More work has been accomplished on the building here! The past 5 days our electrician Frank Kelly has been in town and we have been able to get all the switches in, some temporary lighting in most of the rooms and hallways as well, and the toilet in the upstairs bathroom.
Frank was supposed to leave on Monday, but a half hour before his flight left a fog rolled in and First Air canceled the flight, so he got bumped to Wednesday (since the flight to Yellowknife, NWT is only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). Today we woke up and it was cloudy but no fog!! Well wouldn*t you know it, about an hour and a half before his plane was to land in Rankin...more fog rolled in off the Bay. It would lift a bit and then sink down to about 400 meters visibility (not enough for the jet to land). So I REALLY began to pray that God would allow him to get out of town. He has a trip to Ireland planned for early next week and a lot of work to do before he leaves, so he REALLY needed to get home to Yk tonight. The fog kept lifting a bit giving us a ray of hope, but then 10 minutes later it would settle back in limiting the visibility. Time dragged by at the airport and we kept waiting for the announcement that the flight was cancelled...but we heard nothing. We continued waiting thinking that there still must be a chance the plane could land. We finally stopped one of the First Air agents and asked if the flight was officially cancelled. He looked at us rather surprised saying yes, the flight just flew over and that they must have just forgotten to make the announcement. Crestfallen we made our way to the ticket counter to have him rebooked yet again...this time for Friday. It looked like our prayers had not been answered. Well, that is when God stepped in... Just as they were about to rebook him, one of the ticket agents said there was a SLIGHT possibility he and the other passengers could get on ANOTHER First Air plane. We were a bit surprised since it seemed the fog was so thick and no plane could land. There just *happened* to be a First Air charter flight that terminated in Rankin Inlet, and just *happened* to be flying to Yellowknife...EMPTY!!! It was already sitting on the pad being prepped for departure. GOD HAD ANSWERED MY PRAYERS! We serve a BIG God who can do anything...even allow a turbo-prop plane to take off from a distant mining camp in time to land in thick fog, so one of his faithful, hard-working volunteers can get home to his wife and in time for his trip to visit is aging mother in Ireland. WOW! There is really NO WAY to describe how amazing this is but our Mighty God working. This might seem like a small thing to those used to flying in the south, but when one is isolated in small, fly-in ONLY communities weather is a huge factor that cancels about 10% of the flights per year. To get out of town when all seemed hopeless, in a plane that usually wasn*t there at that time, is an amazing MIRACLE. PRAISE THE LORD for answering our prayers.
Alayna and Frank reading on the couch.
Some necessary improvements...
Jason and Nathan working on a corner.
