Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We had another full day of work yesterday.  Dave & Holly and Andrea & myself (Shawn) finished off all the yard work outside.  We ended up having two full garbage dumpsters of "rubbish" to be hauled away.   As we were starting to put the final touches on the outside work it started to snow pretty heavily.  When we asked some people how often it snows in Glasgow, they said very rarely.  The weather forecast isn't great for the next couple of days so we are very thankful that we managed to get all the outside work done.

The church building was previously occupied by a school and the basement was used as their cafeteria.  As a result there were some old appliances sitting on the basement stage area.  Sherm B removed some old natural gas lines which enabled us to move the appliances and create some stage space.  Dave R finished installing two new panes of security glass in an external door that were been broken due to some recent vandalism.  Greg V, Jerry L., Dan, & Mark (interns at Re: Hope) completed an extension for the upstairs stage.  Claire H., Crystal R., Joyce L., Karen V. & Doris Mae B. continue to paint and clean, making everything look nice and clean.  Harv B. & Dale R.  continue to install new lights and repair old existing lights that were no longer working.   The place as a whole looks much brighter.

We also made some fresh coffee and purchased some good cookies to hand out to some of the local college students as they made their way to and from class.  It was interesting to see some of the peoples reactions.  Some people ignored us, others wondered what the catch was, and still others were very appreciative of a warm cup of coffee on such a cold wintery day.

This morning the men of our group gathered with some of the men from Re: Hope who meet weekly on Tuesday mornings for prayer.  We prayed and interceded for the church, Glasgow, Lynden, Scotland, and each other.  Shortly after that time of prayer the whole team from Lynden met with the Re: Hope staff so that we could also spend some time praying for them.

Our trip officially ends tomorrow and we are working hard to finish off all the projects today. Our prayer is that we finish strong.  Some of us are staying on for a little longer to do some further traveling and to connect with the Re: Hope community a bit more, but we ask that you would pray for Clarie, Harv, & the Timmers as they travel back tomorrow.   As I mentioned earlier the weather isn't very good here and there has been a lot of cancellations and delays.  We pray that they would have a good flight back with minimal delays and complications.  

Dave R is also feeling a little "under the weather."  (Sorry I couldn't resist the pun.)  In all seriousness though, Dave wasn't able to join us this morning because he isn't feeling well.  We think it could be something he ate last night, so we are hoping and praying that it isn't anything more serious and that he gets better quickly.

Finally, if your interested, Re: Hope is reading the book of John this week for their reading groups.  As a team we've been participating in this weekly rhythm and finding it a difficult but powerful and worthwhile experience.  We would love for you to join us as we continue to read and share three observations with each other.

On behalf of the team and the Re: Hope community we would like to thank you all for your continued support. 

Shalom.