Well, Episode 1 aired on Sunday. If you haven't seen it you can catch it here.
Finally, you get to meet some new friends of ours - Joel and Tanya, Mark and Kyle, Annette and Alyssa, Andrew and Cathi... all great Aldergrove people we met through this production and we'll remain friends with for a long, long time. Hopefully our friendship will deepen over the years!
That's what we signed up for, with Million Dollar Neighbourhood - to get to know Aldergrove people. We'd lived here for almost two years and had found it incredibly difficult to meet people. So many others have found the same. We live such busy lives that we barely have the chance - or take the chance - to slow down and spend the time getting to know our neighbours. I know that's been true of myself even since the wrapping of MDN. Of course, I was able to blame some of that on the craziness of the Christmas season. But now that's over, and it's still tough to find the time to nurture these relationships. It was one thing when we had tasks and challenges to accomplish together every week. Actually, it was almost too much. But in normal, everyday life, things go back to, well... normal. It takes intentionality to keep up the relationships that MDN initiated among us.
We enjoyed watching the show. It was kind of neat, actually, seeing the people and activities and what was going on, and remembering it, and now being able to match the person we now know with the experience we remember. The Hidden Money Market fair was great fun. They had bouncy castles and pony rides for the kids, and Caleb and Carter had a great time with those! The greatest financial benefit we experienced was from Kerry from Squawkfox who showed us how we can save money on everyday things. A little here, a little there, and it's amazing how it all adds up!
We're ecstatic about Joel and Tanya's winning! They've been through a tremendous amount. It's been great getting to know them through the show. What an awesome family and deserving couple! The MDN Bank was a bit of a surprise to us when we saw it in the show. It was a case of the "magic of TV" creating something that wasn't really there. A few people have commented "I haven't seen that building in Aldergrove before!"
From a Gospel perspective, this really was Day 1 of getting to know a lot of our neighbours really fast. There are a whole bunch of ways to share the Gospel, and some people might have taken the opportunity right at the get go to get on a bullhorn and start yelling that Jesus is the way. I think that maybe the production company was hoping I'd do a bit of that. I wasn't sorry to disappoint them. To be honest, there were a few people on bullhorns for different causes, and it never really went down well with the community. For us though, the idea was to take it easy - to build relationships with these people. I was more aggressive than Taralyn in letting people that we 'had been' there in Aldergrove to start a church; she believed that would already set a disposition in peoples' minds. I think we balanced each other out - we often do.
Aldergrove needs the Gospel. Yes, the challenge to raise our collective net worth by $1,000,000 is fun and also needed (Jeremiah 11), but real, lasting positive change can only come through the Gospel. A number of people we met through MDN are Christians living in Aldergrove. Many of them have no context for living intentionally as missionaries in our culture. A few of them are legalists (conforming to rules while ignoring culture), and a few are libertarians (conforming to culture while ignoring Gospel imperatives). There are a few that we could relate well with, and we thank God that they're also at work for the Gospel in this town.
Please pray for Aldergrove as you watch this show, and ask if He would send more of His harvesters into the fields of Aldergrove to join us in reaping the harvest He is preparing. Is He calling you to be one of those harvesters?
Finally, you get to meet some new friends of ours - Joel and Tanya, Mark and Kyle, Annette and Alyssa, Andrew and Cathi... all great Aldergrove people we met through this production and we'll remain friends with for a long, long time. Hopefully our friendship will deepen over the years!
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| Our new friends Kathryn and Stephanie |
That's what we signed up for, with Million Dollar Neighbourhood - to get to know Aldergrove people. We'd lived here for almost two years and had found it incredibly difficult to meet people. So many others have found the same. We live such busy lives that we barely have the chance - or take the chance - to slow down and spend the time getting to know our neighbours. I know that's been true of myself even since the wrapping of MDN. Of course, I was able to blame some of that on the craziness of the Christmas season. But now that's over, and it's still tough to find the time to nurture these relationships. It was one thing when we had tasks and challenges to accomplish together every week. Actually, it was almost too much. But in normal, everyday life, things go back to, well... normal. It takes intentionality to keep up the relationships that MDN initiated among us.
 | |
| Carter on the Pony |
We're ecstatic about Joel and Tanya's winning! They've been through a tremendous amount. It's been great getting to know them through the show. What an awesome family and deserving couple! The MDN Bank was a bit of a surprise to us when we saw it in the show. It was a case of the "magic of TV" creating something that wasn't really there. A few people have commented "I haven't seen that building in Aldergrove before!"
From a Gospel perspective, this really was Day 1 of getting to know a lot of our neighbours really fast. There are a whole bunch of ways to share the Gospel, and some people might have taken the opportunity right at the get go to get on a bullhorn and start yelling that Jesus is the way. I think that maybe the production company was hoping I'd do a bit of that. I wasn't sorry to disappoint them. To be honest, there were a few people on bullhorns for different causes, and it never really went down well with the community. For us though, the idea was to take it easy - to build relationships with these people. I was more aggressive than Taralyn in letting people that we 'had been' there in Aldergrove to start a church; she believed that would already set a disposition in peoples' minds. I think we balanced each other out - we often do.
 | |
| Caleb with his sweaty face painted at the Money Market |
Aldergrove needs the Gospel. Yes, the challenge to raise our collective net worth by $1,000,000 is fun and also needed (Jeremiah 11), but real, lasting positive change can only come through the Gospel. A number of people we met through MDN are Christians living in Aldergrove. Many of them have no context for living intentionally as missionaries in our culture. A few of them are legalists (conforming to rules while ignoring culture), and a few are libertarians (conforming to culture while ignoring Gospel imperatives). There are a few that we could relate well with, and we thank God that they're also at work for the Gospel in this town.
Please pray for Aldergrove as you watch this show, and ask if He would send more of His harvesters into the fields of Aldergrove to join us in reaping the harvest He is preparing. Is He calling you to be one of those harvesters?
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