Dear Family and Friends:

It was the message I always dreamed of. “Lynn, If I invite my friends, would you teach us the Bible?” This
invitation came after the death of the family’s beloved and elderly matriarch, whose final advice to the family were to “get along” and to “read the Bible”. It took several attempts to get an evening when no one had COVID symptoms, but on the scheduled evening 12 ladies, all related, showed up. I was amazed! I shared passages from the book of John. I sought to speak honestly and as clear as I could presenting the Gospel and the hope that is offered. One lady was openly questioning what I shared. She asked pointed questions, and I could tell that what I shared was not what she thought was in the Bible.

Many people in our community assent to know God, but sadly, many do not know what is actually in the Bible. The majority do not know the Gospel message, and over time, the God they have come to believe in, is not the God of the Bible and their lives reflect it. A second hurdle we face in ministry is commitment. Learning what is in the Bible (and likewise what is not) takes effort and unlearning false doctrines takes humility and openness.

I can’t tell you the outcome of that Bible study. Nor can I tell you the outcome of many other conversations, phone calls, or meetings that we have. Sometimes we get to follow up with people and sometimes we do not. With this particular Bible study, the interest faded, and we never had it again.

Several interested and committed ladies come to Paul’s midweek Bible study and they have been steadily growing. Unfortunately, the man that attended faithfully, whom Paul had been discipling and who helped weekly during church services and other church related affairs, passed away suddenly in February. It is still hard to believe that he is not with us, but knowing he is with the Lord, knowing he was faithful to the end, brings us all at the Fellowship great comfort and encouragement. He has three adult sons, and we pray for them to one day follow in their father’s footsteps.

In late March of 2021, we got a phone call from my dad. “Lynn, I’m going north to work on your house. I’m leaving in two weeks.” The evening before he had planned to leave, he was eating dinner with my mom, and she suddenly said, “Wayne, go now.” Ontario was threatening to lock down. They rushed around doing last minute things and he left at 9pm. A few days later he met Paul in Grand Prairie. There were so many details that were sovereignly worked out for them to get supplies, quarantine in Inuvik, and make it back across the river before it broke up. With four days still left in their quarantine requirements in Inuvik, the ice bridge was closing. Thankfully the public health officer allowed them to leave Inuvik and travel to Fort McPherson to finish their quarantine there. This however, required crossing the ice bridge which had signs of significant melting. My dad was not too exited about this. He prayed that someone
would be at the crossing to help them across. Nobody is ever at the crossing for this purpose…except on that particular day! As they pulled up to the edge of the river, there was a man on a ski-doo with waders on and he asked Paul if he wanted him to go into the shore water and show him how deep it was. This brought my dad much relief knowing they had to drive into the water! This man crossed to the other side on his skidoo and did the same thing on the other shore. Paul and my dad safely crossed, being one of the last vehicles to cross that season, with answered prayer of “having someone there.” They began work on our house in early May. The girls and I were not home, and they had the freedom to “tear things apart” without any interference. And tear apart they did!! We look back with amazement at how much was accomplished in renovations during those 4 months that my dad was there.

Our three youngest girls and I came back at the end of June. We quarantined two weeks in Whitehorse and then two weeks in Inuvik! We are quarantine experts! Our daughter-in-law, Joleen, had a brilliant idea to bring my mom north and have her quarantine with our daughter Esther who was also coming home from school and therefore would not have to pay for her quarantine hotel costs in Inuvik. We are so grateful that those plans worked out as unknown to us at the time, the following 8 weeks after she arrived, would be my parents last weeks together on this earth. My father passed away unexpectedly and
suddenly 10 days after leaving Fort McPherson on September 18th, 2021, at Liard Hot Springs. My dad left a legacy of hard work and service for the Lord. His handiwork is in every room of
our home. We are grateful for what he did not only on this last visit, but his help in our ministry
over many years has been substantial. He is getting his reward!

In May and June of 2022, we partnered with a team of young students from the Master’s University in California. They spent 5 weeks with us, and they were Lynn’s dad renovating our kitchen Makenzie Ice Road Crossing Saying goodbye to my parents September 8th, 2021. . Exhausted and ready to go home!
tremendous blessing. (I’m sure we packed in 6 months of ministry in those few weeks!) They built a
beautiful cross for the front of the church and it has a memorial plaque in memory of Abe who passed away in February 2022. They helped us run AWANA Club three times a week, hold youth events, and a
ladies’ tea. They did maintenance chores on the church, and they were a tremendous help in recruiting kids for Kamp Klondike. They blessed us with their fellowship and their testimonies. We are so grateful for the boost and encouragement they gave us and our Church Fellowship.

It was great to have Kamp Klondike again. Like a well oiled machine, each person slipped back into their roles from where they left off in 2019. Seeing kids soften and become interested in spiritual discussions in one week of camp is incredible. It is equally sad, to see them become disinterested and closed during the 7-hour van ride home. Once again, we don’t always know or see the impact, but we trust that God will use his planted Word at sometime in these children’s lives.

We were thankful to be adequately staffed for the three weeks of camp. The church that hosts the camp,
is a small community church from Dawson City, Yukon. The campers come mainly from two locations: Fort
McPherson and Ross River. There are a few campers from Dawson City as well. Check out their website an
share! We need staff for 2023 and maybe you know someone who would like a Yukon ministry next summer.

https://www.dawsoncommunitychapel.net/about-kamp-klondike

We are currently preparing to travel home after being gone from the north since mid August. We took our 16-year-old daughter, Naomi, to high school in Three Hills, Alberta where she is living in the dorms and attending Prairie Christian Academy. We are grateful to the Lord for the healing that has taken Learning how to cut geese place in her life. She is a respectful, responsible, and fun to be around teenager and we are thrilled that she is ready and excited to make the most of this opportunity. Although we didn’t expect to be gone from home this long, we have appreciated seeing her on weekends and getting a feel for her new life.

We were blessed and refreshed attending our Mission Conference in September and fellowshipping with other missionaries. On the second last day we were driving to an activity when our van’s brakes locked up. We had to have it towed to Red Deer. We are thankful for the body of Christ who generously came alongside us in this difficulty. We had a vehicle supplied to pull our RV, we had another vehicle supplied to use until our van was fixed, and we had a place to park our RV while we waited for repairs. It seems the “chain supply” is impacting many businesses and we had to wait over two weeks for parts and repairs! Waiting wasn’t really that hard. We had good fellowship with old friends from the north, we swam in the local pool, and we visited Naomi and Judah on weekends. The time flew by.

We have met some wonderful people on this trip and rekindled friendships. If you are one of them, we are so grateful for our time with you! One new friendship began with some people who we had met as tourists in Fort McPherson in early August. On their journey north, they stayed overnight in the church, and we learned they were believers. They invited us to visit them, and we did! Our son Judah is living in Okotoks, Alberta, so we met him one Sunday for church. This church is one of the friendliest and most welcoming churches we have been to. When we got to the church, a beautiful and warm greeter welcomed us. After the service, we got to know her over lunch and she blessed us with her stories of faith and God’s goodness. At 73, she was overflowing with the love of the Lord! Meeting up with other believers and hearing their stories of God’s faithfulness and goodness despite life’s trials and unexpected twists is truly a joy and a highlight of our trip.

While we have been away, the ladies from the Fellowship have been taking care of church matters
and Dawit has been leading and teaching at the services. We are grateful that the Lord keeps him
employed as a teacher in our community as he blesses us all in our fellowship beyond words.

Thank you for your love and interest in our lives.
Thank you for your prayers for the people of the north.
Thank you for your faithful service to our Lord. He is
coming soon!

With gratefulness,
Paul, Lynn, Naomi, Hope and Grace

PS Thank you for your prayers for Lynn’s health.
Praise be to the Lord, there is no evidence of cancer.