April 2007 - Page 1

Joyce and Tom's Ministry to Kelowna, British Colombia, Canada

What a trip! What a slice of heaven! What attacks from the enemy! What evidence of God's touch and love!

The trip out was fairly uneventful - a one-hour delay in Calgary which was experiencing a zero-degree snow/ice/rain storm and had insufficient de-icing equipment (in Canada where this must be a fairly frequent occurrence?) to keep the flights going.

The flight from Calgary into Kelowna was probably one of the most beautiful I have ever seen! As we approached Kelowna, white fluffy clouds in a pure blue sky hovered over the tops of the mountain ranges which were laced with rivers, dotted with evergreens, and among the most beautiful I've ever seen. At one point, the setting sun lit up a river making it look like a stream of gold descending from the sky into the land slicing the scene into ethereal beauty.

We were met by Sandra Mutschmann, the sweet efficient organizer of the Kelowna event who had set us up with a lovely gold Toyota for the week. What a blessing that proved to be when I was able to follow the ambulance on Saturday, but I'm getting ahead of myself! We drove on to our "vacation home." We didn't even realize what we'd signed up for, but it turned out to be everyone's dream home - because of a "full house," we were upgraded to a luxurious spacious three-bedroom, two-bath house on a hill overlooking the entire town. From our huge picture windows in the living room and master bedroom, we could peek past budding birch trees to see the gorgeous sunset every night as it sank between the clouds, behind the mountains, and beyond the lake, the trees and the city skyline. We enjoyed our own private hot tub, push-button gas fireplace and grill and the biggest rooms (and hallways) I've ever lived with.