Lorna in Her Own Words *Video*

Lorna is a wild one .... as we all know. She may be sick in hospital with cancer but she's definitely not dead. Lots of laugher and typical Lorna behaviour .... just ask her about her cute night nurse... here's a word or two from her in hew own words.

She's undergoing further tests today to see what kind of "patch job" doctors can do on her so she can eat again .... look out Rose .... she's planning on a night at White Spot with you ....

Let's keep praying for Lorna, for strength, for wisdom for the doctors as they assess and treat Lorna in these days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUN HEE

It's a great day to celebrate our friend and co-worker Mun Hee who is celebrating a birthday today. Mun Hee comes to us from Korea and is offering hope and joy and friendship to people in the Downtown Eastside. She prays hard and spends lots of hours every week sharing kindness and love that she's experienced through Jesus Christ and offering the same to those she meets. We wish her well today and thank God for her life.

RENEWAL MISSION - ST. SIMON'S *Pictures* (Posted Mar. 20)

We love to spend time with our friends in St. Simon's and this weekend is special for many of us as we participate in the Renewal Mission, held annually during this time of year. The theme of this year's conference is "Catching Fish in the 21st Century".

We're loading up the old gray van at 6:30pm tonight to head over the Second Narrows Bridge. Since we moved to a morning service and have focused our time with Immanuel Church in the Rio Theater we have missed being with our friends at St. Simon's so we're anxious to chat and do all the other good things that come with being together as a family. The worship and the speakers will be the "icing on the cake" as we listen along for new ways to engage our friends who don't yet know how much they are loved by God, their creator.

Coming Soon! Kent and Jen's Wedding (Posted Mar.20)

Our webmaster Kent Morgan and our good friend Jen Isaak will soon be married. April 4 is the big day. Lots of Partners in Hope friends are praying for God's blessing on their life together and for these final days of preparation.

We appreciate Kent's ongoing work as our webmaster. What would we do without his efforts keeping our employment and housing listings up to date. I certainly don't know how to do any of it so without his expertise we would have many fewer resources to offer to our friends.

FREE DENTAL CLINIC and Dr. & Mrs. Alex Yule *PICTURES* (Updated Mar. 20)

Hats off to Dr. Alex Yule and all his good friends at the Metrotown Dental Clinic. Yesterday (March 16) we were able to bring 25 of our friends to the clinic for free dental service that included x-rays and fillings and cleanings -- basically whatever was needed in mouths to get them healthy.

Now if the driver (me) had done a better job of finding the entrance to the clinic first thing in the morning (it was before 8am) then the day would have been hassle free because the staff were efficicient, kind, helpful, and very professional.

There are so many good people doing good things that we never see and so can't thank but when we do experience something generous, we want to make note of it and the good people at Metrotown Dental Clinic did a good thing. They are not just doing it as a "one-off" either because we already have the date of the next clinic scheduled.

Dr. Yule and his wife Jo are great friends of Partners in Hope. They come to help in the food co-op every week and do whatever is needed from chopping vegetables to making lunch, to listening to Lorna's stories (now there's a real service!! :) ). They head of the home Bible study groups at St. Simon's Church of North Vancouver -- a church close to our hearts -- and do all sorts of kind and caring things just because they are the right thing to do. They laugh a lot. They put up with my (Elsie) craziness and just show all of us a wonderful example of making every day of our lives count.

Dr. Yule is the founder and animating force behind the free dental clinic in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside as well as a new one now operating in Abbotsford at the food bank. I smile better just because I know Alex and Jo. Lots of others smile better because Alex and Joe have worked hard to make everyone around them have a real vision of God's goodness through their daily lives.

We have this little joke whenever I meet up with them .... I'm always trying to get someone to distract Jo so I can hug Alex first .... but I'll always hug them both just because I love them and am so proud to be associated with them.

Hope Behind Bars (Posted Mar. 9)

We hurried home from church, got about 60 people fed and then Lorna, Mun Hee and I climbed in the van and headed for the prison. Sadly, one of the women there had committed suicide earlier in the week and we were on our way to the memorial service.

Last Monday evening, as we regularly do, we had filled the van with volunteers and driven out to the back side of Maple Ridge. We'd talked about how this was the last time for awhile that we'd be driving out in the dark (because of daylight saving time coming on the weekend). We crowded into the tiny "control" area to sign in and get our volunteer badges. Linnea had given each of us our list of 3 or 4 people we were visiting ... those we'd visited before and new folks who'd asked to have a visit. Some folks made their way over to the new minimum security facility on another part of the grounds. This was the first time for them over there. The rest of us headed off to various "houses" to find our friends.

As sometimes happens, at one point in the evening a number of us found ourselves on the same unit. When I came through the door I saw Lorna sitting at a table playing cards with two of the women there and, as I usually do, I had all sorts of crazy things to say about her and "warnings" that I gave the women about what would happen to them if they kept hanging around people like Lorna. We had lots of laughs and I went off to visit the woman I was there to see.

Forty-eight hours later, one of the women sitting at that table with Lorna took her own life. While Lorna had been too sick to visit in the prison for a few months last year Mun Hee had befriended this woman so when we received the news it was a pretty big shock to both of them and the usual questions go through your mind: What did I miss? What could I have done or said? Why did something like this have to happen?

These are the challenging moments for all of us as we long to have people come to know the hope and the joy we have found in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

I know the absence of hope. I know the darkness that seems to thick and too heavy to go on. I tried the same route years ago. Thankfully, I was not successful and God has given me a life that has been very worth living. That's a hope I have to share with women by my presence at a memorial service and in upcoming weeks when I sit with them somewhere on the grounds or in a common area of one of the units.

It is a reminder to me and all of us that only God's love can give us the strength and vision we need to see the future in a way that makes us want to enter into it.

I know that Lorna and MunHee, the women in the prison, the family of the woman who has died, would all appreciate your prayers in these days.

Crowded But Filled With Good Things

(Pictures: L-R: Apartment meeting at 2255 Pandora; Bible study and dinner at April and Roy's in New West; Meeting in the yard at 2509 Pandora)

What do you do when the usual meeting place is being renovated? You send vans and cars, pick up folks and bring them all home. We cleared out as much furniture as we could from the den and then we packed in. It reminded me of days at 2509 Pandora Street in the living room there.

We reminded ourselves that even though there were about 35 of us packed into our den, we were people on a good journey -- people who were seeking to make something good of our lives and willing to share with others how to do it.

Step 6 tonight -- entirely ready to have God remove all our defects of character .... if you haven't done so already, give the sheet a read ... you 'll find it in the middle of the main web page .... who of us is ever entirely ready to have God remove ALL our defects of character.

It was crowded but the room felt full of all the right things. This is family. This is making the most of what we are given and sharing it in love with others. My heart feels crowded with good things at the moment.

SPECIAL DAYS - LIFE CHANGING OFFER!

It's a once a year opportunity -- for 40 days as we prepare for Easter we have a chance to reflect on what is working in our life and what isn't. For millions of Christians around the world these are days to take a few moments to reflect on our friendship with God. These 40 days of Lent are about taking time to have our hearts warmed once again with the awesome friendship God offers to us.

Every day we post a special meditation that names some way that God is offering love and really solid friendship to us. It's a chance to smile, really smile, at what is good in life and to hope again that where life is difficult, there can be something better.

You'll find that meditation across the page on the left hand side or you can go there directly at: www.partnersdailymeditation.blogspot.com