Summer Internship Update

Well it is hard to believe that we are already halfway through our time in Abbotsford! Our experience so far on this internship has been amazing. Not only have we been blessed enough to experience an incredible part of God's creation - but the opportunity for Josh to preach and write sermons has been a very valuable one. 

Josh has been preaching every week since we have been here - and for him to practice writing sermons and delivering them has been excellent. The people in the congregation have been really encouraging and he has received some good constructive feedback. It's a huge deal that they would allow for a student to come in and preach - especially when they already have a very excellent minister - but we are very thankful that we have been able to come here. 

I love this congregation in Abbotsford. The people are wonderful - they have shown us a lot of hospitality, generosity and love - even in the short time that we have been here. Every Sunday, and during the week, we seem to be able to get to know more people from the church who we hadn't known so well previously - it's very cool. 

Josh works really hard during the week, and has chosen to work from Tuesday through to Saturday in sermon prep and some visitation. Some days he will go into church to work, but most days now he works from home - that way I can use the car if need be, and it saves an almost hour long round trip (not to mention gas) to get there. Then he usually preaches in one or sometimes both services on the Sunday. So Mondays have been really valuable in regards to him being able to have a bit of breather, and also an opportunity for us to go out together and do some exploring of the area. 

The view from church

On the first Monday that Josh and I had off together we drove in to Vancouver to visit Stanley Park - which was amazing. :) Some people from church loaned us some bikes and so we took them in and rode around the park for the day. I think in total it was about 10k that we rode around the park, and then we biked further out around the coast of the city too - so in total we were biking for about four hours which was fun - and all we had to pay for was some gas and parking (and some ice-cream) - it was well worth it. 

Looking across from Stanley Park to Vancouver city

The bridge that goes through the middle of Stanley Park and heads to north Vancouver 

The other side of the bridge mentioned above

We did shout ourselves some ice-creams at the top of the hill :)

The next Monday Josh had free we were able to explore a little closer to where we are staying in Abbotsford. We drove up to the Bridal Veil Falls just east of Abbotsford - and then further north to Harrison. It is apparently famous for sightings of the sasquatch (from what we could make out, like a Canadian version of Big Foot). We didn't see any while we were there (apart from the ones carved from wood). :) 

Along the walk to Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

We got some lunch and a coffee each and walked around the lake which was really nice. There was a really cool big inflatable fun park floating in the middle of the lake which was pretty neat. Josh and I were tempted to go and play on it - but the water looked really cold, and it cost about $30 each to go on it. :P

Harrison

 After visiting Harrison we drove up around the lake to Hick's Lake, and hiked all the way around it. It was beautiful, and so great to be able to get out into creation and see amazing trees, lakes and mountains pretty much everywhere you looked. 

Hicks Lake

The hike around Hicks Lake - it was so incredibly green!

This past Monday we were really blessed to be able to travel into Whistler with Pastor Swets and his wife Rachel. They drove us up there (it's about 2 hours drive, north of Vancouver) and we got to visit Lost Lake and hike around it, then Josh and I traveled the gondola and went up Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. This was something that did cost a bit of money - but we had set aside some of my babysitting money from earlier in the year so that we could use it for an opportunity like this and we were so thankful that were able to do so. God is so good in providing us with the means to do things that are special and an opportunity to experience His awesome creation! 

Lost Lake

The beach you see in the middle distance is where the last two photos were taken

Whistler village - the architecture was really cool

The gondola ride up the mountain

Getting higher all the time!

Whistler Mountain (and Josh's arm)

On the Peak to Peak gondola heading to Blackcomb mountain

The view on the way home out the window - driving along the coast of BC and the edge of Canada.
It was beautiful!

Last week while Josh was working hard, I was also blessed to be able to go on a couple of day trips with some new friends from church. We visited White Rock beach which was gorgeous, and it was so great to eat fish and chips on the beach again! 

The view off the end of the pier

On Thursday I was able to help out with some preparation for VBS (Vacation Bible School) which starts up next week. That was a lot of fun, and it was another good opportunity to get to know some more people from church. 

Immanuel United Reformed Church where we are privileged to be serving this summer!

The view out the back of the church and across the car park

Across the street from church

On Saturday another group of friends took me along to the Science Museum in Vancouver - they even gave me a free entry ticket! It was a lot of fun playing with the kids in all the different activities - and we also were given free entry into the IMAX theatre where they showed a movie set in West Papua about the coral reefs and sea life there - it was very cool.

We had some more opportunities to spend some time visiting with some more families in the church last week as well - the hospitality we have been shown here has been an amazing example to us. 

So all in all time is flying by. It is hard to believe that we are over halfway through our time here, and soon will be making our way back to Chicago. However in the meantime we are really enjoying the opportunity to be here - meet new people and enjoy another part of the world. We are very blessed!

If anyone has any other questions about Josh's internship or our time in Canada you are welcome to contact us directly, we would be happy to catch up with you! If you are interested you can also listen to Josh's sermons here. So you can check up on what he is preaching about. ;)