Music can be intriguing, melodious, and comforting to one’s heart. I love music and am a musician and singer. My genre is Gospel. I play with a band called Micah. Our band members include my partner and lead singer, Jason Chalifoux. He has a very wonderful gift of writing songs. He writes songs of inspiration and love and praise. Jason is also developing a group called Suhkeyamo, which is a Cree word meaning “to run away quickly.” In fact, we met while doing ministry at the House of Refuge. When I first met Jason, I noticed his wonderful powerful voice when he sings songs. He is actually the one who helped me to develop my ability to sing,

The other group members are my brother Peter Gladue and my nephew Joseph Gladue. Peter is also a musician and he can lead in song as well. We call him the whispering Wind. Our original band name actually was Windwalker. My nephew Joey, as we call him, is a multi-talented young man who recently came to join us as our drummer. He is also a producer and sound engineer.

We have played at a number of events in the area as well for the Slave Lake fundraiser last year. It has been such a wonderful journey as we move ahead to wherever we are called to go and perform. We are even going to Ontario in June.

Jason and I are visual artists as well. I do some painting in acrylic and I dabble with pencil portraits. Jason does pointillism. He does such wonderful art in dots and exhibits skill and patience when he does his artwork. We have helped with mural work in McCauley too.

Another multi-talented artist in my life is my Pastor, Alan Pyser. When I was searching for a home church, I visited Hope Mission Church. Pastor Alan has been playing guitar and singing since he was 12. An ordained Minister of the Penecostal Assemblies of Canada, he has worked for 19 years at Hope Mission. Five of those 19 years has been as Senior Pastor.

Pastor Alan leads worship and also the evening chapel service held at the Herb Jamieson Center. At the Herb Jamieson Centre he does impersonations of famous singers like Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. He has been presenting these concerts for about 10 years. I have attended a few and he has a very wide vocal range. Very multitalented, he is also a professional visual artist and has created about 50 oil paintings. He has also written about 100 Christian songs. Some of them will be included on a CD release in the near future.

There are so many talented people whom I hope to meet as I continue my life journey in my community of McCauley.

Clara lives in McCauley with her family. She is a Community Animator with Action for Healthy Communities.