More engagments, and more winter!

This week began with a visit to my brother and his wife, Maynard and Barbara, in Bangor, Michigan. There was some light snow, but we made the trip fine, about an hour north of Elkhart. Maynard was my "home away from home" during my college and seminary years here at Elkhart and Goshen. It was good to be in their snug home "off the grid," powered by two small windmills and some solar panels.

On Tuesday, I had another opportunity to share my thoughts about the mission of the church in rural communities. Dean Heisey from Mennonite Mission Network heard that I was in the area and asked me to speak to a noon luncheon for MMN staff people. So I went to West Beardsley Avenue where Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Mission Network have temporary offices until their new office complex is built here on the south edge of the AMBS campus. (I would guess that our Mennonite Church USA moderator, Sharon Waltner, has been at these offices several times during her responsibilities.)

I confess I am surprised by the interest in hearing from me about the mission of the church in a rural context. And I confess that I feel ambivalent about these opportunities to speak. They are an interruption and "work" at a time when I am wanting to study. But on the other hand, every opportunity I have to speak helps me learn the language I need to speak about this topic. I am still struggling to learn this language, and it is a good thing I can "practise" here while I am on Sabbatical, so that when I come home and try using this language it may not be too jarring and may be helpful. Every time I do a presentation like this I get good feedback that helps me learn the language a little better.

I also had time this week to get back to writing some of the chapter "focal statements" for the writing project I hope to do eventually, and that felt good.

This week was not all "work". Yesterday, Loretta and I went to Amigo Centre at Sturgis, Michigan, the camp for Indiana Michigan Conference of Mennonite Church USA. I had gone to this camp once before in the winter of 1995 for a retreat when I was dealing with the pain of leaving the church at Sterling, Illinois.

It happened we had an absolutely magical day to be in this setting. We had had some wet snow earlier in the day that clung to every tree and bush, and it made the woods absolutely gorgeous. It was totally still Thursday afternoon when we took these pictures, and remained that way until afternoon today when it finally began melting off the trees. So I had a marvelous day in the woods, making the Tree House (pictured) my base. Loretta joined me for a lovely walk through the woods as well.

We are down to just one more week or so here at AMBS, and then will begin our journey home, stopping at a number of insititutions that work with rural revitalization efforts.

Roy