The purpose of this mission trip is to coordinate a combination Christian Sports Camp/VBS in Western Canada. Sports to teach include basketball, soccer, and baseball. VBS activities and Bible lessons will be a part of the daily program. This mission request is part of a major church planting emphasis in Canada by our North American Mission Board. It is held in connection with Westlynn Baptist Church.
This is the 6th trip from Missouri to lead these camps.
Saturday, Aug 2
Our group left the church parking lot at a little before 8 and headed to Lambert. While this trip is not as long to other trips to the other side of the world, the trip ended up taking much longer than expected. There were considerable problems with United Airlines, mostly based on events in Chicago. We were booked on flights, then changed, then changed again. Our luggage also got moved, theoretically, from flight to flight. Initially, we were to leave for Chicago around 11, and then get to Vancouver by about 5:30 pacific. When it was all said and done, we flew American Airlines to Seattle (leaving at 6:30pm central) and then Horizon Airlines to Vancouver (leaving at 11 pm pacific). We finally arrived in Vancouver airport around midnight - and our luggage flew on United. Thankfully, we made it through customs and our luggage was waiting for us. This is an answer to prayer, as is safe travel, albeit not as we intended.
We traveled wearing the same somewhat obnoxious (meant in a nice way) colored shirts that say WANNABE like Christ on the front, and "Your attitude should the same as that of Christ Jesus - Philippians 2:5" on the back. As on previous mission trips, a group of more than three or four people that are wearing the same shirts draws some attention. We had several people that were encouraged by the shirts and others that said they liked them. Also, it was good for us to have a reminder of the attitude that we needed to have, with all of the frustrating travel.
Janet Campbell met us at the airport, with a rented minivan. We crammed the luggage in the minivan and finally ended up at the host homes by about 1:30am pacific). Dianne is staying with the Clelands (Casey and Kim) again. The Gravitts are with the North family again, while Don and Randy are at the Stirks. We are blessed to have gotten to know these families and others up here over the past several years, and we enjoy the time we spend with them.
The church is providing breakfast and lunch on Sunday. Randy will be preaching in church. We'll have a team meeting, to discuss particulars about the week today and then we'll setup the school for the camp. We appreciate all prayers, as we will hopefully impact lives of the kids and families here, and as we may see God at work in our own lives.