We Task, I Win.

A lot has happened in a short amount of time.  So I will start at the end and then explain how it came to be.

We are moving to Wetaskiwin, Alberta next week.  Nathan has accepted the pastor position at the Wetaskiwin Church of God, and for all those out there who wonder how to remember how to spell it, this is my personal mnemonic device: We task, I win.  Wetaskiwin.

Around Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, we received contact from the search committee of the church testing the waters to see if we might be in a place of exploring the position.  In the summertime, they had been in touch but Nathan and I both had agreed we needed to enter into a season of calm.  For so long we had been juggling expectations, difficult and challenging decisions, and uncertainty of what and where to go next.

Last winter we felt the door to Guam closing and several confirming events happened to let us know we needed to step away from that direction we had expected and planned for, to a direction that was unknown.  And for the rest of the winter and spring we chewed on options, talked about how to move forward, and tried to discern where God was calling us.  Much to our frustration, doors remained closed even after our bruised fists continued to knock asking God to show us a way.

In the early summer, discouraged and exhausted we called a time out.  We realized we needed time to calm our minds, to heal our hearts, and to reenergize our spirits.  We found an apartment to call home, and God began to help us rebuild pebble by pebble a sense of expectancy, instead of expectation.

In the first days and weeks after deciding calling our time out for the summer, we seemed to be flooded with job offers and positions to consider.  Anxiously, we wondered if we were doing the wrong thing by not exploring offers.  However, we encouraged one another of the decision we had made and the need for it, and responded with appreciation to those who had been in contact, for thinking of us but explained we were not exploring job offers for at least the next 3 months.  Wetaskiwin had been one of those churches.

In the summer months, Nathan and I both engaged fully for the first time in the community and people around us.  After all, it's a challenge to put some roots down when you constantly expect to move on to other places.  But with the decision to stop looking to the future, we were free to engage in the now.  I began volunteering with the local museum and archives as the volunteer coordinator, Nathan began connecting on deeper levels with co-workers and building friendships over meals and motorcycle rides.
We began connecting with a home church and building new relationships with believers while also continuing deeper relationships with the faith community and friends we had gotten to know well during our time in Dundas.

We benefitted from the renewal of being in relationship with those around us that had been severed by our uncertainty in the earlier months in town.  But by fall, there was a growing sense of discontentment in Nate that he felt he needed to be doing something more with his training, experience, and giftedness.  He had a growing desire to re-enter vocational ministry, but at that time there were no local options presenting themselves, and we had said no to all the offers that had come in the summer.  However, within 24 hours of a pivotal conversation and prayer between the two of us stating  we would again be open to exploring new opportunities for Nathan, and Nathan thinking for the time being it would be asking to train for a higher position at his current job until something else presented itself, the church in Wetaskiwin made contact with us again, asking if we might engage in the conversation to explore the pastoral position there.

Within two weeks we were on a plane, making out first trip out to have a weekend of conversation and interviews with the pastoral search committee.  Two weeks after that we were flying back out for a full candidating weekend with the church.  One week after that, the church congregation was voting and officially giving us the call to come.  4 days after that is today and, I'm writing this entry to let friends and family know how God has worked this out.  And in 7 days we fly out to Wetaskiwin, Alberta to become members of the local community, to join the Wetaskiwin Church of God in their ministry, and begin putting roots down in the town that God has been faithful to call us to.

We thank all of you for your constant thoughts and prayers.  It's been humbling to be constantly reminded of the love and thoughtfulness of friends and family through all of this.  We are truly blessed.