Going home to Canada from the Cayman Islands is a whole lot easier that going home from Malaysia. By a factor of about 20. You can fly from here direct to Toronto on either West Jet or Air Canada in just under four hours. Given the increasingly belligerent rhetoric coming out of Washington regarding us ‘foreigners,’ direct is definitely the way to go. That said, we were less than impressed with the train from Pearson Airport downtown. We got off at Bloor and had to haul suitcases up and down stairs and across busy streets to get to the subway. People coming from the airport are on that train. That is why there is a train. People coming from the airport will have luggage. It seems redundant to point this out, but clearly not to the brain trust responsible for that lack of planning.

Once again Jane and Joe were happy to let us stay at Joe’s house during our stay in Toronto, but we didn’t get to see either Tessa or Sarah-Jane. We did get to shop at UniGlo, our favourite Asian store, and I did some much needed shoe shopping for my poor dysfunctional feet. We got in a quick visit to Toronto’s fabulous AGO, an annual pilgrimage and saw the stunning Georgia O’Keefe exhibit, then we rented a car for a leisurely drive east along the north shore of Lake Ontario. We stopped for lunch at Jane and Joe’s cottage in Prince Edward County, and arrived in Ottawa around supper time to visit with friends and former colleagues in Malaysia, Jim and Karen Leonard.

Jim and Karen brought a ton of furniture back from Asia, and there apartment was most tastefully decorated with pieces that seemed to be very comfortable in their transplanted home. We were joined at dinner with Shelley Smith-Dale, another colleague from Taylor’s CPU program, and had a most pleasant evening reminiscing about our adventures in Southeast Asia. After another pleasant drive back along number 7 highway, we dropped the car and took the train down to London. Although we invariable stay with Pam’s brother and wife Syl, her brother was visiting from out West, and we ended up at the Ivey-Spencer Leadership Centre instead. The choice was fortunate, for the place was well-equipped and included a buffet breakfast for a very affordable price.

Syl’s brother and wife from the West were good company, and made a welcome addition to our regular games of rook and euchre when we are home. We even met up with Joe and Lorrie at the Playhouse in Blythe and all eight of us had a nice dinner afterwards in Exeter. We squeezed in as many other visits as we could while we were in the area, with friends from church, but time was particularly tight on this trip, and did not afford us much time to reconnect with our former lives. We did manage to get in a breakfast with Matt and Kate, and a lovely lunch with dear friends Al and Shelley.

I also responded to what I perceived to be an urging from the Holy Spirit to see an old Christian friend and teaching colleague Bill Turford, and I am glad I did. Now living in Stratford, he had finally come to terms with the tragic death of his oldest son, Scott, many years ago. It was good to see how Christ had healed that wound, and to finally see on Bill’s face a peace and reconciliation that had been missing for so many years. It was a good visit, and a reminder that God’s healing is for the heart and soul primarily. It is we frail humans that only see the body as important. God sees deeper.