GOOD BYE ALBERTA - HELLO BRITISH COLUMBIA

Leona was a brick!  Once we were back in Lousana we started packing.  Within less than two weeks we would be saying "good-bye" to our Lousana and Bellgrove friends.  We had enjoyed our 32 months with these farm folks but we were excited with the new challenge that was now before us.

I told you in the previous posting that it was a quick turn around.  Well our farewell Sunday was August 25th, one week after being in Vernon and five days following Leona's discharge from the hospital.  Our earthly belongings were loaded on to a Red Deer area farmer's truck.  That farmer was a member of the Red Deer Alliance Church.  Rev. John Klassen, who was pastor of the Vernon Alliance Church, was moving to Red Deer to be the pastor of the Red Deer Alliance Church.  Since I was moving to Vernon and taking his place that farm truck went from Lousana with our stuff and back to Red Deer with the Klassen's stuff. 

Our 1963 Volkswagen Beetle

We spent the Labor Day weekend with Leona's folks and started off early Tuesday morning for Vernon, in our Volkswagen Beetle.  The stuff that didn't go on the truck was squeezed into the Beetle, plus the four of us.  Dan Jr. was a good traveler, considering he had very little space.  Brian, who was twenty days old, slept most of the way tucked into the little space behind the back seat. When we got to Vernon, we drove up to the church as people were arriving for the mid-week Bible study and prayer meeting.  Several of them gathered around the car to meet Leona and the boys.  We did not stay but went to the Wilson home, where I had stayed a little over two weeks before and we were bedded down there for the night. 

The movers had placed all of our things in the parsonage and my books and file cabinet were in the church.  I was climbing the ladder for sure.  We now had a home with running water and a three piece bathroom.  No longer would we have an outhouse or have our Saturday night bath in a laundry tub in the kitchen.  What's more the books at the church were in a separate room.  For the first time, having been a pastor for five years, I now had a study at the church. 

Vernon, British Columbia, our new home

Was I going to miss the enjoyment of my Echoes Of  Blessing radio ministry?  The answer was yes, for sure!  However, not for long.  What I have not told you is  that the Vernon Alliance Church had a radio ministry.  Their ministry consisted of three 15 minute radio broadcasts each week, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday mornings at 9:40am.  What was that radio ministry called?  Now, don't fall off of your chair.  This is the truth!  The Vernon Alliance Church's radio ministry was called Echoes Of Blessing.

Within a day or so of arriving in Vernon, I was at work in my study at the church.  I had written and asked Pastor Klassen if he would record the three broadcasts for the week that we were all moving.  However, the Western Canadian District was having their annual district conference the week after our arrival and that meant that my first week of doing the radio broadcasts, I would be out of town.  So within a day or so I was in the study at the church preparing several broadcasts which would be aired while I was away.  After preparing the same I then had to go to the station, CJIB, and record them.  I  also had to get ready for my first Sunday.  My life and ministry would no longer be a laid back rural ministry.  I was now the pastor of a growing city church.