Northward Bound!
It's official...Chris and I are going to Canada!
Lots of groups talk about how cool it would be if they could fly us in for a visit/to do some in person PR for the mission at their schools/churches. Most of the time it winds up being just talk, but Bethel Lutheran Church in Sherwood Park, Alberta was serious when they brought up the subject during their servant event in August. Today we got a phone call from the pastor and we're leaving on April 13!!!
Our schedule includes the following:
4/14: presentation at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Edmonton, meeting with the group from there that is planning a May YLM servant event
4/15: playing tourists in Edmonton, including the West Edmonton Mall (maybe the biggest one in the world?)!
4/17: speak about the mission during the sermon at 3 services, help with youth fundraiser
In the meantime, we are still dealing with the aftermath of our recent Canada-like weather in El Paso. The whole city is amid a "water emergency" until 10 pm tonight--no one is supposed to shower, run dishwashers, wash cars, water lawns, do laundry, etc. Laundromats and car washes were forced to close, and schools were urged to do so as well; kids here haven't gone to school since Tuesday! And we have to boil water before drinking it until further notice.
It seems like all we've done around here the last couple days is find new pipe breaks and leaks. One of them involves our main shut-off valve, which is turning out to be a bigger job than we thought it would be, but should still be wrapped up by later this afternoon. The other big problem is #13, where I live. One of the maintenance guys and I were in the crawl space underneath the building for close to an hour fixing 1 problem earlier. We don't think there are any more issues underneath, but there is at least one more inside the house that requires tearing out a portion of wall. It's not in my half, but I feel awful for Pastor Astorga, whose house is currently torn apart and filthy from lots of muddy workers traipsing in and out, and my water can't be turned back on until everything is addressed. Oh well, in the grand scheme of things a taste of how much of the world lives daily isn't such a horrible thing.
Until next time, blessings!
Lots of groups talk about how cool it would be if they could fly us in for a visit/to do some in person PR for the mission at their schools/churches. Most of the time it winds up being just talk, but Bethel Lutheran Church in Sherwood Park, Alberta was serious when they brought up the subject during their servant event in August. Today we got a phone call from the pastor and we're leaving on April 13!!!
Our schedule includes the following:
4/14: presentation at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Edmonton, meeting with the group from there that is planning a May YLM servant event
4/15: playing tourists in Edmonton, including the West Edmonton Mall (maybe the biggest one in the world?)!
4/17: speak about the mission during the sermon at 3 services, help with youth fundraiser
In the meantime, we are still dealing with the aftermath of our recent Canada-like weather in El Paso. The whole city is amid a "water emergency" until 10 pm tonight--no one is supposed to shower, run dishwashers, wash cars, water lawns, do laundry, etc. Laundromats and car washes were forced to close, and schools were urged to do so as well; kids here haven't gone to school since Tuesday! And we have to boil water before drinking it until further notice.
It seems like all we've done around here the last couple days is find new pipe breaks and leaks. One of them involves our main shut-off valve, which is turning out to be a bigger job than we thought it would be, but should still be wrapped up by later this afternoon. The other big problem is #13, where I live. One of the maintenance guys and I were in the crawl space underneath the building for close to an hour fixing 1 problem earlier. We don't think there are any more issues underneath, but there is at least one more inside the house that requires tearing out a portion of wall. It's not in my half, but I feel awful for Pastor Astorga, whose house is currently torn apart and filthy from lots of muddy workers traipsing in and out, and my water can't be turned back on until everything is addressed. Oh well, in the grand scheme of things a taste of how much of the world lives daily isn't such a horrible thing.
Until next time, blessings!
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