Our hearts are overflowing after spending the last week with our brothers and sisters in the Lord in Cleardale, Alberta. This area is so remote that there isn’t even a hotel in Cleardale. We arrived there a week ago Thursday evening. We soon had a slight problem, though. Uriah’s tires were hot when we pulled in, and he settled too nicely into the snow-packed parking area at the family’s house we were staying at. So, Friday morning, we needed to move him, and the wheels were in a very icy depression, allowing free spinning of the wheels :-).

There were discussions about how to get Uriah out, including maybe using a powerful tractor. Dad decided to give it a little try first before using other options. After it was obvious Uriah wasn’t going any where, the mom of the family showed up on the porch with a bucketful of week-old ashes from the wood stove and suggested putting a few of these against the wheels. Hmmm. This was a new idea (we Kansas hicks have had no experience with using ashes to get a vehicle unstuck). Dad tried it, and Uriah was free! As we were about to leave for the conference to begin set up, a father in the fellowship had showed up. We had been hearing a slight strange noise ever since we’d been in Colorado. As Dad backed up, he asked the father to see if he could figure out what it was. He found that we had a large crack in one of the wheel rims! We decided to go to Hines Creek, where the conference would be held, and go directly to a place that was likely to have that rim. We’ll make a long story short, but even in a small town where we were at, the Lord provided the exact rim we needed. We are so grateful!!!

(Working on changing out the rim Friday afternoon.)

We’ve never spoken at a conference where hearts were so hungry for the message. The large hall was packed. We were shocked at the size of the group considering the remoteness of the area. Just one week before the conference, the school that had been contracted with to use their facilities, cancelled. The coordinator found a location which was only available that one weekend. Praise the Lord for HIS provision. As registrations continued coming in at the last moment, it became apparent we never would have fit in the school. Our hearts were awed by what Jesus was doing during the weekend! Quite a few families drove up to five and six hours to come to the conference.

(A view from a walkway on Friday evening.)

Sunday we had an incredible day of fellowship with other believers. The singing, preaching, and testimonies were a time of refreshment.

Over and over again, these precious people ministered to us this week. We stayed at one family’s home who graciously provided many meals for us and gave up a portion of their home and even let us use their vehicle as we needed. May Jesus repay you all for your kindness to our family. As we drove away from Cleardale, our route took us near the coordinator’s family’s house. Imagine our surprise at what we saw below in the picture :-).

We are down to about a week and a half left of the trip. We are grateful for your prayers for our traveling and the conferences we’re doing. Please continue to lift up Nathan, Melanie, and Baby Max.

Serving Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

Below are some pictures taken last week as we drove up to Cleardale.

Mini-exercise time!

Beautiful mountain range we saw last Thursday driving up to Cleardale.

We stopped at a rest area, and I took this picture of Uriah.

Jesse, John, and Joseph are standing on about a 4 foot bank of snow!

Wow! We had never been on a 10% grade before :-).