Full of a sense of adventure, the Reverend Rands journeyed by train as far as Hythe, the end of the line, still many miles from his destination. He managed to arrange a ride with a friendly truck driver as far as Pouce Coupe where he bought a horse and set off for Sunset Prairie on Saturday morning. Stopping at every homestead along the trail, he announced that there would be a church service the next day in the Sunset Prairie Community Hall.
The Sunset Prairie hall was hardly designed to act as a church as the young minister soon discovered. It was a small log building covered with a sod roof on which grasses and weeds grew three feet high. Whenever a bird landed on the roof, bits of dirt were dislodged onto the heads of the congregation. There was no glass in the windows and the door hung precariously on one hinge. Across the middle of the room was a huge log, set just about forehead height above the floor and making walking rather hazardous.
Sixteen people showed up for the first service and while there were no pews or chairs, no pulpit or hymn books, no organ or piano, the day was a success. The Reverend Rands stayed in the Peace District for many years, one of the many early ministers who served the scattered homesteaders in the early days.