The Kindnesses of Others...

We're always humbled and blessed by the generosity of those who support the ministries of NCEM and Arrowhead Native Bible Center. Here are a few blessings ANBC has received recently.

We are so very grateful to have received a gift of funds to purchase this bike for ANBC. It will certainly be put to good use at the Center!

This quite new upright freezer has been donated to Arrowhead and installed in our pantry. It will certainly make life in the kitchen more convenient.

Some good friends of Arrowhead blessed us with this beautiful door for the ANBC office. If you look closely at the design in the stained glass you will see the design of an Arrow! It is a beautiful addition to our new office building!

We are very grateful to receive this leaf blower... and as it turns out it's also a leaf vacuum... it will make cleaning up the fall foliage a 'breeze'...

Turkeys.

Some wild turkeys wandering down to ANBC for a visit.
(no - these are not the turkeys we fried for the corn boil...)

It's been another great week in Cumberland Bay. We were visited on Monday by some friends of ours who are missionaries to Ecuador - Dick and Carol-Lynn Grover - they are currently on home assignment and have been traveling in Atlantic Canada visiting churches and friends. It was great to have them with us for the night and have some time to share ministries together.

On Wednesday I met with someone at the camp to talk about the possibility of running water lines and installing sewer to our larger cabins and office. We are in the process of looking into this for the future, we'll keep you posted!

It's been cold here lately, and it's got me thinking about winter a little bit. I called and ordered some furnace oil for ANBC this week. It's always a little tight for ANBC in the fall and winter, but Liz and I will be doing some deputation for the center this year to make people aware of the needs of the Center. It is our hope, Lord willing, to find 100 individuals who will commit to support ANBC in the amount of $20 a month to help with all of it's regular expenses (oil, electricity, insurance, vehicles, internet, telephone etc.).

On Saturday morning I held a yard sale up the road at the home of our new pastor and his wife. We had some items left from the last yard sale and have received some more items to host another one. It was a brisk morning, but there were a few people out and we were able to clear out some more of the items. Some of the donated items will be very helpful at ANBC and we have several boxes of items that we will give to goodwill tomorrow.

While I was doing the yard sale thing, Liz was busy back at the Center preparing for a corn boil. We hosted a corn boil for our local church, Cumberland Bay Baptist Church, on Saturday evening. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and a good chance for us to get to know our new pastor a little bit. There was a good turn out and some great vittles!

Apparently it takes 11 Baptist men to cook a turkey and some corn!

Our friend and neighbour Ron boiled up the corn for us!

And Roger did a couple of his famous turkeys!

Our new pastor and his wife, Andrew and Kayla Ardern!

Tomorrow, Liz and I will be picking up Len & Lorrayne Breen at the Moncton Airport. They are coming down to assist us with preparations for the ladies retreat as well as visiting the Eastern Field missionaries. We always enjoy having them here and are looking forward to seeing them again!

Liz has been busy preparing for the ladies retreat - and there is still room for anyone who would like to come along and join us. There are already a number of groups of ladies planning to attend, so we are excited for a great weekend. For more information about the retreat simply click the link at the top right of this page. This week promises to be quite busy with final preparations - we will be doing the grocery order tomorrow while we're in the city to pick up the Breens.

We appreciate your prayers and continued support as we serve here at Arrowhead. Liz and I are so blessed to be able to minister here with NCEM, and are humbled, that through everything, the Lord has provided for our needs through the faithfulness of you. Our physical needs, financial needs and Spiritual support have been met with the Grace of God - and we are thankful.

ANBC Ladies Retreat

The ANBC Ladies Retreat, "Encounters with Jesus." is right around the corner (Sept. 23 - 25). We will be hearing from Janeice Hill, who will share with us from the Word for the weekend, while Theresa Hickman will bless us with her ministry in Music. It is promising to be a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing many of you there! You can download the brochure by clicking the banner to the right. If you would like more information or to register, please drop us a line.

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.

Pinawa, Manitoba

We've arrived safe and sound in Manitoba and are very much enjoying the conference. There are lots of meetings, but lots of opportunity for fellowship and visiting as well. Our keynote speaker, Brian Catalucci, from Answers in Genesis, is excellent and we've very much been enjoying his lectures. We've had an opportunity for a training session and will be having our general business meeting tomorrow. Here are a few shots from our day!

On our flight out to Winnipeg.

Prayer time with our mission family on Tuesday morning.

Keynote speaker Brian Catalucci from Answers in Genesis.

Music at chapel.

The dining facilities and meals at Wilderness Edge have been amazing!

NCEM's 65th Anniversary General Conference

Hey everyone. We're just getting ourselves packed up to head out to NCEM's general conference. The conference is being held at Wilderness Edge Retreat and Conference Center, in Pinawa, Manitoba.

We will be hearing from special guest speaker Brian Catalucci, from Answers in Genesis. Most of the NCEM membership will be in attendance, so it promises to be a wonderful week filled with fellowship and time in the word. Please keep us in prayer as we travel, we will be returning on Friday, Aug 26. Watch for pictures and updates while we're away!

Alas... Camp is over!

Well, we've come to the end of summer camps for 2011 - and a wonderful summer it was. It was a summer fraught with great challenges and great blessings... God is indeed Good! For those of you who have checked in periodically over the summer, only to find that I had not made any updates with respect to our camps - I heartily apologize for leaving you in the lurch. However, any of you who frequent Facebook have likely found regular updates on the Arrowhead Page. Well, although this will not make amends, you will find a good selection of pictures and a video or two in this post.

Throughout the summer we were blessed by all of the volunteers who traveled from far and near to come and minister with us in various ways. We had a huge turnout of staff from our home church, Cumberland Bay Baptist, this summer. It was a great encouragement to be able to serve along side of our friends and church family!

Arrowhead underwent some changes this summer as well. Kevin and Marcia Strout have been the acting managers of Arrowhead Native Bible Center for 4 years. During camp, Kevin communicated to Len and I that He and Marcia had been feeling called into another area of ministry for some time. This calling led them to step down from leadership at arrowhead midway through the camping season. The executive approached Liz and I and asked if we would pray about stepping up to fill this position. We have done that and have accepted the role of managers of Arrowhead Native Bible Center. It is sad to see the Strout's move on, but we are sure the Lord will use them in whatever ministry they move into.

The remaining weeks of camp were challenging, but the Lord provided in wonderful ways. We saw the Lord move in the lives of both campers and staff, and we have been so very thankful for His sovereignty in all things.

Over the course of the summer I posted very short little video clips of happenings during camp. Below are a couple of examples of "Camp Moments"... to see them all, you can find them posted on Arrowhead's Facebook Page.

Gary Countway Brought the Gospel everyday during our third week of camp!

♫♪ I'm Singin' in the Rain ♪♫

The Amazing Race challenges were a fun part of Teen Camps!

Here are a few photos from the summer for you to enjoy - if you would like to see more, you can view the entire album on Facebook.

Lizs' Amazing Race Team "Team Xtreme" proudly displaying their cake!

How clean ARE those tables after lunch?

We're #1

It was a real blessing to have Stephen Somers and his family with us for the last week of camp!

There were lots of rainy days this summer... a great time for some board games!

Ben Lawson and his children spent several weeks with us this summer... they were all a huge help and great encouragement!

Week four staff picture!

Another thing rainy days are good for! MUD!

Thumbs up!

Dale Gamage & Bob Morissette came from Maine and ran a martial arts program for our first week of teen camp. As always it was a huge success!

Gotta love that beach!

A lazy afternoon paddle.

Mimacry is the highest form of flattery...

Ben Bedecki facilitated a fishing activity during our first week of chilren's camp. The kids loved it.

We had some learning to do with the new boat - but it worked great once we did.

And, never to be forgotten, the very important dish crew!

Now that camp is over Liz and I have been resting up, we have felt quite worn out after camp but are now feeling quite ready to get back to work. We will be preparing this week to go out to Pinawa Manitoba for the NCEM general conference. This conference is something that happens every two years and all NCEM missionaries are expected to attend. It will give us an opportunity to go over some mission business as well as have some wonderful fellowship with fellow missionaries from across the country - many of whom we would otherwise not have opportunity to meet.

Our fall schedule is posted to the right of this page, as we continue to travel to complete our deputation and do PR work for Arrowhead. We'd love to see you if we're going to be in your area (or if you're going to be in ours... do drop in!)

We thank you for your continued prayers and support, we will keep you updated as we begin to settle into our new roles here at Arrowhead.