LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Thanksgiving weekend brought a new beginning for Jessie Rogers-Chaulk.

Lay minister Jessie Rogers-Chaulk sits in the pews of St. David's Anglican Church in Fort Simpson on Monday. She moved to the village last month. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

It was her first time in Fort Simpson, where she's a lay minister at St. David's Anglican Church.

"There was a lot to be thankful for," she said Monday with a smile as she recounted her drive west across the country with her husband Raymond.

It was a journey that had its roots years ago when she was a high school teacher in northern Ontario on a First Nations reserve.

Rogers-Chaulk loved living a Northern lifestyle after being raised in the town of Twillingate, N.L. She spent 20 years teaching, including adult education, but an illness took her back home.

"I thought I had the North out of my system," Rogers-Chaulk said of that period of her life.

The illness and other difficult life experiences brought "bumps up and down," she recalled, but it solidified her faith.

"I've grown a lot in helping people through their pain," she said.

She became a licensed lay minister, meaning she can preside over services but has not been called to full-time ministry.

Seven years later, she felt the desire take her work elsewhere.

"I've always felt that calling to go back to the North," she said.

Rogers-Chaulk reached out to David Parsons, bishop of the Diocese of The Arctic, which covers the entire Arctic region and administered out of Yellowknife. She asked what openings there might be for a lay minister and he called back telling her about Fort Simpson.

It was a decision she thought over deeply, praying on it and talking about the potential move with her husband.

They set out on the journey west, enjoying every kilometre as they partially fulfilled a dream of driving across the country.

"God has a plan for everyone's life," said Rogers-Chaulk of her life's path that brought her to the village on that holiday Monday. "Sometimes it takes years."

Nearly a month after she arrived, she's enjoying living in the community.

"I like it, I like that the people are so friendly."

She particularly is thankful for the congregation for being so welcoming.

Her Sunday service draws between 25 and 30 people.

Fort Liard and Wrigley are part of the Deh Cho Parish, but Rogers-Chaulk isn't sure when she might be able to visit those communities.

As she gets her bearings, she'll see about doing more activities to grow the congregation.

She's preaching with other lay ministers as a team in a building that marked its 80th anniversary in December 2010.

"St. David's is a lovely old church, it's beautiful inside."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.