March 2010
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March 21, 2010
 
Greetings friends,
 
Once again I find myself apologizing for the time that has passed since my last letter.  I always know it's time to write to you when folks start sending me notes asking if their name was accidentally deleted from my list.  I believe in placing the blame squarely where it belongs, and this time the blame lies with Mike and Barb Allard of Brazil, Indiana, who shall remain anonymous.  How could the now infamous (though anonymous) Mike and Barb Allard possibly delay this edition of The Craig Chronicles from their newly refurbished living room in Brazil, Indiana, you may ask?  Please allow me to explain.
 
If this were a newspaper article, the headline might well be, "SUPPORTER TURNS ON MISSIONARY IN RUTHLESS ATTACK!  GENTLE PASTOR LEFT REELING IN THE AFTERMATH!"  Here's what happened.  The anonymous Mike and Barb Allard of Brazil, Indiana, sent me what appeared to be a friendly email boasting about their nice new living room, and basically catching us up on what they had been doing for the past few months.  I guess to be fair to Mike, I should tell you that I'm pretty sure that Barb wrote the letter, and Mike may be totally innocent.  On the other hand, if there's any at chance at all that Mike is guilty, he should share the blame:  "Guilty until proven innocent," right?  Anyway, toward the end of the letter, Barb asked me if we had a Facebook page.  She told me how wonderful it was, and that many of our high school friends were on there as well as many folks from our home church.  I was vaguely familiar with Facebook, and several other folks had suggested that we get on board, so I signed up.  I spent all kinds of time (time that should have been spent writing this prayer letter) setting up the page:  creating photo albums, writing captions for the photos, etc.  Everything went well for about an hour, and then it began.  I started receiving notes from people whose names were only vaguely familiar, asking to be added to my "friends" list-- you should know that there were 244 kids in my graduating class; over 1000 in the school-- I can't be expected to remember them all.  Then a woman who I didn't recognize at all (who claimed that we went to school together) decided that she was my pen pal, and started writing to me two or three times a day.  After a couple days of that I deactivated my Facebook page.  I am currently Facebook free and I am happy that way.
 
As my life slowly returned to normal, I asked myself several questions over and over.  "Why did she do it?"  "Why did the anonymous Barbara (Johnson) Allard of Brazil, Indiana attempt to ensnare me in the evils of Facebook?"  "Why would she want me to waste all of my time there instead of writing the next edition of The Craig Chronicles?"  The answer came to me in a blinding flash of inspiration:  revenge! 
 
I've known Barb for most of my life.  She was my next door neighbor for most of my growing up years.  We went to Jackson Township Elementary school together, and then Jr. and Sr. high school and finally graduated together in 1984.  If you are wondering how old Barb is, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.  Anyway, when we were in Jr. high, Barb had to have a very serious surgery and spent several weeks or months on crutches.  One morning, she was outside walking with her crutches trying to get her strength back; I decided to help.  She was obviously struggling, and it appeared to me that she needed a little more motivation.  Out of pure compassion, I found some earthworms (to which Barb had an unreasonable aversion), and I got out my motorcycle.  It may have looked like I was trying to run down a girl on crutches on my motorcycle while carrying a handful of worms, but in reality I was helping her to recover.  Admittedly, my therapy method was a little unorthodox, but it was amazingly successful.  She had those crutches going like a pair of Dutch windmills.  I never did catch her.  My motorcycle was rather underpowered:  a Honda XL75.  It's top speed was only about 45 m.p.h.  I'm happy to say that Barb completely recovered from the surgery, but I don't believe that she ever once thanked me.  No thanks at all.  Instead, she has apparently carried a grudge for some thirty years, just waiting for her chance to get even.  It's kind of sad when you think about it.  For years, she carefully concealed her bitterness with a mask constructed of friendly emails and gifts for us and the children of Fort Yukon.  Then suddenly, she saw her chance, and lashed out with the violence of decades of pent up rage!  Who would ever expect this much drama in a missionary prayer letter?
 
But enough of that.
 
We've had a great winter!  We only had one really cold snap, and the sewer line didn't freeze until late February this year.  Life is good!  Our current temperature is -11, but it should warm up to +20 before the end of the day.
 
We had a great crowd for our Christmas program, Christmas Carol, which stressed the necessity of being adopted into God's family.  Several people raised their hands during the invitation indicating that they were unsure of their salvation, and asking me to pray for them.  Our attendance has been very good for the past several weeks, and we've seen a lot of new faces in our services.  Also, two boys, Dewayne and Scott, trusted the Lord as their Savior this past month.  Please pray that they will begin to grow, and that the Lord will protect them and draw them close to Himself.
 
We have a busy summer scheduled.  Three church work crews are coming up to help us build a new fellowship hall.  We're planning on building with logs, and it should prove to be an interesting experience for us all.  We also have invited Evangelist Dave Young to come up during July for a week of revival meetings.  Please pray that our time will be productive.  Pray that the Lord will begin preparing the hearts of the folks who will come to the special meetings.  We need revival, and it would be exciting to see the Lord work that way up here.
 

Prayer Requests

1.    Please pray for the two boys that I mentioned before, Dewayne and Scott.  I know it's difficult everywhere, but it seems especially hard here for the kids to maintain a good testimony.
 
2.    Please continue to pray for Andrew and Taya; Rachael and Stephen.  Pray that they would be able to clearly discern the Lord's will for their lives.
 
3.    Please pray for Dr. and Mrs. Sastic.  They have thrown themselves into the work here withholding nothing.  The Lord knew we needed the encouragement when He sent them here.  Please pray that God will strengthen and protect them.
 
4.    Please continue to pray that the paperwork for the camp property will make it's way through the system, and that we can finalize the deal.  We are currently waiting for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to send someone up to appraise the camp property and the property that we traded for it.  They are supposed to do that after the snow melts (in May hopefully).  We still owe the Ronnie and Rebecca Starr almost $30,000 for the property that we purchased from them to trade for the camp property.   Please pray that that comes in soon, so we can begin work on the camp as soon as the paperwork is complete.
 
5.    Please pray for the ministry opportunities that are ongoing or coming up soon:  our annual Easter sunrise service, Revival meetings this summer, VBS also this summer, Kids' night every week and our daily radio broadcasts.  Also please pray for our ladies' Bible study-- we haven't met for several weeks for a variety of reasons, but we are planning to start again this Friday if everyone is back in town.
 
6.    Please pray for the safety of the teams that are planning on traveling up here to give us a hand with the work this summer.  Pray that they will have opportunities to minister to the folks here in town as well.
 
7.    Please continue to pray for the James family.  They seem to be doing well, but I know that they are still hurting badly.  They have remained faithful in church, and they have maintained a wonderful testimony in the community throughout the whole ordeal.  Please pray that the Lord will be close to them, and that He will give them the comfort that they need.
 
Well, I suppose I should wrap this up.  Our morning worship service is starting in thirteen minutes, and I can hear people coming in.  We sincerely love all of you, and we appreciate your prayers and your support more than we will ever be able to tell you.  I know I say it in just about every letter, but it's absolutely true:  we would not have made it up here without you, and we could not continue here without you.  We're in this together.
 
We remain yours in the Lord,
 
David and Heidi Craig