Reverend Ref +

ROUND 2

Back from BSC today. Yes, you read that right . . . today. We were originally due to arrive at 8:57 last night; but due to mechanical problems, we didn't arrive until 12:15. Can you say, "Skip the morning class"?

We arrived late Friday (also due to mechanical problems). Saturday our host took us to breakfast and then we toured the church in A. From there we went to P and toured that church and town. And then we drove down to DL to visit that parish and town. There's something like 60 to 80 miles in that loop. So, Sunday's would be a very long day in the car.

Population is quite a bit bigger than VC-S (who had populations of 150 permanent and 700 respectively). A is around 8000, DL is around 4000 and P is around 1000.

Sunday we did one combined service in A and had about 35 people there. I led MP and preached. Did a pretty decent job. Then we went up to DL for a potluck lunch so that anyone who wasn't able to meet me at service would have that chance and have an opportunity to ask questions. After that, we went over to P for cookies and coffee. As an aside, anytime you go to P, make sure you use the bathroom first because they don't have one (hmmm -- I suppose I could've written that last sentence better). The church is about 100 years old, and nobody thought to equip it with even an outhouse.

Oh yeah, one other point about the weekend: it snowed. No, I'm not kidding. It snowed last week when I visited VC-S, and it snowed again this weekend. Welcome to spring in BSC.

Timeline: Supposedly VC-S wants to make their decision this week. The A-DL-P search committee is meeting tomorrow, and then presenting their choice to each vestry Friday. I hope to hear from them next week at the earliest, in two weeks at the latest. These next two weeks are going to be rough. Keep my family in your prayers.

Peace