Fall Meeting of CoGS

At a time in the semester when I really should not have been going anywhere I took off to Toronto last weekend for the fall meeting of the Council of General Synod for the Anglican Church of Canada. And of course, I loved it. I loved every moment of it even though the evenings were late and the mornings were early. Our three days of meetings were very full from 8am Bible Study to 9pm Night Prayers.

CoGS 2010-2012 Group. Picture from anglican.ca 

I love the work and I love the people. I always learn tons and with this being our third meeting I was feeling more present and all the material didn't seem new and unknown. The relationships and conversations that take place sustain me, challenge me and support me. People are amazing.

There were many highlights, here are just a few:
- Conversations about Vision 2019 and the Marks of Mission. How do we encourage diocese to live these out so we get it beyond the National Church?
- Our "fireside" chat with the Primate and General Secretary. A lovely open conversation.
- Looking forward to General Synod 2013. This will be the first joint Anglican-Lutheran national meeting for the church and is what the Primate has described will be a "historic" day for the church.
- The Celebration of New Ministry: Welcoming Michael Thompson in as General Secretary. Alongside this was being asked to read the prayers of the people, it was a great honor and an important reminder to me that I love being part of leadership in liturgy! And as for our new General Secretary - well he is one amazing and faith filled and generous man.
- The Sacred Circle with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. Hearing from Bishop Mark Macdonald that  we need to "build a church that the poor can afford". This is the second time I've heard this from Bishop Mark and I think it's something we all need to listen to. We heard the message that the Anglican Council of Indigenous People are at a point where it is time to stop asking and time to start doing. They are not going to wait any longer for the rest of the church. This was heard with great encouragement by the group but also great sadness that we have not been able to respond to the needs.

And of course so much more took place. On a personal level, I was asked to assist with the administration of Communion at our Sunday morning (early) service. At a time when I still would have been in bed I was reminded how very much I feel called to the sharing of the sacraments... I can't explain it. But I feel something that I don't always feel otherwise when assisting with that part of the service. And I love it.

Again, the people. I have so much appreciation for the conversations, time and encouragement that happens when we gather. It guides me and keeps me going. It also makes it so I don't want to leave.

So yes, I left at a point in the semester when I should have stayed home. But it has also renewed me, empowered me, energized me and encouraged me. It was good, so very good. It was also exhausting and intense requiring a full Tuesday of sleep. But it was worth it.

Only in Youth Ministry

My roommate and I got talking this past weekend about the upcoming youth group gathering on Monday night. This week the youth were challenged to build some kind of protection around an egg so that when dropped from the top of a ladder it had a chance of not breaking. We got talking before hand and eventually came up with the idea to make a large container of jello and have our egg dropped into it. And we carried out this crazy plan. Hours and hours of making jello... our fridge was filled with jello. This was possibly one of the craziest things I had ever agreed to carry out!

I spent Sunday night picturing it all going wrong. I could see the egg hitting the jello and bouncing onto the floor - reaching it's pending death. I was imagining jello and egg everywhere. I was filled with uncertainty and the many imaginative conclusions that I had come up with during the night. And the next day - my only thought (beyond this is crazy) was "how are we disposing of this massive amount of jello afterward?" (Still to be determined!)

What did I learn on Monday night? That the youth I work with are very good "protection" builders... none of their eggs broke. Okay, I probably allowed way too many supplies and way too much time - but we had fun in the building process! And the jello... all turned out well. The egg was surrounded by the jello and protected from breaking. It was the coolest thing ever and I am still amazed that it actually worked! The egg bounced and then was kind of suctioned in...

View the video here (and I promise, we didn't eat the jello afterwards!):

It's that time of the semester

Fall leaves at Thompson Rivers University

That time... that long waited for and yet completely dreaded time has come. Three more weeks of classes left and yet the work load is massive. Two short papers, one research paper, an in class write, multiple quizzes, books to read, exams to study for... there are three weeks before classes are over and exams begin. Three weeks until December is here - my month of rest and renewal. Three more papers until I'm that much more closer to being done. And yet all I want to do is put on a movie and rest. No reading, no composing, no analyzing, no thinking. I'm ready to sit and pause.

This is the time in the semester when I have to pull all the little pieces of energy and try to put it into the work that needs to be finished. This is when I need to say, "Melissa focus on what needs to be done." This is when I struggle to motivate myself. These are the weeks when cooking and baking finds time, my house stays clean, things become organized, and youth group ideas and plans don't stop appearing in my head. These are the weeks when all the things that don't need to be done at this moment get accomplished.

Three more weeks. Three more papers. I can do this.
Which means - I need to start that next paper...

In other news... the fall leaves were beautiful this year, especially on campus and on the sidewalk near the Cathedral. The trees are quickly becoming bare and we've had one snow fall already. Winter is coming!

Weekend Visitors

Taylor, Rhys and Aaron

For the first time since I moved back into Kamloops after spending the summer at Sorrento Centre Taylor, Rhys and Aaron came for a weekend sleepover. They are growing up, really quickly. It won't be long before they are all taller then me. It won't be long before they are all wiser then me. But, they will always be my youngest siblings even when they get to that age when I am no longer "cool" to hang out with!

We had a great weekend together. They came bowling with the youth group on Friday night, we spent Saturday painting, shopping and swimming and Sunday was filled with Church and lunch with Stewart.

Our painted creations!

Painting was the big task for the weekend. The basement suite I'm living in this year (which I love) has really bare walls. So, I picked up some paint and canvas and gave the kids the all important task of painting lovely pictures for my walls. And that is exactly what they did! On Friday night I told them that they needed to think of what they wanted to paint... "you can paint anything you want," I told them. Saturday morning Aaron said to me, "I can paint anything I want?" "Yep, anything you want," I said. After a few moments of thinking he turned to me and said, "I can paint the stairs?" Wait a minute!! He thought we were painting the walls! Am I ever glad that I didn't just put the paint on the table and go do something else... that would have been interesting!

Stewart came over for lunch and a visit on Sunday after church. It was wonderful to spend time with Stewart and the kids were really excited to see him. Stewart and I looked through some pictures of our childhood years - I must admit... we were pretty cute toddlers!

I did a lot of cooking with my crock pot over the weekend. My first roast beef in the crock pot turned out just amazing - so tender and delicious. And then Sunday morning I put sloppy joe stuff in before heading to church and we had an amazing lunch when we got home! I love my crock pot... it's amazing!

The weekend was great and I can't wait for the kids to come over again... although I have decided I'm never having triplets. Going from having responsibility for zero children to three children is exhausting!

Mornings

I have always loved the mornings... I just am unable to actually get up and enjoy the peaceful quite time unless there is something I have to do. So when my phone went off on Saturday at 6:16 in the morning, a staff member asking when and who unlocked the front gate I got up to let him out, not wanting to move and yes, rather grumpy about it... but I kept that to myself. (And no, it was not my responsibility!!) I got to the gate to find the staff member and a guest trying to leave and our food delivery truck trying to get in (thank goodness he didn't leave with our food!!). Since I was already up I decided to walk down to the beach to unlock it a the same time, otherwise I'd be wandering out again in forty five minutes time.

By the time both gates were unlocked at the beach I was not very pleased that I was out of my warm bed and in the

coolness of the morning. Knowing that I had to shake this feeling off I went and sat on a log overlooking the lake and took in the sun, silence and prayed. I looked over the waters to see an odd shape and movement by one of our docks... and then another, then it disappeared and back again. I looked closer and came to the conclusion that it was an otter feeding in the water and eating on the surface. And not one otter but four!

I stood next to the waters edge and just looked, just watched this sight that I had never seen in the waters at Sorrento Centre. And as I watched I calmed down, my grumpiness began to leave, I started to become thankful for the day and the early morning. And I gave thanks for this most sacred God moment, a reminder that all is good, all is good!

I'd love to awake early in the morning and enjoy that time before the world becomes active again... but until my late nights at the Centre disappear and I get back into a regular routine... I'll take what comes!

Batty Tales

I've had my fair share of crazy (but exciting) things happening to me over my four summers at Sorrento Centre... but I now have had an experience that has given me much greater sympathy for those who wake up in the night to a great surprise! Took four years, but I've now survived my first bat adventure!

I woke up on Tuesday morning at 2:17am hearing something flying in my room, I tried to ignore it but I was just getting more and more freaked out. So I turned on my light and there I saw a bat circling my room. Ah!!! Turned off light and hid under blankets until I accepted that I had to get it out of my room. So, I got up, opened my door, turned on the hall light and waited. Once it departed by room and took refuge in the hallway I hid in the bathroom. Eventually I realized I had to go back to bed, peaked outside the bathroom and didn't see the bat anywhere. Relived that it had made it's way to the living room I went back to my room.

I was partially asleep again at 3:45am when I woke up hearing something crawling on fabric and making a strange noise. I tried to convince myself that it was just the start of the coming rain. I decided that if I moved my curtain and listened carefully to the rain hitting the roof all would be fine. I chickened out of moving from my bed (if there is a mouse on my floor I will freak!!). So I turned on my lamp and scanned the room and saw the bat climbing my curtain, turns out it did not go into the living room but took refuge back inside my bedroom. This time I left the room, turned on the hall light and as soon as it flew out of my room I ran back in and closed the door. Just to be on the safe side I but a blanket at the bottom of my door. At this point, I have no idea what this bat is willing to do to get back into my space!

All was fine now that I knew the bat was out of my room and I slept... fully prepared to find the bat in the morning on a wall in the hallway. Morning came and no bat could be found. We searched everywhere with no luck, I was beginning to wonder if it had all been a dream. But no, one of the girls said that the hall light was one when she got up... and I definitely was not sleeping under the same blankets when I woke up as I was when I went to bed the first time. Thankfully, moments before going to bed Tuesday night someone saw the bat on the curtain by the main door... I called the farmhouse and two of the guys came to my rescue and removed it.

The bat was adorable - they are cute when they just sleep and stay in one place. They are cute when they are not in my bedroom!! It seems to by my summer to deal with crazy creatures... dead or alive. And this does not impress me at all.

Summer beginnings...

I'm halfway through my summer work at Sorrento Centre and things are now in full swing. Last week was our Anglican Programming Week One, what I call the “experimentation week” began. This is the week where I re-learn what forms of scheduling works, how to gather enough time in each day to accomplish all that needs to be done, how the staff team is going to mesh together as community, so on and so forth. And I love it, I love all of it. Some days and moments are more crazy then others, but the end product of the week often is feeling prepared for the coming four weeks of Anglican Programming.

A few things took place last week that have been first time occurances for me, even though this is my fourth summer here. 1) We had a very sweet elderly lady on site who required a lot of assistance and I somehow took on a major piece of that role. It was great to be able to help her, which in return meant she was able to say for the whole week and enjoy her Sorrento Centre experience. And yes, for a few days I thought that I'd make a good seniors care aid... but by the end of the week that thought too had gone! 2) I cancelled our water fight on Thursday afternoon due to the thunder and lightening storm that was taking place. Safety comes first, but it doesn't mean our young folks were not disappointed. 3) Again, due to the weather our Variety Night had to be held indoors opposed to outside in Kekuli - our large outdoor round gathering place.

All this learned, experienced and discovered while figuring out how the summer is going to work the most smoothly... And now, day two of our second week of programming... we have had yet another storm and three of our buildings are without power. Two of which hold guest accommodation and the kitchen. To top that, my laundry (for the second time this summer) is stuck in the washing machine while the power is still out...

The best part so far. Seeing and listening to the pure excitement of the staff team as they learn, face challenges, plan new pieces of the work life, and continue to love God and what they are doing. They are amazing, tons of fun, and super energized and engaged in the community.

Here's to waking up to the power being back on in the morning... it would help with the breakfast making and laundry doing...