The Fairmont Baptist group from Saskatoon left tonight.  We all went out for supper and then Marcee and I took them to the airport.  I didn’t get too many chances to hang out with them, but when we did…it was fun.  =)  They were a goood group.  Interesting side note (at least to me and it’s my blog so…), Dennis (the group leader) and I used to know each other back in my Asquith Baptist Church days.  The two churches are from the same denomination.  Asquith Baptist was the first church I youth pastored at, and Dennis was the youth leader at Fairmont (and still is!), so our two churches often did things together or were at the same youth events.  I haven’t seen Dennis in over ten years probably, so it was a bit of a shock when he came through the Arrivals door at the airport.  =)  But it was good to catch up with him and hear how the kids who were in his group are doing.

I had a bat fly into my room tonight.  That’s about as random a piece of information as you’ll get.  It flew into our common room upstairs and Andres was being funny and pretended to wave it into my room.  Then it actually did fly into my room and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.  So we sat there and watched it swoop around for awhile (and dodge it when it seemed to be coming our way…).  He left to go find a blanket to catch it in, but fortunately it ended up flying out the window.  Another side note (I’m all about the side notes tonight)…you know you’ve been working with ex-street kids too long when one of them throws a bat at you and it sticks to your leg and you just flick it off like a peice of lint and it barely makes a dent in the conversation. 

And no…that’s not allegorical.  And yes, that means it did actually happen.  Of course I didn’t actually realize it was a bat until after I flicked it and by then it had already been flicked so…  I think Sandro (who, surprise, surprise was the guy who threw it at me), was impressed that I didn’t react.  Chalk one up for not paying attention.  I will say though, that they’re creepy little critters…

Oh yea, and a dog bit me the other night.  I was just walking along, minding my own business and he came up and bit my hip.  He mostly just got my shorts, so it didn’t actually hurt or anything.  But he wasn’t playing around…he was serious.  It kind of caught me off guard.  Normally the dogs here bark and growl at you before (if ever) they do anything.  I’ve been nipped at before, but like I said, I didn’t see this one coming.  He just calmly walked up to me and bit me.  His owner was right there and so she yelled at him and he calmly went back into their yard.  Silly dog.  

Things are going well at the house (thanks for praying…).  I’ve talked with a couple of the guys about our crisis from the other week, and I’m hoping and praying that God will use this to help the guys understand some of what needs to change in their lives.  Even though some of them have been Christians for awhile now, they’ve never really had good Godly examples in their lives.  So I find that there’s still a lot of garbage that needs to be dealt with.  But like I said earlier, when God brings that garbage to the surface, no matter how painful or messy it is…it’s always a good thing. 

I still have a couple of conversations I need to have this coming week that aren’t going to be easy, so please feel free to continue praying!  One of the conversations is with one of the guys here, and the other is with the pastor I mentioned earlier.  With both situations there needs to be some accountability.  So if you would, please pray for wisdom, peace and a sense of God’s presence and guidance.  I’d appreciate it.

And finally, I thought I’d end with a picture of our road at the end of the day today.  As you can imagine…the truck (once again) isn’t so clean.  But it was a nice 24 hours while it lasted…

        
PS  Oh yea, and Saskatoon Christian School people…remember all those bricks and rocks you so carefully hauled out onto the road and used to fill all our potholes?  The day after you left, a grader came through (for the first time in nearly a year) and “graded” the road.  Basically he dug up everything you put down, and scattered bricks and rocks all over the place.  And then it rained. 

But serisouly…thanks for the effort.    =)