Home From Toronto

Our time in Toronto has ended. The last couple days of orientation were used to connect all that we had been learning and prepare it for use in the mission of God. Conversations pulled together what it means to be "called to mission," what our denominations expect of us, and in what way we should begin our encounter with another part of God's sacred creation.

We also took many, many group photos. Yay!

                              The YASCers of 2012-13!

                The entire orientation group who we've been studying with, conversing with, growing with, and learning from for two full weeks! Deepest thanks and blessings to all of you.

Before we left, our Spiritual Director, Sonia, spoke these words to us all in the closing ceremony:
             "You are the people sent to people who have been created by God, to join with them as the light of the world. So, go in peace to love boldly and serve joyfully."

We (Jenny and Doug) would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Canadian Churches' Forum For Global Ministries for all of their hard work with this orientation. The skills we have begun to develop and the ideas we have begun to explore will surely bloom as we carry our light out into the world.

Thanks to all of the YASC officers for finding such a wonderful program for us to be a part of and for coming to Toronto to support us in our learning and preparation.

And our deepest thanks to everyone who has supported us thus far with the funds that made this learning opportunity a possibility. The gifts we have received in Toronto will find their way through us and manifest themselves in our work and presence in Japan. Thank you so very much.

For now, Jenny and I are back home in the lovely heat of an Arkansas summer. Today we are going to worship at St. Peter's Episcopal in Conway, which will be very nice after such a long and distant travel. Looking ahead, we can see that it is only two weeks before we board a plane for an even longer and more distant journey.

Keep us and the other YASCers in your prayers as we all fly off to be present in our many different placements scattered around the globe this year.

Fellow servants in Christ,

Doug and Jenny Knight