Fuel Pumps and Forest Fires

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8

Every year, there’s always at least one challenge that we need to deal with when it comes to flying. Last year, it was fuel availability. Just before I departed for Thompson for the summer, I learned that the one truck at the Thompson airport they had to fuel aircraft with aviation gasoline had broken down. “How long could it take to fix a truck?”, I thought. Apparently, about six weeks. To make matters worse, halfway though the summer, the only refinery in Western Canada that produces Avgas had to be unexpectedly shut down for repairs, causing a shortage all across the prairies.

Thankfully, as is so often the case, God, being sufficient in all things, provided and we were able to make it through the summer regardless of these challenges. This year, fuel availability hasn’t been a problem, but we’ve had other difficulties to overcome.

At the beginning of June, we were in Thompson finalizing some plans for the summer. We departed for a flight to Churchill when twenty minutes after takeoff, I noticed the fuel pressure was wildly fluctuating. The fuel pressure then began dropping lower and lower, periodically going low enough to trigger warning messages on my flight display. We made the decision to turn around and return to Thompson and were able to land without any further issues.

After speaking with our mechanic back home, we determined that this was likely a sign that the fuel pump was beginning to fail and would need to be replaced. However, finding mechanics in Thompson is challenging, but thankfully God provided again, as a mechanic friend from Northern Canada Evangelical Mission (NCEM) was willing and able to make the trip to Thompson to install a new fuel pump for us before things began to get really busy in the summer.

With the plane fixed, we were ready to go, but there were more challenges on the horizon. Forest fires across the northern parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, though quite common every summer, began to burn early this year. Each week throughout the spring, it seemed that another community was being evacuated or another major fire had started and was out of control. By the beginning of the summer, it felt like all of northern Manitoba was on fire, in what would turn out to be a record year in the province.

Flying between two heavy layers of smoke

To make matters worse, when I returned to Thompson, after the plane was fixed, a couple of small fires had just started about 15 km outside of town, after a lightening storm passed through.  Firefighters were unable to keep those fires immediately contained, and they quickly grew into two large fires threatening the city from the north and the east.

Thompson was put on an evacuation notice, meaning that residents should be prepared to leave the city immediately, should the fires start to get too close.  Many days, a thick, suffocating smoke filled the air, reducing visibilities to as low as half a mile at the airport. 

As the fires continued to burn throughout Manitoba, we unfortunately needed to cancel, or at the very least postpone, a number of our VBS programs this year as communities have been evacuated or roads closed due to the fires. 

This has been disappointing, but our volunteers have not let that stop them and many teams indicated that they would still like to make a trip, some either postponing until later in the summer or some planning on going sometime in the fall. A couple of LAMP teams even travelled to Winnipeg, where many of the people from the communities they served had been evacuated to, and put on VBS at a church or facility nearby.

With our volunteer team in Weagamow Lake, ON

We thank God for his safety and provision this year. A failed fuel pump could have had much worse consequences, but thankfully we caught it early enough that it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.  Furthermore, though we cannot control things like forest fires and smoke, we trust that God will continue to work His plans in all of this, as we look to share the love and peace of Christ with those having to face these difficulties on a regular basis. Thank you for your partnership in this ministry to the isolated communities of the north who need to hope and light that the Gospel brings!