. I now live in Port Alice. Although, I still occasionally catch myself thinking that I need to go back to Surrey soon. It is a strange feeling when this happens.

I guess that the reason this reality has finally settled in has been because of a couple of things. First has been the rain. For the last week and a half, I have been trying to garden. I make plans to go outside in a morning or afternoon, and it will be sunny, then when I want to go out and garden… it’s raining. 5 Minutes later (literally) it will be sunny again.

Second, once again gardening related, I went to Campbell river and bought a Gas WeedEater. When I finally had the weather to try it, I filled it with Gas (yes it was mixed), and then started it. It ran for about 30 Seconds and then stopped. The motor ceased, but in order to take it back I have to drive 3 hours. Oh well. That’s life.

Despite the downsides to this new reality, I am really enjoying myself. And I love the pace of the town, and haven’t had a problem finding things to do.

Well, I’ve survived my first week in Port Alice. It was a busy week, but indeed I survived.

There have been lots of interesting experiences, some new, some old. I’ve met lots of people, struggled to learn names, and seen whales in the inlet. It’s real suffering.

I arrived last tuesday to a welcoming party who quickly unpacked my stuff into my house. I learned a valuable lesson, it takes 10 people 1 hour to unpack and put away all my stuff. Which could mean a couple things 1) I don’t have that much stuff, or 2) the moving and unpacking team were very efficient.

Overall, it has been an incredible week, and I have been blown away by the support of the people here. I am starting to settle into my new house, and it is gradually becoming a home. My home.

Well… here I am, yet again traveling! However, this time I’m not wandering around Northern BC (although I did enjoy it!). This time, I’m moving to my NEW HOME! That’s right, my new home. I’m on my way to Port Alice.

For those of you who do not know, Port Alice is on the North End of Vancouver Island and is 45 min from Port Hardy (the most northern town on the Island). Now I know what you are asking, ‘why on earth would you be going there?’ AND/OR ‘are you crazy?’. So first I will give you the simple answer: Because AND/OR Yes.

I’m going to Port Alice for work, more specifically to be the Pastor (yes, senior pastor) of Oceanview Christian Assembly. Right now the plan is that I will be there for 1 year, and then we’ll see what happens.

It’s a very interesting prospect as I will find lots of new experiences and things to learn. And you will be able to journey with me with ‘almost weekly’ right here at the Almost Weekly Report.

So as of tomorrow, the return address on all my outgoing mail will read Port Alice, BC.

I have now driven over 1500 km’s into the great white north; crashed on a couch in William’s Lake last Tuesday, survived a snow storm in the Pine Pass the following wednesday, and made it safely to Chetwynd.

In Chetwynd I had the pleasure of catching up with my friends the Helsets. They are the pastors at one of the local churches. Dennis during the first few days was away in Edmonton attending a wedding with his daughter. So I was afforded the opportunity to preach. Dennis got back late that sunday night, and after spending some time with him the next morning I headed up to Fort St. John.

That is where I am now, in Fort St. John. It is strange and surreal. I haven’t been up here for 6 whole years and it is strange to see all the changes. I am staying with my friends Mitch and Caron Branch. The Plan as it stands is that I will be back in Surrey on Thursday, this should hopefully give me enough time to finish the job of packing up my house.

Along this whole northern adventure I took the time to stop and take a picture of the Peace River. It was taken at an outlook about 20 mins outside of Hudson Hope on the highway from Chetwynd to Fort St. John.

Well, it has been an eventful week! I never knew that saying goodbye could be such an exhausting thing. It seems like I was continually going to a Go-Away party (Read “goodbye party”), or making a point of stopping to see someone in case I didn’t get a chance to say ‘see ya later’.

It started with visiting Connaught Heights and letting them know what was up, then on monday I had a goodbye party at the District Office to say my formal farewell to the staff there. Then monday night was the last night at Nightshift. Thursday was Goodbye to the Preteens. Friday was goodbye to the Childcare Kids, Parents and Staff… then the Youth in the evening. And finally it all came to an end with the Sunday Celebration! Whew, am I glad that’s all over. It’s tiring.

Despite the end of the continual state of farewell, the journey continues. Tomorrow morning I leave for William’s Lake, BC. Here I get to visit my step-cousin twice removed. Eventually my travels will take me up to Chetwynd and Fort St. John, BC and back down to Surrey for the anticipated Moving Day.

All I can say is this… I can’t wait till I finally get to Port Alice. It seems quite far off. But it wouldn’t be an adventure otherwise and I am truly thankful to all the people who are supporting, encouraging, and blessing me along the way.

Well,  in preparation for another move I am faced with a challenge of my skills. There are so many things that I would like to do, and even more things that I need to do.

First off, I would like to get this blog to the point where I can distribute it’s address and feel comftorable with sending people to the site (so as a result your input helps). Second, I would like to catalogue my books as I put them into boxes so I know what I have. This undertaking requires a lot of time, and I don’t necessarily have a lot. Third, I need to finish all the projects that I had started before I leave for Port Alice. I had started things with UCM that I would really like to finish, brochures and advertising. You know projects.

Finally, I would just like to be done! I have no clue how I’m going to make it through this week.

Well, here you are. This is the NEW ‘Almost Weekly Report’. Or at least the start of it.

Some of you may have followed the AWR previously at our blogspot location and you probably noticed that the Blogging had become less frequent. Let me reassure you, AWR still exists! It is just undergoing a transformation.

I found that in increased measure that I was being limited by the format of our previous home (Blogspot). It served us well, but it is time for a change. This new Format is currently a work in progress, and it isn’t an attempt to revive something that was dead, but rather grow and expand what already existed.

Hopefully you will find the growing AWR all the more versatile and even more useful. So check back almost weekly for new changes.