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optimistic! During that meeting, he excitedly told us about the enormous possibilities for ministry in Canada and about the snow we would have fun playing in. However, he somehow overlooked the facts that the church only consisted of ten people, and that the church building was the biggest eyesore in the city, and the kindest description of the church parsonage was “modest.” (Luckily for the church there was no Google Earth street view back then!)
    Those early days in Saskatoon taught our family much about perseverance. We learned to keep our eyes on God instead of on the problems that seemed to always be lurking around the corner. We can still remember attending Sunday school in those early days of the church. An elderly British accountant taught us kids in the church basement. Every spring, the winter runoff would cause water to seep into the building. We’d arrive early Sunday mornings with our father and mop up the water on the floor. Then as our Bible lesson commenced, we watched water steadily creeping back into the room. When the water finally reached the legs of the table where we were sitting, class was dismissed!
    During those days, we also discovered what a church “family” is all about. We did not have any blood relatives within a thousand miles of us, so our church family became our “cousins,” “grandparents,” “uncles,” and “aunts.”
    Even though our church was never in danger of being described as a megachurch, our father was highly respected and, in the case of some of our friends, held in awe. He wasn’t overbearing, demanding, or super spiritual. In fact, he had a playful side that took diabolical delight in practical jokes. (He could not be trusted with firecrackers!) Our church was filled with new believers, and for many of them, our father was the first pastor they had ever met. He was still developing his understanding of the biblical principles that would one day be published in the book Experiencing God . But even in its embryonic form, our father’s biblical teaching was as riveting as it was powerful. 1 The church of our youth was a beehive of exciting activity. The lights of the church seemed to be on around the clock, every day of the week.
    In the 1980s there were swarms of teenagers, university students, Bible school students, and curious visitors trafficking through the building. There were dozens of mission churches in surrounding towns to which many of our church members drove on Sundays to teach, preach, sing, play musical instruments, and lead Bible studies. It was normal for people to come to know Christ throughout the week and be introduced to the congregation on Sundays. For our family, these days were especially exciting because we remembered how close the church had come to shutting its doors. It may have been at that early time in our lives that we first realized the dramatic impact one family could make on an otherwise hopeless situation.
    Serious Times and Difficult Days
    One of the most challenging moments for our family during the early years in Saskatoon was when our mother became seriously ill after our baby sister was born. At the time, we were not told how close she was to dying—at one point, the doctors had informed our father they did not think they could save her life—but the memories of taking cards and flowers to her in the hospital are etched in our minds to this day. We are not sure what was going through our father’s mind at that time. He had five children between the ages of a few months and ten years old, no family to help him, a church to run, kids to feed and get to school, a baby to manage, and a wife in the hospital with a life-threatening condition. He certainly would have wondered why God brought him to Canada only to have his American wife become gravely ill. However, our father’s mantra has always been, “Bring your troubles to God and your faith to the people.”
    Our home life was one of organized chaos more than disciplined