Finding a Voice

There were little butterflies in my stomach on Saturday as I passed the Chilliwack sign with a feeling of somehow arriving home in Greater Vancouver. Will I ever live here again? Who knows. For now I'm glad to visit and sing ...

NEW BOOKING

I'll be singing at the Menno Simons Centre on Wednesday evening: 4000 West 11th Ave, Vancouver. It feels a bit like coming home, as I lived there for two years while attending Regent College.

SUGAR

The Vernon benefit concert was lovely. Twenty-two people came, a few of whom had never heard of New Hope before. I donated a door prize from among my fairly traded foods. The man who won chose the combo option of dried fruit & natural cane sugar. Later he told me that his wife (who died 2 years ago) had bought some natural cane sugar, and he had finished the last of it that morning. Wow, that's timing. Isn't it just like God to give those little comforts along the way?

On Sunday morning I sang at Saanich Community Church in the Saanich area of Victoria. Lovely Mennonite Brethren church with rich musical harmony. My host, Kathleen Busch, is their Associate Pastor, so I went along for the church BBQ that afternoon and got to tour the most amazing tree farm you've ever seen: 500 dwarf fruit trees on 1/2 an acre! We sampled delicious apples and plums and witnessed lemons growing in a temperate climate! The lemons will ripen in January, and the farmer's secret to preventing frost kill is old-style Christmas lights! Who knew?

Sunday evening I sang a concert at Kathleen's home. We had no idea how many to expect and ended up with two guests. I'm learning that even one is enough and whoever comes are the right people. House concerts are the perfect venue for me: small, personal, with mutual encouragement and ministry. One of the women last night is a prairie girl by birth. When I sang the first line of "Prairie Soul" she gasped, covered her mouth, and teared up: "I've been away from the prairie for a long time now ..." It was so informal and lovely. They listened to my songs and my sharing, but we also had little (and big) discussions throughout the concert. That's the beauty of the house concert venue. House concerts are a new phenomenon and I'm loving it.

SALTS

Monday was a day of rest and sight-seeing. Kathleen had the day off, so we toured around, visiting the SALTS shipyard where former Briercrest colleague, Loren Hagerty, is the Executive Director. Loren is fairly new to the world of ocean-going, but not new to the world of educating and leading. His passion for the SALTS mission is very clear and infectious.

COFFEE

As you know, I'm selling fairly traded coffee and fruit at my concerts. In fact, it seems that most places where I stop, even when I'm not singing, people want to buy coffee from me! That helps put gas in my car and every bag of coffee or fruit sold promotes justice in a developing country where people don't have access to the social structures we have like welfare, medicare, and other subsidies.

After SALTS, Kathleen and I visited Level Ground Trading. We were fortunate to arrive during the one hour that Stacy Toews was there this week! He introduced me to the accounts manager who gave us a little tour and made sure our business was straight. It's an honour to be representing Level Ground as I sing release to nations.

I'll be going to chapel at Regent tomorrow morning ... and riding the bus. Call me crazy, but I really miss public transit. I am thankful fro my little, overloaded car and it has brought me many kilometres thus far (but don't ask me how many because I realized in Kelowna that the odometer is broken!). Still, if I could just take the bus, with the occasional car rental or taxi ride, I'd be happy to let someone else drive. :)

Must sleep. You know there will be more later ...