Day 13: Pokemouche, NB to Tracadie, NB

Almost like a repeat of last Monday, the forecast today was for 20 to 25 kt winds from the east. I figured I could at least paddle the more sheltered waters, even if it was too bad out on the open sea. So I left the campground going against the wind on the Pokemouche River and Inkerman Lake until the bridge at Inkerman. It was a little surprising how many houses there were on the banks. I made pretty good progress against the wind, but it was a struggle. I figured there was no sense even trying to go out of Pokemouche Gully into Northumberland Strait. As I was waiting for Kevin to pick me up, I asked some fishermen at the wharf if they knew what it was like out there. They said they’d just come in after dealing with 10 foot seas. That definitely confirmed my decision! We took a quick look at the Green Point beach to see what it looked like, and the view was pretty violent.

After a lunch break back at the campground, Kevin took me out to Poulette Point to begin paddling on Tracadie Bay. Although much more sheltered than the sea, the wind was still roaring along at 20 to 30 kt and whipping up a lot of whitecaps. At least I had the wind partly at my back, but it was still a wet and messy crossing to the first major point. One extra concern was the need to be careful around the aquaculture plots (for oysters). When I was unable to completely avoid them, I at least made sure to pull up the rudder to avoid entanglement. It was a shorter distance from this point to Pointe a Chaudron, where I came into the houses and cottages of Tracadie. Again, the raging wind and rain seemed a fitting symbol of the spiritual battle. It also occurred to me that I was really at peace in spite of being tossed around in the waves, and yet so many people have no real peace even on the most beautiful calm day.

It felt kind of different and profound coming in through Tracadie, since all other towns I’ve paddled by instead of through. It was an easy and relaxing paddle up the Little Tracadie River, to find where the Losier family had offered to put us up for the night. Soaked from rain and spray, it was nice to have a friendly place to dry out for the night and to enjoy some Christian fellowship. It was good to see the Vances building connections and learning more about ministry in Acadian New Brunswick. The adventure of their first encounter with eating lobster was a great ice breaker for everyone. Of course we ended the evening with a time of prayer for the region.

Partner churches: Eglise Evangelique de la Pentecote, Eglise Chretienne Evangelique Baptiste de Tracadie

Day 12: Pokemouche, NB

At the start of the day, I still wasn’t entirely sure which church we would go to for morning worship. For various reasons, we decided to go to Eglise Evangelique de la Pentecote, which is normally referred to as the Pokemouche church but is actually in Village Blanchard. Since I had met with pastor Carole Fournier a few days before, we were given the opportunity to share a few minutes about the PrayerPaddle and the witness opportunities that we’ve had. We also had some good visits with several of the members at the end of the service. After the spiritual and physical low point that I hit yesterday, it was a great encouragement to spend this time of fellowship with local believers. Once we got back to the campground, one of the members also offered to provide us with lunch. So we were blessed in many ways.

The rest of the day was mainly spent recharging electronics, catching up on blog posts, and relaxing. Thank God for a day of rest. I don't really know what has caused the itchy swelling on the exposed parts of my fingers. My theories so far are that it's either sunburn or exposure to jellyfish parts in the water. I've applied some salve, and am praying for some improvement.

Partner churches: Eglise Evangelique de la Pentecote

Day 11: Pokemouche River, NB

More changes in plans. The original plan was to leave from Shippagan Gully, paddle over to Le Goulet, and then shuttle to the Pokemouche River. Instead we drove over to look at the community of Le Goulet and then drove over to tonight’s campground. We were surprised at Le Goulet to get a good view at a family of foxes. After reserving our sites for the night, we went off to find a starting point on the upper tidal reaches of the Pokemouche. I was surprised to see what appeared to be salmon traps in the river. The bridge at Landry that I had hoped to launch from was pretty poor access; so we kept looking for other possibilities. We ended up stopping at the house of Mr. Landry, above Maltempec. He was happy to let us put the kayak in from his yard, but his response to the offer of a Bible was “I don’t believe that stuff”. Already 82 years old, who knows if he will get another opportunity?

When I got on the water, the wind was dead calm, it was getting hot, and I couldn’t notice any current. Later on though the wind picked up against me to get pretty annoying. The short fetch kept the wind waves from growing much, but my body was really feeling the strain after a full week of paddling. At times, it seemed like I had a current going with me, but it didn’t seem very helpful. And I had to be careful to keep going around the dozen or so fish traps that would sometimes jut out halfway across the river. Some stretches of the river had lots of homes/cottages to pray for, while others were nothing but forest.

The Vances got to the campground shortly before me. After some lunch and relaxation, I was looking at trying to paddle from Le Goulet back to the campground at Pokemouche. Since my fingers were swelling, much of the area to paddle was uninhabited, and I was just really needing a break, I decided to quit paddling for the day. We all loaded up to unwind a bit at the Aquarium in Shippagan. It was a good break and a chance to learn the name of some the critters hiding out underneath me. The boys really enjoyed the seals of course. Afterwards, we went out to eat at a family restaurant in Caraquet. Meanwhile the weather again changed from warm and sunny to foggy and quite cool. But at least it never developed into any more than a slight drizzle/mist of rain. I had a nice visit at the campground with a kayaking guide (Kevin) out of Val-Comeau, who grew up in Wilson Point. I gave him a tract and told him to look me up if he ever gets around to doing the paddling trip he wants to do in Louisiana.

Day 10: Ile Miscou, NB to Ste.-Marie-St.-Raphael, NB

The first full day with the Vances presented logistical adjustments of learning how to work together, as they recovered from the long journey to get here. To make sure I gave him some opportunity to learn his way around before being turned loose, I decided to start at Miscou Lighthouse instead of going up the west side of Miscou from the campground. This was one section that I had been a bit nervous about in light of the big breaking waves that I saw/heard last year when I came to check it out. It turned out that winds were light, there were no significant swells from faraway storms, and that the rocks were well hidden by the high tide. They were working on the lighthouse area, so that the parking area looked quite a bit different and was farther from the water. So we went back a little ways to a place where the road was close to the beach. While I was changing into paddling clothes, Kevin talked with a worker named Leon who professed Christ and received a Testament. The others were not interested.

It was a lonely and desolate coastline down the east side of Miscou to Wilson Point. Other than a family walking on the beach and a few distant fishing boats, it was just me and the fog. In some ways, it felt kind of silly to be going along this scenic coastline with no communities to pray for. But I think it gave me a better feel for the isolation that the fishermen must feel while out on their boats. At times the fog reduced visibility to less than 100 yards. I gave up wearing my glasses when I realized that they were more fogged up than my surroundings were. It was an amazing view when I stopped at the tidal inlet to McGregors Mal Bay. The tide rushing out looked like an arctic river, with no trees for miles and some impressive tide rip waves where the outflow met the waters of the Northumberland Strait. At some point along here, I was shocked upon sticking my hand in the water. It was much much colder than what I was paddling in yesterday! The thermometer reading was 54 F.

It was quite a relief to finally reach Wilson Point around 2:00. For a little while there were trees again, and houses. Although wind and waves were not bad, I think it took me an hour longer to paddle due to an opposing current. It’s hard to believe that the Bay of Chaleurs is behind me and now I will be in the Strait of Northumberland until Cape Breton. I had asked the Vances to meet me for lunch at 1:00, so I was a little concerned to not find them. Since there was no cell phone service, there wasn’t much I could do but hang around though. Pretty soon they showed up, after having gone through their tribulations of packing up camp, and we spent some time together before I had to move on.

The first few miles were similar to what I had just paddled, until suddenly I went from fog to mostly sunny conditions. The current seemed more favorable, although the winds got a little stronger. At a short stop, it was a nice surprise to look over the dunes and see the Miscou bridge in the distance! One really strange part of the paddle was when I thought I saw a shipwreck. I paddled maybe a quarter mile out to see what it was, only to find that it was a whole tree that was floating around in the ocean! Well, I guess that's how they make driftwood. Sure did seem out of place though.

The cross current at Fox Den Gully was not too bad, and I was impressed to see how much the village of Pigeon Hill (on Ile Lameque) sat on the edge of a hill before a bluff. The hill itself was not so big, but seemed huge compared to the flatness of northern Miscou. (I had asked Kevin to try to track down info on the Brethren church in Pigeon Hill, since it is the only Protestant church on the islands.) Continuing on past more broken cliffs, I prayed for the villages of Cap-Bateau and Ste.-Marie-St.-Raphael. I also got a little concerned about the thunderstorm in the distance. There were not many places with public access to the water, and I did not want to get stuck out there with lightning flashing around. When I finally got cell service back, I asked Kevin to meet me at the wharf in Ste.-Marie. Since I hadn’t scouted out the area, I didn’t know where there would be access to take out. After some badly broken cell calls, we met each other at a nice beach park just north of the wharf, and headed to the night’s campground on Shippagan Harbour. Of course, there were more opportunities for witness at the campground, and for the Vances to get more exposed to how isolated many Canadians (especially young people) are from any knowledge of Christian faith.

Day 9: Shippagan, NB to Ile Miscou, NB

“And now for something completely different”. Today I stop going solo for a while. In order to try to make it at least a little less challenging for the Vances to pack their stuff in and on the car once the arrived, I spent most of the morning repacking my stuff. And fighting mosquitoes. It’s hard to believe that I never had any trouble with bugs up until now. After 10:00 I finally got everything down to the water, where the mosquitoes were much less troublesome. I had some late breakfast and talked to my wife as she was fixing to leave Bathurst with the Vances. When I hit the water around 11:00, one of the park workers asked me to keep an eye out because they were looking for the body of a man who drowned in the area, presumably from a heart attack while fishing. It was a sobering reminder of the eternal stakes for the people of the region.

I made plans to meet up with the Vances at the wharf in Lameque, after I made a brief visit to the waterfront of Shippagan itself. Little did I realize how confusing this would be! I was glad to find the boat ramp right where the nautical chart said it should be, but it took a lot of talking and looking for me to get them to the right part of the wharf. It was nice to see Nancy for a little while of course, before she had to go and I sent the Vances on to set up at the campground on Miscou Island. It was still great weather for paddling, and this was the first day that I’ve seen a few people swimming at some of the beaches. Others were just racing around on their four-wheelers.

With the late start, I knew there would be no chance of going all the way to the campground. Instead, I decided to make Petite-Riviere-de-l’Isle as my destination, on the northwest side of Ile Lameque. I got Kevin totally turned around trying to find me, but it gave me some time to talk with Anthony. He had ridden his bike to the road end where I took out. He helped me pulled up the kayak and asked if I had any “grass”. I told him no and offered him a tract. He said he was a “good Catholic”; I told him I was a Christian. After some small talk about his days fishing cod off of Nova Scotia, he went on his way. Pray for fruit.

Once Kevin found me, I discovered that the campground on Miscou had not yet officially opened for the season but was happy to have us anyway. Although the mosquitoes were not as completely debilitating as at Shippagan, they did get pretty bad as the evening went on. The Vances had some good opportunities for witness to the campground owner before I came. As they settled in for their first night in the “Great White North”, we had an impressive show of lightning over the Bay of Chaleurs. Although we missed the downpours that Bathurst and other areas got, we did get some late night rain anyway.

Day 8: Caraquet, NB to Shippagan, NB

Leaving from the Carrefour de la Mer in Caraquet, I had the joy of having a good current to push me eastwards. I decided against making a run over to look at Caraquet Island, but enjoyed the view on this calm morning. It was really amazing how many jellyfish there were in some areas. In some places I could look down and see them spaced only about a foot apart for at least a few feet down. Most were the usual pretty pink ones that are common this time of the year, but a few were a bigger scarier looking brownish variety. So beautiful, but I sure don't want to touch them. Kind of like how sin looks so appealing. Today was also the first time that I’ve ever seen starfish alive in the wild. I was able to reach down and scoop one up on the flats east of Pokesudie Island.

With cooperative currents and reasonably light winds, I made pretty good time overall. The only place I had trouble was when I tried to cut a shortcut through the sand flats east of Pokesudie Island at low tide. The tide was starting to rise, but I wasn’t gonna wait around that long. So, after a bit of a break, I pushed on, dragging the kayak behind me. Pokesudie Island is sparsely populated by maybe a couple hundred people, and very flat. I don’t know if there are any believers. I saw several people out on the flats digging for clams, from their four-wheelers and small boats.

In spite of the nice weather, I was getting pretty tired by the time I got into St. Simon Inlet and saw the Shippagan campground. It was hard to make myself push on past the campground to Centre-St.-Simon. This is one village that really stuck in my memory from last year’s visit. Beautiful, but needing a gospel witness. When I arrived back at the campground, I met up with Robert Losier from the Association Atlantique d'Eglises Baptistes Francophones. He had a nice box of homemade food for my supper. Then I commenced to setting up camp in the mosquito-infested woods. I could see why there was only one other tent!

Other than a send-off by the Bullens in Caraquet, I didn’t get any other opportunity to pray with local believers today. Tomorrow I’ll be meeting up with the Vances and heading out to the islands. It’ll be interesting to see how things transition with their assistance and going into a purely Francophone area with very few evangelical churches.

Partner churches: Eglise Chretienne Evangelique Baptiste de Tracadie, Evangel Pentecostal Church

Day 7: Grande-Anse, NB to Caraquet, NB

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

Day 6: Bathurst, NB to Grande-Anse, NB

Well, I knew the weather was supposed to be bad today, but figured I’d see what I could do anyway. At least it wasn’t blowing quite as hard as yesterday. After carrying everything across the road from my in-laws’ house, I headed out across the Bathurst Harbour. Since the tide was going out, I had a fun wild ride against the wind and waves past Youghall Point into the Bay of Chaleurs. I managed to keep making progress with help from what was left of the current. Although the wind was blowing around 20 kt or so, I figured I was managing OK and making some progress. As I went out to go around Belloni Point to Salmon Beach though, things went downhill. Thanks to the wind and waves, I found that I was struggling to make even 1 kt. As some of the waves built to 3 or 4 feet, one breaking over my head got salt spray in my right eye. I thought it would wash out quickly, but the eye progressively got more troublesome. Once I finally felt I could reach the range light on the other side of the point, I decided I needed to try to make it into shore to evaluate my situation. By this time I was having to paddle with one eye open most of the time, which made things much harder. After a slightly sloppy landing, I decided that there was no point in going on. If I couldn’t go faster, then I wouldn’t even be able to make it to Stonehaven. Not to mention that it wasn’t very practical to try to pray for the communities while I was giving my all just to fight off the waves. The final straw though was really my eye, which obviously needed some time away from salt water.

So I called my wife to see if she could come get me any time soon. Because of other things going on, it wasn't exactly all that “soon”, but she did bring a donut and cappuccino to soothe my exhausted and rain-socked body. Although it was disappointing not to get to paddle the rest of the way from Salmon Beach to Grande-Anse, it actually worked out good in some ways. In particular, I had some time to do some things online and to buy some waterproofing sealant for the tent. And I was still able to meet up with some believers in Grande-Anse for prayer. I was also offered a place to stay for the night.

Partner churches: Assemblee Evangelique Baptiste Nepisiguit, Eglise Chretienne Evangelique Baptiste de Tracadie

Day 5: Bathurst, NB

For Father’s Day, I got to spend some time with my family, including my father-in-law. We went to the Sunday school and morning service at Gospel Light Baptist Church. After a quick lunch, I rushed back into town for the 2:00 pm worship service at Assemblee Evangelique Baptiste Nepisiguit. I was invited to speak for about 10 minutes following the sermon. It was good to be back to the church after visiting last summer. I think I probably went beyond my allotted time, but felt that my words on “The Passion of the Church” and the PrayerPaddle were well-received. Although my ability to follow a sermon in French is quite pitiful, the French praise songs on Powerpoint were quite a blessing.

Although it was a day to rest, the evening did end up somewhat long and stressful as I worked on getting all my stuff rearranged and packed to head out away from Bathurst. Logistical arrangements are coming together for the next few days, though the weather is not looking very summer-like. Problems at work back in Mississippi also came up that will have to be dealt with. And I’m praying for a quick recovery to full health for Kevin Vance before he comes up in a few days.

Partner churches: Assemblee Evangelique Baptiste Nepisiguit

Day 4: Petit-Rocher, NB to Bathurst, NB

Today was supposed to be the easy day, and in some sense it was. I only covered about half the mileage of yesterday, but had lots of rain to deal with. It started as a light drizzle last night, and continued with varying intensity all day. By the time I was getting up in the morning, I had puddles in the tent. So I had to put away the wet tent and sleeping bag along with everything else. I also still had to figure out arrangements for moving the car. Though I got a late start, it was easy to make up since I had scheduled long stops. It didn’t take long to discover that it was not only rainy but relatively windy and wavy. The roughest conditions, with waves and swell of a couple feet, were in the area of the Petit-Rocher wharf.

Poor visibility, raindrops on my face, and more challenging paddling made it more difficult to concentrate on praying specifically for the homes that I was passing by. Most of the time there were pretty much continuous houses, cottages, and campers along the shore as I got into the most populated section of the Bay of Chaleurs. I figured that I would make it to my destination on Youghall Beach at least 30 minutes late, but was shocked when I pulled the kayak onto the beach and looked at my watch. I was 32 seconds early! Wow, it’s amazing when God provides in little things like that. We had hoped to have a sizable gathering to pray for Bathurst and have a barbeque, but the miserable weather was not conducive to crowds. Nevertheless there were four (all lay people) who did come out to pray, in addition to the three people who I had prayed with at lunchtime in Beresford.

Although I was a little disappointed that the weather did not clear up for the meeting on Youghall Beach, it occurred to me that it was symbolic of the spiritual darkness that especially seems to pervade the area and of the spiritual battle that we need to be engaged in daily. At one point, I was talking to the Lord about how I realized that there was a spiritual battle all around me. But then I restated it that the battle was mostly to my right, where the land was. The “prizes” in spiritual warfare are not fish and lobsters and ocean water, but the souls of people created in the image of God. People who are held captive to the enemy by false religion, self-righteousness, ignorance, and self-gratification.

Tonight I get to stay with my in-laws and my wife and kids. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to dry out the camping gear and get organized for the next week. It will of course be hard as I start going away from where my family is.

Partner churches: Centre Evangelique de Beresford, Assemblee Evangelique Baptiste Nepisiguit, Evangel Pentecostal Church

Day 3: Nash Creek, NB to Petit-Rocher, NB

Today’s late start of one hour had a good excuse: a hearty hot breakfast with my hosts. Thanks to being able to launch from their cottage, my 24 mile paddle was shortened to only 23 miles. Providentially, I also had the help of cooler weather and a good helpful breeze. So I made decent time and was even comfortable a good bit of the time. I really started dragging during the last few miles though. My greatest fatigue was in my legs and in my pray-er. In the more populated sections toward the end, there were just SO many households to pray for. I also saw more fishing boats, people on the beach, etc. today. I’ve seen the boat Stormin’ Norman multiple times now. I’ve definitely gotten more into lobster territory now, with some areas pretty thoroughly decorated with marker buoys for the traps. I sure can’t figure out any pattern though to what makes one area good for lobster compared to another. On the other hand, I did confirm that the water temperature has gone down quite about since I left the Restigouche area, from the low 60s to the mid-50s now. Another interesting part of today’s paddle was going around and past the huge industrial area at the Port of Belledune.

I didn’t know whether anyone would be meeting up to pray with me today. So it was a pleasant surprise when I saw someone waving me in at Little Belledune (Roherty) Point. Instead of being someone from nearby, it was a medical student working in Campbellton who had emailed me the previous week about her interest in the PrayerPaddle and used her day off to come down and pray. Amazingly, we discovered that she had visited my university in Mississippi for a biology competition. We had some good fellowship and prayer for the area.

Tomorrow will be a much shorter paddle, though with a forecast of rain. Since my toe that got injured on the first day has gotten more painful, I’m hoping the easier schedule and some medicine will help to bring down the swelling some.

Partner churches: Full Gospel Country Church, Victory Lighthouse Church, Gateway Assembly

Day 2: Dalhousie, NB to Nash Creek, NB

The morning forecast called for more hot weather, but with significant wind from the southwest. They even claimed that the wind would reach over 20 kt and require a high wind warning. I couldn’t see how they came up with that last part, and knew that I would be relatively sheltered from southwest winds anyway. So I wasn’t too concerned.

I was met at Eel River Bar by one of the pastors from yesterday, as well as the two men shuttling my car. After eating some hot breakfast that they brought me, we prayed for the Eel River Band of Micmacs and the town of Charlo. Then I went on my way. Somehow I never did feel much energy for paddling today, partly because I was going against a current. There was more of a breeze today and it didn’t seem quite as hot, but it never clouded up and the winds were never more than about 7 kt. In other words, a beautiful day, but still on the warm side. I made a couple interesting side trips to break from the burden of intercession by going over to Heron Island and by paddling up to what was probably the mill dam that the community of New Mills is named after.

It’s hard to grasp the fact that from Dalhousie down almost to Bathurst there is only one evangelical church. This morning I did manage to break through my French shyness enough to hand out a tract to one person. Although I didn’t have anyone to pray with during my lunch stop at New Mills, I am blessed by the offer of a Christian brother to let me stay at his cottage on the water tonight instead of my planned campground. And again I enjoyed fellowship over dinner. And I’m wondering how I will manage the long 24 mile paddle that is planned for tomorrow. Hopefully the currents and weather will help out some.

Partner churches: Victory Lighthouse Church, Full Gospel Country Church

Day 1: Tide Head, NB to Dalhousie, NB

After getting up very early, I made the drive up from Bathurst to my starting point in Tide Head. I arrived about 10 minutes after my planned start time and actually began paddling about an hour later. In the first few miles, I ran into trouble as I grounded in shallow water before getting out of the river, bumped into multiple submerged logs, and then popped off one of the foot pegs. Not wanting to paddle a long time with no foot peg or rudder capability, I was relieved at my first stop to be able to get the foot peg back on the rudder assembly. In theory, it was a great day for paddling, with warm temperatures and a light wind at my back. In reality, much of the time it was downright hot. Some rain showers later in the day helped, though the pain of the miles really wore on as I got up around 20 miles. The most aggravating part was that the coastline is straight enough that for well over 10 miles I could only guess at how much progress I’d actually made. Views of the surrounding mountains and beaches were great, but harder to appreciate over time.

The first stop was at Listuguj First Nation in Quebec. Besides my late start, we had some confusion because Quebec is on Eastern time. We had a group of three pastors and a couple of lay people, including one man from Listuguj. Although the work there is struggling, it was where the most recent translation of the New Testament was done several years ago and the area is full of cues to the Gospel: 1) I landed at Mission Point (Pointe de la Mission); 2) the adjoining town is Pointe de la Croix (Cross Point); 3) it looks out to the large bridge from Campbellton across the Restigouche “River”; 4) from a certain angle on the water the gaps between trees formed a cross that I can’t imagine being humanly engineered; etc. Across the river, I met a little later with some of the same men to pray for Campbellton. Then I set out on the long long 18 mile paddle to Dalhousie. And the men took care of arrangements for getting my car down to the campground.

As tired as I was, I ended up reaching Inch Arran Park in Dalhousie about 40 minutes early. After moving my things to a campsite and changing to more presentable clothing, the people from Victory Lighthouse Church took me out to eat, to fellowship, and to pray at their church. To get some idea of the ministry challenges, the churches partnering with me in the area are averaging somewhere on the order of only ten members. Now it’s time to get some sleep. I’m guessing that over 200 households were prayed for specifically today, as well as most of the local churches. In some ways, the extended intercession seems almost as exhausting as the paddling. But it must be done, in some form or fashion.

Partner churches: Eglise Baptiste Chaleur, Campbellton Victory Outreach, and Victory Lighthouse Church