Church Report Cards:

Report #1 -
On Sunday we went to our 4th church in 4 Sundays. It was the most interesting yet. Brad Jerzac pastors a church in Mouat Secondary called Freshwinds. It is an alternative kind of church. Many of the people who belong to the church work with handicapped people, and the church has a real ministry there. The coolest thing was seeing handicapped people wander onto the stage and strum a guitar, make music with a harmonica or sing along. When one older lady came to the mike and began singing Jesus loves me the congregation joined in and it was so beautiful it mad me cry. The church also has a prayer ministry called “listening prayer” where the emphasis is resting in Jesus and asking him to speak. Many people who have been hurt by the church and others recovering from addictions also attend there. It is noisy and unpredictable but the spirit of God was definitely present.

The Sunday before we went to Aldergrove Alliance. Because of the snow, they were only at about half strength so there was a nice cozy feel. People were friendly and the pastor seems like a real down to earth guy and very well liked. They also have a part time children’s pastor and a youth pastor and are starting construction on their own building soon. We plan on going back again.

Report #2 -
It was a Murrayville reunion at Aldergrove Alliance yesterday. There were six families there. You'd have thought we were all long lost friends the way we were all hugging each other.
It's hard to get a feel of what their real worship is like when it's Christmas carols, but they actually did them well. They did a few worship songs and we didn't know any of them, but the band was good. The pastor has a good Mennonite name, Doug Wiebe, and I noticed a few other Menno names in the bulletin. He was really good. Tons of youth there. Our kids knew several of them. They are meeting in the Aldergrove Seventh Day Adventist church on 28th Ave off of 264th.(at least I think it's 28th) but have just started this week building a new church 2 doors down. It had a real cozy, family like feel. People seemed friendly too. I think we'd fit in well there.

For Christmas Eve, they rent out the Aldergrove Ice Arena and have a service there. Then they take everything off the ice and go ice skating. This time of year the Arena is all decked out as if you are skating outside. So any of you Aldergrove people, this is a good one.