I had a deja vu event this week.  There is a 2 sheet Curling club 5 minutes from the school that offers free ice time.    They provide brooms and sliders for novice curlers.  We have not curled for about 20 years.  Had a great time.  Apparently Brazil used this rink to prepare for the upcoming Olympics.  Kind of like the movie "Cool Running".  It reminded me of the curling rinks in the surrounding farming communities I grew up in.  I successfully met my goal of not falling and hitting the head, and bonus I got 2 out of 4 rocks in the house. ☺

On of those to do things on my list "before we leave for Africa"  was to make a snowman.  Yesterday was a beautiful day and the snow was sticky, perfect for snowman making.  I can check this off the list!☺

Please join us in praying for Haiti this week.

We are both working very hard at our studies and are making progress in our french language studies.  Continued prayer is appreciated.

We love Quebec

Some of our observations:

• The folks here love to spend lots of time visiting over meals.  There is no quick meal at a restaurant.  Here you linger at the table and enjoy the meal and the fellowship.
• There is a huge selection of cheese available at the stores.
• At church, the pastor preaches for at least 45 minutes.

SIM Supper

Being able to spend time with other folks who are planning to serve in Africa is one the most enjoyable aspects of life at the school.  There are students from numerous missionary agencies currently studying french.  On Friday we particularily enjoyed having all of the SIM language students over for supper.  In total there were 9 adults and 2 children.  What a great way to spend the time through fellowship over a meal.

New School Semester

January 5, 2010 and it's time for French language studies to resume.  We have heard that this semester is a lot tougher so admittedly there is some anxiety.

We have blocks of time for which we are required to do clean up in the building we stay in.  This also includes shovelling the snow.  This week is our week and it has decided to snow a lot.  We have to shovel from the apartment to the classroom.  This is a long distance.  Sunday there was enough snow that a number of things were cancelled, including church.  We felt the pain of shovelling for two hours that day.

We have consistently maintained our daily devotions and prayer to keep us uplifted and faithful in our lives.  Now we have also started a new study on the book called 'Seeking the Face of God' by Gary L. Thomas.   This is a book that attempts to help us attain a more intimate relationship with God by using insights from Christian thinkers of the past.  The book is starting off good and we are excited about continuing the study.

Blessings

We are grateful for all those families who gave to our mission in lieu of gifts this year, and the Good News Ladies group. We are exceedingly blessed by the generous spirit of giving.

God bless.

Quebec, did you know?

• We have not met a Quebecer who does not love Canada.♥
• Quebec is passionate about local artisans.
• We see a lot more Honda's and less 1/2 ton trucks.

Christmas Greetings

Salut amis et famille

Merry Christmas

Joyeux Noël

As we are writing this letter, we have just received our schedule for our French language exams next week. These exams include Bible (written and oral) and general French (written, oral, phonetics and vocabulary).

We are sitting at a dining room table, listening to Christmas music, writing letters and cards. Today we have decided we will do no more studying. It is good to have a break.

After exams, we will have a three-week Christmas break. We have been told we are best off staying in Quebec in order to retain the French. We will, however, go to Winnipeg for the first week and return to Quebec on December 21 to join most of the other language students who are staying for Christmas.

Amazingly, we just went for a nice walk around Lac des Nations in Sherbrooke. Today it is December 4 and we are out strolling on a beautiful day around a small unfrozen lake. We are hoping that there will be a white Christmas when we return from Manitoba.

Mid November, we had the privilege to attend the Quebec mission’s festival in Montreal. It was great to be at this event and to be able to spend time with SIM representatives and other missionaries. We had the opportunity to spend time with a couple whom we will be serving with in Galmi.

As an update, there have been some unforeseen difficulties with our apartment and we hope to be moving during the Christmas break. In addition, Orest is going to start getting some significant dental work started in the middle of exams next week. He needs two root canals.

As missionary appointees to Africa, we are excited about the road ahead. It has been a wonderful time to be able to spend time with others who will be going to serve in Africa. There have been trials and times of great joy. We have had so many God experiences in the last couple of years we have had to record everything to keep track of all that God has done for us. We love this part of our life. We are actually starting to understand some French. There is hope for us after all. God is wonderful. In all we do we seek to serve Him to the very best of our abilities knowing He will take us through everything else.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who support us in so many ways.

Reminder - If you want to receive regular email updates then please send us an email and we will add you to our list.

Blessings to all of you.
Bénédictions à tous d'entre vous