random report

I am liking my new job. Bill, my boss, is a seemingly simple and quiet guy. It's just he and I. No other work crew. No politics. No nonsense. And thank god almighty, no micro-managing. He just leaves me alone to do what I'm paid to do. And if I was to ever screw something up, I can't imagine him blowing a gasket over anything. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Well, the work has so far been pretty life draining and monotonous. Mostly drywall mudding in various basements across Saskatchewan farmland. IE: the middle of nowhere. That can make me wonder just HOW I got here in life, what's the meaning of the universe, and etc.

I just crank up the ipod and get lost in mud.

I'm sure, as always, this period is yet another piece of the puzzle of life. Another step in the journey.

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One of the cool things about living in Saskatchewan is the amount of people you meet from across the globe. At one of the job sights I met Hans. He was a resident farmhand from Switzerland. Wow. I don't think I've ever met anyone from that place. He said it was crowded there. Which is one of the reasons he's now in the Canadian prairie.

Turns out Hans is a believer in the creator. Believers are harder to find here than back in Texas. He had some good testimony to share and so forth. But our conversation turned toward the awkward "where do YOU go to church?", which I've always hated.

I gave my half-assed answer of trying to become part of the ReachOut community. It's the truth. But dismal looking in reality. So it goes.

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My son is best friends with a girl in his class who's father is a local pastor of a high church denomination. Our kids became involved with their church in a two month after school deal that was a kin to a vacation bible school gig. It ended with a program where they sang during their Wednesday night service accompanied with a meal. So we attended.

The meal was a little strange as no one came to mingle with us, the guests, etc. No offense was taken on our part. But this was shockingly different from Texas churches where everyone is on you, the visitor, like Oprah on a baked ham.

But the pastor sat with us and actually encouraged me from a truthful standpoint of mission work. He knows why we're here in River Dog as our wives have become friends and co-workers with the same cleaning company. So they've talked some. He explained how a cohort of his in another town only recently broke into the native community after twenty years of ministry there.

It takes a long time to build trust with the local poverty culture.

And I pray it doesn't take us twenty years.