Lynton's Top Ten Highlights at A Rocha Canada

Here they are in no specific order:

• the Field Study Centre - it's like living on a farm/nature reserve. The most peaceful and life-giving place I have ever lived at.
• the people - I could have never wished to spend 6 months with a better bunch. We have come away with many friends that I think will go the distance - miss you all heaps
• the food - what could be better than eating fresh veges straight out of the garden, collecting eggs from under the chickens and ocassionally savouring beef from a cow that grazed the fields. I gained a greater appreciation of our reliance on the Lord of the Harvest for all his wonderful edible creations.
• cooking - I enjoyed the challenge of cooking for groups ranging from 4 right-up-to 86 people, sometimes using ingredients I had never heard of before. Life at the centre allowed enough time for you to put love into the meal.
• curling - has there ever been such an exciting, tense, tactical and beautiful winter sport played on ice without skates? After studying the curling during the winter olympics I got two chances to learn how to play. Man that was fun!!! My final stone landed right on the edge of the button.Yeesssss!
• the boat maintanence weekend - a large team of A Rocha folk descended on the Hunterston Farm on Galiano Island to clean, strip and paint two replica long boats of the Captain Cook era that are used in educational boat trips. The time was capped off with a two hour row/sail in the El Nina (?)
• the birds - After making many jokes about my former supervisor's fascination with birds, I would have never imagined that I myself might assume the title 'birder.' However, Colin and Stan's passion for birds slowly rubbed off on me to the point where I learnt a handful of bird songs and I would SOMETIMES take binoculars out with me on a walk. It did help that many of the of Canadian birds liked our bird feeders and that they have Woody the woodpecker, bald eagles and hummingbirds!
• all the other animals - New Zealand has great wildlife but due to being separated from other land for so long it missed out on many cool creatures. We have seen coyotes, elk, 5 species of squirrel, lots of amphibians, garter snakes and hoary marmots - to name just a few. I also fell in love with the chickens (particularly Brahma who I saved from hypothermia) and the Highland cows, Shaggy and the late Curly, that lived at the centre.
• games, games, games - we spent many evenings (especially in the winter) playing lots of games. From up-and-down the river, Mennonite madness, scrabble, risk and chess to soccer, basketball, table tennis and cricket (yes, cricket! I made a cricket set, complete with bails, just like my dad did all those years ago. It was a hit amongst the kids and adults alike).
• the faith - it was such a blessing to work and live in a Christians community. We all came from  different backgrounds (Catholic, Reformed, Baptist, Mennonite....) with the same passion to  serve the Lord. I loved the formal and informal theological discussions (on creation, food, image of God, eschatology...), morning prayers, epilogues, the Pastor's conference at Regent College, Imago Dei, Southpoint (our church home for the 6 months) and pastoral care.

In short I loved it!