Gordon Story

Decisions

Hey my friends,

Just wanted to ask everybody to pray that the job I applied at will hire me soon. I have squeezed Stantons as much I could to pay me more but I think I am at the point where I will not get any more pay.

I am now providing for two people in my house and they are not working. We also need to move out of the trailer by June so the Forneys can have a place to live when Dr. Forney comes in as Interim Pastor.

We actually found a place to live but we need 3,000 up front and its 1,500 a month. What is great about it is it doesn't include any utility bills. So it is always 1,500. The only problem is my job at Stanton's can't provide for that. This other job will definitely give me a bump up in pay. I'm getting 19 an hour at Stantons and at New North Networks (cable company), will probably give me maybe I'm hoping 23 or 24 an hour and I will definitely get way more hours than Stanton's.

With Stantons my overtime pay is about 25 an hour and I'm not sure what it'll be with New North Networks but more than 25 an hour. Anyways, we can possibly move in May which is in a couple weeks. So we need a lot of money in a short period of time.

Prayers will be appreciated.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

From Frozen To Spring

Hello everyone!!

Its been a long while since I sat down to post. My last post was about being frozen and man was it cold. Now its spring. Its not as warm as down south but the weather we have now is warm compared to minus 40. I think its about minus 10 Celsius.

Anyways, everything is normal. We're on schedule to have our annual missions conference. It starts April 8th, which is a Friday, and that night is our RU AKA Reformers Unanimous Meet and Greet The Missionaries. Then Saturday is our international dinner in Aklavik. Then the rest of the nights are here in Inuvik.

The theme is God makes no little plans. The theme song is Little is much when God is in it. The theme verse is Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

So we were in Yellowknife last week. We got to go to Wal-Mart, A&W, a mall, and got to do things we just normally don't get to do or go. It was a much needed short vacation.

Well, I'll try to post again next week. To make it part of my schedule. Its hard though when you don't have internet at your house but we're staying at my parents for a couple days. We're watching their house. Talk to ya next week.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Frozen

Brrrrr!!!! Hello

Yup, you guessed it...its freezing. So here's the deal, try to understand, when it gets to minus 25 Celsius or colder, we need to plug in our vehicles up here. So I worked this past Saturday but they gave me one of the company vehicles because I would be picking up and dropping off workers. So I only had one extension cord and two vehicles to plug in, mine and Stanton's. So, obviously Stanton's needed to be plugged in all night in order for it to start Saturday morning.

Usually, a vehicle needs to be plugged in for about 2 hours to be able to start. So it was about 7:15 in the AM when I plugged my vehicle in. Then when it came to lunch time from work at 12pm. I went to start my vehicle and poof!!!...it never started. That is nearly 5 hours and it never started. But it was an easy fix. I called my dad to borrow his cool little battery. He charges it up and it has jumper cables built into it and then you just hook it to your vehicle and bam!! It'll start.

Well, the temperature that day was about minus 37 Celsius and minus 44 Celsius with the wind chill. Its about minus 30 now and so it has warmed up a little bit.

Which brings me to another problem, where Sandy and I live is not connected to the town water and so we have a water tank and a sewage tank. The water tank never froze because it has heat blowing right onto it. The sewage tank on the other hand is in the back corner of the house and well with how cold it is and the heat not reaching it in good time...it iced up a little bit inside but not entirely.

So there is a gasoline heater in the ranch garage and I fired that up this morning and it has melted majority of the ice but I shut it off and going to keep it off for a few hours because of the fumes. The ranch is a trailer and the sewage tank is in the basement of the house and so it smells a little bit and well, I don't want Sandy, William, and myself to be getting high off the fumes. So I will turn it back on later today and finish off that ice.

So that was my adventure with the cold.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year To All!!!

Another year has gone and a new one has begun just like that. This time of year to me when I was younger seemed it went on forever. Now, now it just comes and goes. Time to me as I get older seems to go a little faster each year.

I'm enjoying my life up here as usual. I have a new son and another new year with my wife. We're looking forward to what the LORD has in store for us. Things up here are changing slowly in the ministry. It won't be long until Pastor Donley resigns in June and Dr. Gary Forney comes to be the interim Pastor and I become the intern Pastor.

It really hit me when Pastor Donley said this was his last CHRISTmas Eve service with us up here. He has been in this ministry for so long it was a shock for me to hear him say that. God is working. This ministry is moving forward, taking a leap of faith, and growing. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Merry belated CHRISTmas

Merry CHRISTmas to all,

Well, my CHRISTmas post is a little late but its ok cause I was cleaning off the snow that was on my truck and someone in passing said Merry CHRISTmas. So that is my excuse. Like every year my highlight for CHRISTmas was breakfast with my family. We have a huge breakfast. My mom makes Eggs Benedict, bacon, sausage, waffles, fried potatoes, and if you want one, your own omelet. What I mean by your own omelet is she won't make a bunch of omelets unless you specifically want one. Its the best breakfast of the year.

It was also my boy's first CHRISTmas. He slept through opening presents time. My mom made up 16 stockings. It was crazy in my parents house during present time. Next year I'm sure it'll be a little more fun for him.

Well, gotta go.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Oh Boy!!

Greetings my companions,

Well, if you haven't seen my wonderful wife's blog, then you're going to just get words from me. Sandy gave birth to 7 pound 8.5 ounces boy on December 12th 2010 at 2;41pm. His name is William Adoniram Judson Gordon. Sandy originally wanted to his first name to Adoniram but I had trouble pronouncing it but I got it down now. A lot of people had trouble pronouncing it after we were allowed to tell them his name. So that is why I compromised with Adoniram Judson as the middle names.

During the birth Sandy did really well. The nurses were very impressed with how well she was doing. She did take some medicines for her contractions. She didn't need an epidural. The medications made her a little bit out of it. She fell asleep between contractions. The doctor broke her water and about an hour and a half later the baby was born. It was a beautiful experience...from my point of view.

oh yeah, the nurses also called her Super Sandy.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Vision Conference

Hello y'all!

What part of "y'all" don't you understand? Anyways...Tonight was the start of the Vision Conference. Dr. Forney is the speaker. It ends Saturday night. The message tonight was called "The Big Picture". Its mainly about the church. That is what the vision conference is all about. The vision of the church. So the big picture was about the origin of the church, the responsibility of the church, and the future of the church. Those weren't his points but the same idea.

So tonight and tomorrow night will be fundamental things about the church. Then Friday and Saturday will be more deeper study. I'm looking forward to it. It all has to do with the next couple of years with the goal for the church to take on its own local pastor.

So the goal, if the Lord wills, will be June 2012 I will become Pastor. So this conference will help the church understand the changes that are taking place. Pastor Donley is resigning this coming June and Dr. Forney is coming in as the interim Pastor. From there he will train me.

So if everybody can pray for Dr. Forney, the church, and the meeting. Its already been a good start.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

The Countdown Has Begun

Hello everybody!!!

Well, I'm actually counting down now. Sandy's pregnancy has been so long that I'm actually coming to a point of saying to her, "Are you done being pregnant yet?". Just kidding. Its a life changing experience. I enjoy it...not sure if she'll agree with me...but I'm happy and that is all that matters...well...her happiness matters too.

Lets see...one month and 4 days till the due date. I'm calling it D-Day. Well, the whole world calls it that. December 7th is called D-Day for Pearl Harbour for those of you who don't know. And so that is our due date (D-Day).

I think I was just touching the baby's knee or elbow. Weird...well...I was touching Sandy's side and one of the baby's knees or elbows were pushing out.

Snads and I ship out November 19th to head back to Inuvik to get ready for the baby. Its coming fast. Its already November 3rd and so thats only two weeks and 2 days. We've got a lot of work to be done before we leave.

Prayer requests: Pray for Deanna Mcleod. She is around 12-14 years old and she gets seizures and she twitches. The Doctors say she will recover but it will take a long time. She is a resident in Aklavik. She and her family was in church Sunday. She did very well according to her dad sitting there. But next time he said he is going to bring an arm chair for her to sit in because the church chairs were too hard for her to sit in.

Also, pray that the ice road will open early. Sandy and I would like to have our vehicle with us in Aklavik after the baby is born. Our vehicle is in Inuvik and well, we walk everywhere here in Aklavik and once we have the baby, it'll kinda be too difficult to get around with how cold it is getting.

And of course, pray for Sandy and the baby. Its getting tougher day by day. We're heading into the final weeks. She is 35 weeks now and well, once she hits 36 weeks, the baby is safe to deliver. Now, she is in the beginning stages of the baby dropping and so that is why its getting tougher.

Also, pray for Sandy's permenant resident status. Her stuff is still processing and hopefully her criminal record is the last thing we have to send. We had to send and re send other things but for the most part, I think and hope we're done sending stuff. I just want get it over with and cross the border to the United States and cross back into Canada for her to be a landed immigrant.

And don't forget to pray for the ministry here. Pray for the people, members of the church, and the Nolands as they are on furlough to raise additional support. They return near the end of December. And we will head back to Inuvik in the new year.

Buh bye

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Time Flies By

Hello...anybody out there?

Well, if you're reading this, than you are surprised that this is a new post. I don't know if anyone reads mine anymore but thats ok. I'll still keep on posting just in case someone does read my stuff.

Well, its basically been a month since Sandy and I have gotten here in AK (Aklavik). A lot of people recgonize me and know my name and I recgonize them but don't know their names. I was never good with names. I know who they are though....somewhat.

Time is flying. I was just telling the ladies of the church last night that a month to me when I was a child seemed forever but now it just feels like only a week has gone by. I better not blink. The pace in this town is different from Inuvik. The pace is slower and relaxed here.

Inuvik is fast pace and the day starts earlier. Here in AK I don't have to be at work until 10:00am but in Inuvik I have to be at work @ 8:00am. Its not as busy for a grocery store as in Inuvik. So my hours are less and there is no consistency in my hours. I'm always in at 10:00 and I can be done at 2:00pm or be done at 8:00pm. So my hours range from 4 to 10 hours. It just depends on the work load that day.

As for the church, there are only 2 services a week. One on Sunday and one on Thursday and they both start 7pm. I think in the past they tried to have morning services on Sunday but no one would show up. The lifestyle up here stay up late and get up late. But in time they should be taught to get up for church, if they can get up to get to work early, than they should be able to get up early to come to church Sunday.

They do love coming to church but on a Sunday morning I guess 11am is too early. Anyways, so that is how my schedule runs in this town from week to week. The attendance the first month was low. This is due to everyone still traveling and going out on their boats to their bush camps or business in Inuvik.

Once winter starts to set in more, the attendance will grow. It already has this past Thursday. Just last Sunday I preached to two ladies. And that doesn't include my wife because she was teaching Sunday school to two kids. So pray for the attendance.

Well, I best be going.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Anniversary

Hello all!!!

Well, its been a year since Sandy and I have tied the knot, joined hearts, putting on the ball and chain, settling down, etc. I am a blessed man to be married to such a blessed woman. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The LORD has brought Sandy a long way living up here. She took a big step of faith to come up here...well...to marry me and follow me up here. The LORD has blessed her for it. She loves it up here. She has already been up and down the Dempster Highway a couple of times, berry picking, watching fireworks in minus 40 weather, seen northern lights, and living in 24 hour day light and 24 hour darkness.

Just wanted to say to my wonderful wife, happy anniversary and hope for many more to come.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Counting Down

Hello peoples!!!

Not much has happened since I was in Aklavik. I was only there the weekend. The message went well and they were blessed by it. Now I'm just preparing messages for the Inuvik Church. My Pastor has been away in Alaska for about 2 weeks now. So I've been busy preparing messages.

We have set a date to when Sandy and I will leave for Aklavik. We will be leaving September 6th. The only thing I need to check is when we're coming back. Mr. Noland told me he and his family will be back the middle of January but other people have been telling us that the Nolands told them they'll be back just before CHRISTmas. So we will see.

Sandy's pregnancy is going well. She has an ultrasound July 20th. Her parents will be here for that and so we're excited about her parents being here for the ultrasound. Snad's parents arrive in Whitehorse July 6th and my parents and Snads are leaving either Sunday night or Monday morning to leave for Whitehorse.

So thats all folks!!!

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

In Aklavik

Hello peoples!!!

Well, I'm here in Aklavik. I came here yesterday (Saturday). About 15 minutes after we left Inuvik in the airplane, a lightening storm hit Inuvik. Then the Nolands, myself, Alex White, and Jessica Wilson hung out at the airport in Aklavik because the pilot wasn't heading back to Inuvik.

Alex and Jessica, who are from Inuvik, were heading back to Inuvik. I came to learn how to run things at the house and the church. I also preached. So anyways, I woke up this morning to the house shaking...literally. The wind was very strong. It has been windy since then. So hopefully it calms down a bit by tomorrow morning so I can get back to Inuvik.

Sandy couldn't come because of babysitting. The flight leaves for Inuvik at 9a.m. and well, Snads starts babysitting between 8 and 830. She had company though. Our niece Tyanna slept over Saturday night.

I've been trying to use a calling card to call Sandy but it says the lines are busy. So I'm going to try calling again after this post. So we're heading moving over here sometime in September or the beginning of October. We'll see how the Lord moves. So keep praying.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Assisant Pastor

Hello my readers,

I haven't been up to much here in Inuvik. As my title reads, I am now an Assistant Pastor. I am getting a small salary from the church. I will be in charge of the youth and I have another opportunity to serve in another area which I am excited about. It has nothing to do with being an assistant pastor but its an opportunity to serve.

I will be involved in this place called Arctic Tern. Sandy was involved in that with young girls. Its a young offenders facility. Instead of girls its boys. It will be a one on one Bible study. Of course boys will be different from girls. The girls were very open and it was a back and forth with questions and answering.

I'm hoping it will be the same way with the boys. So I would like everyone's prayers for me to be the assistant pastor I need to be for God and to have good visits at the Arctic Tern.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Moving

Hello my readers,

Well, its official. We prayed, prayed, prayed. God moved and directed. We're moving to Aklavik for a short period of time. We'll be running the ministry for the missionary family named the Nolands. They're leaving for furlough in June. We'll be moving over the end of September beginning of October.

It going to be good training for me to run a small ministry. We'll be there until the middle of January. The reason we're going in October is for the winter months. During the summer Aklavik is a dead town. No one is there, they're out on the land at their camps. But when it gets cold, everyone is back in town.

The house the Nolands live in we'll be living in and taking care of. The owner of the house didn't want to leave the house empty during the winter. The owner didn't want the house to freeze. So that is our news.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

In Aklavik

Hello my readers.

I'm sorry I never posted in a while. Nothing really to post about. I'm in Aklavik right now. I attended my cousin Kristen's wedding. Now I'm at the Nolands. A missionary family.

It was my first time actually driving the whole way to Aklavik on the ice road. I've driven on it before but not the whole way. So it was quite fun for my first time driving the whole way. I lost control maybe once. I started fish tailing and I just slowed down and the truck stopped fishing tailing.

Well, I better get going. Sandy and I will be leaving hopefully soon. We brought Angie Donley with us and now she might be riding back with my brother and a friend of hers. We're waiting on Angie to get a hold of her dad. The phone line is busy.

K, bye.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Super Intendant

Howdy yall!!!

For about another week and a half I will be the temporary Super Intendant of an old folks home. I know the Super Intendant from playing basketball Monday nights. He asked my pal Pat from work and Pat told him about me how I watched Pat's place and so now I'm here with free cable, free internet and a place that is nice and quiet to sleep. That sounds confusing...I guess.

I am having a good time though. Oh yeah, its within town and now Sandy and I walk everywhere...well....to a certain extent. Sandy loves walking. I do too. When I lived at my parents house I walked everywhere I could. Walking everywhere saves money on gas.

See yall later!!!

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Writers' Block

Hello everybody!!!

Its obvious, I'm having trouble to write about something. So I decided to talk about "Writers' Block". And I'm going blank.

I was sick the past two days. Not too sick but when I got up yesterday I was super tired and dizzy and I didn't go into work and then I called work and told them and they said come in at 1:00pm and so when I woke up my condition was worse and so I just took the rest of the day off.

The next day, which is today, I felt the same. So I just slept in. I feel better tonight and so I'll be heading back to work tomorrow. I'm glad for that.

But I need your prayers because I'm having trouble sleeping. It doesn't happen every night but when it does, I wake up throughout the night and don't get a full nights rest.

Anyways, I'll let you go.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Sad News

Hello my readers!!!

Well, there is no other way to say this but Sandy lost her baby. She lost the baby early in the pregnancy because the baby didn't grow right but she didn't experience the miscarriage. So Sandy and I were shocked that the baby wasn't there when she did the ultrasound. Her belly was growing and she had some morning sickness a few weeks ago.

So it was surprising to us that there was no baby. She lost the baby probably my guess was at least a month to two months ago but the sack in her belly stayed and continued to grow.

It was between 5 and 5:30 this morning that she experienced the miscarriage. The doctor prescribed some pills that would induce the miscarriage. There was the other option of doing a d&c. We chose the pills.

Sandy doesn't have health insurance yet but we're just waiting for it to come in. All her paperwork is done and sent in but we haven't heard anything yet.

All I know is that when I get to heaven I'll meet my first child.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.

Going To Aklavik

Hello Y'all!!!

As my title says I am going to Aklavik Friday. We are going to Aklavik for a youth outing with the church there. There are 11 of us going. I'll be giving the devotion. I'm looking forward to this event. It should be fun.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we're having a family dinner at our place. It should be good and fun. So we'll be busy tomorrow and Friday.

I'll be preaching at the end of this month because my pastor will be out of town. The Lord hasn't revealed what He wants yet but it'll come when He wants it to.

Well, I need to go.

For His purpose,

Shane Gordon.