Winter 2008 in Mississauga, Canada (2)

We are now in the dead of the winter in Canada. We got dumped with snow the weekend of two different ministry events, but were still able to have them thanks to quick snow removal. The snow was very beautiful to look out at from our apartment window.

Before the end of January, we got away for a day to drive 1 1/2 hours to Niagra Falls, New York to do some errands and see the falls. Unfortunately, it was about 18 degrees outside and snowing! We still enjoyed seeing the falls, albeit very quickly on part of the boys getting cold, but still enjoyed our trip.

Superbowl Sunday was a blast at our building! We hosted a Superbowl Party and invited men from the Sanctuary Church plant, friends made in our building, and guys Kris had met at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. There wasn't a huge turnout but some relationships were started and new contacts were made. Josiah got to learn how to tackle too!

Here are some of the guys watching the game via projector on "big screen".

This is Mark, one of the members of The Sanctuary Church. He claimed Micah was a Packers fan, since he smiled when this hat was placed on him. Kris routed for the Gians, though, and was glad he did!

On February 2, the Sanctuary Church ladies hosted "I'll Bring the Chocolate", a woman's seminar about food, friendship, and faith. Our speaker is the author of the book that takes the title of the day, and was excellent! We had about 35 women in attendance. Several volunteers from Texas were not able to fly in due to the snow storm the day before, so they had to improvise and create new things to do without them. All went well and the day was a blessing to many! We hope some of the unbelieving women who came will desire to learn more about Christ after this event.

Tonya led the praise and worship time of the seminar, a first for her!

Josiah is continuing to make new friends here, most of whom are from different countries. This Chinese girl played in the snow with him one day when it was warm enough to get out.

Once a month the Sanctuary meets in a school for its services. Leanne, a college student, loves to play with the boys, and they love her too!

Micah is continuing to change rapidly. He cut his first tooth on Feb 3rd, to all of our relief! He is laughing and babbling more too, showing his happy-go-lucky laid back personality even more.

Micah's main frustration these days is wanting to be mobile. He sees things he wants to play with and tries despirately to reach them by wiggling, rolling and straining to get to them. His legs kick wildly, trying to get him across the floor! We think he may crawl sooner than Josiah did since he wants so badly to keep up with him.

Josiah has been relishing the free time he gets with Kris. Kris helps teach kids at a Christ-centered basketball league on Saturday afternoons. Josiah gets to watch practice and play some himself after it's over!

Kris continues to see interest in Christ at the University he visits daily during the week. Through playing basketball and hanging out with students in the gym, he gets many opportunities to build relationships with guys and share the Gospel. He is trying to start a seekers Bible study during the last 3 weeks we are here, so that he can get more in depth with friends who are desiring to know God.