Isn’t that precious? It was written on a Sunday School poster at a church in Garden Hill, Manitoba.
The tent meetings that we were singing at started Friday night (see previous blog post). Saturday afternoon, Trevor, our “chauffer,” and his family came to pick us up and take a tour of the community and go blueberry picking. We piled all our instruments into the pickup bed so we could go straight to the tent afterward, and all us kids climbed in the back too. We headed out to a rather remote part of the reserve. After a little bit it started pouring rain–pouring–so he stopped the truck so we could all get in the cab. There were four of them and seven of us. You do the imagining. It was very crowded–no, it was beyond crowded. It was squished. Sardine-level.
Sara’s perspective
It made for a lot of laughter and some good memories! We were driving very slowly along, when suddenly we heard an awful scraping noise and the truck came to an abrupt stop. We had hit a rock. So we all got out and picked blueberries. Trevor was able to back the truck off the rock without any problem, I think.
the rock
the hole where the rock was
mmm!
hunting for little blue treasures
pickup trucks were our means of transportation
Saturday evening we were back at the tent for dinner and more meetings. We always had a good time with people before hand.
a left-handed fiddler!
In addition to Huron Claus speaking, each night so many people participated either in word or song. It was so neat to see person after person get up and sing a song or tell what God has done for them.
We had the privilege of teaching Sunday School the next day. A fairly large group of children came out, and we had a good time singing, learning about Joshua, memorizing a Bible verse, and singing some more!
action songs!
marching around our “wall of Jericho”
sleeping between days
memory verse
“Joshua 1:9”
Sunday afternoon there was a church meeting and a baptism. It was thrilling to see two people publicly declare their faith in Jesus Christ!
Trevor, who was getting baptized, was saved last year at a meeting Huron preached at
only some of the onlookers
Originally there was only one person getting baptized, but someone else came forward. Praise the Lord! It was really a joy to watch.
There was a little bit of downtime after that, so we were able to spend some time with others.
Then came time for the last tent meeting.
God really moved in an amazing way. When the invitation was given, people came… some to bring their cares to the Lord, some to salvation. At least ten people were saved that night! And most of them were kids! One thing we will not forget was seeing an elderly woman put her trust in Jesus. There was a long line of women waiting to hug her and welcome her into the family. It was very moving. Seeing all these people come to Jesus was definitely one of the greatest highlights of the whole trip!
One of the leaders asked everyone who had gotten saved that night to come to the front so the rest of us could shake their hands. Not quite all of them were there, but it was such a joy to see the line of them and to welcome them! We have never gotten to experience such celebration before.
welcome!
one of our buddies in Garden Hill is now our brother!
It was such a special time. We are grateful that God allowed us to be a part of it.
The next day was our departure. We were flying out in a smaller plane than we came in on, so we had to fly in two trips. Dad, Sara, and the majority of our luggage went out on the first flight earlier in the morning. They flew to Red Lake, ON, where one of our friends from NYP had driven our van to make the flight shorter, and then they drove back to Dryden.
pushing the plane
fueling up
Marty and Dad
it’s smaller than it looks
The rest of us left later in the morning for the airport.
the place we stayed
we rode in pickup beds most of the weekend
loading the water taxi to take us to Island Lake where the airport is
getting ready
We are grateful to NYP and to the pilots Dennis and Norm who flew us in to Island Lake and out, respectively.
Our flight back to Dryden was uneventful (which means good). It was fun to see Dad and Sara waiting for us at the airport when we landed.
This trip was so rich and full of God’s blessings. The opportunity to minister as a family in Garden Hill. Seeing friends again. Meeting brothers and sisters in Christ. Seeing people come to know Jesus. Laughing and making memories. And smiles. Lots of smiles.
And hearing people sing and share–another blessing.
Thank you so much to every person who prayed for us. We really appreciate it–and you helped impact this amazing weekend for the Lord!
We are home now…but we’re looking forward to whatever God has planned next for us. To Him be the glory!
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth. Psalm 115:1
