Dear HMI Pacific crew,
I trust that you are all doing well, in spite of so many distractions and heartaches going on in our world. Hurricanes, chaos in Afghanistan, Indigenous residential school news, divisive Covid issues…. these are all enough to bring us down, but we will choose to trust in the Lord and stand in His strength. But, in the middle of all this chaos there is good news! Here are a few of the good news stories that are going on at Hockey Ministries in BC.
Lorraine and I took a quick trip to Revelstoke, (we really enjoy spending time there…) and I met with the Revelstoke Grizzlies Assistant Coach Jiri Novak. Jiri is from the Czech Republic, and is planning on developing a coaching career in Canada. It was good to have a meeting with him. I am grateful to the Grizzlies head coach Ryan Parent who is so open to chapels.
In July, it was an honour to spend some time with junior player Teague Patton, chatting about matters of Christian faith. It was at one of these meetings at the beach when Teague prayed to ask Jesus into his heart. What a wonderful decision that Teague made! It was just a short time later that his family gathered at Rotary beach in Kelowna and I had the privilege of baptizing him. (The picture is slightly blurry but the reality of the baptism is not blurry at all!) Teague will be playing in Medicine Hat this year for the Tigers. Please keep him in prayer. Also, just recently in Trail, BC, Chase Dafoe was baptized. Chase comes from an NHL family background, and was the Captain of the Trail Smoke Eaters. An exciting development is that Chase has just been traded to the West Kelowna Warriors, so I will have him in my Warriors chapels this year! Amen!
In the middle of the summer, I travelled to Shawinigan Lake on Vancouver Island for an HMI Christian Hockey Camp. It was at this camp where two young hockey playing girls prayed to accept Jesus into their hearts and lives. Even though Covid rules made us conduct chapels outside, we still had decisions for Christ, right out in the open air. Here are some pictures from the camp; both on the ice, and the outdoor chapel.
Also it was an encouragement to meet with the chaplain of the Cowichan Valley Capitals, Kevin Vander Veen during the camp. Kevin is a great young guy, and I would ask you to hold him and the Capitals chapel program up in your prayers. I was also able to connect at camp with Dave Steingard, chaplain of the Victoria Royals. Dave is such a wonderful Christian man; I always love spending time with him. I want to give a shout out to Norm Sowden, who arranged with his church (Mill Bay Baptist) to provide all the staff lunches for the entire week. Thank you so much for your service, Norm and MBB….. May the Lord bless you.
I am also including a picture of one of our instructors, Ryan Walter. Ryan, as you may know had a very successful 1000+ game NHL career with Washington, Montreal and Vancouver. He is such a tremendous asset to hockey camp and I am thankful that Ryan and his wife Jenn made the time to come and help out. One last huge thank you to Ryan’s son Ben who served as the lead on-ice instructor and to Jason Beckett who assisted Ben.
I’ll end with this: I am in the middle of moving office right now, so things have been a bit chaotic! My old office was familiar territory for 13 1/2 years and at present I am ‘camping’ in a spare office at Evangel Church in Kelowna. I am thankful for the office space at Evangel and will be moving into my new ‘digs’ in a few weeks. I am remined that even though moving offices isn’t comfortable, it is so minor compared to the discomfort that so many are going through right now. And so…. I am thankful.
The coming season will be much more normal that the last one, and for that I am thankful as well. I look forward to chapels, the games themselves, numerous coffee chats, doing colour commentary in the broadcast booth, singing National Anthems and simply being a light for Christ in the arena.
May the Lord bless you,
Don Richmond
Hockey Ministries International
Pacific Region
Prayer Points
~ Teague and Chase, who have been baptized
~ Young campers who have accepted Christ
~ For new chaplains
~ For new chapel programs
~ For liberty to conduct chapel ministry
~ Thanksgiving for new opportunities this fall