"Elim Answers Bus Driver's Prayer "
Gordon Bergen used to drive a bus before he retired. He knew the city well but he still couldn't find the retirement home he wanted.
"We looked everywhere. Vancouver, Burnaby, White Rock, Surrey, Langley. There was nothing we wanted." It was a problem that required prayer. The Bergens, fortunately, were no strangers to prayer.
It took nearly ten years of searching and waiting, but for the Bergens, Elim Village is, as Gordon said, "an answer to a prayer."
Gordon laughed: "When we first moved in, after a couple of days, I said, 'This is better than home. It's like we're on holidays here.'"
"You Don't Have to Drive"
Mary Vandergugten takes three exercise classes a week and looks a decade younger than her age.
She says, “Here at Elim Village, you don’t have to drive. You can just walk to each other. You get to know more people everyday. We care for each other. We have clubs organized which include activities such as knitting, writing, and quilting. The men play pool. There’s a lot to do. But you can be private also. You can be just as private as you want to. But you don’t have to be lonely.”
“I like the finishing of the suites too. I like the windows. I like all the finishing up on the floors. It was neat and my kids thought so too.”
"No Sales Pressure"
"When we visited the display suites at Elim, we experienced such a spirit of helping from the marketing staff – there was no pressure at all,” says Elsy Balzer.
“The moment we saw Elim Village we knew it was where we wanted to spend our retirement years,” says her husband, Peter. “We came to the Village to see the display suites and came right back the next day and bought our apartment.”
Asked what they like about life at Elim Village, the Balzers agree that everyone is very friendly and they also appreciate the sense of security that comes with living in the community.
Peter says, “Life just gets better every day!”
"The Feeling of Friendship"
“I am very much at home here,” says Verna Roberts. “There is a feeling of friendship and caring that you don’t always find in retirement communities.”
Verna likes the ‘buddy system’ she’s arranged with her neighbour, Ida. She says her ‘buddy’ is so faithful in phoning her every morning at 9 and often stops in during the day. “Ida has become a personal friend and I appreciate her so very much.”
Like other Elim Village residents, Verna says she knows without a doubt that the Lord led her here. She says, “I am truly blessed to be able to live in this wonderful Christian community.”
The library at the Amenities Building gives you another lovely place to find a moment’s quiet with a good book.
