Dec 06 2010


Prayer Walking Journal

December 1, 2010 – Wednesday

On this visit I was determined to get better acquainted with the community and how roads connected and what different areas looked like. I mostly have been in the business areas and have yet to get into communities and walk neighborhood streets. There are a lot of apartments along Main Street above the businesses and some of them I have seen and made some mental notes. I talked with a number of people as I was walking around and going into different businesses. I talked at length with Mel and discussed his needs and how we could begin volunteering weekly there in the store. Right now with the holiday season it is too busy for him to stop and train me since he is there by himself. After the first of the year he will train Linda and I so he can get some time away for short periods of time. He did share one story that underscores the ministry he has there in the community. His Swing Band, where he plays a customized keyboard has been playing in a restaurant fairly regularly for the past few months. While they don’t share the gospel the workers in the restaurant have begun asking questions and seeking him out to just talk. He has befriended the bartender and even has given him a Bible. A friend of the Bartender has begun coming to the store and making a point of expressing his fascination with the atmosphere of the store and how he feels “different” when he is there. There are indeed things happening in that store and God is working in and through Mel as he ministers to those God sends his way. I did discuss with Mel about the possibility of starting a small group somewhere in Penticton after the first of the year. We need to pray for continued prayers for more customers and for financial wisdom as he makes decisions on products to stock the shelves. I helped him with some physical needs and then promised I would pray for him. I hope to see him Saturday when I am in town for the Christmas Parade and tree lighting. Across the street from Mel’s store is a small area that has some benches and picnic tables. I noticed it last week and saw it was very unkept and in need of some TLC. I discussed with Mel about the possibility of helping the city to clean and perhaps fix it up. Mel gave me a contact name and I am praying about the best way to approach them to offer our services. This could be the first step in making some important contacts in the community. I spent some time Prayer Walking a little on the southern end of Main Street before I drove down to Lakeside Drive. While on Lakeside Drive, which is along the northern lake Okanagan Lake, I pulled off and began praying for what the summer would look like in this area. It has the beach as well as loads of hotels and rental properties lining the shore. I also wanted to visit the Mall and see if what I suspected was in fact true. It was…I thought I would find a larger crowd of senior adults in the mall and I did. With it being winter here the Mall is apparently the place for seniors to gather and talk. The food court was packed with seniors around tables, talking, reading the paper, or just passing the time. I am praying about how to get into this culture and use this gathering for Kingdom advantage. I will go back and pray for wisdom. I did make an appointment to meet some senior adult folks for coffee next week and perhaps we can meet at the food court and I can sit among them and strike up some conversations. Keeping in mind that 25% or more living in this community are senior adults, perhaps that is where God will open the first door for ministry?  More prayer needed to discern God’s direction here. I talked with Mel; some people on the street, a couple of ladies at an small Italian Deli; Darlene at the Chamber of Commerce; Sharon at the gas station who has a brother in law from Louisiana who says “yes mam” like me; A young man at the phone store in the Mall; and Joan with whom I will have coffee with next Wednesday (her husband Ralph will be joining us as well). Mel, Joan, and Ralph are the only ones from Penticton, not connected to our church, who know what we are attempting to do there.  

 I was in Penticton from 10:30AM – 4:15PM  It was a fairly nice day with temperatures in the low 40’s to high 30’s. It gets dark here at 4PM in the winter here.

 

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