The wind was significantly lighter today, though the weather was still sort of dreary and cool. In the area around Grande-Anse there are some fairly high cliffs and interesting rock formations. So there was a little bit of sightseeing to do as well as praying. I think I was slowed down a bit by the scenery because it seemed to take a long time to reach Maisonnette Point. The point is a dividing line between the relatively straight coast which faces directly on the Bay of Chaleurs and the many inlets and harbors that are further to the south and east. At the wharf in the village of Anse-Bleue, I was able to talk briefly with a wharf worker named Fernande though didn’t find any way to share the Gospel. I had a while of rain to go through between Anse-Bleue and Maisonette, and then the skies lightened.
The park (not open yet for the season) at Maisonette Point was a fairly windy place to eat some lunch in a gazebo that didn’t really block the wind. With the rising tide, I had to go pull the kayak up farther about three times. On one of those trips I managed to give away a tract. They seemed to think I was moderately interesting when I first spoke to them. But they looked at me like some strange creature from another planet once I gave them the tract!
Since I was dreading going almost all the way down to Caraquet to get around the sand bar, I decided to try to sneak over it at the first point where I saw the rising tidal waters flowing across. I managed to make it over half way across before the water got too shallow. So I had to end up walking for a little bit until the water deepened to a half foot or so. It was actually kind of nice and interesting. I’d decided just to go part way into Caraquet Bay before turning south to the Sainte-Anne-de-Bocage area. On the north side of the bay, Oyster Point had great views all around of the areas surrounding the bay, including much of Caraquet.
My plan was to get to Sainte-Anne-de-Bocage around the time that the tide would turn so that I could have a good strong current pushing me back east to Caraquet. Shortly after I slipped under the NB Trail bridge at Sainte-Anne-de-Bocage, I noticed a car stop on the road. Soon I realized that it was my host, Donat-Luc, from last night. He had just gotten off work in Caraquet and had decided to check up on me. So his timing was perfect, but I was slightly concerned that the tidal current was clearly still coming in. As I was mentioning this to him, I noticed a slight outgoing current. The tide turned just in time! God is so good! So I was able to ride a gradually accelerating current to Caraquet. When my host for the night took my picture coming in to land at the Carrefour de la Mer, the time stamp from the camera was 7:29 pm, one minute early! Yes, God is wonderful!
As I was working to get the kayak loaded up, the pastor of the church in Pokemouche showed up. We had already spent a time of prayer for Caraquet, but talked her into coming to the cottage to talk and pray some more. It was really encouraging to hear of some of the things the Pokemouche church has been doing over the last several years, including prayer-walking and praying for each of the communities of the Acadian Peninsula. It was also a nice surprise that my host for the night was born in my birth country of Kenya.
Partner churches: Eglise Chretienne Evangelique Baptiste de Tracadie, Evangel Pentecostal Church, Eglise Evangelique de la Pentecote
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