Sunday, August 25

September 02, 2019

I woke up at about 5:30 A.M. which is about the same actual time I would have woken up in Richmond. I figured out that I can pretty much keep my body on Richmond time during my stay here since I will be getting up around 5 Monday-Friday, and getting to bed around 9. I had some breakfast and then walked around our end of town for a while to help my legs recover from a day of economy-class travel. Connie and I decided to go to the local Mennonite-Brethern church, which I had been unable to find in the local church listings. It turns out that it is called the Gospel Chapel. They have a very dynamic congregation, and an extremely energetic youth group, who made their presence known (in a good way) during a mission send-off for one of their own, as well as their singing during dismissal of the children for Sunday School. They have hymnals in the racks, but the music is 100% praise team with the words projected on the wall. Not my favorite, but everyone was really getting into it. The sermon was longer than I was used to, and presented in a rather soporific manner. I couldn’t tell if it was the speaker or me that was more likely to fall asleep first. Like those world-changing thoughts you get when you wake up during the night but don’t remember in the morning, I had the impression that he had made some good points, but then they were gone.

After church, a number of the MDS staff returning from weekend travel joined us for lunch at the Grand Forks Station Pub, a nice restaurant located in the old Grand Forks train station. I had a grilled cheese and not much else since I had been eating out too much. I got acquainted with a few of the other staffers.

The MDS unit here has two mountain bikes that someone donated, so I took what looked to be the larger one out for a spin. I got in about 15K, learning how to avoid some of the more heavily congested areas. There are several bottlenecks in Grand Forks due to the rivers flowing in and out. There aren’t many crossings, so using side roads works until you need to cross a river. The bike worked OK except the handlebars kept shifting position during the

ride even though I had tightened them pretty well before my ride. Also, I wasn’t able to raise the seat since the adjustment bolt was kind of mangled. No quick-release. The tires held the air I had pumped into them, but overall the bike left me wanting.

Connie and I spent some time going over the kitchen storage, equipment, and what my duties would be on a daily basis. My main morning role would be to set out the lunch items so the volunteers could pack their lunches prior to having breakfast. After that is done, I put that stuff away and set up the breakfast that Connie has been preparing.

I returned in time for another restaurant venture, this time at the Omega II restaurant. We were directed to our table, but it was around ten minutes before a server acknowledged our presence and took drink orders. The food was good. I had my first bowl of borscht, a standard menu item in this area with its high number of people with Russian roots. It was quite good.

After we returned to the MDS unit, we had our Sunday night staff orientation. We met the new weekly volunteers, who were a group of Utes ( did you say Utes? I’m sorry: YOUTHs) from the Niverville area in Manitoba. They seemed pretty quiet at first, but I knew that they would loosen up over the week. We briefly introduced ourselves and had a pretty standard orientation. We all turned in fairly early, knowing the hard work that lay just beyond sunrise. I am staying in a bunk trailer, which has 10 bunks, but can probably handle about half that with its narrow aisle and limited storage.

It has two bathrooms washrooms, but it would be really tough for very many guys to get ready in the morning. Fortunately the shower trailer is right next door, so overall the facility can handle lots more volunteers. It turns out that this week it will just be myself and Larry Hamm, who I also know from Winnipeg, so we were able to spread out among the bunks.