Sunday October 28, 2007

Rain, Relaxation & Montreal

We enjoyed a relaxing morning with Claude and Huguette, then went to The Chalet for lunch – the same place we had been for supper on Wednesday).  From there we went to the truck stop to meet Len and Sue Reimer.  He is lead chaplain at the Woodstock Chapel in Ontario.

Claude, Len, and Sue in the truck stop restaurant.  We were having such a good time visiting and showing them the new chapel, that I forgot to take pictures.  This is the only one I got.

Len and Sue were representing TFC at a mission’s conference at The People’s Church in Montreal – the reason they are in this area.

Can you guess where we stopped for a quick hamburger on the way to Montreal last night?

I wanted to get a picture of Montreal as we crossed the bridge – and tried using a high speed setting.  This is what I got!  Since I was on the wrong side of the car, I gave the camera to Cerwin for a flash picture, but there were too many cars in the right lane, and not enough opportunities for a photo.

We arrived at The People’s Church just before 7:00 p.m.  This church, a member of Associated Gospel Churches, is multiculture and very mission-minded. 

The service was in English, but several speakers were difficult to understand because English was their second language.  The moderator has a strong accent of some African language, a woman who shared about her work in a pregnancy center was French, and the speaker was from Costa Rica.

Len and Sue’s TFC display in the church basement.

Montreal is a large city with lots of tall buildings, reminding us a bit of New York City.

On the way home I pondered some of the challenging thoughts from Rev. Nery Duarte, who likened the Christian life to an EMT.  (He works on an ambulance one day a week.)

1. Be prepared (study)
2. Access the needs (look around you)
3. Call for help (use the skills of others)
4. Do what you can (bloom where you are planted)
5. Be happy in your position (learn to be content)

My favorite thought tonight:  Sometimes you do something noteworthy or heroic, other times it is your job to “hold the light” for someone else.