Walter has been with CIAM for over 10 years, and is responsible for CIAM’s technical development and support. This includes monitoring and maintaining stations to keep them on air.
Walter & Aileen’s 5,500 km Road Trip
The highlight since our last letter is that we made an approximately 5,500km road trip. The dots on the map mark our various stops. The timing for our trip was determined by our September 22-24 CIAM conference which was held just east of Edmonton.
On our way to conference we spent three days in Fort St. John. We were once again blessed by friends, who let us stay in their home even though they were not there. From Fort St John, Walter made a day trip to the Hines Creek and Cleardale, AB tower sites. In Hines Creek, a tower crew installed a new antenna and Walter switched out a transmitter. Then, Hines Creek was switched to high power.
At Cleardale, Walter did maintenance on the transmitter and changed the frequency so it could continue to rebroadcast the Hines Creek signal. On our way to Grande Prairie we stopped at the Grande Prairie tower site where Walter met up with someone to discuss the future power upgrade.
The next day, on our way to Edmonton, we looked to our left and were surprised to see good friends in the lane next to us. They, too, were on their way to Edmonton, although for a different reason. We enjoyed a great time of fellowship at the Whitecourt A&W before going our separate ways. The visit was a special gift from God.
Conference was wonderful. While we had updates about what was going on in CIAM, we also had times of good fellowship and of building one another up in the Lord. As a couple, we were blessed with an afternoon/evening of time to ourselves. We went for a hike, ate out, and then took a canoe out on the lake. While joking about being spied on, we were very thankful for the picture that was taken of us out on the lake.
From Edmonton we headed to Prince Albert. The first thing we did when we got there was to go to our daughter Janelle’s place for supper. It was so good to see her. We all had a hand in making the homemade ice cream she served us for dessert.
Over the course of the week we were grateful to others who included her in their visits with us. We were and continue to be very grateful to our Tribal Trails friends who welcomed us into their home and lives for the week. They are the kind of friends who saw it was getting late and rescued the last of our clothes off of the clothesline before we got back for the night.
Walter had a Victory FM board meeting while we were in Prince Albert. We all enjoyed the fellowship around the supper table before that meeting. Walter spent two days working at the Prince Albert tower site and one day at the Osler tower site. We had the joy of fellowshipping with and sharing with the Mont Nebo church family on the Sunday and spent the rest of that day with good friends north of Canwood. Last, but certainly not least, we had the blessing of visiting with Walter’s mom several times and his family one evening. The week went by very quickly and we are sorry that we could not see everyone we would have liked to see.
Our trip home included a three night stay with the Sandstroms (CIAM) who showered us with love and kindness. The first day, while Walter and Michael worked in the office in Edmonton, Aileen did laundry and visited with Man. Man blessed Aileen by sending her off on her own in the afternoon to thrift store shop while she stayed home with our son Joseph and hemmed a pair of his pants.
The next day Joseph went to the office with Michael while we spent a couple of hours at the Muttart Conservatory. Then it was back to the office where Walter and Michael worked together with the SED (formerly Industry Canada) inspector who was on site in Charlie Lake (Fort St. John). The smiling faces reflect both the success of the inspection and the blessings of our day. After the inspection, Joseph stayed with Michael and we went off again on our own for a few hours.
The next day we continued to head home with stays in Grand Prairie and Fort St. John. In between the two places we visited Peace River Bible College for a tour and the Hine’s Creek tower site for additional work. We arrived home on a Saturday evening and were delighted that Sunday afternoon to see that we were joined by others for church.
The next three weeks or so we spent Saturdays and several late afternoons getting in wood. This year Joseph blessed us by doing most of the splitting and stacking. We got our wood in just in time. It is now winter outside.
It is also winter in our souls. We are feeling some of the letdown after the good fellowship during our trip and the drive to get wood in. Charlie Lake (Fort St. John) is having ongoing technical problems that just cannot seem to be resolved. Until the problem is resolved, Grande Prairie’s upgrade cannot proceed. Locally, those we care about are carrying all kinds of burdens. Please pray for us. We need God’s help in our own lives, in the ministry of CIAM, and in the lives of those we care about here in Fort Liard.
We know that many of you reading this letter will also be experiencing difficulties and trials. In looking to the Lord, these verses came to mind:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
Thank you so much for your love and prayers,
Walter & Aileen Pope with family
