Balancing her pastoral duties with her cancer treatments, Nancy Bontempo of Friends Community Church in Sturgeon Bay continues to keep a smile on her face. Bontempo was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer earlier this year and has bounced around the region for treatments. In the meantime, retired Pastor Ken Muck stops to lead the service on his way home from his condo in Sister Bay to the Quad Cities while members of the Friends Community Church have stepped up in other ways. Bontempo says the lessons she has learned over the last six months have been deep and wide.

Bontempo hopes to be at Friends Community Church’s Christmas Eve service, which will be right before her final chemotherapy treatment.