Let me catch you up... first of all, my finger is doing great. It's hardly visible anymore. I'm rubbing Vitamin E oil on it every night, which is supposed to prevent scarring. It's still kind of numb, but someone told me it could take over a year for all the feeling to come back. Until then, it's a handy callous for guitar playing.
The wedding over Christmas was a lot of fun - I'll just post a couple of pictures here. Christine and Dan had it well planned, so my first time being maid of honor was a breeze. Rachel and Wing Go took the pictures, and they did an excellent job. They're actually planning on making a business out of wedding photography. If you're planning a wedding in the Saskatoon area, you should definitely hire them.
Christmas was one of the best I can remember in a long time. Sarah and Nick came, as did Grandma Precious, and Sarah and Grandma stayed for over a week. We played a lot of board games, watched a lot of "Lost" Season One, built some snowmen, and hung out with the Twagilamanas. I also preached a sermon at Emmanuel - my first one - and got some great feedback.
Now I'm back in the basement suite, back in school to complete my third year of four. I'm taking Greek, Genesis, Preaching, and a class called "Soul of Ministry" which is kind of about emotional and spiritual health for pastors-to-be, done through group work and self-analysis. Besides school, I'm working at Jacob's Well, where I have more responsibility than I bargained for... I was supposed to take over for Jane in April, when she was supposed to have her baby, but she's on bedrest now because of an early going-into-labor scare, so I'm doing a lot of bookkeeping and tax receipt-making and plenty of other good things that I'm almost trained to do.
Speaking of Jacob's Well, one thing I'm really excited about right now is the chance to play piano on Tom Wuest's new worship CD. He's also part of the Jacob's Well family, and he's a very talented worship songwriter. I even get to sing on the album, which is definitely a new experience for me.
This week is Reading week, and I decided to spend the day with some Jacob's Well people on Galiano Island, an hour-long ferry ride away. We went out there to help Tom fix up his family's new house. It's beautiful there... I took pictures like crazy, and I'll try to post some soon. I spent most of the afternoon pulling up Scotch Broom, which is an invasive weed there, but which is really more of a bush. As I struggled with it, I was thinking about my Genesis class and the passage about the curse of weeds and hard ground... it was very satisfying to get them out, though! I hope I get to go back there soon.
The next big thing: my brother Daniel is coming for a visit on Wednesday! He's staying for a week, and we're going to visit Victoria so he can take a look at a school there that he might be interested in attending next year. I'm excited to see Arwen on the island, and to hang out with Daniel and do touristy things together.
By the way, our basement suite currently has a guest room, so if any of you are thinking of visiting Vancouver, now is the time! Before May!
Alright, I'm exhausted from my weed-pulling day, so I'll sign off. Goodnight.
