Finding a Voice

In the last week of May and first week of June I vacationed in Ontario, Indiana, and Ohio. My cousin Marilou lives in Ontario where she and her husband Jay are church planting with the Free Methodists. Spending time with them is becoming a yearly event, and it's always refreshing. They have two children, Keisha (7) and Joshua (5), who are delighful. Even though I'm a cousin, they call me auntie. One day Keisha very cleverly referred to me as "Auntie" Colleen, using her fingers to indicate quotation marks around "Auntie."

At the end of my time there, I got in on some of the General Conference of the Free Methodist Church in Canada. I must say, the Spirit of God is stronger in this denomination than it has been for a long time. Marilou and I were astounded by the freedom and variety in the Sunday morning worship service. At the same time, we've got very active theologians, keeping us solid and grounded in the truth of God's word. I came away very sure about remaining Free Methodist and very excited to see where God will take us.

From Ontario I flew down to Chicago and took a bus to South Bend, Indiana where my dear friend Crystal picked me up. Crystal was my first roommate in Taiwan and one of my favorite roommates ever. Two years ago I rode Greyhound to her wedding in Idaho. (It was a 46 hour ... but that's another story.) She married Jim, who had lived in the same city we did in Taiwan (Kaohsiung), but after we were there. He married a Chinese woman, they had a baby, Grace, and when Grace was 2 years old his wife died. So he and Grace moved back to Indiana with his parents, but he has always wanted to go back to China, just not as a single dad. Meanwhile, Crystal was working with orphans in China, but getting so lonely. They discovered each other through www.christiancafe.com, had a whirlwind but very sane and intentional courtship and engagement, got married, and now, two years later, they have a 1 year old baby boy and are heading back to China where Jim will teach in an international school. Wow.

It was so good to be with her and to see her as a wife and mother. It seems so natural on her, though I know it's not without challenges. My goal was to fit in with their life. In fact, I fit in so well that the day before I left, Crystal and I realized we had hardly had any time alone, so we stayed up until about 2:00 a.m. visiting and praying with each other. So good. Jim was amazed:, asking, "What did you do all that time?" Crystal replied, "We talked." Jim: "You are such a woman. Men wouldn't do that. We'd rather do something together, but we wouldn't just sit and talk." :-)

Crystal and Jim loaned me their little car to drive to Ohio where I interviewed Jean Rohde Mahn for my thesis project on the history of women at Briercrest Bible Institute. Jean is the daughter of Sinclair and Isabel Whittaker, who were involved in the founding of our school. She is 88, still has quite a sharp mind, has a house full of beautiful antiques (I'm sure she didn't have any furniture less than 50 years old), receives 24-hour care, and lives with a Shih Tzu dog named Muffy. Muffy wears a bow in her hair and is, apparently, "a good Christian dog: she's a Republican and a Presbyterian." Well, she was certainly cute and she seemed to like me.

Jean was a very willing participant in my interviews. I arrived on Friday evening and we just visited over supper, then watched Barbara Walters interview Larry King before turning in for the night. It seemed appropriate to watch these two famous interviewers on the eve of an important interview of my own. In the morning, we had breakfast and visited some more, then we all went to the gym where Jean rides the recumbent bike. She likes to go twice a day. Just before lunch Jean went to her filing cabinet and pulled out some files of letters and articles, then I turned on the tape recorder for our official interview, which went through lunch. As I transcribe and analyze my interviews I'll post more in the future.

After the interview we were exhausted, so we rested. I napped hard for about an hour and when I went downstairs, Jean had arranged for a friend to come and take us on a tour of Ohio University, where Jean's second husband had been assistant to 4 university presidents. Beautiful, impressive campus. Lovely day for a drive around this Appalachian town.

On the drive home I missed the exit that would take me around the perimeter of Columbus and ended up driving directly through the middle of it. This was actually an interesting mistake, as I saw a lot of different neighborhoods and ended up stopping in a coffee shop called Scottie MacBean. One of my reference books on oral history recommended debriefing after an interview and, if one lives further than an hour away from home, to find a coffee shop or restaurant to sit in and write notes. With my Dell Axim X5 Pocket PC and foldable keyboard, provided by Briercrest, I wrote for over an hour, reflecting on the experience of interviewing. It was around 4:30 when I arrived, and while I sat there a band began to set up for their concert that evening. They had many interesting instruments, including banjo and mandolin, and I asked if they could do a number before I left, but it didn't work out. But the woman in the group gave me a demo CD. They're folk and they do a lot of coffee shops and country fairs. Off the top of my head I can't remember their name. If I find it I'll post it.

Then I drove north/northwest back to Indiana for one more day before coming home.