Correction- the singers are all Indians. Epic fail!
We love church! And attending corporate worship in an international context is always fun. And worshipping in an international context with Kathee dad leading is always the best! The last time we were here, the church was meeting in the British school. It has since moved to a different school, which entails setting up chairs, music, sound, etc. So we left at 8:30am for the 10:30am service. We arrived and the set up was abustle! It was fun to be there.
Before the service I was approached by a man who seemed to have some interesting ideas on God, Satan, one world governments, etc. I was sure glad that Covenant has been so big on apologetic moments as there were many opportunities to winsomely explain and defend biblical truth. By the end of our conversation he was sure that I was the one to replace Karl as the next pastor of our church (he wouldn’t hear that Karl is unreplaceable and an absolute blessing to the church). The international church brings out many different breed of cats to its midst. This is why it is so important for faithful men like Karl to be serving in this context, where orthodoxy is preached, people are loved, and Christ is exalted. He is awesome!
Church itself was great. The single’s group at the church did the lighting of the Advent candles, Karl did a short meditation on Advent and preached a fine sermon. I always love hearing him preach as his style is so relaxed, contemplative, gentle, and Christ-exalting! We sang familiar Christmas songs.
After church, after speaking with many different people we walked the equivalent of a few blocks to Side Wok, a nice Chinese restaurant. It was either our first or second trip here that Kathee and I went on a date to this place, so it was fun to be back. I wasn’t until we were inside the place that I recognized it as a place we’d visited before. Such good Chinese food.
After getting home, we took naps. At 4:30, we woke up for our daily walk around the village. Our walks are always so interesting. I’m not sure what to say we walk on. Sidewalks? Streets? The words escape me. We walk on cement, gravel, dirt that is about 6 feet wide. It feels like we are walking down back alleys, but I think they are streets. We are passed by tons of children playing, many walking, bikes, sometimes took-tooks, sometimes animals. It’s a crap shoot. And we love it. And it helps us stave off jet lag and the desire to sleep.
Sunday’s walk was 2.3 miles and took 29:01 minutes (according to my Strava app). Eve absolutely loves the walks. She is making noise, kicking her legs, and looking all over the place. The older kids are steered by Karl, Aslam, and me.
(The wall of a 500 year old mosque we see on our walks. I geocached in ther last time we were here)
On the way back to Karl’s, we saw a mother monkey and her babies playing on the roof of a flat close to home. We sat and watched them for 5 minutes. It was so fun!
We got home, ate some supper (Kathee made chicken fried rice), and then the kids went to bed. I feel asleep on the couch at 7 and remained there until Kathee woke me up to go to bed at midnight. I then slept until 7:30 this morning. While jet lag certainly has a huge part, Kathee also thinks that my weariness is from the most stressful semester I’ve had in seminary. I won’t argue! It is good to be done with this semester.
In the midst of all this, I’m working to get my internship through the presbytery finalized. So on the 16 hour flight across the pond I wrote an 8 page philosophy of ministry as the last assignment for my internship. I also wrote response/thoughts to each of the 4 session meetings I had to attend, and tightened up what I think is the last remaining things needed for the internship’s completion. I wasn’t thinking I’d be completed with it until May, but when Justin Coverstone, a pastor in Freeport, IL, contacted me about where I was in the process, he said I may be able to have it completed at the January meeting. So I worked hard to get everything in and done. Hopefully they approve my completion!
This was also helpful as a church who reached out to me asked for my philosophy of ministry. While I didn’t have it at the time, I emailed the elder asking if he’d like it. He said he’d love to have it as their church called a special Session meeting in January to discuss me specifically and the possibility of coming on staff with them.
I also received an email from a church in Nebraska who has a youth ministry position open and is interested in me. The pastor there is asking for my resume, which I don’t have completed yet. While I started it a few weeks ago, I think I’ll have it done this week and so will be able to send it to him, too. So we’ll see where that leads, too! So much going on!
That’s it for now. It’s Monday morning and we are just hanging out at home.
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