I finally got hold of Mason Van Tassel in Pictou early this morning. I felt we needed to meet in person to figure everything out. I had been under the impression that he had a team of about six college students helping out for the whole summer. It turned out that there were only a couple helpers at a time who rotated in and out, and sometimes nobody. When I put that together with the lack of contact with churches in the area, a forecast that looked like it would bring pretty strong east winds, and other factors, it seemed that God was clearly saying that I’d paddled far enough, for this summer at least. I had prayed occasionally over the last several months that God would make it clear to me if He wanted me to stop before my planned end at Pleasant Bay. I didn’t want it to devolve into an egocentric drive to reach a personal goal. The focus was always for the PrayerPaddle to glorify God, not me. And to do it on His timetable.
I spent a little time visiting before leaving the campground, and a couple of people gladly accepted Bibles. Then I went over to visit with Mason in Pictou and discuss my plans. I feel like I should take some time now to get to know the Nova Scotia shore better, try to make more contacts in the area, and consider the possibility of continuing on from Tatamagouche next summer. New Brunswick had been different since I was much more familiar with the region and had been able to scout out much of the coast when I was up last summer. The Vances were also a huge help of course. After looking over some access points and campgrounds (and discovering some points that would have been problems), I headed east on the Trans-Canada to meet up with Harvey Martell in Antigonish.
Harvey has been working with a CNBC church plant for about a year now. He shared quite a bit about the struggles they have faced, gave me something to eat, and offered a place to stay for the night. He agreed with my plans to suspend paddling and look the area over more closely. I’m hoping that I would be able to get the support of another full-time ground crew next year like I had with the Vances in New Brunswick. That really did make all the difference for me to be able to do the PrayerPaddle at all. Also, it will be nice to actually be able to have some vacation time now with my family before having to rush back to work in Mississippi. And I will be able to make it out to my grandmother’s memorial service in Arizona now. All the pieces are just coming together. Finally, it sort of makes sense now why I was unable to raise enough support money. Hopefully now I will be able to finish up without being too far in the red.
Partner church: Grace Community Church
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