wakaa wakaa doo doo yeah!

like maybe 1 or 2 of my readers will be mildlyextremely excited about this.

and this:
[SPOILER ALERT - if the above link is important to you and you do not wish to have surprises become expectations, do not watch the following video]

my kids

since we left for Longlac almost immediately after school let out, i haven't really had a chance to process my experience at St. Florence. as i was going over some of the photos that i took, i realized that i missed my kids dearly. i still remember their names and faces and quirks and writing styles and hobbies and the shoes they wore and their hilarious questions and their ever present smiles.

me and the ladies


that's my normal photo face; theirs are better.


me with most of the girls and one boy. see if you can find him.


the pure joy of bubbles


LCG telling me a secret

carpe aestas

the past two weeks since our return from Longlac has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. we came back with Cheryl, a native from the reserve, because she had a few things to take care of here. as a result, the (young half of the) team has stuck together to take care of her while she's here for the summer. this is not to say that we would've disbanded right away, but i highly doubt the group would've had the opportunity to hang out together so much without a focus.

we go out occasionally for movies, dinners, lunches, just plain sitting down and talking about nothing, or singing. last week we went to bakeries, the mall, Ratatouille, and several dinners. this past monday, we went rock climbing with Art and his rock climbing buddies. today, i went downtown with Dan, Cheryl and Lyris to visit some Native Canadian community centre. we trolled some of the trinket shops in the area as well. tonight we sang, as a team, for Light On A Hill a whole slew of cheesy old songs (the Beatles, Billy Joel, Stand By Me (a capella), etc) and it was like our Longlac jam sessions all over again -- except in public.

i'm glad i actively did not take up a summer job this year because it has given me the time to participate in all these things. i must say, however, that hanging out is quite expensive, especially without an income. but i've already committed my financial worries into God's hands, so it does not worry me that much.

for the last week of August, we will be heading back up to Longlac to take Cheryl home and to visit all the friends we made earlier this summer. the end of summer will bring me crashing back into the reality that is school and blahblahblahs.

i walked into this one

me: i like bassoons.
lyris: you like fagotts?
me: haha

early thoughts on Longlac 2007

as a missions trip, my time at Longlac can be neatly categorized into two compartments: the mission and the trip.

the mission portion was an awesome display of the Spirit's power. though we did not personally witness any conversions, the obvious change in the lives of those who accepted Christ last year testified to God's healing presence in them. the plan this year was to continue discipling Raquelle, Duran and Cheryl so that they might grow to become a godly influence on those around them.

the churches that arranged to reach Longlac partnered with a Pentecostal church this year, lead by Pastor Roland. we were given the use of the church to sleep in, as well as hold dinners and worship nights. the pastor, his staff and his family were to observe the teams that came up and how they interacted with the native people the've recently been called to minister to. without any purposeful intention to do so, our relationships, the dinners and worship times all served to bridge the invisible divide between the townspeople (the pastoral staff and congregation) and the natives that sought our company. the relationships fostered will surely aid in the church's ministry to the natives once the summer draws to an end.

a large bulk of my memories from Longlac are from the trip category. any time you go on an excursion with a small group of people, you bond with them in weird and facinating configurations. on the very first night in the town of Longlac, the church threw us a welcoming barbeque cookout with outdoor worship. Lyris, Moyee, Melissa and i quickly engrained ourselves in the congregation's consciousness as "those singing idiots." we sang anything and everything. i have relatively little musical talent, so i belted out melodies to Dan's guitaring while the ladies harmonized; we made a good show of it. this set the tone for the duration of our stay in Longlac.

exercising our immense nerdiness and musical chops, we spent many a night simply singing or noise-making to whatever song Lyris could rustle up on the pinano (it is a pretty hefty repetoire, by the way). inspired by this video we watched prior to leaving for the trip, we decided to sing Pachelbel's Canon in D in four parts. all the singing would've been even better if i knew how to sing bass. i can hit the notes, i just can't figure out which notes to sing unless i'm very very familiar with the song. i've resolved to sit at a pinano and sing intervals in my spare time.

one day we had to go to Rona to gather some supplies. we were looking for a shelf that could serve as a shoe rack. so i sing-songed for a shoe rack. Dan, as a bit of a poke at our incessant singing, said, "why don't you guys sing that in 4-part harmony?" or something to that effect. so i sang "shoe rack" nice and low, and Moyee added "shoe rack" in tenor, and Lyris added "shoe rack" in alto, and Melissa capped it off with "shoe rack" in soprano to form a nice major chord. Pastor Roland, who was with us, cracked up and nearly collapsed with laughter.

there were many more instances of crazy and what not. our team was very fortunate this year to be kindred in the spirit of nerdiness and musicality and humour. i'm sure some of those stories will crop up in a sharing or when we four are in proximity.

this is civilization?

i'm back (sort of). more on this later.