If I had to pick one theme for March 2025, it would be snow. There's been a lot of snow both at home in Alberta and also in the other places I visited in Saskatchewan and Manitoba this month. Sometimes spring weather arrives in March in Canada...and other times not so much.
My month started with a graduate student conference at the University of Alberta (see last month for more details). Following the conference, I was able to work from home for a few weeks. I appreciated being able to attend the Ash Wednesday service at our home church...I always find Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent to be a meaningful time. I also enjoyed attending the Edmonton circuit conference with other LCC pastors and church workers and visiting with some old church worker friends over coffee at other times. Good to stay in touch!
Later in the month, I headed out to Saskatchewan to visit some LAMP communities. My trip started with a quick visit to Warman, SK to visit with Pastor Randy and Darlene Heide (Pastor Randy is a LAMP missionary that I work with) and pick up some items to give away. After my visit, I headed to Prince Albert for an overnight stay. The next day I drove to Deschambault Lake and stopped by the school there. We have a newer team hoping to revisit the community in August 2025 so I wanted to check in on plans for that. The next day, I headed back north again to visit two LAMP communities that were recently assigned to me: Pelican Narrows, SK and Sandy Bay, SK. On the way, I saw an interesting sign...
It's fun to see my name attached to this northern lake...and you can see from the photo that there was lots of snow there as well. I might have to visit this lake again some time. My first stop was Pelican Narrows. I visited the elementary school where we have some contacts from past years and former trips. It was good to reconnect with the people there. Here's a picture of the Catholic church and the elementary school in Pelican Narrows.
Further down a very windy and hilly gravel road, I made my way to the community of Sandy Bay. It was good to stop at the school there and visit with the staff. I appreciated the chance to introduce myself and take a look around. Here's photos of the school and also the local Catholic church in Sandy Bay.
It was also fun to the ice fishing huts out on the frozen lake at Sandy Bay. I'm learning that ice fishing derbies are a big hit in many of these northern communities. A fellow could win some big prizes if he didn't mind sitting around a fishing hole carved through 4 - 5 ft of ice. Seems a little chilly to me! I'm sure the fishing huts help!
I spent the night at the manse belonging to the Lutheran church in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Check out the snow by the church and the manse!! I headed back to Prince Albert the next day to prepare for my trip to LaRonge and places north.
On Sunday, I was able to drive up to LaRonge and join together with Pastor John B and the good people at LaRonge Lutheran Fellowship for worship. I have a special place in my heart for this community and these people as I visited LaRonge over many years while leading youth mission trips there. It was good to see some old friends and make some new ones.
On Monday, I headed out to Grandmother's Bay (north of LaRonge) to visit friends there at the school, the health clinic, and the band office. It was good to spend some time with the school principal Sam, the school counselor Edna, and my friend Absolom who works out of the band office. Edna showed me the virtue of the month for April (patience) along with the Cree word for patience. It's all one word but Edna spaced it out to help with pronunciation. Did it help? Can you pronounce it?
From LaRonge, I headed back home. I was able to stop and have supper with old friends Pastor Wayne and his wife Karen O. It was so good to see them and visit them in their home by Turtle Lake. Supper was delicious.
March 2025 also represented the end of my time of serving (six years) on the Board of Directors for Camp Kuriakos, a Christian camp situated on the shores of Sylvan Lake. We met at the camp for our final board meeting for this year followed by the annual general meeting of the society that runs the camp. In exciting news, we were able to pass a resolution to buy some property next to the current camp property...this has been a project we've worked on for many years and so it was exciting to see it happen. Here's a photo of me and my friend Dave C...it was Dave who asked me to serve on the board six years ago. It's been fun to serve through some challenging times for the camp...COVID 19, staff changes, a capital campaign, a land purchase. Here's the camp's website if you want to check it out...
Kuriakos | About
Other fun events in March included a "Songwriters in the Round" event sponsored by our local Nashville Songwriters group. We got to hear some great original songs by some of our chapter members. We met at the Carrot Arts coffeehouse in Edmonton and we appreciated their willingness to host us there. Here's a few shots of the performers...
In personal news, my wife and I were able to put an offer on a home in Abbotsford, BC. We've been thinking about and praying about possibly moving for a few years now and we're excited that things are working out. We'll take possession of the new home in April (more on that next month). Our current home went on the market here a week and a half ago...we are so thankful to the construction workers, the friends, and the family members who helped us get our house ready to list and show. Here's a photo of our house with a "For Sale" sign and also a picture of two tired people after a big weekend of packing up some of our stuff for temporary storage. Fun times!!
I'm so thankful for all the good things that March 2025 represented...good visits, safe travels, renewed connections with LAMP communities, good songs, good news for Camp Kuriakos, and plans to sell our home and move to a new one. I'm even thankful for snow...knowing that it will melt and help the ground to be less dry this spring. To close, one more photo from a recent snowstorm...so! much! snow!! God bless!!
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