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| St. John's Church |
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| The team at St. John's |
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| The team at St. John's with Sue |
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| Sarah's House |
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| On the Ferry |
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| Alison's house by the bay |
Sarah and Sue (the main organisers) met us at the hotel and drove us to the ferry port just outside Vancouver, and we had a lovely ferry ride in the sunshine over to the Island. It was amazing to see the mountains on either side of the channel. We went straight to Shirley's house - Shirley is one of the main characters of St. John's church, and is singing in the choir. She's larger than life and great fun. She fed us a lovely dinner and then we went to our hosts houses. All of us are staying at Maple Bay, which is about a 10-15 minute drive from Duncan. Roger, Devon and Bill are staying with Deborah, who is the vicar of St. Peter's church. She lives in a lovely house right on top of a hill with a view down into the bay. Ann and I are staying at Alison's house. Alison is also a member of St. Peter's, although has a salvation army background. She is very trusting and incredibly generous, as she only spent the first two evenings and mornings with us, and then has flown off to Florida, leaving us in charge of her house for the rest of the time. The house is amazing - right on the waterfront.
On Friday we had a restful morning and then a team meeting over lunch. Alison took Ann and I for a walk around her house in the morning, and we saw deer, bald eagles, robins the size of pigeons, woodpeckers, a humming bird, and her next door neighbour - 93 year old Laura. We had a pot luck dinner with the choir, and then a rehearsal at night. I don't know where Roger got the energy from to lead the rehearsal, but he did amazingly well. We covered about half of the songs, and we have a rehearsal tonight. The choir have been very well trained by Sue. Devon seems to know everyone and is greeting each person like a long lost friend. Amazing.
Saturday we held a Rock Roadshow at St. John's. About 40 or so were there. I led some worship to begin with, and they were all really up for it - it was hard to stop them at the end! Roger then spoke about 'I will follow you' - really the basics about following Jesus. After a break he led a creative/prophetic workshop, and got everyone improvising in worship. I think they really enjoyed it. After lunch I led a Holy Spirit workshop with everyone - the most basic one about receiving. They were so open and receptive, and lots people shared about how they had received. We also had at least one of the words we had received at EBRG claimed - the one about the broken collarbone.
On Saturday evening we went to Sarah's for dinner, and her husband Gary had cooked for us. He had been fishing that morning and caught fresh salmon, huge prawns and crab. Wonderful food, if very messy to eat!
Yesterday was another full day. We took most of the morning service at St. John's. Dale, the vicar, was very generous in giving us plenty of space to lead worship and for Roger to preach. There were quite a lot of people there, which was encouraging for the church congregation. Normally they have two services - a 9am traditional service, which is the most popular, and then a 10.30am more modern service which only gets 10-20 people.
In the evening they wouldn't normally have a service, but they deliberately organised a united service with the other churches of the area. Roger began by explaining the tabernacle structure for a block of praise - enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise, and then entering the most holy place. Ann then led a block of praise afterwards which followed that structure. I think the block was a lot longer than they are used to, but most people went with it. Then Roger spoke about the Transfiguration, and we ended the service with some more praise and a bit of ministry.
Today we have a free day, which is nice, and then a rehearsal with the choir at 5pm.
I hope you are all well.
Helen
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