Vincent and Heidi Nisly Wedding

Yesterday we went to Kenora for the wedding of Vincent and Heidi Nisly. Vincent is the son of Darrell and Kathy Nisly. Heidi is the daughter of Gerald and Marian Yoder. We rode over to Kenora with Jonathan and Rhoda Stoll. We had a nice time visiting with them and a good time at the wedding.

This coming Saturday Nate and Jan Hochstetler's daughter, Heidi is getting married to Evan Hochstedler. Evan is the son of Bill and Susan Hochstedler. We are looking forward to that wedding. They are planning an outdoor wedding, so we are praying for good weather.

Here are a few pictures from the wedding yesterday.

This is at the reception, which was held at the Lakeside Inn in Kenora.

This is just as Heidi and Vincent were ready to enter the reception hall.

Here is the newly wed couple themselves listening to soemone share.

Elaine's Baptism

This morning, after the morning service at church, we had a baptismal service. Mark Brailsford and Elaine were baptized and received as church members. We did the baptism at the Umphreville park. It was raining a little bit, but not too much. It was probably about 70 degrees Fahrenheit outside, so it wasn't too cold. The water was cold until we were in it for a bit.

We were pleased to see Elaine take this step. It was nice to have a few of the social workers attend the service as well. Debbie, in particular, has taken an interest in Elaine ever since Elaine was a little girl. It was great to have her at Elaine's baptism today.

Here we are at the beach before we entered the water.

We are in the water at about the right spot now. The fire truck on the beach wasn't part of the occasion.

Here she is after she has been baptized.

Bike Rider

I had a good time with the people in Cadiac, Haiti this week. The seminar went well and people seemed to appreciate the teaching. Tuesday after the seminar was finished a young man came to the school with his bike. He has an amazing sense of balance. Here are several videos of him riding his bike.




Watch his right foot about 2/3 of the way through this one!




The School wall was too slippery, he said, to keep his feet up on the wall on this one.





On this one he has taken the chain off of the bike. You can see it lying on the ground beside the bike in the beginning.

Traveling

Today I went from Port-au-Prince Haiti to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 11 hours. All my flights were on schedule and no lugguage got lost. Even the customs agents were nice and allowed me to bring my oranges to Canada. In Miami, the customs agents just laughed and said, "you may take all your food to Canada". I plan to be home tomorrow afternoon.

The worst part of air travel these days is going through the security screening. I don't like the way the TSA agents yell instructions and shout at people in the line. "Open your passports to the picture page! Get your boarding passes in your hands! Come on people, listen to instructions! Take off your shoes, belts, cell phones, pagers! Keep moving! Go front further!" These instuctions are repeated at full volume over and over again.

After going through security at Miami, I began longing for the opportunity to do a church service for TSA agents. As they would come in the door, I could shout at them, "Go to the front benches! Form two lines in the aisle! Keep moving! Open your mouth when you sing! Offering time! Open your wallet to the picture of Ben Franklin! Listen to instructions! Take all the pictures of Ben Franklin and put them in the offering basket!"

Then again, maybe I should just meekly go through the TSA screening process and smile and tell them to have a really good day. They don't look very happy usually and I'm sure their job is quite frustrating. Maybe I should just be glad that I'm a pastor and not a TSA agent.

Blueberries

We went out to pick blueberries for the first time this Summer. It is hard to believe that it is August 6 and the blueberries still are not really all that ripe. It seems like it will be better in a week or two. Of course, that all depends on whether we have frost or not. We probably will have to pick our berries in a very short time span this year.

I am getting ready for my trip to Haiti. I leave tomorrow morning and arrive in Haiti on Saturday around noon. I will be teaching in a seminar at the church in Cadiac on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. I am teaching some character studies from the lives of people from the Old Testament. Moses, Joseph, Samuel, Josiah and Esther.

It will be a rather short trip this time. I am also making some arrangements for Lyndon Swarey who will be going to Haiti in October to work with Anabaptist Foundation in the micro-finance project there. I hope to find him a language tutor and people who will help him to get adjusted there.

North Dakota Bible Camp

Dallas and I returned home from our trip on Thursday evening. Yesterday we went to Dryden for Family Camp at Beaver Lake, which is now call the Family Empowerment Forum. It has been raining a lot this Summer and this weekend is no exception. It was getting pretty muddy around the camp last evening, and it is still raining this morning.

The Bible Camp in North Dakota was well attended and very enjoyable. There were a lot of youth attending the Bible Camp this year. We had been there as a family in 2000 or 2001. At that time there were perhaps 25 youth at the Bible Camp. This year there were over 100 youth from many different States and Provinces. They had four volleyball nets set up, which provided lots of opportunities for youth to get involved during the recreation times.

It is hard to believe that it is already August. This Summer has been so cool and wet that it almost seems like we haven't had Summer yet. The blueberries are not ripe yet either. Our garden is growing but things like the tomato plants that need heat to produce anything are not doing much yet.

Here is a picture of the tent at the North Dakota Bible Camp. This was during a break, so there are not very many people around.