Spring Fling

It was late when we finally gathered around the table for our first evening devotion. Kathleen and Nadine who are from Sherwood Park in Edmonton joined Andy from Damascus, Oregon and myself. In the morning we would head into Kitamaat Village for an afternoon VBS and for a women’s tea in the evening. Months before this evening devotion, we had several online meetings with different team leaders to plan what we called “Spring Fling”. I spent weeks of writing and gathering materials to make sure we had everything we needed. We did not know what the next day would bring, this was the first time a LAMP team was coming in the off season to the British Columbia communities. We prayed that night knowing God would direct and work through us to minister to whomever came.

The next day went perfect. We had five kids for the VBS and several women for the women's tea. At the end of the women's tea, one the ladies Bobbie, told our group they were going to make dinner for us. We were told to bring nothing and do nothing.

The next day we also had nine kids for VBS. We decided to read the Bible story from the Bible. When we asked who had a Bible, a couple of kids said they had one at their house and one boy wasn’t allowed to touch it. So Vicar Chris brought a case of New Testament Bibles from his church. We passed out the Bibles and explained how to use them. To my surprise the kids followed along as I read. At the end of the story we told the kids they could keep the Bibles. Not once but twice a little boy asked if we were serious about keeping the Bibles. After saying yes for the second time, several of the kids wanted to write theirs names in their own Bible. Sometimes we can forget that many people do not always have a Bible to learn from. That evening Bobbie and a few friends served us dinner. Wow, what a treat it was to be served when it was our desire were to be the ones serving. Most of Bobbies family came and a few others from the community. Before we ate, one of Bobbie’s granddaughters offered a prayer in Haisla, her native language.

Here is what she said:

Wednesday we headed into Kincolith which LAMP had a team there several years ago. This summer Faith Lutheran from Surrey, B.C. will be serving this community. Our goal of the trip was to plant seeds for the summer VBS program. Despite the long drive, the views made up for it. When we arrived at the church to set-up we found out there was another program happening. There was a science camp that had started at 9am and they would be wrapping up around noon. So we walked around the community meeting one of the youth workers and visiting the band office. I also visited the community contact person. As program began to wined down, I knew that not many kids would sit through another program. So in the end there were only three kids that stayed. They were all three from the same family. We had a great time with them.

As we left we stopped and visited an Oolichan camp. Click here to read more about the Oolichan. There were several men at the camp as they were preparing to slow cook several hundred pounds of Oolichans that had been fermenting for a few days. They were very friendly and gave us a tour of their process and even offered us some Oolichan grease to sample. I was expecting a stronger fish taste, it was rather mild but not that sweat. 

    It was an amazing week and many places that we could see God at work. By Friday morning Kathleen, Nadine and Andy had flown home. So I went fishing with Vicar Chris and Ray. It’s rare to see a nice day in Kitimat. We were very blessed by warm, sunny weather.

    Saturday I picked up Matthew Dusk, from Christ Lutheran in Yuma, Arizona. Then on Sunday the rest of the group came from Christ the Vine Lutheran in Damascus, Oregon. We drove into Old Hazelton to where we’d stay for the rest of the week. At 5:30pm we headed to St.Peter’s Anglican Church for a supper served by the ladies of the church. After a hearty dinner we setup for the evening youth night. 7pm came and went and we released that no kids were going to show, it was the end of spring break. So we used the time to plan and prep for the week of VBS, which we needed to do. The next day started early as we attended Ajagaleehl Gall Aks Elementary (John Field School). The community contacts for New Hazelton, Marian and Martin Penner go every other week to sing to second grade class. We came along to sing with them and offer a puppet show. After the puppet show, Dr. Jane (the second grade teacher) wanted to to have the ‘Ks’ and the 1s’ join her class. So we did the puppet skit another time, did a gospel illusion with the restored rope and sang a few more songs. What made this school visit special, it is a first nation public school. But Dr.Jane is a believer and allowed the Martins and our group sing Christian songs.

After saying goodbye to the kids, we grabbed lunch and headed into Gitanyow. This was the first time the team from Christ the Vine had been in Gitanyow outside the summer, so the snow on the ground was a different sight. We started VBS with about 16 kids. Enjoying seeing familiar faces both from the kids and parents that came to greet us. That evening we gathered at the drop-in, a place for youth to go to in the afternoon and evenings. We played a couple of games, sang some songs and had a devotion to finish off the evening. Very good day, but the next day was even better. The next day started early as we had to be at the Gitsegukla School by 8:30am. Angelena was the 2^nd & 3^rd grade teacher, her husband taught the 4^th & 5^th and was also the pastor at the local church. We did our VBS program in the gym for sixty kids from the ages of five to fourteen. We had to stretch a two hour program into two and a half hours and not talk about the “Christian message”. So we focused on moralism and sang more camp songs. But the kids had a blast. It felt like a summer VBS, receiving hugs and laughter. We stayed for lunch and the seven of us sat as different tables to talk with the kids. Just before we left I asked about the possibility of using the school for a team to come during the summer. I was told they would love to have a team come and if we couldn’t use the school, the church would be another possibility. Please pray that we can use the school this summer and that a new church would send a VBS team.

 We left for Gitanyow to setup for the afternoon VBS. We had about fourteen kids and around fourteen youth for the youth night. While we were trying to leave, I notice Jarvis (the adult in charge of the drop in.) wasn’t doing well. The pastor from the local church came in to pray with him but Jarvis still seemed upset by something. I found out his girlfriend’s brother had suddenly passed. Jarvis wasn’t able to see her off and felt bad he couldn’t be with the family. So Tina, Tyler and I prayed for him. While we were doing that, McKenzie was consoling a youth who was missing her brother and Kristin was also consoling another youth who didn’t feel like she had many friends and was dealing with depression. It was a long night but God was working through our group. 

The next day we had VBS at St.Peter’s Anglican in Old Hazelton. But no kids came. So Matt, Ryan and Tyler went walking around to find any kids interested in coming. But instead Matt ran into several of the homeless men he knew from the pass summers. Matt, Ryan and Tyler listened to each of their stories and prayed with them. Despite our plan, God had another plan to use part of our group. We went home for dinner and came back for youth night. Only two kids came, a brother and sister. The brother was a younger youth and Matt knew him from the summer. Now, if you remember my summer blog/newsletter I shared a story about a young girl that came by during our summer evening program. She had some amazing fried salmon and after I promised that I would not share her recipe she told me her “mom’s secret recipe”. She then asked about what we were doing here. So I told her about VBS and all the things that we do, she paused to think and then said, “I might come tomorrow”. Well, she didn’t come back that summer but she came to the youth night and we had a great time playing a card game with her and her brother. When they went to go home, Matt and Tina walked them back to their house and wonderful conversations with them. Let's hope they both come back this summer.

               The next day we cleaned up the house and left to head home. Our hearts and minds were filled with the many different events from the week. Everyone was looking forward to the summer trips and the possibility of coming during the fall. Prayer for the new seeds of faith planted during this trip and preparations for the summer.