hree intense weeks visiting eight meetings and worship groups in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island was good, hard work with its own bountiful rewards. For ten blessed days I was accompanied by Charley Basham of Alaska Friends Conference, and her report provides many details that I will not repeat here. [See Charley Basham's account of this trip]

The trip was initiated by conversations between the Traveling Ministries Program Coordinator, who was charged with feeling out where this year's travel among multiple meetings might best occur, and two members of Canadian Yearly Meeting: Daphne Davey, the clerk of its Home Missions and Advancement Committee, and Lynne Phillips, the Co-Clerk of Continuing Meeting Ministry and Counsel. Canadian Yearly Meeting had received an anonymous contribution to facilitate travel among the widely scattered meetings and worship groups in the yearly meeting and further the work of FGC among them. Lynne and Daphne felt that an FGC visitor would be most helpful on either of the coasts rather than in the central Ontario region where the largest number of Friends live and which also has more interaction with Friends outside their area. Then a request for a visitor was received from Bruce Dienes, on behalf of Wolfville Monthly Meeting in Nova Scotia. This provided the opening to send the visitor to the Atlantic provinces. Bruce played a crucial roll in contacting all the worship groups and meetings, explaining and promoting the concept, and then helping arrange schedules. He even scheduled the plane flights. His careful attention to the necessary details was greatly appreciated by the TMP Coordinator and the visitors.

Because Friends are so scattered over such a large area, two of the monthly meetings are made up of a number of worship groups. Folks from the whole area meet together annually in the Atlantic Friends Gathering. This is a time for fellowship rather than business. A few Friends also attend Canadian Yearly Meeting, more often every third year when its sessions are held on the east side of the country. Some generalizations can be made: folks attending Friends meetings in these four provinces tend to be those who have "come from away" (in other words, they are usually not native to the area); they tend to be highly mobile and if they have had experience with Friends it often includes a wide variety of locations within the former British Dominions and the USA; by far the largest number of folks who attend these meetings have had no experience with any Friends other than in their own small group.

My first visits were to Houlton-Woodstock and Fredericton Worship Groups of New Brunswick Monthly Meeting. These four days, in two locations, involved two meetings for worship, four group sessions to explore a variety of aspects of Quakerism, and a few smaller opportunities for conversations. I also helped plant pansies around the peace pole in Houlton, Maine, and walked on one of the numerous old railroad roadbeds made into urban trails. The Houlton-Woodstock Worship Group has considered deeply what it can best offer to its children by way of helping them understand Quakerism, and they have decided that the meeting for worship is the very best they have. So the children remain in meeting and have First Day School at a different time. The family with four home-schooled children sets the example, and the other children follow their lead.

Charley Basham joined me for the visits to Antigonish Worship Group of Halifax Monthly Meeting, to Wolfville Monthly Meeting, and to St. John's Worship Group that is under the care of the Home Missions and Advancement Committee of Canadian Yearly Meeting. Her report covers our activities with these groups. The Monday Charley left I spent with personal visits to the three individuals or couples in St. John's who seemed most interested in focussing on a Friends meeting for worship.

My time in Halifax was well spent meeting with the First Day School committee, a group of relatively new attenders, the program committee, a session with the Dartmouth worship group (not formally set off from Halifax), pot luck and session with the Halifax worship group (which overlaps with the Dartmouth group), and several personal opportunities for conversations. Friends also took me to walk on the Lawrencetown beach and to see picturesque Peggy's Cove.

I met with eight women of the Sackville Worship Group for worship and a session following lunch, and had a precious opportunity with my hostess that evening and the following morning.

On Prince Edward Island I met with the both parts of the worship group that meet at separate times in order to accommodate various schedules. We had good meals together, and then worship followed by conversation and sharing. I was also treated to several drives around the Island, including a look at Green Gables of Anne fame.

People were very generous with their time, and providing transportation, meals, and lodging. It has been good to hear where folks are, how their lives intersect with the Divine, and how they are shaped by their understanding of the Religious Society of Friends. My final evening was spent with a Friend in Moncton, from where I flew home the next day.

More on these travels:
Charley Basham's account of this trip
Photos of this trip

Also by Marty Grundy:
David and Me
Inner Work
Report on Visit to Downers Grove Meeting

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