Trip to Montreal Seafarer Centre

The end of a busy couple of weeks for our youth ministry happened this past Sunday afternoon.  Several from our group travelled to Montreal, Quebec to the Seafarer Centre to deliver parcels prepared for the Seafarers who pass through  the Montreal port.    

Each year our church, and many other CRC's prepare parcels for seafarers who will be at sea over Christmas.  For the past several years I have been taking whomever wished to go from our youth group to Montreal to see the centre.  

The group seen here packed up 82 boxes prepared by our church, and also took 10 from another church, and several boxes packed separate from these by yet another church.  

After the picture was taken we formed a long line and loaded up one of our vans.  

It took a bit of time to get those 82 + parcels into the vans. 

Hey, a father / daughter moment.  

David was in charge of packing.  

Once in the vans David was charged with programming the GPS.  Even though I've been to the Seafarer centre several times, I always get lost.  :  (  
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My van load enjoyed the ride, as you can see from Fontana and William.  

Normally we'd be listening to music from my son's iPod, but this trip proved different.  Apparently Chris did something wrong as he synced his iPod and he had NO songs to share with us.  Enter Jacob and his oldies songs.  I REALLY enjoyed the trip listening to Queen, Boston, and other groups from MY past.  Oh you should have heard the outcry from the rest of the group.......Gotta love it!!!!  : )  

So, you know how I have bugged Fontana in the past about her LACK of picture taking ability.  Well MOVE OVER Fontana.  Chris B has taken your place.  I think I deleted over 50 strange and weird pictures from that boy.   This is one of the few good ones........ 

Hmmmm, not sure what Chris is up to.  Maybe he just ate somethings sour.....

Hey, that's my van.  Oh yeah, Chad was driving it.  

Hmmmm, there's that name again.  DAVID.  I've seen it THREE times now.....

It took us 2.5 hours to get there, after a stop at Tim's.  I even remembered how to get there this time. No getting lost.  It was now time to unload all the gifts.  

Hey, there's Chris B lifting all those gifts.  Strongman.....   : ) 

Megan had lots of fun loading us up with numerous gifts.  

A nice picture in the Chapel of the Centre.  I hope it brings some comfort to those seafarers while out at sea.  

Each year we take some new people to the seafarer centre, so we all gather in the chapel for a short time of explanation of what goes on there.  

Michelle, the CRC Chaplain, always takes some time to explain what she does, and what the centre is there for.  

This hangs on the wall at the centre.  

After our education time, we wait to see if any seafarers will come to the centre so we can meet some and interact with them.  It doesn't always happen, but it has.  Here is Jeannine waiting, and eating her dinner as well.  

Chad and Janine and Ethan also taking some time to eat dinner.  

Hey, Jeannine must have felt a bit lonely and moved on over to eat with others.  

While we wait, there are plenty of games to play to keep everyone busy.  Air hockey....

Pin ball, which actually costs 25 cents to play.  

Ping Pong.....which I beat my son in BTW.  

Looks like Megan and Fontana had too much time on their hands.  

There was the billiards table, but no one seemed to want to use the pool cues. 

Ethan came last year, and remembered the games.  He was so excited to be able to come again.  He loved playing with his dad.  

Fontana and Megan gave the group some back ground music on the Piano.  

Fun games by the group helped pass the time too.  

Chris and Chad challenged each other to foosball.  

Strange, just strange.....................

Ethan learned a new game.  Ping Pong.  He wasn't happy when we had to leave.  

Michelle and her husband spend lots of time in this ministry and the work they do is wonderful to hear about each year.  To bad we didn't get the chance to meet any seafarers this time, but our kids once again have a memory placed within them of a place that does God's work for people who are lonely and often times marginalized.  Worth the drive any day of the week in my books.  

We drove home and stopped at Tim's once again.  If you look at Jeannine's eyes, you'd think she'd had enough of the group or something......  : )  

I spent the drive home listening to music and talking with my youth group.  It was a long day, but a good one.  Thanks for coming with once again and seeing how we can bless others that we don't even know.  May the parcels given out this Christmas bless many seafarers as they are out at sea.  

A CIA Random Act of Kindness - Moving Christine's family belongings

Christine helps us with our youth praise team.  She prepares song lists, selects new songs for us to sing, and works with the liturgists to ensure we have songs for our services.  She and her family are also going to be moving in the new year.  Their new home is presently being gutted and redone inside.  She needed to move some items to that new home, and asked if the YP could help out.  I asked, and they obliged.  So here are some pics and comments about our Saturday morning of November 27th.  

 We began by getting warm and cozy in the hallway while we waited for Christine to arrive home.  She dropped off her children at my home so they would be out of the way.  We arrived to find Christine's parents waiting for her too.  Here are some of the gang waiting.  

I discovered that Stuart played the smart role of being out of town for the weekend, so he avoided this move altogether.  Very crafty if you ask me!!  : )  

 Our moving vehicle for the day.  It runs on vegetable oil.  

 William wasted no time getting moving with the move.  

 Hannah and Fontana got right to work too.  

 Christine helped us as well.  Lots of bed frames left their old home.  Sleeping on mattresses only for a couple of months.  

 Chris and David working hard too.  

There were some larger boxes to carry.  This one was full of stuffed bears, so not too heavy.  

 Oh, I almost forgot.  Rosy was there too and worked very hard.  

 And then there was Megan.  She showed up JUST as the van was loaded up.  The funny part is Christine's new home is right around the corner from Megan, so she was just going straight back home again.....  : ).  It doesn't pay to be fashionably late all the time,  eh Megan!  : )

 The bus loaded and ready to go.  

My van with some of th YP in there.  They sure can be loud.  As you can see, Hannah is commenting on something David said, I think.  

 We arrived at the new home and began to unload.  

 William started things off.  Hmmmm, the house doesn't look like move in material yet eh!  

 The insulation sure is pretty......sure glad it's not the drywall.  

 Hey Megan, nice of you to join in the work.  Better late than never I always say.  

 Rosy and William bring in the biggest doll house I've ever seen.  1230 square centimeters, as David liked to say.  

We loaded all the stuff in the unfinished basement.  

 Chris tried on a new hat.  

 Hmmmmm, and there's that David name again.  Remember the post from the youth room. His name was up in paint there.  I think he's beginning to think a bit much of himself.  

 After unloading, we took a small load of dressers to the BFM store.  I think the car ride must have been too much for Chris b/c he's got a good strangle hold on Fontana.   She probably had it coming, but I broke it up before it got lethal....  : )  

 Yes, now, back to work and everyone getting these last items into the store.  

 Andy, someone who works at the BFM store, and goes to Calvin, took this opportunity to utilize some of the guys in our group to help him unload some larger items that had been donated.  Timing is everything.  

 One mistake we made was letting the ladies of the group have time to do some shopping.  Never should have let that happen.....never!!!!!

Hannah and Megan found a couple of dresses they wanted to try on.  Here you see Fontana and Rosy making sure the curtains on the change rooms don't allow for any of us to see something we shouldn't.  

Let me tell you something about these 4 girls  (no Megan, you aren't one of them, and well, Rosy is about 1/2 of the issue).   Whenever Fontana and Hannah get together, the decibel level increase 10 fold.  It happened in the BFM store.  The volunteers were telling them to hush up.  They say that I can be embarrassing sometimes!!!!  It works the other way around as well.    

 While waiting I saw this mirror standing there, so I snapped a picture of myself, since I don't get in too many on this blog. I notice that Chris was right behind me.  I didn't notice that until just now.  : )  

 Once out of the store, it was back to Christine's home for some pizza.  As we were waiting for it to arrive a bunch of the group began playing music on the piano and keyboard.  Noise, Noise, Noise!!! 

Eventually the pizza's arrived.  Sorry Fontana, we forgot to get you the gluten free pizza's........really sorry about that.  They tasted good though.  How was your apple Fontana?  

There they are eating and relaxing.  Quiet b/c they have food in their mouths.  : ) 

We had a fun morning, and were able to help out Christine's family.  Thanks a bunch Chris, Rosy, Hannah, Fontana, William, Megan and David for helping out and sharing God's love to others.  

Below are a couple of video clips for your enjoyment.  

Enjoy some video of our YP working hard and enjoying their work to the fullest.  

Here's a short clip of Christine explaining how they ended up gutting their new home.....