A visit to the Manor

Mountain View Manor is the city-run assisted living facility. The Petersburg Christian Ministerial Association is responsible for the Wednesday morning devotionals there. Each of the pastors interested in leading the devotionals rotates through the schedule. It looks like each pastor ends up being scheduled to go there every other month.

Today was my turn. I got to meet Mary, Betty, Pat, Ann, and Lorean (who is a member of my church). We sang some songs, I read a few verses from Ecclesiastes (since that is this week's Bible reading) chapter 3 and commented about how time is a gift and we need to make sure we use this gift wisely by seeking God in all we do. I asked them, since they have many more years of experience in life than I do, what they would advise a young person like me...

• Love one another
• Do for others as you would have them do for you
• Spend time on the things that are important

We sang another song and closed the half-hour period with prayer.

These are wonderful ladies. Though I could tell that their short-term memories have already deteriorated to varying degrees. Long-term memories -- memories of their earlier lives -- they are still strong though.

Ann, I think, felt a particularly strong connection to me. She is half-Japanese, and the rest Swedish and Tlingit (prounounced "Klin-gkit"). Her father came from Osaka as a young man and never left, finding his wife here and building a family. She says there used to be quite a few Japanese in Petersburg, though there really aren't that many left today.