New Friends ... IRCA Conference Day Four.

Last night when we got home, we had to haul out the Atlas and look up the location and information on the Island Kingdom of Tonga, where some of the delegates at the International Rural Church Association Conference have come from.

Ms H. has been smitted by the Tongan delegates and spends her time hanging out with them through out the conference.

So, last night we found Tonga on the map and looked at how far they had travelled to come to Canada, and Ms H. was amazed.

Today, we had a walking tour of Brandon and area with the staff of Samaritan House Ministries, an ecumenical, non-demoninational outreach Ministry that offers far more than a Food Bank and Soup Kitchen. I personally learned ALOT about what the Samaritan House offers to Brandon and area ...

Among the tour group were folks from Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada and of course Tonga. Ms H. walked with them and spent the time in session sitting with one of the women and one of the men ... and in my humble opinion, the three of them had entirely TOO much fun !! (just look at the picture below:)

I think the image of Ms H. laughing hysterically because the gentleman to her left was getting her into mischief AND blaming HER ... is my image of the conference. Not only have we formed connections and friendships across countries and continents, we've formed friendships across many age groups, and at 10, my daughter has been able to connect with Church folks half a world away ... and they've invited her to come and visit "any time" ... she was likely checking out flights tonight on the internet ...

It was a long and exhausting day ... but it was a wonderful, wonderful day ... Thanks to Marcia and her peps at Samaritan House for sparing the time and offering us such a wonderful day of experiences, reflections and learnings ... THANKS !!