Congrats to Bobby (who makes this newsletter possible) and Stephanie on their beautiful baby girl that is growing by the Hand of the Savior in Stephanie’s womb…Thank YOU JESUS.
Wednesday 06/30/10 As we had prayed and hoped for a brighter day we see the sun is beginning to show his face quite early. Everything that we couldn’t see completely clearly yesterday, due to the mist, we see as clear as looking through a glass today. We drive out to ‘Ocean Walk’ where we were yesterday and the scenery is more than breathtaking. The ocean is a royal blue and the sun is dancing on it and if one would concentrate on the sun dancing on the water it looks like stars twinkling in the night sky – starry, starry night. It is pristine and the sea looks like glass, a glassy sea, a sea of glass with the forest pine trees reaching down to meet the glassy sea and the rugged rocks standing majestically at the ocean’s edge. Part of the beach is sand and on another side large pebble rocks fill it. We watch the wave’s crash against the shore while the white surf forms patterns around the rocks – what a very beautiful paradise, and as we sit taking it all in a big seagull comes and lands on the cliff next to us. I was sorry that I had nothing to give him, but by mistake Terry drops his camera lens cap and the gull snaps it up in his beak then prods it a bit and spits it back at Terry leaving it almost at the edge of the cliff and Terry hates heights - hilarious . We begin our hike on Gorham Mountain which takes us up the steep side of the mountain. We finally reach the top and have a sense of awe when we look down at the amazing view. It is just like I described only from a higher distance everything seems to stand still when you are high up, even the waves seem to be moving slowly and the birds glide slowly and there is no sound from the buoy that warns the ships. The silence is periodically broken by a bee quickly buzzing by or a bird chirping but generally all is quiet, we are above the noise of the world. On our way down we meet many people and one in particular we would like you to pray for. His name is Gene he is with his wife and two children and dog. Gene tells us that his dog has cancer and has a month left to live and that this is his dogs last trip. Oh that made us sad and I mentioned how many Christians I know have had dogs that they were very close to and believe that they will see them again, yet a lot of theologians and Pastors say that animals on this earth do not have a soul, I told Gene that I was leaving that one up to JESUS. Gene responded “I believe he (his dog) has a soul but I (Gene) don’t” and he walked away. I asked his wife his name and called out to him saying that we will pray to JESUS and ask HIM to show Gene the truth after all he is made in the image of GOD. He turned back and smiled and said ‘Thanks” and walked away quickly. Please pray for Gene I know he is hurting over his dog but to say something like he said shows me that he has no knowledge of the written word and the LORD as we all have a soul and we either surrender it to the LORD or sell it to the enemy but as Bobby Dylan writes “We all have to serve someone”. We went on and decided to go to the other side of the Peninsula which is called ‘Schoodic’. The weather is more brisk on this side and more open with less people. I notice that there are many trees that are not pine and the small lime green leaves are shimmering in the soft afternoon breeze reflecting the sun which gives them the appearance of silver – it is pristine, quiet and the ocean is calm as the sunlight bounces on the waves. Our hike is immediately steep and we begin to climb the “East Head Trail’. As we climb we notice that in this area there is a lot of moss (damp) and the wonderful aroma of warm pine needles baking in the afternoon sun (that is a California forest aroma that I’m used to) – when we arrive at the top Terry and I sit for a while listening to the sound of silence and looking down on peace and quiet. Half way down the mountain we realize that we are going down a different side of it and reach the bottom to find that our car is parked way up the road – so we walk and walk and finally find our anointed chariot awaiting us. It is about 3pm so we head back to the other side and get a cup of java at McD’s. I meet Angie and she tells me that she really doesn’t know JESUS but her brother Tyler does and the story unfolds and we ask for prayer for the following situation and people. Angie and her sister Dominique have been adopted and she lives here in Maine. Angie’s brother Tyler is 19yrs and lives in Alabama and she said he is a believing Christian, however, recently the younger brother Jonathan got killed by a drunk driver and now Tyler is doubting his GOD. We talked (although she is working) and Anne joined in (she is also working). I explain what JESUS has done for Angie and Anne and that if they were the only people in the universe JESUS would have come down from HIS heavenly home to go to the cross for them just because HE loves them. I continued to explain the Gospel and told the girls that no matter what happens on this earth it will never change the fact that GOD sent HIS only SON to die for our sins. Anne said that she used to believe but she has lost three friends to death and she is angry with GOD for not stopping the deaths. I explained that GOD has given us a free will and that this earth is fallen and we are all in original sin and unless we come to JESUS and ask HIM for forgiveness and surrender to HIM we will never be under HIS Hand of Blessings. Angie took my information and said that she will get it to Tyler and she said that Tyler would be glad that she is having this conversation today about JESUS with me. I gave Angie my info and it happened to be the only one I have that says “HE was wounded for our sins”. Just before leaving I go to Anne and give her my information and ask her to keep in contact leaving her with ‘Don’t be left behind’. We head to the deli to get our dinner and talk to a couple of people at the store. I am telling them how wonderfully refreshing it is in Maine (they call themselves Maniac’s) as the people are so friendly, after New York and Boston. Marshall answers my question on whether they have any soy cheese. He gets on the topic of why a lot of people are lactose intolerant and that his theory is that we only need milk as babies and after puberty it is not needed (an interesting thought) but then I said “Oh, that reminds me of Paul in the Bible when he talks about feeding the Corinthians milk because they are not ready for meat yet” 1 Cor. 3:2, Marshall smiled and agreed as if he understood and he went back to work. We eat our dinner by a lake then head off to see the sunset at Cadillac Mtn. It is chilly so Terry and I park the car and sit in it. The area is busy with people also waiting to see if it will be a beautiful sunset. We put a John Denver c.d. on and sing along with John “Sunshine on my shoulders” and Rocky Mtn high – Colorado” for an hour while waiting for the sun to go down. I notice a couple to my right who were getting out of the car and putting on extra jackets - the young man reminds me of our Jeremiah back home and his wife is around our Angie’s age so we say hello (from the car) and they come over and chat with us they are German from Munich and wonderful. We talked and laughed for a while about traveling, soccer, jobs and (keeping the best to last) JESUS. Her name is Verlma and she works for the German ‘Amazon.com’ and his name is Christian and he is a student - they are newly married, and we Blessed them asking the LORD for some beautiful children for them. We gave Verlma our info (she being Catholic) and hope that they will contact us they are a wonderful couple around our kids age. After our shower at the campsite we arrive at our fortress in the dark, it is about 10:15pm and just as we are settling in Terry notices a big hole in our tent. This is a catastrophe because we have to make sure that bugs and rain and other things stay out, and also it is our fortress. Terry notices that his zip lock plastic bag of ‘Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups’ is empty not even a wrapper is left for evidence, and as he looks he finds little goofy teeth marks all over the plastic bag. We turn the tent up-side down thinking that the critter is still somewhere in the fortress but alas he/she is nowhere to be found. Obviously the little buggar is a pro at this and went out the same way he came in – serve Terry right for keeping food in the tent – it just wasn’t Terry’s critter day today between the seagull and the squirrel. We patch up the tent and thank the LORD for all HE does and gives and we are so very Blessed.
Thursday 07/01/10 I see the culprit early this morning - a squirrel is peeking at us from behind a tree and rubbing his fat belly and laughing pointing his little finger nail at us, he is full of chocolate and the wrappers. It is Canada day today ‘Dominion Day’ and we celebrate with Canada as we cross the border and say a big ‘Hello’ to beautiful Canada (and lose another hour – 4hours in front of California and 4 hours behind England) as we say farewell to Maine and the USA for the month of July. As we turn around and look back at America we see a beautiful picture book scenery with church steeples and little houses in a tiny village standing on the water’s edge (see photo). We are at Campobello Island where F.D.Roosevelt’s family had their (still standing) summer home. This territory is owned 50% / 50% Canada and the USA. We still have some time until we catch the ferry over to the mainland ‘New Brunswick’ so we take a gorgeous (short) hike along a grassy trail. The trail ground feels like a carpet under our feet and either side the orange/rusty colored wild flowers sway in the breeze as our eyes feast on the long grass meadow either side of us. The sky is blue, blue with white puffy clouds and this is the kind of place where one could sit and paint or draw or write. We arrive at the ferry dock and there is just one other car – we chat with the guy’s (very friendly) who give us the information we need and eventually get on the ferry which takes us to ‘Deer Island’ – another drive to the next ferry stop which we get on at 6pm and by 6:20pm we are driving along the roads in the mainland heading for our campground which is quite a way yet. The weather does not look too promising but after we stop at St John (the city built on the river) to eat we find the late evening sun is still showing his face which gives us hope of sunshine for tomorrow. Not much in the way of witnessing today we are in the car for most of it. The landscape is vast and it seems that the sky is big and blue always adorned with white puffy clouds. It reminds me of when I am flying back to London sitting in the clouds feeling closer to heaven. As far as people (population) is concerned it seems sparse in comparison with the USA (33 million in the entire country of Canada and 33 million in California alone) I suppose it is sparse to us) which is why the freeway look so clean and well clipped. Each road sign is written first in English then in French Canadian. The LORD puts a rainbow in the sky and we are driving under it on our way to ‘Point Wolfe’ our campground at ‘Fundy Bay’. We arrive very late and put up our fortress in the dark for all we knew there could have been a moose sitting on our picnic table. It’s midnight before we settle in and shortly after we hear the rain begin – the price we pay for a gorgeous green countryside. Thanks be to GOD for all HE is and all HE does and has given to all of us – HIS beautiful SON my JESUS.
Friday 07/02/10 We are up a little late and I hear the same one bird who must have followed us across the border, also the sound of little children playing happily and we get up with the sun beginning to show his face. We meet our wonderful neighbors Sylvette and her daughter Audrey who come running up to us and say with their Acadian (French Canadian) accents ‘Hello, and introduce themselves. I am in awe because they are so very, very friendly and this is not just one person, I go into the ladies room and two young French Canadian (beautiful) ladies are in there and I start to chat and they are so responsive and unaffected and natural and we talk and talk. When I tell them how friendly they are they say “Oh we are the Maritimers, we are all friendly”. The Maritime people are basically from New Brunswick, New Foundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (where Terry and I met in 1974), and for such a cold climate I am amazed at how warm these people are. Terry and I take off and start an incredible hike which ended up being about 8 to 10 miles in the end. We started climbing “Coastal Trail’ uphill and then it leveled out for miles we walked through very green forest with the ground still as soft as a carpet and the wild flowers in bloom and the lime green ferns and mainly spruce trees. Eventually the forest gave way to the ocean (see photo) and as we walked we stopped every so often to look down at the Tidal River below with its rugged dark rocks. The Tidal River runs off of the Atlantic and is brown in color due to the strong tide which churns up the mud of the ocean floor. The view is gorgeous and distinctly Canadian. We meet Terry and Dave and I have to ask where they are from, everyone here sounds Scottish, it seems that they have been taught over the years by Scottish teachers, and although they are French speaking there is this very distinct Scottish tone overall. Terry happens to be English from Portsmouth and Dave from Moncton in New Brunswick and the friendliest people. We talked and laughed but no bites when we mentioned what our trip is all about – asking people whether they have considered JESUS lately? We eventually say farewell and are on our way along this wonderful trail until we reached Matthews Head (Cap Matthew). It is a beautiful Canadian scene with the Tidal River coming up to the shore a boat or two in the water waiting for the tide to come in so that they could begin to float and move on the water again. Just in passing we meet Linda, Dave and their golden retriever ‘Bumper’ and when we arrive down the mountain a few hours later we see these guys again, they are parked by a picnic table by our car and call to us to come and sit a while. The friendliest people you can ever imagine with a good sense of humor, so Terry and I sit a while, and Linda and Dave tell us about their trip to California – they loved it. While chatting we told them all about the reason for our trip and how we talk to people about JESUS. I think that in Canada it is less evangelistic than in America and so when Linda and I spoke and I asked her if she believed that Christ came to earth to go to the cross to take her sins, she said “Absolutely”. Both Linda and Dave get the word of GOD as they attend a Baptist Church which normally teaches the Bible. We played with Bumper, who is absolutely gorgeous and loves to be rubbed on his back and we miss McJagger’. Eventually we parted ways hoping to hear from these guys while extending an invitation if they need a place to camp out while on vacation again in California. Terry and I drive to ‘Alma’ a tiny town on the harbor and we stop for a cuppa java. We meet Vernon who serves us our coffee and he tells us that he has lived in this town all of his life. Because it was quiet we discussed a book that he was reading and many other issues, the most important being the LORD. Vernon didn’t come right out and say that he was a believer but he was trying to quote a passage from the book of Luke for me and seemed to be a little familiar with the Word of GOD. People are so wonderful here, however, there is much interest in many things and we discuss many topics but the LORD is not one of them and this, we find, is typical throughout the world people need the LORD but they are so scared to talk openly about HIM – why? By the way it does not get dark here in the summer until 10pm just like in England where we have twilight until 10pm. So although it is late it is still bright and we stop to get some food from the general store and go by the ocean to eat and look at the Canadian scenery. After doing some chores and hanging around a while in Alma we take a walk down to the beach where Terry takes some photos of the evening sky ‘twilight’ (see photo). Later back at the campground I stop to talk to Raylea who says she knows her LORD, but she did say “but not like you” so I made sure that I told her to seek Him with all of her heart, mind and soul. She is lovely and has a lovely young daughter please help me pray for this family that they will not just leave it at knowing the LORD but to seek HIM while HE can still be found. The end of another wonderful day in a new country with new people, all loved individually by the LORD – thank YOU LORD.
Saturday 07/03/10 Before leaving Sylvette and Audrey and Dave come over to say farewell and we give our information so that they can keep in touch. I also meet Josette again (one of the young ladies I met yesterday) she is a medical student and will be a Doctor in about 3 yrs. She tells me how she had taken a trip to Nepal, India and how the disabled children are an embarrassment to their families and sometimes left in basements and hidden from society. But some parents bring their disabled children to a workshop every day and Josette went to help and she said it was the most rewarding thing that she has ever done in her life, she is a beautiful young lady and will make a loving, caring doctor one day, we need people like her. She took our information and we hope to hear from her. Terry and I pack up the fortress and head out in the sunshine, with the occasional brisk breeze. We drive out of “Fundy National park” through a covered bridge and along the winding country roads noticing the tops of the evergreens framing the landscape around the water’s edge. Along the way we see yellow, yellow with some white wild flowers intermingled. A church here and a church there and an old church with a cemetery overlooking the water and wide open spaces of green meadows – a place where one can breathe. We stop at ‘Hopewell Cape Rock” to check out the tide. This is where the tide is the highest and the lowest in the world and it varies daily. We went into the park with hundreds of others and climbed down to walk on the ‘muddy’ ocean floor as the tide was way out. We saw the different rock formations that would be hidden under water if the tide was in yet here we are walking around them with no thought of swimming or drowning. An interesting scenery of muddy floors and dark colored rocks – not pretty but the sky was still blue. We leave and head to our destination which will be ‘Five Islands’ God Willing. On our way we drive through Moncton (I was here in 1974) we watch city life in Canada and it is quiet in comparison to what America knows of city life. A black wrought iron bridge with old fashioned black lampposts is the threshold to the other side of the city. In Moncton there are two languages spoken and taught at school it is mandatory that every child who speaks English learn French and vice versa – great idea. We are in the car most of the day driving along country roads to get to our destination. We arrive at our campsite around 5pm it is gorgeous and in my mind I am remembering how Canada looks it is all coming back where Terry and I met also I can now see it more clearly. Our campground is wide open spaces with trees for shade and beautiful lime green grass dotted with wild flowers and in areas the long grass blows in the wind, yes it is windy here this evening so I pray and ask JESUS if HE would cease the wind. We take a walk around the outskirts of the campground and we watch the ocean below (see photo) but the tide is in and we cannot see the islands that are covered by the sea. A family is nearby and the man comes up to us as he sees we are from California and he tells us how beautiful it is when the tide is out and one can see the islands, we told him that we will be here tomorrow and will see them, very sweet people. When all is said and done the LORD is making the wind cease and the night draws in and Terry and I are once more so happy and cozy in our fortress.
Sunday 07/04/10 Happy, Happy birthday darling Jude a ‘tender’ year old today and Happy birthday America the beautiful. We awake to the very hot sun and the LORD took all of the wind away and it is calm and very rare for these parts as we are on the very rugged coast. We have seen many churches but there is no indication of service times they actually are closed. We did see a sign out side one church along the way that says’ GOD Reigns and the SON shines’, and later we see “ Don’t wait until 6 strongmen bring you to church’. We take a long drive to Cape d’or and pass fields of yellow, and I know I have said this before but these fields are vast and blanketed with yellow flowers. We pass churches on hills, houses sparsely settled on lots of land and hill tops. We stop to look at a river that has carved its way through the thick padded grass and close by are fields of white, pink and purple hollyhocks show off their Sunday best in the noon day sun. I have never been to Scotland but can imagine how Canada resembles it, many Scottish people have made their home here and I think I can see why. Terry and I spot a beautiful little restaurant that sits on a cliff overlooking the water and the lighthouse (see photo) so we tak a walk down and meet two ladies going the same way. One lady lives here and is showing her friend from Montreal the beauty of the area. We just walked a short way together but the lady from Montreal remarked how beautiful it all is and I remarked how GOD has made it all. “Yes” she reply’s “You can see that there is something bigger than us when you see all of this beauty” “Oh, it is fact” I said and talked about how the earth revolves around on its axis and one stop at one time will kill us all and that GOD put earth on its axis and keeps earth on its axis. I mentioned the cell in our bodies and that the Bible says that man is fearfully and wonderfully made (by our creator GOD). We move on and walk up to the tiny restaurant as if walking into someones living room. There are a few people eating at a table or two and as we look out of the window and down at the water I am reminded of a place Terry and I stayed in while in Washington state a few years ago and we see that from one coast to another there are similarities. We take our coffee and go out and sit in (the Corona commercial) chair and terry and I mimic the commercial only instead of drinking beer we are drinking coffee and instead of staring at the lapping green ocean we are staring at the Tidal River with its dark rugged cliffs and we are in awe again enjoying every second of life, oh thank YOU LORD. Eventually we pull ourselves away and climb back up the path and we meet Bruce and Gayle who are from Edmonton, Western Canada. I tell them that I have seen their beautiful side of Canada years ago and we talk about their friend who has just had an accident. Bruce tells us that his friend ‘Bud’ has had a terrible accident while they have been gone apparently he has broken his neck ( but, thankfully, not his spinal cord ), however, the hospital have put a metal plate in his throat area and think they may have made a mistake. Immediately Terry and I said that we would pray for Bud and his invalid wife and we asked Bruce if Bud had a relationship with JESUS. “Oh yes, big time” bud replied. That is wonderful then JESUS will do what HE (only) can do. We asked Bruce and Gayle if they were believers and Bruce espoused “Oh yes” and then Bruce asked us to pray for their son who is a lawyer, his name is Randy and he will be having an operation on his eyes on July 29th, he is partially blind and if this surgery doesn’t work by the end of the year he is talking about having to get a ‘seeing eye dog’. I asked Bruce if Randy is a believer and he said he was and then I asked Bruce if Randy has surrendered all to JESUS and Bruce said “Well I wouldn’t go that far” so we need prayer for these people. That the LORD gives the Doctors wisdom as to know what Bud needs and that the operation has not been a mistake that they already see the healing begin. That Randy surrenders all to his LORD and learns of JESUS and that JESUS touches Randy’s eyes just like only JESUS can do and we ask that Randy sees perfectly not just from his physical eyes but also the eyes of his heart. Thank you all for your prayers we implore you to pray for these people. We drive to ‘Chignecto’ – don’t say that one too quickly. We take a hike along the most gorgeous paths of green grass, the sun is hot and we walk into the forest where it is a little cooler and walk up and along the water side looking up when we are low down on the hike and looking down at the water when we have climbed higher (see photo). We pass streams and squirrels and I saw a toad going and coming back (I think it was the same one) we meet a couple of people along the way but very quiet as we are in Canada and not America and the sparseness in population is obvious. We finished our hike and it was at least 6 miles but not sure as everything in Canada is in Kilometers as in France and other countries. We arrive back to the beautiful green picnic area so neat and tidy and still overlooking the water and we rest a while basking in the late afternoon sun. We watch the soft breeze blowing the long feathery grass and the many bright yellow buttercups delighting themselves in the warm sun. We begin to drive back to our campground which is about 25 Kilometers away and Terry suggests we stop at a restaurant to eat. The sign of a good restaurant is usually to see if there are many local cars parked outside and at this one there is a lot so we stop. I had the best meal ever, after-all, this is the first meal we have eaten in a restaurant in Canada and the food was wonderfully bland just as it is in England and wonderfully healthy my kind of food but Terry had greasy fish and chips. We eventually get back to our campground to find we have it almost to ourselves. It was a long weekend for the Canadians and now it is back to work. We spend the evening playing our music and singing along and making a cup of coffee at our picnic table. What can we say but thank YOU LORD for all that YOU give to us, we are so Blessed and happy.
Monday 07/05/10 The morning brings the symphony Quartet and each performing bird had his/her own little repertoire (they are French birds or more like Acadien French). We say farewell to our beautiful campsite at five islands and head towards our next destination which will be ‘Blomidon Provincial Park’. But first we have some stops along the way, after a short stop and walk we drive through a few gorgeous little towns one in particular is ‘Wolfville’ a typical quaint Acadien town always with at least three churches, Anglican, Baptist and Catholic together with tiny shops and a farmers market where they sell fruit along with ice cream, jams, pies and my favorite - licorice. We stop to buy some fruit and go on our way to find a coffee shop. We stop at the next gorgeous town called ‘Grand Pre’ which means Large Meadow and we talk to the guy behind the counter who serves us our coffee. We stay a while as Terry and I are going to be using the computer so while Terry is finding out the soccer scores I am talking to an English family who have just moved here from the Midlands in England about three years ago. Her name is Nik and her hubby is Dan and he was born here in Canada but went back to England when he was three yrs old. They love living here and feel that it is the best place for their three young daughters to grow up in. It truly is a great place to raise children in. I talk to everyone about our journey with and for JESUS and what we do and in Canada there is a quietness about their religious beliefs yet there is a great acceptance also so we will keep HIS name out there and leave the rest to HIM. So here we are in Grand Pre and we find that there is a lot of history here so we go to the National Historic Site and here is some very interesting history on the Acadien race. In the early 1700’s (they were here before that) there was a large settlement of Acadiens in the Grand Pre area alternately under the rule of Britain or France. Anxious to preserve their peaceable lifestyle they remained neutral between the two nations. Ceded by France to Great Britain in 1713 Acadia henceforth became Nova Scotia (New Scotland). The British authorities in Nova Scotia ordered the Acadiens to be deported in 1755 to Anglo American colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. About 6500 were among the first Acadiens that were deported and thus began the ‘Grand Derangement’ a destiny that was to change the course of Acadien history forever. A lot of these people ended up in Louisiana, and other colonies and some went to England and France after being refused entry into Virginia. Some did manage to get back and resume life here but very few. Even back in the early 1700’s these people were known for their openness and friendliness. Of course we read historical facts and are not sure if they are biased but it does seem that the British ‘powers to be’ love to control it all. We drove on along the absolutely gorgeous country roads to find our campground up on a hill with green meadows ‘grand pre’ all around. We hung around a little took a walk on the beach as the tide was out and we could walk on the waters surface. A few people here and there some children playing in the waterfall and some standing at the waters edge. We walked back up the trail and stopped to talk to 4 young people who asked us if we were coming all the way from California. One couple came from Toronto and the other couple was from this east coast. We always tell the people how amazingly friendly and unaffected they all appear and I told them that we go on our journey to tell people about JESUS and ask them if they have received HIM. There doesn’t seem to be much of an understanding of these questions here though. We are still watching and waiting on the LORD as HE has a whole different world out here that our world doesn’t seem to notice and yet they all seem to be so wonderful and happy - maybe that is the answer they are not wrapped up in the politics of this world and remain neutral and passive and happier - maybe there is a lesson here for all of us who strive and fuss? We say our farewells and Terry and I go to pitch our fortress in the hot sun above the water under the grand trees. We take our last hike of the day which starts at the campground and it is a sometimes uphill and most times level - a gorgeous walk in the green forest. Another incredible day is coming to an end and we are beginning to see the days go by very quickly and sometimes we want to hold on to them and never have them leave and other days we look forward to hugging our family and Jagger and the cats but when all is said and done Terry and I will miss this life terribly it is the life of a prince and a princess under the KINGS Mighty Hand.
Tuesday 07/06/10 Happy birthday dear Travis. We take the fortress down rather quickly and notice that the orchestra is missing this morning, they must be performing for someone else who is paying them more. On our way through the wide open country roads Terry slows down as a car is jutting out a little far as to see the oncoming traffic, we wave and drive on, a little further down Terry pulls over to the side because he thinks that the lady in the car behind (same car) wanted to go faster, and she stopped beside us and said ‘I am very sorry, I need to get my husband to trim our bushes back so I can see the oncoming traffic’, although we are stunned at this courteous, friendly, beautiful behavior, we say “Oh! yes, I said to my husband that you were trying to see the oncoming traffic” and she relied “Oh, your British –my husband is from Hampshire and we have lived here for 12 years and we love it”. “Well, you are the friendliest people in the world” we replied, she laughed and bid farewell and drove on. A few miles down the road we see her at a strawberry stand and she is waving us down, we thought it was someone who needed help so we stopped and rolled down the window and she handed us the biggest basket of strawberries and said “Please take this for your journey”, We almost cried and asked her name - she tells us it is ‘Ria’ - and her husband is Sean. “Well Ria, we are traveling with JESUS and talking to people about HIM and we are saying to ourselves these people in this area must know HIM as they are the kindest , happiest people we have ever come across in all of our travels”. Ria replies, “We have a little church just at the end of the road where we worship” and with that she bid us Blessings and we held hands and told her that we look forward to spending more time together in heaven. Onwards we go back to the wonderful coffee shop where we were yesterday and it is crowded (fair trade coffee). I tell the young guy behind the counter that we can see why it is busy and that he has the best coffee, he tells us that people come to question him all over from the states etc as to why he is doing so well. The conversation reminds of something a preacher back in California said when he was asked “How is it that your church never stops growing?” His answer is “I don’t grow it - JESUS does” and the guy behind the counter laughs and says to me in a lovely way “It’s the beans that grows ours” and goes off back to work - I suppose a lot of people are not excited about the Name of JESUS - I’m so in love with HIM and at the mention of HIS name I beam and respond to it but everyone is different and the LORD knows the heart. Our destination today is a hotel in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia - the LORD has me speaking for the next two days in three different places in this region for Stonecroft Ministries. As we drive to the area Terry puts our friend ‘John Denver’ on the c.d. player and we drive and sing along as we see in the distance the Atlantic Ocean and its bold rocks jutting out. The weather is not the best but something inside of me is telling me that tomorrow will be gorgeous as Canada is having a heat wave right now. We find our hotel and hang around a while and what a perfect opportunity to watch Holland beat Paraquay in soccer. Because I have an early morning meeting tomorrow we drive to Chester where I will need to be by 9am in the morning. We find the facility and take the rest of the evening walking along a trail which takes us around a small bay with sailboats docked it is misty and spitting. This area is all on the Bay and the Ocean with many farmhouses (see photo) and here we are again in a different, beautiful, kind of paradise. I want to make a point again on the churches in this area as there is often one built on top of the other and the reason is in the early 1700’s the British built many Anglican Churches here, apparently, not only to gain control but they were concerned that the French, being Catholic, would grow too large and diminish the Protestant Religion. Also there were many German Protestants in the area that wanted a Protestant Church, hence, a small Catholic church maybe down the street and all the other churches are Anglican and Baptist and are unbelievably big. Here we are at the end of another week, time is going by very quickly, I guess it does when you are in paradise. We are more than thankful to our GOD and pray that HE continues to show HIS power by bringing us the people and that HE would give us the boldness and courage to ask “Have you received JESUS” ?