Snail Mail!

Hello friends! We've finally gotten our prayer letter together and are just about to put it in the mail! We are often asked if we can eMail our prayer letter, and I guess generally we don't. eMailing a .PDF comes accompanied with a host of problems that most often makes that an inefficient way of communicating. So, for all intents and purposes this blog serves as an electronic prayer letter. But, there is something to be said for having something come in the mail that you can read.

The Lord has provided for us in a unique way to be able to afford to send out mailings of our prayer letter, and we really feel that it is a part of our ministry to do so. Although it is our hope to send out four printed prayer letters a year, this has not been the case in 2012. I could insert a host of excuses here, but suffice it to say, with a new baby and managing the various programs and events at Arrowhead, our prayer letter mailings have suffered. So, our current letter is chalk full of pictures and updates from the past months. We will also be including our newest prayer card as well, with a brand new family photo.

We would be more than happy to include you in our mailing, so if you have not been receiving our prayer letters in the mail and would like to simply drop me an eMail and we'll see that you get in on this weeks mailing.

Thanks for your prayers and support this year. We trust the Lord has been honoured and glorified by all that has transpired at Arrowhead and in Atlantic Canada.

Aliyah's Bald Buddies

This past summer Stephen Somers and his daughter Aliyah spent teen week with us at camp. Stephen was our speaker for teen camp, and brought the gospel to our campers and staff every chapel time. Stephen and his wife Selena are missionaries with Pioneers, and work in the Miramichi area of NB with the First nations folks in that area.
 
Recently Aliyah, a beautiful 8 year old girl who is full of life and love, was very suddenly very ill and rushed to the IWK in Halifax. She has since been diagnosed with High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The cost of being away from home and work and travel and all that accompanies this is very high for her family. And Christmas, I'm sure, will be especially challenging.

Three of Arrowhead's summer volunteers, who are also members of our local church here in Cumberland Bay, and myself have a real desire to help out the Somers' in a small way. Our goal is to raise $1500 to be able to send to them in time for Christmas. But to do this we need your help.

The four of us, Rob McCready, Peter Branscombe, Andrew Ardern and myself will all shave our heads (Stephen Somers style) for Aliyah and her family as soon as we reach our target. (Yes, there will be photographic proof). We currently have been given $550 (and a huge thank you to those who have given) of our goal and have a couple hundred more promised, so we're almost halfway there. Christmas season can be a difficult time to give, but perhaps that makes it all the more important.

Please pray for strength and healing for Aliyah and for strength and encouragement for her family, Stephen, Selena and Myah.

If you would like to contribute to this initiative, you can send PayPal gifts to solachristus@rocketmail.com. If you do not have PayPal you can contact me directly about sending cash (fawcetts@maritimers.ca). If you're committing to sending in cash, be sure to let us know so we can update the total!

You can follow our Facebook page, Aliyah's Bald Buddies HERE.

Fall Work Week 2012

This week we've had a fantastic week of fellowship and co-labour with some of our friends from Lisbon Falls Baptist Church, Lisbon Maine. This year, Pastor Jonathan Jones joined Paul and Ken for their annual trip to ANBC. They once again blessed us, sharing their skills and abilities in the maintenance and repair of Arrowhead properties and equipment. I'm always amazed at how much is accomplished. It is certainly a blessing to have physical support of this nature at Arrowhead, without it, we would certainly be overwhelmed with the maintenance and upkeep of the property and buildings.

The fellas posing for a rare photo op.

Paul always takes good care of our machinery while he is here.

Ken helped us complete several projects that were outstanding...

... and started some others from scratch.

This week, Pastor Jon was a "Jack of All Trades" and helped us with painting, organizing, cleaning, flooring and hauling brush.

Paul donated a muffler to us for the 4-wheeler.

Mighty men of lumber.

This marks our last major event at Arrowhead for 2012, and with it's conclusion we begin to look to next year's ministries. We will spend the next few weeks completing our office work and begin planning for 2013. Please keep us in prayer, and continue to look here for further updates and announcements about upcoming Arrowhead ministry opportunities.

Christian Action federation of New Brunswick

This past Saturday I had the privilege of speaking at the Christian Action Federation annual meeting. The meeting was held at Skyline Acres Baptist Church in Fredericton. My first encounter with CAFNB was this past summer when we had Marsha Boyd-Mitchell join us for our Discipleship week of summer camp. They exist to help meet the needs ministry and evangelism in New Brunswick, and I was asked to share with them at their meeting about the needs in First Nations ministry in Atlantic Canada. It was a pleasure to be with them for their meeting, I was warmly welcomed and encouraged by their enthusiasm.

Setting out for Fredericton on Saturday morning, I was not sure just how the day would go. I had just come from an all night youth event in Moncton with my home church, Cumberland Bay Baptist, and had slept very little. But the Lord was gracious and kept me safe and lucid until I returned home Saturday afternoon!