Day 5 - We enjoy the Best Western chain of hotels.  Nice rooms, spacious bathrooms and free hot or continental breakfast!  With laundry done and a restful sleep, we were ready to eat our morning meal and begin our day.

First stop: CIP. What is CIP, you ask?  California Imports, the only outlet in Canada for VW Beetles, Carmengia's and VW buses!  We drove to the location in Langley and Walter met his new best friend, Gary, who had helped with Walter's first Beetle rebuild.  They shook hands and talked parts, prices and all other manner of "car-guy talk" - and I soon retired to the truck.  Walter placed an order for what Gary recommended for the Pumpkin Project and it may be waiting for us at home when we arrive next week!

Next stop: Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in North Vancouver.  We made it with almost 45 minutes to spare.  Not being sure of traffic and wait times, we wanted to make sure we had some leeway.  At exactly 1 pm, we pulled away from the dock and began our journey across to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.  I had some reading material and we planned to grab our lunch on board.  The trip would take 1 hour 40 minutes and it went by in no time.  It was a calm, cloudy day.

I had bought the book about "The Orange Shirt Day" by Phyllis Webstead.  Very sobering read and I still have over half of the stories of Phyllis and her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother of residential school.

Third Stop: Nanaimo wharf/port.  Just a short drive from the ferry terminal is a lovely oceanside park and walkway.  We enjoyed the clean, salty air.  The daffodils were blooming everywhere!  The grass was green, the seagulls hungry and our walk refreshing.

Next Stop:  Karl & Ana Kruse (and son, Isaiah).  They are NCEM missionaries with a heart for the First Nations people of Vancouver Island...if they could, they would love to reach out to every community.  So they are busy sharing their vision and finding young people to recruit and join their ministry.  We enjoyed a wonderful lasagna supper and encouraging visit.  Then we drove another hour to Courtney, BC to spend the night.  It was a short night - we fell into bed at 10 pm or so and woke to the alarm at 6:20 am.  

Day 6 - Breakfast at the Pearls' home at 6:45 am!

This family hosted us and Karl Kruse for a tasty breakfast in order to meet us.  Their son and daughter in law are applying to serve with NCEM.  We enjoyed a meal and their prayers as we were heading to the community of Ehattis on the west side of the island.  The five of us took two vehicles loaded with supplies for a Bible study and Kids Klub.  We had about 3 hours of highway and then  40 minutes of narrow, gravel logging road into the town of Zabellos.  Across a bridge was the FN community of Ehattiset.  It may have 100-150 people in a very small geographic space on the ocean inlet.  

We met at the dock and had a quick prayer gathering with two other women who joined us for the Bible study ministry.  Then Karl, Rueben & Makayla went to visit some folks and invite them to the study.  Walter and I joined the women to set up the facility for lunch and Bible study.  Just a couple men and a woman showed up.  We thought that was great.  But by the end, the room held 13 adults and 3 children!  Rueben shared some thoughts on John 5 and asked a few questions. There was plenty of discussion and comments.  A couple of younger adults joined briefly then left.  

It was neat to meet a man named Steve.  He had been discipled and mentored by our friend Kevin who used to minister in that community.  Walter took a selfie with Steve and sent it to Kevin.  How encouraging for us to share in seeing people come to know Jesus and still be serving faithfully so many years later!  Kevin texted back that he was jealous of our opportunity to be there and to give greetings to Steve!

I helped with clean up; Walter gave a guy named Tom a ride home and had a visit with him. Tom's sister from Penticton just passed away and he was pretty shook up.  Driving there for the funeral would take a full day's drive and be quite costly.  Karl left early to get ready for the Kids Klub.  So Rueben, Makayla and I walked from the centre to the school.  It felt surreal to walk the damp streets, gaze up at mountains and evergreen trees, and see the low tide.  I was far from my home but loving the opportunity to see new missionaries in their work!

KIA Klub - what does this mean?  Kids in Action!  And that's not all who are moving fast; Karl, who is 50+ years old was engaging in the games of tag and chase and Pilon Blast!  I gave it my best effort to play but wow!  The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be!  There was fun and laughter and relationships being built with the 8-12 year olds who were participating in the after school Bible club.  Once a month, the leaders bring cake or cupcakes and celebrate the birthdays. While they ate, Karl shared on Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit.  Today's fruit was "peace" and some of the kids gave some pretty good thoughts on what peace is and is not.  Karl shared simply how Jesus' death on the cross can mean peace for those who believe in Him.  Then they all ran around for some closing games before being dismissed at 5 pm.

Walter and I still had more adventures before us. We drove back to the dock at Zabellos and grabbed our overnight bags.  Six adults and 2 kids squeezed into the small aluminum boat called the

"Uncle Paul" for the 25 minute ride on the ocean inlet to Esperanza.

Esperanza is a remote camp/retreat centre with an 80 year history of ministry and outreach to the surrounding FN communities.  The ride was smooth for the first 2/3 until another channel intersected with our main route to cause some bumps!  The kids were laughing and squealing at each bump; me, not so much!  But in five minutes we were on smooth waters again.  Our captain, Timothy Block, guided us into the dock and soon we disembarked.  Supper was waiting for us and the crew who worked at the camp.  A turkey feast greeted us and we were famished!

Stay tuned for more on Day 6...it was a looooooong day!