Day 3

Today our goal was to visit churches with my books. I did my homework and got the phone numbers and addresses for some of the churches in Sudbury. My first surprise was the number of churches in the Sudbury region. The world keeps telling us that religion is dying. In Sudbury the people don’t know that yet.

Our second surprise was that church offices here tend to be open in the mornings only, especially in the summer time. Our lovely lazy morning with Sharon meant that we found open, only St. Andrews United and the Anglican Church of the Epiphany.

Our third and fourth surprises came as we visited those two downtown area churches. The St. Andrews Church office is on the third floor of its senior’s apartment complex. My aversion to elevators meant that I had a long climb. It was worth it. The office administrator welcomed us. She listened to my description of Fireweed and bought one. She emailed the minister, Bill Steadman and he appeared from another part of the building. She couldn’t have been more helpful, a wonderful front-line ambassador for St. Andrews. Rev. Bill had spent time in Bay of Quinte Conference, so already had a copy of Dipping Your Toes. He purchased Fireweed, as a possibility for a study group.

Feeling buoyed up by this reception, we walked next door to the Anglican, Church of the Epiphany. I was grateful this office was on the main floor. I pushed through the double doors and met the office administrator. Once again I received a smile of welcome as I introduced myself and Tom and told her why I was there. You’ll want to speak with Rev. Tim, she said and brought me to his office. It’s wonderful to enter a church and receive such a lovely welcome. Rev. Tim, like his colleague next door, was warm and welcoming. He invited us to sit and listened carefully as I talked about my books. When I was finished he said, “I’d like to buy both Fireweed and Dipping Your Toes. I’ll have some of my people read them, to consider buying more. My problem is we don’t keep any money here.”

I responded, “I have a ‘square’ to process your credit card on my cell phone. The transaction completed, we got up to leave. I mentioned that I’d be glad to come and speak to both small groups and on Sunday morning.”

“I was thinking about that,” he replied.

“To come so far I would need some travel expenses.”

“Of course,” he said.

I fairly danced out of that church. We decided we’d done enough for one day. Between sales and new contacts we’d had a good afternoon. It was time to return to Sharon to prepare for our dinner out with Sharon’s friends Cliff and Fern.

Tonight we planned the next leg of the journey to Sault Ste. Marie.

Where had we met God today? Well God had been with us all day, especially at the churches. For me the church is always God’s sacred place. Writing books is fun. Selling books is exhausting. Today four people made the job easy. Through them I heard God’s affirmation for my writing ministry. I am truly grateful.