As the days roll by...

Well, as you have likely guessed, Liz and I have returned home safe and sound from the NCEM General Conference in Pinawa, Manitoba. What a wonderful conference it was. Liz and I were both very blessed by the opportunity to be a part of the conference, the fellowship, fun, the meetings and seminars, it was all a refreshing opportunity to spend time with our mission family. So, to those of you who made it possible, we tank you very much for your kindnesses.

Liz and I returned home just in time to beat 'Irene' to the punch. Although the effects of the hurricane were not as dramatic as suspected, there were over 58,000 NB Power customers without power after the winds came. In our part of Cumberland Bay (as though it is a big enough geographical location to have regions of it's own) the power was out for two days. This put us behind the gun a little bit with respect to getting back into the routine after conference. So, once again, I must apologize for not posting this update earlier than this. Praise the Lord that there were no major problems at ANBC as a result of the hurricane. In fact there wasn't even enough wind to knock over the plastic lawn chairs that I had neglected to bring in. There is some small debris to clean up, but all in all, we were spared.

Liz and I are currently in NS visiting with her parents for the long weekend. It had been my intention to return to Cumberland Bay today, but it seems the Lord has other plans. Our van went in to the Ford dealer yesterday for a recall, and everything with respect to that is fine. But Lizs' brother, while doing an oil change, did discover that we have a very severely leaking rad hose... so I'll be here for an extra day or two while that is getting repaired! We are very thankful for Jonathan's willingness to share his skills with us in this way!

Liz is busily getting ready for the Ladies retreat. It is sneaking up on us quickly, but the Lord has provided for all of the various aspects of the retreat that were lacking. Stay tuned for details in the next day or two about registration.

Plans are coming together for the Mission tour in October. I have been asked to represent NCEM on a week long PR tour of New Brunswick with members of several other missions. I will be traveling with representatives from Wycliff, SEND, OMF, Avant and HCJB and visiting Crandall, Bethany Bible College, N.B.B.I., St. Stephen's University, Devon Park Christian School and some other venues yet to be determined. It will be a busy week, but I am looking forward to the opportunity to share about the ministries of NCEM and Arrowhead.

I will be meeting with an excavation company this week at Arrowhead to discuss the logistics of running water and sewer to our three large cabins and the shop. Lord willing, we will be receiving funding this fall to complete this project. This will significantly improve these buildings and give us greater freedom with respect to their use. We will be closely looking at our water system and water quality at the same time and are looking forward to having a healthy and robust water system that conforms to all health and safety standards.

The work on the new office building is almost complete, with a little bit of flashing and soffit, it will be complete and up to date. We are hopeful, over the next couple of years, to bring all of the buildings on the property up to a level of regular maintenance. Our tuck shop is the building with the most need of attention and we will be focusing on it this fall during our work week in October. If you are available and would like to come and serve with us for the week, or for a portion of the week in October, we would be most blessed.

Here are a few more pics from our time at the NCEM General Conference.

We were blessed by worship times led by various individuals and groups made up of NCEM missionaries.

It was most excellent to reconnect with old friends! (we miss you Jan!)

It was great to fellowship with our mission family!

Near the end of the week the MK's did a presentation for us from what they had been learning in the childrens program.

I was very blessed to connect with the other NCEM camp managers during the conference. I'm on the left, in the middle is Lucas Gabrielson, manager of Pine Ridge Bible Camp, on the right is Jason Boucher, manager of Big River Bible Camp and NCEM camp co-ordinator.

This was NCEM's 65th anniversary and General Conference. Pat Elford, Barb Heal and Ardys Winger (not pictured) worked very hard to make this the wonderful conference that it was! We very much appreciate all of their hard work.

Staff devotions.

We flew home with Mark and Ruth-Anna Dana, NCEM missionaries working in Quebec. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to connect with them a little bit.