Long-time residents of southern Saskatchewan sometimes like to tantalize newcomers with stories of the tough winters they've endured here. There are lots of accounts of minus 40 weather and blizzards that shut down the roads.

But the new minister of the Free Methodist Church can outdo them all.

He's come from an even colder place.

Before John Enns-Wind and his wife Annette moved to Caronport so he could work on a master of divinity degree, they lived in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. John was an economist with the territorial government and his wife taught school. They know about temperatures that drop to -79 C.

"I learned how to wear shorts in -20," laughs John. "You have to become acclimatized." He used to walk for 25 minutes across a frozen lake to work and his wife walked 40 minutes in the cold to her high school.

The couple has two children, both boys. When they first came to Weyburn last spring to take a look at the town, they were impressed. They had no intention of staying in Saskatchewan to minister but the city changed their minds.

"We love Weyburn. The civic pride is so obvious," he says. "People have pride in their community and so we know it will be a growing, dynamic city. There is a surprising variety in the shopping available and it's a great church," he says.

"We drove back to and thought Weyburn would be a great place to live."

John says he's still learning about his church. His passion is to heal people, spiritually. "When the Sermon on the Mount is lived by everyone, you can see people's lives changed."