Arrr, the Pirrrrates took over this Halloween!

Our first Halloween in Sydney we decided to do some various things to reach out to our neighbors. On Monday afternoon, we had a pumkin carving party in our living room for our neighborhood families. Our neighbors Troy and Celina with their kids, Vincent and Keegan, won the day with a very intricate carving of a jack-o-lantern on their pumkin. We also had a candy scavenger hunt in the house with the kids and had them dress up as mummies.

For Halloween night we decked out our sunporch like a pirate ship bridge complete with cobwebs and blacklight. All of the kids who came by would get loot from our real-live treasure chest. We also gave them a Focus on the Family Adventures in Odyssey CD with their candy. It was a way to connect and get something of value into their hands. I took our kids out trick-or-treating with our neihgbors, Troy and Celina, with their kids and relatives. We believe that every contact we make is of value to bringing about God's plan on this earth!

-Michael

T Minus two nights

And so the count down is on for Halloween. I am discovering quite quickly that Halloween here s almost as big as Christmas. It reminds me a lot of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" actually . And for all of you who haven't seen that movie my question to you would be where have you been. Tim Breton's classic "The Nightmare Before Christmas" was an epic tale of one mans or rather skeletons journey of self discovery. K so the only real connection between that movie and Halloween here is that they are both big holidays but never the less it reminded me of it.
Here at Harbour Wes aka the house we are going with a Pirate's theme for Halloween night. We are turning out front porch into a pirate ship turning us all into sword carrying, eye patch wearing, parrot perching pirates. Its been crazy trying to get our costumes together for this whole deal. I have been to al all the major thrift stores around and have yet to find pirate boots. But that's not really important . What is though is the fact that we are going to be able to hand out a bunch of adventure in Odyssey CD's with the candy for kids to listen to which will be great. It is also an opportunity to meet a lot of our neighborhood kids cause according to legend aka Bobby we get over two hundred kids on Halloween. So with our cannons loaded with candy and our best pirate impersonations in place we are hoping to meet and reach a lot of people tomorrow night be praying for us as we yield sword and CD.
Peace
Matt

Truck Troubles?

The other week started out as...let's just say not-so-good. Jess had been driving our truck to the Hutton's for her hour of prayer when the truck died on her. We couldn't figure out what the problem was and were fairly worried as she needs the truck for traveling to and from work. Our lack of funds made us uneasy of sending it to a mechanic's shop so I was asking for as many suggestions as I could get. Bobby from next door to teh Huttons even took a look under the hood for me.

Unfortunately, with my lack of mechanical expertise I was unable to get the truck running again. A neighbor of the Hutton's suggested a local mechanic and pretty soon I was traveling down the road in a towtruck. At this point it seemed like it might be a disappointing day. However, along the way I was able to have a good chat with the towtruck driver, a long-time resident of Sydney. We talked about the city and what it was like, and then I was able to explain about why I was here in Sydney. He was very open to what I had to say.

At the mechanic's shop, also a long-time local who actually works out of his garage, we talked about the problem and then I set out to head home. His wife, upon hearing that I was walking back home, offered to give me a ride. Once again, it was another good conversation and I was able to explain my purpose for being in Sydney. On top of all this, I met Dave, the neighbor who suggested the mechanic to us, at Thanksgiving dinner the other day. It was a good connecting point to talk about.

Anyway, all this to say that even though at first having a broken down truck seemed to be the worse, it gave me an oppurtunity to meet three contacts and tell some people about the Church Plant starting here in Sydney. Oh by the way, it was simply a problem with the connection, it didn't cost too much, and the truck was ready by the next time Jess had to take it to work.

Ciao,
Nate

Salt Water Turkey...

Good morning good morning good morning, SO yesterday was the official day of thanks giving here in the great white north and a crazy thanks giving it was. Mike got the idea a lil while back that it would be cool to invite everyone we could possibly think of over for thanks giving and have a huge feast. It was a great big idea but it also required a huge a mount of planning organizing and professionalism, which of course we really don't do well. That's not to say that we didn't have a game plan but more that we have a very vague game plan, on with very little clear detail or reason, but that my friend is half the fun. So we all got our heads together and started cranking out a menu and then it was time for the grocery shopping. I have discovered something very important about Mike and I, if it ain't on a list we don't get it! And so with our semi complete list which we thought was complete we headed to the grocery store and began the great shopping extravaganza. With list and hand and shopping cart in tow we ran around the grocery store hunting for bargains any chance we had. And so after some amazing wheeling and dealing (if I do say so my self which I just did!) we rolled into home and unloaded our full van load of food.
Well next came the planning of the day. The first thing to consider was how many people were coming. And so we went to our main recruiting expertise to gather a tally (aka Mike) and after some careful calculation and examining is records he promptly informed us that he had no idea how many were coming and when asked how many people he had invited he proudly announced "everyone I know" and for Mike that is saying something!
And so with a bunch of food, no idea how many people were showing up and a very vague idea as to what we were actually going to do on the day we called in for back up. And what better back up then a giant his wife and their trusty missional minded counterpart! And So Ryan and Sarah and Heidi showed up Sunday night ready for action.
Monday morning rolled around and the chaos ensued. There were more potatoes and carrots peeled, sliced and cooked then Mike has contacts in his contact list (which again is saying something because as mentioned Mike knows almost everyone;))we managed to cook two turkeys thanks to Tammy's keen sense of forward thinking and were able to pull out three pies a couple dozen rolls and a last minute upside down cake thanks to Nate's until recently hidden Baking skills. The girls pulled there own as the official decorators/dishwashers/keep the kids distracted/ save Ryan and I when we were going nuts specialists. Mike with his gift for gab was able to entertain all of our gusts which worked out to be probably 25 plus people, in a single bound and as for Ryan and I, with our armor in place our, long knives at our sides and our pots and pans in hand we attacked the culinary beast before us. After countless hours of preparation and sweat blood and tears the meal was complete, the guests were feed and content, the dishes were cleaned up, the leftovers were packed away(which by the way will probably last us a nuclear winter!) and we were exhausted.
It was a great day. I think all of us got the chance to hang out with people that we had never met with the exception of Mike(seeing as he had invited almost all of them). It was a great opportunity to show Christ's love in a practical way without programs and committees but rather with fellowship and love. Cause relationship is where its at!
Well that was a glimpse of our thanksgiving. I hope you enjoyed it now if you'll excuse me I need to go make another turkey sandwich apparently we have a fridge full of leftovers that have to be eaten.(PS if you have any suggestions of creative ways to eat thanksgiving leftovers that would be much appreciated a man can't live of turkey and crandberrys alone!)

Peace
Matt

PS a special thanks goes out to our back up, you guys saved us!

And that was our thanksgiving

The Bean Bank

Hello all you friends and blog people! I just wanted to announce that I discovered through word of mouth the best/coolest hang out spot in Sydney, NS! It is called the Bean Bank which is an esspresso bar/cafe with several rooms/alcoves for chillin'...and I heard the rumor that it has wireless internet!!! They play really good music in the background...ambience! This reminds me of my favorite place in Lubbock, Texas...Daybreak Coffee Roasters. I am so stinkin' excited about this new discovery!!!
(For Matt...coffee is good, coffee is great, coffee, coffee, coffee...hahaha!)