Ice Road Preacher

Dear Praying friends,
The array of items on my desk is an accurate microcosm of missionary work. As expected, there are four bibles, an English dictionary, an Inuvialuit dictionary, an old school hand bombed address book, a hymn book and a book on revival by Ravenhill. There is the usual 21st century electronic wizardry; external hard drives, wireless router, chargers, cables and recharging batteries. My laptop, printer and an old school pair of drug store reading glasses occupy reserved spots on the desktop. (The real desktop, not the virtual one)
Along with the expected stuff there is a birthday card for mom needing a signature from her far away son, an exploded view of my truck’s transmission and the phone number of a parts guy in Yellowknife who said he’d call me back when the parts came in. Speaking of parts, the pullout writing surface of the desk has now become a shelf where the shifter and surrounding parts are sitting awaiting Jeff the afore mentioned parts guy to call.
I just properly stored a couple of shotgun shells that stood as paperweights, and there is a dry erase board with a multi colored “to do” list scrawled at a right angle to another list of things I need for Tuk. Odd scraps of paper with notes, phrases, reminders, phone numbers and late night thoughts lay here and there. Some extra printer paper and a cup full of pens, pencils and highlighters sit to my right as a reminder of a simpler time uncluttered with digital technology.
The hodgepodge desk is representative of a missionary’s life. Theology and devotion to Christ is certainly an obvious and large part of who a missionary is, but the normalcy ends there. We are mechanics, our own tech support and accountant. We are purchasing agents, medics, writers, sons and daughters. We teach, preach, parent, counsel, build, repair, fix and demolish. Our tools are bibles, hammers, rifles and wrenches. By the time a missionary reaches the field we are professional drivers, advanced telemarketers, and conference speakers. We dabble in audio visual production and become amateur historians of our field. Some are linguists, interpreters and translators of God’s precious Word. Missionaries must multitask.
This is my last newsletter until September. The short Arctic summer is extremely busy and it is a great help to slide the next newsletter one month. I appreciate your understanding. My summer work consists of ongoing duties in Inuvik, foundation repair in Tuk, paint my house and preach two weeks of Rock Crossing Bible Camp in Alaska. I am teaching four courses for Points North Baptist Mission and All Points Baptist Mission’s Advanced Missionary Training. I end the summer with a trip bringing my repaired boat back to the North from Manitoba for use in any aspect of ministry which puts us on the river.
Lois’ heath continues to stabilize and even improve. She can travel now with lesser difficulty and we humbly thank you for praying for her and we honor God for His healing touch. I have had a couple of skin cancer spots on my face dealt with and they have proven to be more embarrassing than dangerous. Angie is back from college for the summer and is an amazing lady. We are blessed by her walk with the Lord. Our other two kids are doing great in serving and preparing to serve.
The Tuk mission is going well. Our attendance is solid and we are building relationships with more and more people in Tuk. I continue to experience total liberty when preaching and I believe decisions are being made or at least pondered. I envision a day when we live in Tuk and we continue to move toward that end.
Your faithful monetary and prayer support is a source of continual blessing. Thank you very, very much. We do count on you and we know we can.
In His cold but easy yoke,

Steve, Lois and Angie Donley

Dear praying friends,

I suppose by the time this letter reaches you CHRISTmas will be over and the New Year will be upon us. The CHRISTmas season always holds great opportunity to reach people who are usually unapproachable concerning the things of the Lord. This year we have the opportunity to spend the CHRISTmas season in Tuktoyaktuk. We will be house sitting and will enjoy sharing Christ in the community by way of special services and hopefully some visits.

The 2040 window prayer initiative has already produced some results. Late October Bearing Precious Seed – Canada shipped a John and Romans to every household in the Northwest Territories! The staff emailed me in response to my last newsletter and was thrilled to be part of getting the truth to those NWT communities with little or no Gospel witness. Our efforts to evangelize the Western Arctic are always throttled by the exorbitant cost of travel. An adult return ticket to a fly in community such as Ulukhaktok (pop. 479) is $2,108.40. Paulatuk (pop. 341) demands $1,226.40 for return airfare and Sachs Harbour (pop. 135) a mere $1,526.00. Through the years Bro. Forney, myself and a few others have visited most of these communities and recently believers from our established ministries have delivered a witness in one form or another. But a consistent, faithful witness and church plant will most likely have to come from a God called local man. The 2040 window prayer initiative must include the prayer for laborers.

Lois traveled to Edmonton for an MRI to help diagnose her sensory input difficulties. A phone call from the Neurologist was good in that there were no tumors, cysts, blockages or evidence of stroke. We thank the Lord for this. She will meet with the Neurologist in January to see if there is anything else we can do to eliminate or at least lessen the debilitating results Lois experiences when she receives an overload of visual input or experiences something that taxes her inner ear when extra balance is needed. Travels on bumpy roads are a severe problem to Lois and we serve where bumpy roads, ice roads, and bumpy plane rides are a way of life. If this is the new normal for us, we will need much grace.

We have still not moved into the community of Tuk to live. I am waiting for the Lord to bring us there in His perfect timing. It seems no matter how long you have been a believer; waiting on the Lord is still a chore. Experience has taught me that waiting is still easier than undoing a bad choice. While we wait, I travel to Tuk each Sunday night and hold a worship service that is attended by around 20 people – give or take a few. The Lord has orchestrated some powerful services and I am absolutely positive the Lord is working. We shall reap if we faint not.

Thank you for the CHRISTmas offerings, gifts, correspondence and kindness. Our family is blessed and you are the vital part in His blessings being showered upon us. Your love for us is humbling and we thank God for such a faithful and engaged support family.

Steve and Lois Donley