On Saturday, Rose, Sue and I headed north of the border for a show that we were scheduled to do on Sunday morning. Because of the distance we had to travel, there was no way we could leave on Sunday, and be ready to start on time. The show was at the Hartland, New Brunswick Wesleyan Church. Not only was it a five hour drive, but New Brunswick is one time zone to the east, so we lost an hour crossing the border.

Saturday’s trip was easy and pleasant. There were plenty of teachable moments for Rose, as she experienced crossing the border, bilingual road signs, crossing time zones and exchanging cash. The weather was great, and traveling is always a good opportunity to catch up with each other.

When we arrived at the pastor’s house at 5:30 Saturday (their time), though, there was nobody home. We were met by the youth group leader’s wife, who told us that Pastor Norton’s daughter-in-law had gone into labor early that morning. The excited grandparents had driven up to St. John to be there to welcome the new baby into the world. We were let into the house and told to make ourselves at home. Rose and I quickly found an air hockey table (I beat her three times in a row!) then we settled in to watch TV. Pastor and Mrs. Norton arrived back at about 9:30, proud to tell us about newborn Kate, their fourth granddaughter. It was a cool to celebrate this moment with our hosts.

Sunday morning we did a show for their regular church service. We went about 70 minutes, and the congregation was involved throughout. The routines were built around the theme, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I once again performed “Do Something Now”, my routine about world hunger – I’m not sure I can still call it my ‘new’ routine – as well as “Johnny’s Café”, which I think has been performed half a dozen times or so. Rose has stepped up her role, as well, both performing illusions and assisting me and running my new i-pod. She already understands this new device better than I do.

The church was very generous with their offering, bringing us up to about 40% of what we need for Paraguay 2013. After a church picnic we headed home tired but blessed by a fun and special weekend north of the border.