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. ;)

First year of study and traveling to Canada!

Well it has been an eventful past month to say the least! Over May Josh had his final exams for the year - which meant that he has been keeping very busy with study. We also were preparing for our summer assignment, so I was kept busy at home cleaning, and planning for the trip as well as trying to make sure the car was up-to-date and things would be covered in the time we would be away. We had a number of friends who were moving and planning for travel also, so we were able to give them a bit of help in that process. 

The seminary had commencement - which was really great to attend in support of this year's graduates. It was somewhat intimidating and humbling to imagine that, Lord willing, that is where we will be in just another 2 years. 

This year has gone very quickly - and we are very thankful and fully acknowledge how every good thing, every new experience, and all the new things we have been learning have come to us by God's grace - through the love and service of His people. It is one of the most humbling things to live in full and complete trust in God's provision - and I think a very important thing for us to experience as seminary students, and looking into pastoral service in the future. Every day we are aware of the fact that we are here by His grace, and because of the support of the people back home and in the US and now Canada! Everything we have is from His hand - and we are very aware of it because of this experience. 

I am currently writing from our summer home in Abbotsford, British Columbia - and as I look out the window I can see beautiful green fields, tall trees, and a mountain rising just beyond them. We were very blessed to have arrived right on schedule on Friday - after 5 days of travel across the greater part of the US and Canada. It was mind-boggling to have had the opportunity to make this trip, and in the process discover just how vast these countries are. For 3 out of the 5 days of travel we were driving through the grass equivalent of desert - ultimately, prairie land. Something that we Kiwis really had not experienced before - only to arrive on the 4th day to epic mountain vistas. 

On our first day of travel it worked out that we were able to catch up with Beccy and Jake in Madison, Wisconsin. It was fantastic to be able to catch up with them and spend some time - I only wish that we could have had longer!

This kind of thing was a common sight through North Dakota 

Early morning views of North Dakota before we crossed the border into Canada

The left side of this picture was what most of our last images of North Dakota were. It was a very brown, barren kind of a landscape. Quite unlike anything I've seen before. And it just went on and on for miles. As far as the eye could see. It really did have it's own kind of unique beauty to it. One thing that was cool was that because the land is so flat, the sky was massive! And there were some incredible cloud formations. 

Driving through Minnesota

North Dakota (similar to Minnesota huh)

 Providentially the border crossing into Canada went very smoothly. All up it took about half an hour to process the paperwork, and we now have some very pretty and colourful new visas in our passports. :) That's another thing that is great about Canada - their money is really pretty! Makes a change from the greenback that's for sure. ;) 
Our first day of driving in Canada was through Saskatchewan - which was mostly the same as North Dakota. Flat, treeless fields that go on forever. 

Next day we drove into Alberta which for a long time was a similar landscape, but as we drew closer to Calgary we were beginning to see more hills. We stopped off at lunchtime in Calgary - which was a gorgeous city. Everyone there seemed to be very active, they were all either running, walking, biking, rollerblading, skateboarding, etc. It seemed to be very vibrant and friendly, so we enjoyed our short stop there. 

We stopped off in Calgary for a very short walk into the city

We then traveled on into the mountains! Which was very exciting. I tell you what, it was quite an experience. I don't think that we took as many pictures as we would have liked too because we were too busy just soaking in all the natural beauty around us. There is nothing quite like mountains. 

Main street in Banff, Alberta

 We didn't have a huge amount of time - but had planned our trip so that the day before we did extra driving, so that we would have a little more time on our day through the mountains. Because of this, we were able to go for a short hike around the Bow Valley which was well worthwhile - and a welcome stretch for our legs. 

We went on a short hike in the National Park - looks like a painting doesn't it :)

Me taking photos of Josh taking photos

We were happy to be in nature. 

 We were able to see some of the local wildlife - although didn't get any photos because they were either too far away or disappeared too quickly. We were able to spot two bears as we drove down the highway, some white mountain goats, elk and deer. 

In this clearing we not only got to see amazing views mountains but also an Elk.

Lake Louise - still frozen over from the winter

It was amazing to see how much snow there still was on the hills and mountains - although the weather was quite warm. At one point we went up to visit Lake Louise, and it was all still frozen over and covered in snow. Quite surreal to sit there and take in the view in shorts and light sweaters!

At this point we had driven into British Columbia and got to see more mountains :)

 We were so thankful to have the opportunity to take this trip. We have always wanted to  visit Canada but never thought we would get the opportunity. We are now really looking forward to serving in the church here, getting to know the people and for Josh in particular having the opportunity to learn more practically about the ministry. He has been scheduled in to preach at least once a week, as well as hopefully lead some Bible studies and do some visitation. We hope to be able to keep you updated as the weeks progress. In the meantime thank you so much for your prayers and continued support - we appreciate it so much!