We're now in Caronport, Sask., visiting with Ronnie and his mom & sister.
We met this really cute 95 year old gentleman while we were in Maple Creek, Sask. We'd just gone to an Assembly of God church and were having lunch at a Chinese food restaurant after church when Bill starting talking to him. His name is Jim. His wife had passed away recently from Alzheimer's and HE had recently DIED for 18 minutes! He said he had shared at a cowboy church in town about his experience of going to heaven's gates and wants to let others know of the amazing experience God led him through. What was really cool is I showed this pic to Verna (Ronnie's mom) and she knows him! from the church her dad pastored...wow small world!
We've had a great trip so far. Have visited Greg in Salmon Arm, Bill's cousin, Noreen and her husband, Stan, in Cranbrook, been to Dinosaur Park and the new Creation Museum in Big Valley, AB, visited Rolf in Edmonton, our friends the Krahns (just outside of Edmonton), Cypress Park and the mystery rocks (at the AB & Sask border), a T Rex museum, etc.
It was a really encouraging time with the Krahns. The Krahns were our neighbors and Bill had the opportunity to pray with George to receive Christ and his life was transformed by the power of God. Bill said it was one of the times where he most strongly felt the presence of the Lord (while they were praying together). When the Krahns first moved in next door to us, I told Bill, "there's more scary neighbors next door" cause at that time George smoked, drank, did marijuana, etc and we had had a lot of "druggie" neighbors living there. After he received Christ, God did a major work in George's life (and the whole family). He was set free from smoking, alcohol, marijuana and a serious illness (he had thought he was dying cause he was coughing up blood but God healed him of that too). George shared how his mom had said out of nowhere "you're going to be a preacher" and his wife, Irene, had prayed (before she was married) for her husband to be a preacher and how God had answered those prayers/prophecies. George went to Bible School in Winnipeg & Paraguay and became a missionary/pastor in Paraguay (where they had lived previously). We hadn't seen them for 11 years and during that time they were involved in a boat ministry where George & the family were part of a music & evangelism ministry in hard to access places along rivers, and an outreach radio ministry. It was really encouraging to share and hear about all the adventures God brought them through since we'd last seen them. George shared about how God had protected him from bandits near Bolivia, how there'd been a miraculous healing on one Christmas morning as he prayed for a man who'd been shot and was near death. He was miraculously healed and saved! How he tried to visit friends in the river/boat ministry by riding a dirt bike there, and he got stuck in the mud with a huge snake coming at him, etc.
We enjoyed singing Spanish worship songs together and praying together and celebrating George's 40th birthday !
It was a wonderful time to celebrate all that God has done!
Another highlight for Bill was seeing the mystery rocks. This is something from possibly before Noah's flood and there's all sorts of theories of why they're there. Bill has known about this since he was a kid and always wanted to see it.
We've seen all sorts of wildlife, including antelopes, a badger, buffalo, dinosaurs, a dog that eats vegetables? (haha), etc.
Yeh, a taste of S.E. Asia! We had fun at the night market on Friday. Vu was really excited about it, too - a taste of home for him. The funniest part was that it felt just like a night market in Asia, but there were all these "white people" there so that was pretty funny. The food was so good! I loved the skewered lamb - it was just like when we ate it in China - and the bubble tea, dim sum, etc. Yum!
