https//arcticoutreach.org --- e-mail rinker@arcticoutreach.org --- phone 403-989-3715
Greetings from the Sunchild Reserve in Alberta, Canada. Activity here at the mission has really been intense in the last weeks to say the least. We have just completed a major upgrade to our computer system so we can keep up with the requirements necessary to have an effective website for communicating with churches & individuals concerning mission activities. I had been a Windows 7 holdout, and over the last months more and more problems kept developing, making the upgrade to Windows 10 necessary to use my html software, photo & video editing, and even my Thunderbird email program. I added a new SSD hard drive to my desktop, and also setup a small inexpensive Linux Raspberry Pi 4B which will be used to operate open source programs that I don't need MS Windows to run, and it gives me redundency. We want to encourage individuals and churches to consider a video call on Skype, Zoom, Google Conference, or such platforms. We have had good success doing this and it's a great way to visit.
I want to do as much of our correspondence as possible by email now, because it's taking as long as two months to get a letter through to the States by post office mail. Please help us by making sure we have your email address, or someone in your church. Our email is posted above, and please note that “arctic” has two letter c’s in it. I emphasize this because most people miss-spell it and it doesn’t go through.
The primary news is posted on our website because I can put as many pictures as I want easily. This newsletter has 25 pictures and it can convey much more than just a written letter. I’m asking for your input as to how this works for you so I can correct any thing that needs it. There are many web browsers in use and sometimes the way we write the code works on some and not on others. Plus sometimes I make common mistakes in coding the pages and don’t catch it. So please drop us an email letting me know if it’s working for you, or not. I’ve been putting a major portion of my time into getting this all set up & working correctly and people all over world access it, and you can help me get through it with your input. One good idea is to assign an individual in your church to review our site and communicate with us about it in an ongoing basis. (Our site is optimized for desktop monitors & not cell phones, but we’re working on improving that.)
One other thing I want to emphasize is that much of what we would really like to communicate can not be done on a public venue such as newsletters posted on the internet. We strongly urge you, or someone in your church to phone us at the number at the top of this page, for a briefing and prayer requests that can not be posted publicly. Also, just the personal contact is very important and helps us to keep motivated. Karen was up most of the night being called into crisis events among the people here, and this is on-going. We really need to know you folks are there and somebody values us being here doing this day after day. We have divided the pictures into three pages for the sake of those (some in other nations) that have slow internet connections and slow loading time. Each picture below has an explanation and more news with it.
The first picture was taken just a few days ago in our home. We had a visit from Jay & Mary Kim, who is the director of the Korean Love Corp organization from Edmonton. Jay is helping to co-ordinate the Korean teams that have been coming from the Korean churches in Calgary and Red Deer to help with our youth group and summer VBS camps.
The following 3 pages of pictures show some of the daily activity here at the mission. Below is a young couple that live nearby and come to visit from time to time.
This is our next door neighbors with some of their relatives from Saskatchewan that are good friends of ours also.
Below we are having Indian Tacos with neighbors and a local school teacher.
Here we are celebrating with a birthday party.
We had to separate the Sunday School kids by having them in different groups, and this is one of the tables.
Since our last newsletter we had Rodger's birthday cake with a group outside.
Last Christmas a group came from the Calgary Korean Churches loaded with gifts for the O'Chiese Reserve. Due to Covid in Calgary they were reluctant to go door to door on the Reserve, so they left the gifts here to be passed out.
This is the upstairs apartment in the church where we unloaded the gifts.
Follow the link to access the next page of pictures.