by Emmie Dryjski

In my testimony on March 9^th I made several references to the missionaries with whom I lived and worked. After my baptism service, I spoke with Dan Penner, a member of our church, and we discussed that it was his father, the late Richard Penner who was the key player in my journey to Christ. Sadly, Richard was killed in a plane crash on his way to a meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2004.

It was Richard who arranged a teaching position for me for PAD (Partnership in Academic Development), in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, where he worked as a director for World Concern. He also arranged an entry visa for me and met me at the Afghanistan border. As a woman travelling alone to a war torn country I was extremely thankful for this. It can be very stressful entering Afghanistan due to all the military check points and language barrier. Not only was Richard fluent in Dari, but also very familiar with all Afghan customs and procedures.

While in Mazar-e-Sharif, Richard kept a watchful eye over me. He would assist me to the market and showed me what food I must not eat. He also reminded me to follow daily the Afghan tradition of covering myself from head to foot. During the two months there, I was cut off from my life in Canada because there was no means of communication. However, Richard would deliver news from Winnipeg to me, including email from my family whenever he attended a meeting in Tashkent. Most importantly, he took me to the worship services on Fridays and introduced me to all his missionary friends and colleagues. From them I learned what it means to be a servant of the Lord.

Richard’s life was a witness to me in his love for God. This same love was also demonstrated in his genuine interest in helping the Afghan people and his care of me.

It has been a real gift to have worked with Richard and to call him my friend.

by Kelly Karam

My spiritual journey started in a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was born and raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was taught about a God named Jehovah, my Father. He was the God my family served, prayed to, studied about, and ultimately feared.

We spent a lot of time in personal Bible study and in church, we had meetings 3 times a week plus put in service hours, like going door to door (what they were and still are famous for). Those service hours were all recorded and handed in to the elders at the end of every month. Despite all the study and service, I never felt as close to God as I wanted. He seemed distant or somehow disconnected from me.

Growing up I spent alot of time feeling like I didn’t belong in the church. I always had a sense I never measured up. I didn’t have a perfect attendance record, others had more service hours than me, my dad wasn’t an elder, my best friends’ dads were, I didn’t have it all together. The list goes on and on.

I never felt secure in my salvation. It seemed I could never do enough. From a young age until I was 20, I remember having reoccurring nightmares of finding out at Christ’s return I simply didn’t cut it.

At the age of 20, I met my match – literally.

I started dating a Baptist boy. Things got serious. We knew we had to sort out our religious differences if we wanted to move forward. My soon to be in-laws also recognized the importance of being evenly yoked, so they put us in touch with a gentleman named Ray from the Navigators. He set up a bible study with the two of us.

I viewed this as the perfect opportunity to convert the both of them. Our studies were uneventful in my humble opinion. Ray seemed wishy washy to me, he had no concrete, definite answers, which is what I had always been used to. Jehovah’s Witnesses have an answer that makes sense for any question one could ask. In Ray’s quiet way, he would let me preach my interpretation of the scriptures and then respectfully say, that’s one way to look at it, here’s what I take from it…. I remember him pointing out the importance of reading scripture prayerfully. I was used to being told what the scripture meant – No Questions Asked.

In the weeks that followed, Chris and I would go to the downtown library to look up the Greek and Hebrew origins of words. I started to discover there was more than one definition. As Jehovah’s Witnesses, we were only ever allowed to read spiritual material that was published by our Watchtower Society. So these library dictionaries and concordances were creating small cracks in my belief system.

Still focused on converting Chris and Ray, I agreed to attend a Ralph Bell Crusade night in lieu of Chris attending a service at my Kingdom Hall.

I distinctly remember being very unimpressed by the sermon and looking forward to going home. Then came the alter call. I recall Chris bowing his head in prayer, me thinking you can pray all you want, I’m not going up. I wrapped my hands around my chair to hold myself down in my seat.

I remember being in awe of the power of God as I was being physically moved to the front.

As I walked, I felt all my burdens being lifted from me completely. Those burdens were the burdens of works.

What I know now, that I didn’t know then:

• I know I didn’t know Him as I do today.
• I know He 1st loved me and sent his son to die for me and because of that I don’t have to try and earn my salvation.
• I know I belong to Him because he says – I am His child

My study of Ephesians this summer reminded me of my identity in Christ. I encourage you to read it if you haven’t lately. Here are my Coles notes:

• Eph. 1:7 – our sins are taken away and we are forgiven
• Eph. 2:5 – says, it’s by Grace you have been saved.
• Eph. 2:8 – for its by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
• Eph. 3:12 – we can come with freedom and confidence into God’s presence. No more nightmares since he brought me up that aisle!!

Charles Stanley once said, “Salvation is not a reward that God has given to us for works or for good behavior.  Salvation is the result of grace and goodness and the love of God. It is a Free gift from God to those who trust him as personal savior”

I want to encourage you to make that decision to trust Him and make Him your personal Savior if haven’t already.

To learn more about making this decision that Kelly speaks of – read about the Good News on this website.

by Melanie Penner

Most of us fear the diagnosis of cancer. I grew up fearing cancer even more then the average person. When I was four years old my brother died of cancer. I honestly believed that since my family had suffered from this loss, I would always be spared of having to live through the trauma of cancer. However, God decides, not me. In October 2013, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer. My journey of getting diagnosed, being treated and recovering has not been easy. Here is my story…

I had day surgery in mid-October in order to determine if I had cancer or not. Three days after that surgery, I developed a deep vain clot in my leg and was admitted into the hospital. During this stay, I was told I most likely had cancer and that we didn’t need to wait for pathology to confirm my diagnosis. My clot was reinforcing what the doctors had predicted; I quickly became a cancer patient. I remember crying and feeling sad, but not devastated. I completely believed that God would make it all better quickly. I had been in a cancer-screening program for 18 months prior to being diagnosed, so I was certain that a quick surgery would take care of things. Wrong again. A month later, I was officially diagnosed. I was told that the tumor in my cervix was very large and had probably been there for up to 2 years. Apparently I had slipped through the cracks of the cancer-screening program that I was a part of. Mistakes had been made and my cancer had been missed. My biggest nightmare would come true: chemo and radiation. The tumor inside of me was too large for a successful surgery.

I remember crying out and asking God, “How could you let this happen?” It felt like it was more then I could handle. God’s response to me was, “I am with you.” I didn’t want Him, I wanted Him to fix my problem. Looking back, I had so much to learn. My first lesson was a hard one: God allows big, bad things to happen in our lives. He allows things to hit us that we can’t handle, so that we learn to lean on Him completely.

Two weeks after my diagnosis, treatments started. I got sick instantly. Nausea hit me like a punch in the gut and all the medication I was taking, was a shock to my body. So many nights I lay in bed and couldn’t believe this was the journey God was leading me on, and at the same time, I marveled at the strength He gave me just when I needed it. After my first week of treatments, I felt so incredibly overwhelmed and thought I could not survive 6 more weeks of this. I went to the hospital 5 days a week. I had radiation Monday through Friday and chemo every Tuesday. This was an intense treatment plan; however, God provided ways to cope. A group of friends offered to take turns driving me to the hospital everyday, so I was never alone. When I didn’t have energy to physically get there, I was escorted. God would bring verses into my life everyday through friends, devotions, and just in my mind to help me carry on. Somehow, I managed to get to every treatment. I was learning to rely on Him as my refuge and strength at all times. I learned that He will give me what I need, when I need it. I often felt like I didn’t have the strength or courage to get through each day, but I did for each moment. God often doesn’t give us beyond what we need, just enough. But enough is enough; and He is always dependable with enough.

There is another part to this story. I was sick, but so was my husband, Darryl. 4 months prior to my diagnosis, we learned he had a tumor behind his right eye that was the cause of severe headaches. In early January, when I was half way through my treatments, Darryl had to have major brain surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery was risky: there was a high chance he would lose his sight in his right eye. When the person you love the most is in pain or in any kind of jeopardy, all you want is to be with them and take care of them. But I couldn’t because I was too sick. We relied on friends and family to take Darryl to the hospital for his surgery and to be with him during his hospital stay. The morning he left for the hospital, I lay at home in bed begging God to carry Darryl through and to keep him safe. I did manage to get to the hospital in the afternoon of surgery day. In fact, I had an appointment with my oncologists that day to give me a progress report (my first one since treatments had started), had my daily treatments, and was sent for a chest x-ray in preparation for more treatments. Then I went up to the surgery ward to get the results of Darryl’s surgery. I think back on that day; it was way too much for me, but God was there. Because He was there, I made it through.

The surgery went extremely well; the first thing Darryl asked his nurse after waking up was, “How is my wife today; tell her I love her”. I was so relieved he remembered me! One of my biggest fears was having Darryl in the hospital. I didn’t have the energy to visit him each day, and I needed him at home to cheer me on through my treatments. God knew this. Darryl was discharged from the hospital 24 hours after major surgery. We couldn’t believe it, but were so thankful.

Not everything became easier after Darryl came home though. Now I was more on my own. He couldn’t come to the hospital with me for doctor’s appointments, even on days when “big news” would be given. I quickly learned how much I depended on Darryl and learned to depend on God instead. I managed to complete 5 rounds of chemo, 28 radiation treatments, numerous blood tests, and weekly doctor’s appointments. God carried me through all of this and has continued to be faithful to me.

My recovery from treatments has gone very well, quicker then expected. However, I have been told that my cancer did not respond to treatments as well as my doctors had hoped. So, I’m waiting for 12 weeks, to let the treatments finish working. Then, I will be reassessed to determine if surgery and more treatments are needed.

Waiting can be a very scary place, but I have learned that God is in control. He allowed me to get cancer, and He gets the last say as to whether I am cured or not. He gets to choose how I’m healed and when. God has also taught me that He is always present. He will never leave me nor forsake me. But it is my responsibility to acknowledge His presence in my life. I know God is taking me through this journey to change me and prepare me to serve Him. I’m not sure how, or where or when. But I can’t wait to see what is in store because now He is directing me and I am learning to follow.

Tim Hague Sr. shares a key take away from competing in The Amazing Race Canada.

10,000 applicants, seven provinces, three territories, 23,000 km traveled, eight other highly competitive teams, navigationally challenged, Parkinson’s. How does one go about winning the inaugural The Amazing Race Canada? I’m not sure I know how to answer that question entirely but I do know that it requires a fair bit of muscle, a bit of smarts and a fair bit of what some would call luck but I’ll refer to as blessing. Clearly Someone had our back!

So having had the opportunity to participate in something that is a once in a lifetime, if not multiple lifetime opportunity, what does one take away from it? Well, one is having Parkinson’s and trying to climb a mountain is not fun. Yes it’s true, Parkinson’s impacted my race, sometimes significantly. However, there are three salient truths I take away from the race in regards to this line of discussion. One is, in the long-term, without a cure, Parkinson’s will win this war that I battle with it. I’m OK with that. I know my ultimate home. Two, Parkinson’s does slow me down. It impacts my life, it impacted my race and it makes life slower than I would otherwise like it. Three we none-the-less won The Amazing Race Canada with Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s could not take this opportunity away from me and it did not prevent us from winning. Therefore, I am determined to not let it take an ounce of my life today. What it ‘wins’ tomorrow is not important but what I win today is. And, really, does it ever actually win? 2 Corinthians 5:8.

Then there’s the intriguing thought of how a marriage wins The Amazing Race Canada. Now, you know that Tim Jr. and I did all the heavy lifting on this (insert laugh track) but the brains of the team stayed at home in Winnipeg! Sheryl has been an avid fan of the show and prior to our leaving she had us studying all kinds of hopefully relevant trivia which included flags and flowers. Thus, her knowledge and encouragement to be prepared even before leaving proved vital to our overall success. So, in fact you could say we were effectively a three person team.

Now, how effectively do you listen to your spouse? I think there is a fascinating analogy here for how marriage is intended to work. My spouse, help mate, team mate, wife, made an invaluable contribution to our overall success even though she never ran a leg of the race. When it was said, “and the two will become one” (Genesis 2:24), I think this is a bit of what was in mind. The two are still two; independent in thought, action, ability, autonomy, but now one in life, partnership and direction. What if I had chosen ‘to be my own man’ and ignore the advice of my wife? What if she had felt that this was ‘their thing’ and chose to not be involved? By participating together on the same team (marriage) yet in very different roles we have experienced success together.

These are two of my favorite takeaways from The Race. I could regale you with tales of muktuk, dogsleds, zoo’s, navigational errors and the like, but I will leave you with these thoughts; we consider ourselves to be so incredibly blessed in life and so much more for having been given this experience. What a complete joy it was to run with my son and to win with him. It’s truly more than a father could hope for.

A heartfelt thanks to WRBC! The outpouring of support and encouragement has been wonderful. You make it so easy and delightful for us to call this place home.