Esperanza Mission Week
This past week, I’ve been in Esperanza, BC, with 1o people from my church working on whatever projects needed doing. The little cluster of houses is on a salt-water inlet, deep in a remote region of Vancouver Island. The staff provide community, support, counseling and love for families in crisis.
Work on the house included building a back porch, siding, putting kitchen cabinets together, staining siding, and smoothing floors. Tuesday evening ended with a camp fire where we sang praise songs and heard from the staff about the work of Esperanza.
Wednesday and Thursday, the construction projects continued, along with weed whacking, gardening, and time with the 6-week old grand-daughter of Nancy, one of Esperanza’s staff members. I enjoyed working in the kitchen for dinner–helping to prepare the salmon, prawns and halibut that were caught on one of the fishing trips. A single halibut weighed 85 lbs!
One of the volunteers from New Life Church in Abbotsford, Greg, injured his hand on a saw while laying wood flooring and was taken to the hospital for surgery Wednesday. He returned to Esperanza on Friday to spend the next few weeks recuperating. Thankfully, his hand will be okay.
It was not all work. The team got to take sight-seeing boat trips to the ocean–seeing sea otters, sea lions, and eagles.
Friday, as the temperature rose, jumping off the dock became a favorite activity of both kids and adults!
Through-out the week, we enjoyed getting to know the other teams working–from Elim Baptist Church in Wallingford, and Parkland Church in Surrey.
The journey home began at 7am Saturday–by boat, road, and ferry–until we arrived back in Seattle around 6pm.
If you’d like to see more photos from the week, you can find them here.
Gratitudes:
The Bethany team!!
The staff at Esperanza
Jesus’ love lived out among and with the coastal peoples
Delicious food (thank you Randi, Paula and Anna)
God’s creation
A starry night without any light pollution, lying on the dock watching the Perseid meteors and the Milky Way rising.
Wonderful sunny weather
That Greg’s injury was repairable
Seeing how much got done in 5 days
Bug spray and cortaid
The kids’ laughter as they leapt from the dock
Ocean waves
Sweet evening light for photos
New friends
Tea-drinker, cafe-windowseat-sitter, theologian-stargazer, contemplative-educator, photo-taking-poet, and earth-loving artist. Write me at susan (at) contemplativecottage (dot) com.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I rejoiced with you over the otters. Have not seen them up that close in the wild. On a vacation in Northern California, we could view them through a telescope or a telephoto lens but nothing that close. God’s creation blesses me so much.
Blessings,
Janis
August 21st, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Thank you, Janis! The otters were such a treat to see and so unconcerned by our boat sounds and happy exclamations. Wishing you many chances to enjoy our Lord’s creation beauty!
August 16th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
As a family recently returning from 5 years on the mission field, uniting my heart in gratefulness with you today.
As always a joy to splash around in thankfulness. Your blog, simply delightful.
Splashin’,
Sara