John Paul is born in a small village near Ottawa, Canada. He and older siblings are sent to a church school and forced to learn English. At 16 he returns home, starts drinking at 17 and becomes a drunkard. He feels so hopeless he attempts suicide, is sent to a psychiatric hospital for nine months. Goes back to drinking. Then he passes out in a January snowstorm and loses three fingers to frostbite. A Christian couple takes him to a retreat and cares for him. As he studies the Bible, his thirst for alcohol vanishes. He is saved and baptized in 1985, goes to Bible school and is still serving Christ.