We went to church ~ 100 Mile Baptist ~

What an occasion, we made it into church!  Since moving to BC we have not attended a Sunday morning church service together as a family ~ so since August 2008, we have not been to any church in our area.

We have done some "home church" and have attended church when we were back in Manitoba, etc.  I bet we have all experienced or heard of something difficult happening in a church, or have been disappointed in church for some reason or other.  Why?  My answer ~ church is made up of PEOPLE.  People aren't perfect and cannot be our all ~ God is our all in all.

That said, we were going into 100 Mile for the local Fall Fair to pick up our girls fair entries and see if they had won anything.  So we packed up a little bit of snack type lunch food quickly and actually made it into the church on time.  I do remember saying sternly to my hubby "I'd rather not go at all if we are going to be late!"  Poor man, has to live with my anxious being-on-time personality.  I can get so frustrated!

I feel a little weird about writing about our church experience, but it was such a positive one that I really want to.  We have been to many churches that we were not noticed or welcomed in any way and thus felt like intruders.  This church was different.

We were dressed in clean clothes, casual, nothing fancy.  We did not feel out of place.

We were greeted by one man with disabilities at the door, then another man shook our hands and handed us a message pamphlet for the morning.  Then Mrs. L greeted me and started to ask a few questions, so I told her approx. where we were from and than we knew "S" and "A" and were in town for the fair.  From a quick look around, I actually noticed a few people I had seen around town or through a girls b'day party or homeschooling.  That was refreshing.

So Mei chose to sit us 2nd row up front, so we got a great view of the preacher and everyone else a great view of our heads!  At least they noticed we were there!  ha ha.

They called up the little ones before their S.S. for prayer and I counted 17 kids under grade 2.  There was no S.S. for the older ones due to lack of a teacher at the moment.  That was fine, our girls sat through the message and loved when the preacher spit out lukewarm water and pretended to barf into a pail!  Great fun!  Gregg noticed the preacher was also a snowboarder.  Good stuff.

They had simple music and chorus songs that we knew.  They have jam sessions in the evening sometimes...

We were invited to stay for chili and buns for their "kick off" of their regular year (not summertime schedule) so we took them up on it.  So weird for me, trying to get comfy in a setting that I am not used to.  It went so much better than I thought.  Numerous people came up to us and chatted and not just the basic "where are you from?  what do you do?" It was fun, there was laughter around and we felt at ease.  Even the girls want to go back.  I recognized some of the younger ladies from a ladies Christmas evening there that my Mom and I had gone to.  I asked the preacher's wife "K" if she had gotten her Kitchen Aid yet.  It's always nice to remember something about someone and have something to talk about!  I have been trying to make more effort to do this and it paid off Sunday!

They are also starting their Beth Moore Bible study on the disciple John on Weds. morning SOOOO I am thinking I may show up.  They said "bring your girls, they can do school in the other room"...hummm...I like the way they think!  Very inviting!

First impression ~ A HIT!

It was not so big that we got lost, not so small that you feel all eyes on you, and lots of cute kids running about and a few older ones too!  BONUS!  

Now if gas prices would just go down...