The Team at Pembroke Inn
Fellowship While Riding the Polar Bear Express
Prayer Time During the Train Delay
Safely at Moose Factory Dock
Water Taxi Across the Moose River
We set out Sat. 7/2 about 9:30am and after 973 miles of driving and an overnight stay in Pembroke, Ontario (see our group picture) we arrived in Cochrane on Sunday night. The next day, our July 4th, at 6am, we turned in two of four vans to be loaded on the Polar Bear Express. Our team of 28 students and staff boarded the train at 9am, not knowing the divine appointment that awaited us.
The train came to a stop about 3 hours into our ride and remained stopped for 2.5 hours with no power and no AC. After 1.5 hours of our delay, one of our adults Tony Pongia declared we should pray. The team was gathered together and we prayed for a resolution of the problem and resumption of our journey to Moosonee. After a time of prayer, one of our students began to lead us in singing “there is Power in the Name of Jesus to break every chain”. This was followed by “How Great is Our God” and another song. During our singing we heard outbursts of “that’s not our religion”, “we should play our drums”, “your religion killed our people” from a few of the many people in our car or passing through. After exhorting the team, students began to share things on their heart. The prolonged stop which seemed to be a pain & problem resulted in our being blessed to call upon the LORD and testify of Jesus. Our God is greater, our God is stronger-the train powered on and we began to move forward towards Moosonee.
The train arrived at Moosonee close to 5pm. We then learned that the last barge to Moose Factory had departed and our request to procure one to transport our team was denied. We were going to have to take water taxis, which meant lightening our load. So we removed our sleeping bags & then loaded our luggage on our cargo & passenger vans which would be transported to Moose Factory via barge at 8:30am the next day. Our team was loaded onto 4 water taxis (see pictures) to make the trek across the Moose River to Moose Factory. We arrived at the public docks to see our brethren from Cree Gospel Chapel with SUVs and pick up trucks to take us to the church. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, then sang to the LORD, prayed & shared testimony about our ministry experiences on the train. Many of us realized that this was not last years mission trip-new year, new script, and the LORD of the Harvest was in control.
Hallelujah Jesus!