www.arcticoutreach.org --- e-mail rinker@arcticoutreach.org --- phone 403-989-3715
Dear Friends,
In August I (Rodger) made a trip to the States to have the checkup for my knee operation which I had last year in Morgantown, West Virginia. I was able to visit some of the folks on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that I worked with when I first went to Pine Ridge in 1964. I knocked on the door of one fellow who is 94 years old and I had not seen for over 50 years, and is going blind and deaf. When he realized who I was, his first words were, "I was just sitting here thinking about you (yesterday)..." God was there, and this visit with him and his family, our former Sunday School kids, turned out to be among the greatest all time visits I've ever had.
Since Karen was here holding the fort all this time, she will be writing her report below, and pictures are following Karen's letter.
Karen's Letter
I am going to share what has been happening in Alberta while Rodger was in the States. When Rodger left in August we had just finished our July V.B.S. on Sunchild and O'Chiese and I had just returned with 2 Korean young ladies from another V.B.S. in the village of Old Crow in the Yukon on August 1st. This gives you a tiny idea of the calendar perspective of where I am coming from in this article.
So the week of August 10th Rodger left for the States and we stareted a week of Child Evangelism 5 day clubs with a Chinese young lady from Prairie Bible College. We had sessions on O'Chiese, on Sunchild, and on Bighorn Reserves for 5 days. On Bighorn our sessions were around a campfire and our Chinese friend mostly gave her testimony. It was very special. She never heard of Jesus til she was 29 years old.
Then we went into a weekend Ladies Retreat, where the blessed Holy Spirit met with us in all the sessions. Even on Saturday when we were learning how to make skirts there was a beautiful sense of unity and joy as each lady finished her skirt. Then in the evening service an altar call was given and three ladies knelt and prayed. But if you think the enemy was happy with this - you are very wrong! A guy showed up at the Ladies Retreat and hit the speaker's front door of her car making it impossible for her to open the door. Of course the police had to be called because he drove away, or "hit and run". Yet Serena, our speaker had so much of God's presence that we all knew God was watching and didn't let the speaker or any of the ladies get hurt! God is so good.
Since the Retreat there has been a steady sense of God's presence on these grounds and in every service people are testifying about how God is being so real to them. I have been responsible to preach, hold ladies meetings, youth nights, do home visitations, and entertain all the visitors that have been appearing all summer.
But I must not forget to tell you about the blessing the groups from Drayton Valley have been. Men have been here every Wednesday working on construction projects on the property. The women have created Sunday School lessons and crafts for a whole year. You can never know how much this means to me!
So you readers can see that although Rodger was gone, the work here continued with the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Thank You for your prayer's.....Karen Rinker
In the picture below, Serena on the left, is the Ladies Retreat Evangelist. Bridget, on the right is the Child Evangelism Fellowship 5 day club leader.
We finally had to cut down the 'Twin Pines' that stood in front of the Chapel from the beginning. They were dying and the top broke off in a wind storm.
While I was gone Karen had help for Church & Sunday School by a team from Barrhead, Alberta below.
On another Sunday She had help from Drayton Valley, Alberta for Sunday School.
Below is a Friday youth night group decorating cookies.
Bridget is from China. Here she is working with kids in Sunday School.
This is one of the 5 day Child Evangelism Fellowship clubs being held here at the mission.
This is our new fire pit that was donated this summer being used in a youth group.
The team from Caroline, Alberta is holding a Friday youth night event.
These three fellows held our Friday Youth night. Sorry the picture is so blurry.
The Koreans from Calgary that came the last Saturday in September. In October they are scheduled to come for two Saturdays.
This is a Bible study group from the Christian Fellowship at Frostburg, Maryland. Here they have bought Sunday School supplies for me to take back for Karen to use with the kids. Their congregation lost their church and they have relocated to this chapel which is set up in the office area of a tire shop!
Our garden was a lot smaller this year, but the potatoes did better than ever before. I was just starting to dig them here in this picture.
This tater below is 9 and 1/2 inches long. I'm sure there will be bigger ones when they're all dug.
Back home there is a bicycle trail through the mountains for a couple hundred miles called the Great Allegany Passage. I got to spend several days riding on it.
While I was back home I found my Great Grandfather, Joshua Rinkers grave who is buried on the old home place between Junction and Purgitsville, West Virginia. He was born in the 1820's. You can see the headstone and the footstone of his grave. This old cedar tree was alive and well when he was buried.
This is the homeplace cabin and Joshua's grave in on the hill behind the cabin. Less than a mile away is the "Elijah High" cemetery where a lot of my relatives are buried.
Please keep us in your prayers and feel free to call us anytime at the phone number on the top of the page. In Jesus, Rodger & Karen Rinker