Kitsegukla - Team from Tacoma, WA - Sun, 11 Jul 2010

Hello, Friends and Family,

We arrived here almost without incident - we had one near miss, but I'll tell you The Tire Story in a moment - and had camp set up by 10:30 last night (when it's still really light up here). Though the rain clouds were ominous, they apparently went AROUND us, and we saw only a sprinkle. This is what Pastor Bart Metcalf, our wonderful liaison in Hazelton, calls "the valley effect." We're thankful that God used it to shield us last night!

So - The Tire Story: After driving over 500 miles on Saturday, we pulled in to our destination, Williams Lake, around 6 p.m. After a stop at Fast Food row for dinner and gas, we headed up the hill to the church where we'd be staying. On the way up there, Mark noticed that the tire on the van in front of him had a serious bulge, what he called "a tumor." Derwin and Tony were getting the van jacked up when our church host friends told us they had BCAA (auto club) membership, so the BCAA put on the spare.

The next day I dozed while Matt drove. When I felt us slowing down, I sat up and looked around. Wondering what time it was, I pulled my phone out of my bag - only to discover Derwin was calling me. He asked where we were, and when I told him we were passing through Quesnel, he said he was just on the other side of town at a tire store, and he needed me to hand over the mission team credit card. We were literally 3 minutes away. Had I missed his call, we'd have been out of town and long gone, and he would've had to pay for it some other way. Also, though I was frustrated by our delay at the coffee shop earlier in the morning, it turned out to be just one more way for God to put us in the right place at the right minute.

Today we worshiped in New Hazelton at a 2-hour prayer and praise service, which really stretched the comfort zones of some of our kiddos. Then it was off to visit our villages. In Kitsegukla we split into 3 groups and - led by some of our VBS kids from previous years - went around the village inviting kids to VBS tomorrow. By the time our 3 groups got back together, we had a crowd of at least a dozen excited kids, many of them already riding on shoulders or piggy backs.

Everyone is healthy and scratching their mosquito bites! Life gets busy tomorrow; I'll update you when I can!

In Christ,

Sue Acuna

I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me. Ps. 6:13