A little vacation on the way.

Well, we're home. After over 116 hours behind the wheel; and nearly 8900 kms on the road. We had the privilege to enjoy our NCEM general conference in MB; visit with friends, family, supporters and churches and take some time vacationing on the return trip! Now, to rest up from vacation.

The 5 day, NCEM general conference at Wilderness Edge Resort was a special blessing. Not only was it a refreshing time but it was wonderful to be able to spend time in fellowship with our fellow labourers from across the country. We are thankful that our mission takes the time and effort to organize such a conference and make it available to us. This is something that we will look forward to every three years as we serve with NCEM.

There were a lot of great opportunities to enjoy special events during the conference.

It is always fantastic to come together in worship as a family.

We were always well fed during the conference.

For some reason I caught several pictures of Carl eating... Carl Sonnichsen and his wife Laura, serve the Lord faithfully in Goose Bay, Labrador.

The conference ended on Friday at noon and we headed out from Pinawa. We took the opportunity on our return trip to take a little over a weeks vacation together as a family and visit friends and family in Ontario - as well as a chance to be in a couple of Arrowheads supporting churches. It would have been nice to be able to connect with everyone, unfortunately we weren't able to get everywhere. But we very much enjoyed our time together and found our vacation to be refreshing and relaxing - just like a good vacation should be. We had a lot of fun traveling back as far as Sudbury with NCEM missionaries Len & Lorrayne Breen and Harvey & Evelyn Everett. It was great to be able to fellowship along the road. 

In Sudbury we were able to get together with the Gingerich family. We took our mission training together and have stayed in touch since then. Seeing them made us wish that we lived closer!

 We spent a few days in Newmarket and had the opportunity to visit with friends and family.

 We took some time to visit the town where I spent some of my early teen years.

As a family we were able to go and see Niagara Falls, Ivy loved the misty boat ride!

It was great to be able to spend a couple of days in Ottawa with Liz's Cousin and her husband, Cheryl & Dave Van reenan.

On the road home we stopped off in Old Quebec for a night. It was beautiful; a great way to finish up our vacation.

It truly was a blessing to both be able to attend conference and take some vacation time as well. It has been some time since we've had an extended vacation together and we valued it very much. It was a great way to recharge after the challenges of the summer and prepare ourselves for a fall and winter of ministry.

Volunteer Training in Gorrie Ontario

This past weekend I had the tremendous blessing and privilege to be among the fellowship of believers at Gorrie, Ontario! My primary purpose for traveling to Gorrie was to offer the volunteer training program to the team coming from there. We have a group of eleven people (perhaps more) who are committing to give a week (some as many as 6 weeks) of their summer to the ministry at Arrowhead! It is a huge blessing to have the team come, and it was equally a blessing to have them a part of the volunteer training program.

It was a packed weekend to be sure, we met for a few hours Friday night, all day (and I mean all day) on Saturday and Sunday after church. We discussed some very important issues as they relate to the ministries and programs of Arrowhead Native Bible Center.

It was my first fathers day on Sunday, and I almost made it home just in time, but it was close enough - I flew into Fredericton at about 1:30am on Monday morning. Mike & Jamie treated me to a fathers day feast on the way to the airport, so I was well looked after, and once I was with my girls again it was like I'd never left.

 

We had some fun too - here are Sarah, Prisca, Jonny & Andy testing out a camp game for me... 

 

Jessica with the balancing skills...

 

... and of course Mike & Jamie with the big rattles...

We will be holding the volunteer training program again here at Arrowhead over the Canada Day weekend for all of those volunteers in the Maritimes. We are looking forward to a great weekend of fellowship and time in the word and discussing some very important issues with respect to cross cultural evangelism and discipleship. We have asked everyone who is planning to serve with us this year to avail themselves of the training and are prayerful that this will be of great benefit to all involved.

the first team has arrived!

This Easter Sunday our big work week begins. This evening, our first team has arrived from Grace Church in Newmarket, Ontario. The fellas are settling into one of the cabins and we'll be having a stroll in the morning to inspect the work to be done. They will be doing most of their work on the office building, beginning with the siding! We're certainly excited to have them serving with us in this way. It's going to be a fun week to be sure!

Mervin, Clare and Jim from Grace Church in Newmarket, Ontario (Left to Right)