Thinking About the Old Times
As I’m getting closer to submitting and defending my Th.D. dissertation, I’m thinking about what comes next in terms of publishing. I’ve long wanted to write a book about Fort Babine and our experiences there as a missionary family. I kept a regular daily journal while there and so I have a lot of raw material to work with. I’m eager to write it! Hopefully I can begin in March and maybe be done by the end of summer.
I’ve also been thinking about this because we have a group of young people from our congregation coming over this evening. They’ve asked me to regale them with tales of the north. I’m only too happy to oblige. I used to write a regular monthly newsletter for our supporting churches, the Babine Bulletin. While the website is now defunct, it’s still possible to see it through the Internet Wayback Machine. You can find the archive here. One of my favourite Bulletins is this one, a story of a visit from an ex-Roman Catholic priest, the late Dr. Franco Maggiotto. Another time, my wife Rose took a turn at writing — she did an awesome job. Those were exciting, good times.
Good times but not a good environment for raising children. I remember people from outside the village and from our sending churches asking our kids if they watched C.S.I. (we didn’t have a TV) because the stories and the things they witnessed were unbelievable. It seemed like we lived on a different planet caught between two worlds. After 2 years, we definitely felt more at home among our native brothers and sisters than with our white folks because we didn’t have to explain to the native people what we saw or what we were going through, they knew. So our First Nations brothers and sisters were very supportive and we were their family.
Wes
Where are you doing your ThD?
Reformation International Theological Seminary.
Wes
I am not familiar with that school. Where is it? What is the subject of your diss.?
It’s headquartered in Fellsmere, Florida. Here’s the website:
http://www.reformation.edu/colleges/pages/rits.htm
My dissertation is on the Belgic Confession and its relationship to the study and practice of mission.
Where do you want to have it published?
That remains to be seen. I’m making inquiries.