Flutter Boards and Toonies

"Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you." Nehemiah 9: 5-6


Kananaskis Country

Geocaching with my new family (kaisa is pictured here)

It has been two weeks since I arrived in Calgary and thought it's about time I wrote another post. I have settled into my new home quite well and have greatly enjoyed my new family. I have been on many adventures with them including the Calgary zoo, Cochrane(to watch Talia and Kaisa compete in a kids triathlon), Kananaskis Country, and around town for a little geocaching(this is sort of like a big treasure hunt). I also visited Kananaskis another day with a group of people I met at church. It's absolutely beautiful in the mountains and look forward to more trips there.

It has been interesting living in Canada which has a culture that is so close to the United States yet with subtle differences. There are times when I forget I'm in another country and then all of a sudden I realize it when I hear a different phrase or see something spelled wierd. I had my first experience with Canadian money about a week ago. I realized then that one dollar bills don't exist but rather they use one dollar coins called a loonie and two dollar coins called a toonie. I was a bit confused when I received back less bills and more coins than expected. I have also discovered new terms for things such as flutter boards instead of kick boards (there are others but I can't think of them right now). I've also started to learn how to use the metric system. 20 degrees sounds very cold and a speed limit of 110 would be dangerously fast in the states. Luckily those are in celsius and km per hour respectively.

While I have enjoyed my adventures and getting to know Canada I have also been working away at the Church/school/health clinic design. My typical work day goes from 8 am to 5 pm. So far I've made a video documenting our trip to Haiti (hopefully to be posted soon) and have built a 3D computer model while developing the design. Hopefully in the next 6 weeks we will have a completed design and a complete set of drawings.

Jesus is also teaching me a few things. I have to say the hardest thing for me to do in a new place is develop relationships with people. Being the introvert I am it takes a great deal of energy to make new friends. While it's been a struggle for me here I sense that Jesus has provided opportunities for me to develop relationships and is pushing me to step out in faith. I'm sure there will be more stories to come.

To be continued.....