Prayer Morning

I have come out of hiding!! We recently had a fantastic week in Norway and I have been wanting to write about it, but have been waiting for a few spare moments. Of course work always piles up when you are gone, and on top of that our journey was delayed by one day. When we were dropped of at the airport in Alesund and looked for our flight details on display, we were surprised to see 'canceled' by our flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. We had been booked on from there to Manchester, England. Then we would catch the train across the country - 3 hr. ride, and had made arrangements to be picked up on the other end.

Suddenly we found ourselves rerouted to Oslo, Norway, then Frankfort, Germany and arriving in Manchester too late to catch the last train. Thus one more sleep in Manchester before completing our journey the next day. (Piano lessons began within a couple of hours after unlocking our front door.) We are still working on reimbursement for that Hotel bill - our travel insurance wouldn't cover it, and we are still waiting for word back from SAS airline. Oh the joys of traveling!

Anyway, I was talking about the delay in sharing about our Norwegian trip. On top of regular catch up, I had a yearly 'project' that I needed to dive into right away. since it was due this past Monday. I remember last year I roughly calculated the time it took me to get ready for it and it was approximately 90 hours. I knew I couldn't find that much time this year, but I would squeeze in all the extra minutes I could.

The students set aside one morning each month to pray for our missionaries around the world. This year, the March Prayer Morning was dedicated to the Philippines. I wonder why in the world we 'just happened' to be the ones asked to share info on the works there!?!?

The preparation began by writing each of the 70 plus families in that beautiful archipelago in South East Asia, asking them for a short update on their work, recent photos and specific praises or prayer requests. As can be expected, many of them responded right away with exactly what we needed; others wrote that they would do it as soon as possible while still more sent me their latest updates or gave me links to their Websites etc. Quite a bit of correspondence went back and forth until I had the needed info. After looking up Websites, downloading photos and organizing the info into categories, (I choose to do it by Island groups), I was ready to put all of this info into 4 Power Points. Most of this had been done before going to Norway or during our time there.

So now this old country hick from rural Nova Scotia began getting Power Points ready to share with a group of young Techie Europeans!! It is great to have humbling tasks from time to time! On the other hand, however, it truly is a fantastic way of keeping up to date with all of our friends and former co-workers in the Philippines.

I had plans to work morning, afternoon and evening all last week in order to be ready (letting my regular work continue to pile up.)

Monday

Morning - besides taking the time out for a special meeting, I was able to get a good start on it.

Afternoon - thought I would just rush home and quickly get ready for our Bible Study with the Volunteers that night - make a dessert, run a dusting cloth over a few areas, get the lessons ready and rush back to the office. Oh - while I was home, "I'll just bring in the laundry - it looks like it might rain; I'll just get the veggies ready for supper, so I can stay in the office longer. Oh, the phone is ringing, I better answer it in case it is important. And then I'll just wash those few dishes so they drip dry and be ready to put away when I come back." Oops - I better get back to the office before it is time to come home again.

Evening - an encouraging time with the Volunteer girls - wonderful to have 2 new ones join the team since we last met.


Tuesday -

Morning - after taking care of regular emails, back to the PP

Afternoon - thinking this is going rather smoothly - I'll be able to get lots done if I stay until 10:00 tonight. Then Ragnar reminded me that there was a staff meeting that night. Oh well, at least we weren't involved this time - just attending.

Evening - not back to the office until 9:30, but then had a couple of quiet hours.


Wednesday

Morning - I better work on the Prayer Morning Schedule and get it out; talk to the Music group and get a song in our tribal language printed so we could teach it to them.

Afternoon - piano lessons until 8:00 - my last student patiently waited while I made a cup of coffee so we could walk back to the campus together. There were still a few more hours until midnight, so why not put them to good use? OK - got the computer up and running and starting into my first thoughts, when I heard tapping on my window. A couple of sweet young ladies, one visiting from Belgium, were on their way to our home for a visit, but saw the lights on in my office. OK - sounds great - just a couple seconds - I'll shut down the computer, lock up and have the pleasure of walking back with them.


Since there was already a room full of guys upstairs watching soccer with Ragnar, we would take a quiet corner in our lounge - light the candles, turn off the lights, get cookies out of the freezer - make some coffee to snuggle with while we dialogued for the next few hours. I LOVED my time with them.

Thursday - Maybe a whole day to dedicate from early morning to late at night to get all of my thoughts together and down on paper, divide the prayer requests up among the students and put letters in their mailboxes with the needed info for that morning which was getting so close. Only one short break when I received a phone call, "I was wondering if we could get together this morning to talk about....." Oh well, that could be my coffee break.

Bless Ragnar's heart - when 6:30 p.m. rolled around, he offered to go home and cook his own supper, letting me get extra uninterrupted time until 11:00. This was going to work - I would make it on time - I think.

Friday - We ate a yummy fish meal in the dining room at noon so no need to take a break to cook today. So I even surprised myself when at 8:30 p.m. I went home, basically feeling ready and thinking, "I'll just need to go over tomorrow for a full practice run, but I'll be able to get ready for our Open House."

Saturday - We still had planned to go ahead with our Open House in the evening, but I thought for once I wouldn't be able to have home made goodies as I can't be in the office and in the kitchen at the same time. Oh well, everyone loves Dorritos and Salsa anyway. However, now that I felt ready I still would have time to bake.

Just let me put together a slide show to have in the background for an Interview Ragnar will do with a Faith Academy graduate and then off to the kitchen while wondering how many to prepare for. 42 wandered over last week for chatting, games and food. Would it be about the same this week?

Our home is a good size - maybe even a bit big for only 2 people, but when you try to squeeze 30-40 people in, things can seem a bit tight.

So I love the way no one seems to mind - a group of 3-4 cuddle in one corner and a few others fit in a nick in a different room.
Another great evening of fun, food and fellowship. A few stayed on until after midnight, allowing us to enjoy a more leisurely chit chat than is possible with 2 digit numbers.
Monday - the day of the Power Point Presentations has come and gone. The day was special - each second put into it was well worth it. I am so thankful for how smooth everything went and am just trusting that all of my mistakes and things that could have been better were not the focus of the morning.
Interview with Faith graduate.
It was wonderful to see so many people willing to take part and their joy and interest in learning more of what is taking place in the Philippines.


We had been promising the Volunteer girls for quite some time a fun night out. However due to several different reasons it kept getting postponed. So this week we finally were all well and ready to go - a night of bowling and then out for coffee. A great way to get to know them even better, in a relaxing atmosphere.

Coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell - both yummy and well presented.

; So now it is time to play catch up again on my 'real' job before we go away for a 2 day Workshop on Short Termers next week; meet with a couple in the south of England who recently returned home from Guinea; invite a young couple over who are visiting from Switzerland, so we can meet her husband; get started on those bibs I wanted to crossstitch for 2 darling little baby girls before the Norwegian meeting is here at our house; get ready for the upcoming Literacy Course; rehearse my part in the Drama at Reach Conference; get some green shamrock cookies made for coffee break on the 17th; - oh yea, and write about our fantastic week in Norway!