Dear Friends:
The last few weeks have been a scramble in our
household and it took the first winter snowstorm of the year yesterday to
remind us that our Christmas letter is overdue. Not that the writing of our
Christmas letter is a chore; we derive great joy in connecting with friends
around the world and in recalling the joys of the past year.
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| Elizabeth and Johan |
Perhaps the highlight of 2012 was when Elizabeth, her
husband Johan and their daughter Sanna moved to Montreal in July. It is such a delight to have them nearby –
they live about 25 minutes away on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in
Verdun. Sanna is well established in the Nursery Sunday School at our Montreal
Citadel congregation. Elizabeth’s career
continues to progress with the signing of some good record contracts, tours to
the USA, across Canada, Europe and Japan and a concert in Toronto’s Massey
Hall. Sanna’s passport is already well-stamped as she hits the circuit with her
parents.
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| Sanna |
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| John |
John lives in Toronto so we see him when we are in
Toronto on business. For Glen that is at least once a month. John is active on the board of the Canadian
Paraplegic Association and is making good headway in the launch of his work in
self-care for persons with spinal cord injuries. If you go to http://blog.sci-u.ca,
you will see the web-site that features the work he is doing with his
colleagues. He continues to be active at
the Church of the Redeemer in downtown Toronto and enjoys the worship and
culture of that congregation. John will
be in Montreal for Christmas and we are looking forward to that.
The Salvation Army Montreal Citadel band remains one
of Glen’s great preoccupations. The band
has grown to 22 members and has been very active in community life at Christmas
with a number of major Christmas concerts along with other churches and school
boards in Montreal. Maybe the thrill of the Christmas run was the band’s
interpretation of a magnificent setting of Who
is He in yonder stall? before a
capacity crowd at the English Montreal School Board’s Christmas concert last
Saturday. Glen is also involved as a member of the board of Booth University
College (a Salvation Army university college in Winnipeg) and on the board of
Christian Direction, a Montreal-based organization involved in creative urban
ministry in Montreal and throughout the French-speaking world.
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| Montreal Citadel Band |
Eleanor is working two days a week writing and has
had a number
of articles accepted for publication in different magazines.
Writing is her passion, a bit like band music is for Glen. Her work as a
chaplain at Montclair Residence – a Salvation Army senior citizens’ home - and
at The Salvation Army’s divisional headquarters in Montreal fills out her time
and brings great satisfaction.
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| Eleanor at Book Signing |
Our church at Montreal Citadel continues to
grow. Glen leads the band and plays the
piano, Eleanor is on the leadership team and we team teach the College and
Careers discovery Group, a delightful experience every Sunday morning. On Sunday evenings (bi-weekly) we are members
of a bible study group in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal with an eclectic
group of 5 Christian couples. The group is led by Glenn Smith, the Executive
Director of Christian Direction. He and his wife Sandy are great friends and
the group (which actually meets in French even though half of us are
English-speaking) is so stimulating.
Our holidays took us back to Tennessee (a chalet in
the Great Smoky Mountains) with a side trip to Charlotte NC and a visit to the
Billy Graham Centre. History may have passed the evangelistic crusade by, in a
sense, but it was a great experience to see the hand of God in the life and
witness of Billy Graham and, most notably, to see the complex web of people
over several generations who impacted each other until one of them brought
Billy Graham to faith in Christ. The ongoing mosaic of God’s action is a
marvel.
In August we were at The Salvation Army’s national
Music School where we taught the social justice option. The typical student is
a 20-yearold university student and we just love working with that group. In October, we took another week in Chicago
as guests at the Territorial Leaders’ retreat of The Salvation Army’s Central
USA territory.
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| Sanna with her class |
In a tough economy the work of Health Partners has
its challenges, but the mission is strong and opening up on new fronts. Glen is, at one and the same time, excited
about the new program developments in the health of mothers and children and
concerned about financing. We work, pray and trust. We have been able to tell
our story on Parliament Hill, in Fort McMurray, Alberta and before the
pharmaceutical industry at its annual meetings.
Last Sunday we did the message at the morning worship
service at our Montreal Citadel congregation. We spoke on Galatians 4:4, how in
the fullness of time God kept His promise in the birth of Jesus. We reflected
on a moment 23 years ago, walking through a Paris train station in our
Salvation Army uniforms when we were stopped and asked if we could help a single
mother with two children who had nothing.
With John and Elizabeth, we went to the crumby hotel room the lady and
her two children were living in with some gifts and food. When we knocked at
the door of the room, she opened and greeted us with the words: “I knew you would come. My friend said she had spoken to someone from
The Salvation Army, and I knew you would come.” Her confidence was not in us, but in The
Salvation Army. If people can trust the
Army like that, how much more can we trust God who, in the fullness of time,
came to our neighbourhood to live among us.
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| Elizabeth takes Sanna to see Santa |
That is why we celebrate Christmas: IMMANUEL -God is with us. May the peace and hope of the season stand
guard over you this year and into 2013.
Eleanor and Glen Shepherd
