About this time it had been confirmed by the Canadian Sunday School Mission that

I would be assigned for the summer months in Northern Alberta. Daily Vacation

Bible School in the Lac la Nonne, Rich Valley, and Gunn areas would be our

major undertaking. House to house visitation would be done in June and July.

This spring I would not go to work for Nick at Skiff. The Mission had

located farm work for me at Dunstable. This was one of the Christian families that requested

mission work in the area. It was a mixed farm with field work with animals to look after.

When the haying was completed I was off to join Ron Gillespie and Jim Green of

Toronto to begin the Mission work. The Mission provided bicycles for each of us to use in

the work. We stayed in a building not far from Lac la Nonne. The beach was good for

swimming, and fishing was good as well. A catch of fish provided food for the group. We

were somewhat like the Lord’s disciples when they followed Jesus in His ministry on the

Judean countryside.

The spread of the Gospel to the farming community began in earnest. We would visit

a home and identify who we were, and why we were there. We would talk to those present,

and upon leaving would leave Gospel tracts. If it should happen that the family was having a

meal we were often invited to join them. Otherwise, we waited until we reached home to eat.

Each day a report was kept of travel, tracts distributed, and contacts made. Early in

the work, a wedding took place. Ron and Dareen were married. Dareen now joined us in the

work, but the living quarters that we occupied did not lend themselves for a married couple

and two bachelors. Therefore Ron advised that Jim and I would move to the south end of the

community, which we would target with the Gospel. On a rainy day our stuff, along with

bicycles, was loaded onto a wagon and we were off to Gunn, which was a hamlet close to

Alberta Beach, on Lac St. Anne. Our dwelling would be an old log trapper’s cabin in a

wooded area adjacent to an Indian reservation, and the main highway to Whitecourt. A

twenty mile muddy road trip for that time was a good day’s work. It took all day to arrive at

our destination.

Our new abode didn’t look too appealing or inviting. I think that neither Jim nor I

made a negative comment about the new accommodations, but settled in as best we could. It

was hard to recall much about the trapper’s cabin. It had a cast iron stove, some kind of

table, no beds, no kitchen cabinets and of course no plumbing or electric lights.

This was missionary work, so we accepted our circumstances as of the Lord’s

provision and settled in to do His work. Ron and Dareen were able to provide the necessary

kitchen pans, dishes and cutlery for us to make our own meals.

"How did two young missionaries manage living in a trapper’s cabin on the edge of

an Indian reservation?" some may ask. Well, garden vegetables were plentiful, because it

was summer. We received gifts of food from families in the area. Another provision,

unbeknown to us, was that a Christian home was in the community, occupied by mother and

daughter. The daughter had attended Prairie Bible Institute, and hoped some day to serve the

Lord on a mission field abroad. They had us over for some good homecooked meals that

were far superior to anything we could prepare. We were able to carry water from their place

for our cooking, washing, and bathing requirements.

While living at Gunn, Alberta, engaged in the mission work to spread the Good News

of the Gospel of God's grace and free salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, I received a most

and set literature to them of things I had learned and experienced with respect to salvation as

taught in the Bible. I now learned that they had experienced the same thing I had.

Lac St. Anne was within walking distance from our cabin. It had a sand bottom in

several areas, so these places were good for a swim or wash after a hot summer day riding our

bicycles. The lake had fish in it. We would rent a boat for an hour or longer and catch our

evening meal from the lake.

Daily Vacation Bible Schools were planned at three locations that year. The schools

were held in public schools, used by permission of the local Trustees. There was no charge

for the use of the building. School buildings were used for many community events before

community halls were built. The Vacation Bible Schools were held at Gunn, Rich Valley,

and Lac La Nonne. The attendance was good at the latter two locations, but we had a small

class at Gunn, as I recall. The most prominent contact was a very young girl, Georget

McGregor, who rode a bicycle and invited her friends to come to classes. She was a very

busy little lady, a daughter of a store owner on Alberta Beach.

It was decided early in the summer that a week’s Bible Camp for children from these

Vacation Bible Schools, plus some from Edmonton, would be held at Lac La Nonne. A lot of

planning went in to this undertaking. Killdeer Beach was rented for the purpose, and the

camp was advertised throughout the area, and in Edmonton as well.

A men’s quartet from P.B.I. was engaged to teach the scriptures and hold Gospel

meetings in the evening. A large tent was obtained, and we borrowed benches from

somewhere. Sleeping arrangements were another challenge. The girls had cabins to sleep in.

Extra cabins were available across the lake in a resort. The boys slept in the large tent. After

the evening service was over the boys would set up sleeping areas on the ground in the tent.

In the morning the tent was cleared and set up for classes and services. The cookhouse was a

small thing, like a fast food concession stand. It had a stove, but that was about all. The

dining area was outdoors under the open sky. Tables and benches were set up for each meal.

None of us had conducted a Bible Camp before, and this was a major undertaking.

Christian families in the area provided farm products such as vegetables, milk, and meat, for

our meals. Bread was brought in from Edmonton.

Cooking meals for a large group for a week was a huge job – too big by far for the

few of us who had jobs to provide logistical support for the camp. Children came to the

camp from our V.B.S classes as well as Edmonton. A young boy from the city was to come

to camp. His parents agreed to allow him to come, provided adults could accompany him at

camp. So it was that Richard McCollough came to camp with sisters of the Lievers family.

They came with a cabin on wheels so that they could be self-contained and enjoy the spiritual

fellowship at camp.

It wasn’t known to us that these two sisters (Reika and Alice Lievers) would attend

camp. They were both good cooks. Reika had cooked in lumber camp, so was acquainted

with providing good food for the workers. When they observed that cooks were badly

1 See APPENDIX B – Letters from Katie and Johnnie and Mary

needed they willingly volunteered to help. Having begun, they soon took full charge of the

cooking, and we were well fed the whole week.

We planned a special event at the close of the week. Sunday was to be a special day.

Invitations were open to all who wished to come. The only provision they needed was to

bring their own food for dinner.

People came to a great spiritual feast. The quartet sang so well, then preached to

gospel so faithfully. Some were saved by the grace of God. It was such a joyful, fruitful

time. Much blessing was showered on the believers in the districts that had invited summer

missionaries to spread the gospel.

The camp was now over. The Vacation Bible Schools were finished. It was time for

me to leave for harvest work at Nick’s. Jim Green and I turned our equipment in to Ron and

Doreen to look after. I was then off by train and bus to Lethbridge and on the Skiff.

On the closing day of the Bible Camp at the Lac La Nonne, during an outdoor noon

meal, I was seated with other workers at a table with the cooks. I sat beside one of the cooks,

who was wearing a blue dress. She

had a bright arresting smile and a

small dimple on her left cheek.

This was someone I wanted to get

to know better! There was no time

left on that busy Sunday afternoon

for a chat, so I asked her if she

would mind writing to me at Skiff,

Alberta, where I would be working

on a farm during the fall. She did,

and that began our letter writing,

which would last for many years.2

On the Monday following

the camp, Mr. Gillespie and I made

a hurried trip to Edmonton to

transport children to their homes.

The first letter that I wrote to Alice

tells about that trip and back, plus

my travel from Gunn to Lethbridge,

and finally to Skiff where my

bother Nick had his farm.3

2 See APPENDIX B - First Letter from Alice, August 5, 1942

3 See APPENDIX B - First Letter to Alice, August 14, 1942

Alice, at about age 18