Wednesday, November 7, 2007

September 2007 in North America

The month of September passed us by in a whirl of visits, talks and other preparations for return to Nigeria.

At the beginning of September we spent 10 days in Florida to have major dental work done by Dr. Leong, also a board member of IICS. Adrian was especially grateful for this visit, since Dr. Leong discovered and took care of an abcess of which he had not even become aware. Wendy had corrective work done to replace the tooth extracted in Nigeria the year before. We are so grateful for the hospitality of the Prentice's while we stayed in Florida.


After the initial round of treatments, while we waited for the 'hardware' to be prepared we took advantage of the presence of the ocean nearby, to relax a bit. These opportunities are a rare treat for us, because we still find the ocean a great help in relaxing from the busy-ness of our travels and numerous visits of our summer in North America.

Immediately on our return to Canada we left again for a 10-day trip to Calgary and Edmonton, . to meet with friends and supporters, to speak at various schools, and participate in a conference at the King's University College in Edmonton.

In Calgary we appreciated the hospitality of Henk and Willemien Verhoeff. Henk certainly went the extra mile to make sure all arrangements were in place to visit the Calgary Christian Highscool, where we addressed classes in Christian Ethics and Vocations. That Sunday we spoke at Woodgreen Presbyterian Church.

By Monday afternoon we were on our way to Edmonton where we were hosted by Henk and Vicky van Andel; Henk is the director of our Canadian organization, Christian Studies International.

The highlight of the week was our participation in the King's University College Interdisciplinary Studies Conference, where we gave a workshop, "Heartbreak and Hope in Interfaith Relations in Nigeria", enjoyed interaction with students and faculty. While we kept up a rather busy schedule with talks for the Christian students at the University of Alberta, visits with friends and supporters, and speaking for Fellowship CRC that Sunday, we also took time out for walks, and were surprised to find a peaceful path along the river which runs through the middle of Edmonton, giving us a lovely view of the university campus just opposite, and the highrise buildings of the centre of Edmonton in the distance to the north.

Back in Toronto, we enjoyed some unusually mild days for that time of year. We were grateful, for the weather was just perfect for a late summer barbecue which helped us say goodbye to Sharon and our friends at our house on 43 Northumberland Street in Toronto.

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