THE CANNY CHRONICLES

Greetings Canny Followers,   The day has come. Molly and I have officially started our time of deputation together. The past few months, since our marriage on May 29th, we have tried to stay busy. We pulled double duty as both missionary speakers and youth counselors at Red Rock Camp (United Methodist) in Paynesville, MN in June. We also had opportunity to be a part of General Conference in Minneapolis in late June/early July. It was great to visit with many people from all over the Evangelical Church denomination. Camp Zion was  another highlight for us. Last year at Camp Shiloh I (Bryan) led the young adult group. Camp also marked the anniversary of our meeting. It was so exciting to have a partner (Molly) to lead the young adults at Camp Zion this year. The Y.A.P.P. (Young Adult Pirate Program) was a lot of fun. Life size game of Sorry, miniature golf with an eye patch,  and classic Davey and Goliath claymation videos were just a few of the highlights.  KIRKSV...

I am sure many of you have realized that "The Canny Chronicles" have been few and far between. I apologize for this lack of updates and communication. Molly and I have been adjusting to married life as well as taking care of some medical issues for my mother (Brenda Canny). We would really appreciate your continued prayers in that situation.  Speaking of adjusting to married life...Molly and I are spending our first full day apart since being married 2 1/2 months ago. We did spend a full week living in separate dorms when we counseled at Red Rock Camp in Paynesville, Minnesota (3 weeks into our marriage), but at least then we saw each other throughout the whole day. I am currently typing this post from Oskaloosa at Rev. David and Donna Barner's house while my beautiful wife Molly is in Minneapolis at Duane and Jessie Erickson's house. We have been in my home town of Oskaloosa for a couple weeks and Molly returned to Minneapolis to gather some extra items before we sta...

Welcome Back! After a few days of presentations there was nothing our fearless leader, Jeremy Kochendorfer, would rather do than ride a bus and then hike 8 miles with Kevin and Lisa Hoffman. So we sent them on their merry way to visit Mizque (the town/village that the Hoffmans reside in). Gordon and Niki also departed back to Santa Cruz to make sure they were home so they could vote in their district.  Yes we were lucky enough to make our visit during the national election time. All the different cities were electing mayors and the advertising was everywhere. Posters plastered the city walls. Giant billboards shown the smiling faces of many candidates. An obnoxious neon green paint ,reminiscent of the ooze from Ghostbusters, could be seen on walls, on overpaces, bridges, and in even in the storm drains that run through the cities.   I apologize for not getting some great pictures of this advertising. I was taking it all in and often times forgot to snap some shots.  ...

I am adding a disclaimer to this post. Writing in the "here and now" is much easier than writing about an experience more than a month later. That being said... Life has been somewhat hectic with planning for a wedding, preparing to move to a different state with my new wife, planning for deputation, and working on designs to prepare the mission office for General Conference. I will recall  the experiences to best of my ability and add pictures to help.  Wednesday March 31, 2010 After the first couple days in Santa Cruz we all set off to the wonderfully beautiful city of Cochabamba to meet up at the Wolheter residence. Waiting at the Santa Cruz Airport. Sipping some espresso. Molly was behind the camera.  I had been mentally preparing for months. I was preparing for the moment I would meet "the infamous Wolheter family". Molly had told me numerous times how much I would absolutely love James, Jenny and the boys (Coy, Cy, and Cade). After our short flig...

Somehow I got myself out of bed shortly after 7am to make it down to eat breakfast with Jeremy Kochendorfer and Gordon Elliott. "Breakfast is always served at the Elliott house", I was told by Gordon. Niki and Mark Elliott had already left for school and my dear fiance Molly was still in deep slumber.  Us guys had a great conversation about missions. I am still the newbie, but they make me feel included and like I have good input. Following breakfast and after Molly woke up we all got ready to head out for a bit of a tour.  In my previous post I mentioned that the traffic was a bit chaotic. This is true, but what makes things more chaotic is that many of the roads are not paved. We experienced this in full form yesterday when Gordon Elliott took us out into Santa Cruz to tour many of the local churches. We were jumbled around like the colorful little pieces in one of those childhood lawn mower toys. It was quite relaxing when  we were able to stop, get out, and walk ...

Molly and I attended the wedding of Devyn Lambrecht and Kristen Ackerman in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska on March 27th, 2010. Kristen is a college friend of Molly and Molly was the maid of honor. Following the joyous occasion we hopped in the trusty sky blue Hyundai Santa Fe and started the 7 hour trek back to Omaha. We arrived in Omaha around 3am on Sunday March 28, 2010. We got what sleep we could and woke up to make sure the final packing was done and the car was loaded. Listed Below is our basic travel itinerary. DEPART Omaha Airport @11 am March 28, 2010 ARRIVE Dallas/Fort Worth Airport @ 12:30 pm March 28, 2010 DEPART Dallas/Fort Worth Airport @ 2:15 pm March 28, 2010 ARRIVE Miami International Airport @ 5:45 pm March 28, 2010 DEPART Miami International Airport @ 11 pm March 28, 2010 ARRIVE Lapaz, Bolivia Airport @ 5:30 am March 29, 2010 Stay on plane while other passengers switch out and the plane is inspected. DEPART Lapaz, Bolivia Airport @ 6:30 am March 29...