Conchie's Creations

Going from having no home or occupation to creating the bakery we did for 5 years was the grand miracle.There were many smaller ones along  the way like the tale of my jacket.
On our first family Christmas at Little River   I could tell that Sarah was very excited about the gifts she had prepared for us. With eyes sparkling  and a smile on her face she handed them April, Melody and urged us to open them  first. We were soon delighted to try on lovely jackets with Little River Bakery embroidered on them  They have served  us well since both as coats and reminders of our Bakery days .
On a warm day last September  while working outside, the heat beckoned me to shed my jacket. Hanging  it on a nearby  fence  post  I continued working…..At the end of the day when I went to retrieve it…. it was gone….The loss was not just the jacket but all it represented. of the bakery and an oven full of memories ……Our opening day snow, free donuts, over one hundred customers. Our last day while loading our final item on to the moving van, a lady drives up and walks purposely towards the door.Upon seeing the empty room sighs and disappointingly says I guess you don’t have any bread or cinnamon buns today.She was  the final symbol of how loyal and dedicated our customers had been.I was reminded of Mrs.Mitchell, almost 90 who came 1/2 a mile with her walker to p/ u  her favorite loaf and treat! My oh My. Our baked goods crafted by hand received by our customers who left us with love⁰Then came the last Wed….. of this March.The next day  l was doing a speech on Little River Bakery. . I finished another days labour and I had a small hand full of litter to dispose of. Being hungry I could have just put in my pocket and gotten rid  of it another time…..
Have you ever watched a movie where the climax will turn out well if the character does something at the moment. While watching you shout into the TV,   “come on, come on, open that door”!!!!!….I heard you !!!!… and went to the garbage room and walked towards the three bins….. Upon opening the lid of the first bin I saw  something that looked warmly and wonderfully familiar.
The grand audience and “the giver of all good gifts” whispered intimately and lovingly to me,…. “Michael it’s your jacket”….and so it was!

“Expect the unexpected” was a phrase we saw in the late 80’s scrawled on a sign beside a voxwagen crushed under a huge log as we travelled on the road to Zebellos and then onto Esperanza. As many unexpected events were experienced there and in our life thereafter I should not have been surprised by the recent turn of events in our time here at Pioneer Pacific Camp on Thetis Island. I began in the spring wondering what my role would be here at this beautiful place and the Lord promptly told me it was not about me but about Him.

We were enjoying the quiet of the camp in June and preparing for the summer when we received a call from my daughter thence I found myself in Vancouver while Michael stayed here at Pioneer cooking for Staff training week. While I was praying with the pastor of our Vancouver church about my situation I received a phone call from the program director at Pioneer that while Michael was on a prayer walk he fell and broke his right leg in 3 places.  Thus began a month which Michael and I journeyed through together (yet 2 ferries apart) via nightly telephone conversations.

While I was a mom to my youngest daughter in need and enjoyed the beaches and Vancouver summer events, wonderful times with my children and their families, two lovely ladies who I lived and prayed with, reconnected with friends and most impacting of all learned that He was there with me and my daughter every step of the way… unexpected as it was.

After an operation to put tubes in his leg and a week or more of recuperation, Michael encouraged by an amazing, loving and gracious community of staff at Pioneer took his place as head cook in the kitchen. An office chair that we were inspired to bring with us became his vehicle from which he learned to delegate and teach an enthusiastic kitchen crew.

At the end of July after much urging and reports of the amazing things that were going on at Pioneer, Melody and I arrived at this Christian camp where it was hard not to see what God was doing and who He was.  Michael has Sydney,  a young fellow as an assistant cook who majored in and is very gifted in logistics. They make a very good team and we missed him when after three weeks Melody returned to Vancouver, Sydney with her for a weekend with his family.

Unexpected as it has been this summer we have discovered a place where we can see the Lord working in many ways in the leaders, Leaders in Training, Pioneer Youth Campers, Summer Staff, campers and guests and Thetis Island neighbours. It is an exciting place to be. Everywhere as I walk around the camp I see young people reading God’s word, demonstrating and living God’s word, teaching God’s word. I have learned that He is our strength… that is the strength and the joy that is here …. for it is about Him. “In Him we live and move and have our being”

In two weeks, two camps time we will be looking at what we will be doing, where we will be living and what God is doing.  Right now we are not thinking about that but we know and have confidence that our future is safely in his hands….and we know that we can expect the unexpected and it will be OK! Go to our webpage for more info.