August 2026 A Time To Work and a Time to Rest

I started the month of August in the community of The Pas, Manitoba. I had driven there from Deschambault in Saskatchewan after visiting the LAMP team there. On Sunday, I made my way to my next community (Easterville, Manitoba) to visit the LAMP team serving there. It was good to see the team and also good to see the children and youth who attended their program in Easterville. My next stop was the community of Cormorant. The LAMP team there was getting ready to host their first day of Vacation Bible camp and it was fun to see all the children show up. I needed to head out later that day to Winnipeg as I needed to fly out early the next day to Edmonton (more about that below). After a quick trip to Edmonton, I flew back to Lac Brochet, Manitoba with our LAMP pilot Andrew in the red plane. We had a wonderful overnight visit with the team there before flying back to LaRonge, Saskatchewan. We met LAMP missionary pastor Randy in LaRonge at the airport...he hopped in the plane with Andrew for further adventures and I hopped in the rental vehicle and headed to Saskatoon. Before I left, I made a quick stop in Sucker River to visit the LAMP team there. It was fun to watch them hosting their program with the children. After staying in Saskatoon for a few days, I boarded a plane and flew home, landing in Vancouver. My wife picked me up at the airport and took me home. I had some holiday time left so I took holidays for the last two weeks of August. After a fun and busy summer, I was glad to have some time to rest and relax. Here are some photos of the community visits in Easterville, Cormorant, Lac Brochet, and Sucker River.

Easterville






Cormorant







Lac Brochet





Sucker River



My trip to Edmonton in early August allowed me to continue my work as a volunteer at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Edmonton experienced a very high volume of rain this summer and our site crew for the festival really had to scramble to get everything ready. I was fully prepared to be wet and muddy all weekend but the weather held and the event turned out great. Here's a few pics of the festival...including me with my long time friend Elizabeth and the tent where we help sell performer product (CDs, LPs, t shirts and other things). 






As I indicated earlier, the last part of August was a time to rest and relax at home. My wife Lynne and I enjoyed celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary (with some yummy German food!) and we also made time to see some movies, some local music events, and visit with some friends and family. I am now cleaning up my notes and files from the summer and starting to think about my plans for the fall. I am thankful for your interest in my work with LAMP and your ongoing support.



One final note...I was sad to hear about the sudden passing of Dolly Parton (and later Wendell Berry) in the last few days. I noticed this poster on Facebook...it's interesting to think about Dolly being considered an "elder" in some First Nations communities in Canada...an "elder" is not simply someone who is elderly...it's a title of respect for those who have shown great wisdom, care, and skill in exerting a positive influence in the community and (at times) in the larger world. God bless "elder" Dolly and her family at her passing. 




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