Rigney Ministries

Azaleas in our backyard.	Bridal Wreath down the street.	Wisteria in a friend’s yard.

I L.O.V.E. spring in the Deep South! Azalea bushes put on their lovely pink dress, Bridal Wreath bushes fill in with beautiful white bouquets, and Wisteria vines fill the air with fragrant purple blossoms. In March, all over the Deep South, God’s glorious creation puts on a drama of life unfolding … in anticipation of Resurrection Sunday! By the time that special Sunday arrives, our world is bursting with new life.

Earlier this month, we left the beautiful pink Azalea bushes in our backyard and traveled to a world of white! There we learned that even though a world filled with color is beautiful, a world that has been painted white has a beauty all it’s own.

See more pics of this vacation on Our Flickr Photo Album

When we visited our friends in British Columbia, Canada last May, they invited us to come back and see their world when it is covered in snow. Sooo … we went back for the first two weeks of March, and God REALLY delivered where the snow was concerned! Our friends had promised to teach us how to cross country ski, and they did! We skied, made snow angels, and built snow bears. Benjy and McKenzie even took snow boarding lessons, but Vic, Julie, and I said goodbye, and went cross country skiing, instead!

After a few days close to home, we traveled north to Whislter, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. There, we enjoyed even more snow and temps that dipped below zero … brrrr! From the window of our condo, we saw a sleigh gliding across a snow covered golf course. That’s  a sight we don’t see in the Deep South! More friends met us on Whistler Mountain for a fun day of tubing down the slopes. But the highlight of the tour at Whistler was the Peak to Peak gondola ride which Julie documented so well on her blog. It is the highest and longest gondola in the world – 1 mile off the ground and almost 3 miles across! I was VERY nervous on the inside, but it was Vic who gave expression to what I was feeling …

Lest you think we spent all our time playing in the snow, I’m including the next collage to show you some of the other things we enjoyed.

McKenzie fed tame dear from our friend’s back door! We played games and enjoyed sweet fellowship every evening. We visited Fort Langley, the first settlement in BC. We had a nice stroll with friends around a beautiful lake. We hiked up a small mountain near Vic and Julie’s home. And of course, we spent a fair amount of time around the table!

Benjy didn’t have any invitations to sing or preach during this visit, but we did attend the worship service at a Southern Baptist mission church at Whistler that focuses on extreme sports enthusiasts.  We also participated in four seperate home Bible studies. It seems that in-home study groups is the better way to teach the Word in this area, as real estate is so very expensive. We learned on our last visit that there are only nine Southern Baptist church buildings in the association that includes the mega city of Vancouver and surrounding areas.

We had a GREAT time in BC! I am simply overwhelmed by the beauty of God’s creation in that area AND by the sweetness of our godly friends there … both these things are blessings from the One who gives every good and perfect gift. Thank you, Vic and Julie, for your generous hospitality, for your excitement in showing us your corner of the world, for the fun and games we shared, for the time we spent studying God’s Word together, and for all that good Mennonite food! We LOVE y’all, and we can’t wait to get together again!

On His Exciting Journey,