Sunday, April 26, 2009

home again home again...

We've made it home. As you've read, our trip out to Saskatchewan was fraught with adventure... and as it turned out our return trip was no less exciting. We were at the Saskatoon airport bright and early and lifted off from there without mishap at about noon. There was a brief layover in Winnipeg and we headed for Toronto. At Toronto the weather was a bit nasty and we were forced to circle for about forty five minutes. The timing for our connection was close, but we made it.

We landed in Halifax about 11pm. We bundled all of our luggage into the car and hit the road. The battery light was on, but soon blinked off as the alternator charged it. This however was a short lived relief... just after we got on the road the battery light blazed back again. We got past Sackville and were approaching the last exit for quite a piece at Mount Uniacke. The lights started to dim and blink. so we gunned it for the exit and made it just to the Irving station in time. Our little car quietly died. I made a late night call to our mechanic, Lizs' brother Jonathan, and then to a good friend of ours in Windsor, Adam Pearce. Jonathan confirmed the death of the car (certificate pending) and Adam clambored out of bed and came to retrieve the weary travellers.

Now that you all know how poorly we seem to travel, I'll give you an update on the week at Timber Bay. It was fantastic! The seminars were run by World Resource Group and focused on Worldview training. There were some wonderful insights, some practical experience examples and a good deal of interactive group work, which all served to help us to learn to be learners. A vital piece of cross cultural ministry is the ability to learn and understand, in an appropriate way, the charactersitics and nuances of individuals and groups. Liz and I were both blown away by the material packed into the week. We certainly have a lot to think about... and read. I took the opportunity to visit the bookstore at headquarters and filled my suitcase with materials.

The fellowship at the conference was huge for us as well. We had the opportunity to meet and chat with a lot of people over the course of the week. It was a great encouragement and we look forward to seeing them again at general conference in August.

If you'd like to see more pictures from the week, click here for an album. And then simply click on the thumbnails to see the larger images.

The seminars were held in the Rec Center at Timber Bay Bible Camp.

After we'd woken up enough of our friends we figured we'd resign ourselves to our fate and unpack the deceased car.

5 comments:

apraxis said...

So What was your world view at the moment of the demise of you car?

apraxis said...

Was it possibly the alternator?

The Fawcetts said...

There is indeed a strong possibility that it is the alternator. My brother-in-law is picking me up shortly to go and put in a new one. I'll certainly publish the results :0)

It's an interesting question regarding worldview as well. I've found myself looking differently at things, trying to assess my worldview. My reaction to the 'death' of the car was certainly driven by my worldview - did my reaction line up with the Biblical Worldview... probably not, but maybe that's the point.

If I take the opportunity to learn from the situation and shift my Worldview even a little bit to be more in line with Christ then it is for the best.

Mike Matthews said...

Amen, on your "worldview" analysis.

Hope the car got revived.

The Fawcetts said...

Indeed - it is revived... we're once again mobile!