February 2015 | The Fraser Family Music and Musings

It’s that time of the year again when we head up to Pickle Lake, Ontario. Actually, last week was when we went up–we got home this week. For the past several years we have been invited by missionary friends to sing at a conference for Christian workers who work in the north. After the conference we helped with evangelistic meetings at the town hall. We have lots of pictures… so for the most part I am going to let them tell the story.

it’s a long, long road

We left for Pickle Lake on a Monday and spent that night at NYP headquarters in Dryden. They are always such willing and hospitable hosts…what a blessing to us! We spent the evening after supper singing, first us for them, and then they sang for us.

trying out instruments

beautiful a capella music

much fellowship and many laughs!

We arrived in Pickle Lake the day the Christian workers conference started. It was so good to see our missionary friends and the church family there. One thing we really enjoy about Friendship Baptist is the way they sing. They love God and sing like they mean it. It is a joy to be a part of that.

we shared a few songs each night

Deborah and Mrs. Rassmussen sang

lots of food prep and cooking to be done

the lovely chefs along with generous others kept us well-fed

After the 3-day Christian workers conference the outreach, called “Freedom in Christ Conference,” began. One of the meetings specifically addressed the issue of alcohol addiction. Some needy people came out to it. The day it began it began some of us went into town to hand out fliers to invite people. So many people up there have alcohol addictions and they need Jesus in their lives. We were praying for people’s salvation.

setting up chairs in the town hall

tuning instruments

cable man

setting up the sound system

sharing a salvation story…

…and another

“Father hear us when we pray.”

“There is hope!”

Gary Quequish spoke each night and Sunday morning

“I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness

to all generations.”

…Psalm 89:1

coming forward for prayer

On the last of the three “Freedom in Christ” nights, a man accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior! Pray that he will grow strong in the Lord.

pray for him

Gary Quequish has pancreatic cancer and was not, according to the doctors, supposed make it to Christmas of 2013. But, as you can see, God still has plans for him. He needs prayer; he is in pain but he is still serving God. It was so good to see him again. He had us in stitches a good part of the time with his hilarious stories and comments!

he’s holding a portrait of himself that Daniel drew

Both of these conferences were encouraging to be a part of. Praise God with us for what He did in people’s hearts! Thank you for all the prayers!

The following were also an enjoyable part of our time in Pickle Lake.

Canadian bowling

our crowd

the mamas are always reliable scorekeepers

tag after the town hall meetings

Jonathan made friends with many Pooh-bears

a quick selfie before the lava hit the the house. no wait, this was the bonfire after church one night. duh!

Monday after one last breakfast with our friends, we said farewell, and headed down the long, long, road home, caravaning (is that a word?) with Mrs. Rassmussen’s step dad who was heading back to Minnesota as well. Before we left, Mr. Crisco played us a hilarious version of “Happy Trails to You” that had us laughing so hard we were still laughing when it was done.

Jonathan and Mr. Crisco…and Abby being mischevious

We stopped in Sioux Lookout at Tim Horton’s for lunch (where you can get a doughnut as a side!), and had an unitentional-but-would-have-been-intentional-if-the-phone-had-service meeting with Mr. Quequish and his wife, who live in that town. So we visited a good while before continuing on. It was great.

ten people, two booths and two chairs

rugged beauty

Now we are home, trying to catch up with life since it’s been a month since we’ve had any kind of “normal.” What a ride it has been! We are calling to mind things to bless the Lord about like it says in Psalm 103. He is faithful, and without Him we can do nothing.

Special thanks to Mrs. Rassmussen, Deborah Rassmussen, and Mrs. Sweat for taking pictures for us. We appreciate it!

And more to come on Alabama…

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Chain link fences. Razor wire. Officers.

Prison.

We were incredibly blessed to be here.

Last week we were involved with prison ministry for the first time as a family. The organization we served with is called We Care, and each year they organize a huge prison outreach in Alabama. With over 400 volunteers this year, 27 prisons were reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ during this four-day crusade called ReNew Hope. We heard about this outreach from our friends, the Wissmanns.

We arrived Saturday, registered, and enjoyed a great evening of fellowship with long-time-no-see friends, and also some new ones. Sunday morning found us bright and early at the worship service to start off the week. During the day we went through training, fellowshipped over lunch, watched our brothers play football, regrouped for another worship service, and later that night played volleyball.

Durocher family sang in the morning

Michael Randle gave the message

enjoying the “spring” weather

football on green grass in January… must be in Alabama

we enjoyed meeting Lynda Randle

Monday…it was finally time to enter the prison! The officers were very friendly, which definitely helped to put us at ease. Monday night we were in a women’s facility, a different one on Tuesday, and a mens facility on Thursday. Wednesday we were scheduled to go into a mens facility, but the service was canceled because the prison was on lock down. Each day volunteers would go into the prisons to witness, visit, and invite the inmates to come out to the service that night. The same volunteers would go into the same prison every day, but the music groups and speakers went to different prisons each night. Each speaker we had was a blessing to us. Being able to share Jesus in the prisons was another blessing.

A lot of prayer went into this week of ministry, and it was evident that God was working. Quick story: Photo ID is absolutely required in order to get into the prison. Well, Sunday evening we noticed that we couldn’t find my ID. We weren’t too concerned, since it shouldn’t be hard to find, right? Monday morning it became more concerning…and Abigail’s passport was nowhere to be found as well. We began to pray and asked others to pray. After the morning worship service, we went back to the hotel and tore our room apart, rather confused and concerned and hoping and praying they hadn’t been stolen. We had looked just about everywhere we could think of when Mom unzipped a pocket on a duffel bag and there they were! Thank you God! Thank you to all who prayed about this!

Being in the prisons was different. Different than normal life, definitely, but also different than how we probably imagined. The people in there have life. They are real people. Some are trusting Jesus. Some have joy, some have smiles, and they were so grateful that we came. They clapped to the music, smiled, cheered for Jonathan’s “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before.” They “Amen!”ed the preachers, raised their hands to praise God, let tears flow from their eyes. During our team’s worship service on Tuesday morning we were challenged by the speaker, Troy Walker, who was saved in prison. He implored us on behalf of the prisoners, “I am worth it! I have a soul too!” Everyone needs the Savior… no matter who we are or what we’ve done.

thanks to WeCare and photographer Miss Abbie for these in-prison photos

what a privilege to do this!

they were trying to entertain us during practice

We had such an amazing time with them. God was obviously working in people’s hearts as many came forward in response to God. And singing Amazing Grace with them…they sang it how I imagine the persecuted church would. At the top of their voices, from the bottom of their hearts. One song we did ends with the line “Lord I need You all the time.” The second women’s prison we were in they were following along with us on the song, and by the second chorus or so Dad pointed at them to sing that line. They almost just exploded into it! “LORD I NEED YOU ALL THE TIME!” We were also touched by things people said…one song we do asks, “Where will you be one hundred years from now?” Someone came up to us after and said, “I will see you one hundred years from now.” A lady stood up to give a testimony before one of the services, and she said, “I didn’t make parole, but God’s got me.” Pray for the saved in the prisons, for strength and joy. And pray for the ones whom God still has yet to get.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer. We saw God so some amazing things… and not just in the prison system, but also in our hearts. There is more to the trip but that will have to wait. We arrived home Saturday and are preparing to leave today for Canada for a week of ministry there. Maybe we’ll keep you posted, if time and internet permits…?