Trinity Church Red Deer: 2. Year One
We arrived in Red Deer, Alberta, in March 2020, three weeks earlier than planned. In a wonderful answer to prayer, we were able to squeeze onto one of the last flights leaving the UK before the COVID-19 lockdowns began.
Relief after being allowed into Canada!
The first few months were tough. Trying to figure out how to do ministry during a pandemic was an enormous challenge in itself, but doing so immediately after moving countries to a new city and church knocked us for six (thanks for allowing me to use a British phrase...I don't get to use them much these days!). We were both surprised at the degree of culture shock we felt, and in those early days, there was considerable anger with which to navigate among our twenty or so church members over COVID-related issues. On top of that, we were the youngest in the church by a significant margin and felt the grief of leaving close friends at Ascot Life Church. Oh, and we also found we were expecting our first child three weeks after landing, which--while very exciting--meant that Sharaya was extremely unwell during this whole adjustment process.
It was a lot.
After almost two years of praying and preparing to follow the Lord on what we thought would be a mighty adventure, it wasn't quite the start we'd expected. Less whirlwind and more whimper. Less triumph and more tribulation. Maybe you can relate to that? Maybe you've felt God's direction in your life, and it hasn't worked out how you thought.
We felt pretty helpless in our own strength, but it's amazing what confidence in God's calling can do.
By his grace (and the encouragement of wonderful, godly mentors), we felt utterly convinced that we were right where God wanted us to be. And thankfully, the Bible gives us lots of examples of people who endured much more difficult callings than ours (e.g., Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul, etc.)! If you are convinced of your God-given calling, keep pressing forward, friends!
Downtown Red Deer, taken a few metres away from our church building
The rest of year one was all about relationships. We spent hours trying to find ways to connect with our new church family around the restrictions and worked hard on connecting with the broader Red Deer community. Because of our small size, we could still gather in person and even had some visitors, which was exciting!
Winter brought a sharp reminder of what it was like to live in -30°C temperatures again (actually, our coldest day was -52°C, which was just silly). We became parents a few days after Christmas Day and stepped into the new year sleep-deprived but optimistic about what God had for us in 2021.
JJ was born, becoming the first and only child at Trinity for a while!
We had no idea that, comparatively, 2020 would turn out to be a breeze. What was approaching was—in the famous words of Queen Elizabeth II in 1992—an Annus Horribilis. The worst was yet to come.
