Over the Frozen Rivers and Through the Woods

On February 1st we donned our winter layers, pointed our truck and trailer north and hit the road for our first tour in 2020.

It's been 10 years since the UniShow presented among First Nations communities in Northern Ontario and it was so great to be back! This time, instead of loading all our equipment onto the train for a 5 hour ride up to Moosonee, we took the other option available only in winter. We drove 8 hours along the snowy winter road carved through normally swampy bogs and over frozen rivers. We have never experienced such a winter driving adventure before. Dustin did an amazing job navigating our truck and trailer over the frozen rivers and through the woods.

  

We had the privilege of working with incredible organizers who live in Moosonee. Some of them hosted an amazing UniShow tour in Brazil a few years ago and others we've performed with in a dozen countries over the years. This team did an amazing job preparing all the details and logistics for these events to run smoothly.

We did a couple events in Moosonee and Moose Factory, including the first ever UniShow presentation in a Teepee at the Healing Lodge for residents recovering from addictions where we were able to share openly about freedom and healing through Jesus.

Then we continued north along ice roads which have been flooded to freeze over more swampy tundra, allowing seasonal access to remote unreached First Nations communities further up the James Bay coast.

  

These remote villages are very difficult to get to most of the year so it was special to have this unique opportunity to bring them joy and especially the hope and love of Jesus. 

  

Most days we did an afternoon school assembly followed by an evening community outreach. Our organizers involved local churches and even facilitated surveys for audience members to fill out where they could request a pastor's visit, prayer or more information about church or God. Through these forms, local believers were able to connect with many interested people for future follow-up.

From eating Canada's finest poutine, to speeding down frozen rivers and snowy trails on Skidoos, to loading and unloading in temperatures down to -30F, to sharing the life-changing Gospel with those who have never heard before, we loved every minute of our wintery Canada tour.

A glimpse of our James Bay Tour.

O Canada!

Early June we participated in a weekend of outreaches in Moosonee Ontario Canada. After a smooth boarder crossing into Canada, thanks to the prayers of many, and 17 hours of driving, we unloaded then parked our van and trailer in Cochrane Ontario. All our equipment was then loaded onto a box car and we boarded a passenger car for the 5 1/2 hour train ride up to Moosonee, the only way into the town besides a small airport.

Rob, our Moosonee host, was in the band we toured with in Azerbaijan last spring. It was fun to reconnect with him and meet his family and in-laws who are very involved in community outreaches, desiring to serve and share Jesus with the locals. His three daughters kept us entertained and smiling all weekend and were amazingly well behaved and adaptable to the activities of each day.

We had a great weekend with 2 school assemblies, a two day youth conference and a community outreach where nearly 500 of the 2,500 population showed up! Rob's band, theBetween, also performed and Steve Tulloch spoke powerful messages throughout the weekend. Dustin was a hit and besides sharing Jesus, he inspired many to take up the challenge of unicycling. We had 10 extra unicycles for kids to try all weekend and many gave it a successful whirl!

To top off our Canadian experience, we enjoyed the tastes of poutine and Tim Hortons and had 5 moose sightings!