Winter Visits: Keeping Hope Alive 

The road to Gingolx, BC is long but very beautiful. It’s about 2.5 hours drive from Terrace.  Often my visits in person are short. A thought sometimes creeps into my head that a phone call would be quicker and easier. But as you have read before, everything we do at LAMP is based on relationships and an important part of that is spending time with people.

 This past February, I made my way to visit my contacts in Gingolx. We spent time catching up on the life of the community. This couple shared their struggles with church attendance and the desire that more people would get involved. As our time together came to an end, I asked about the eulachon (oolichan) since I had noticed that the river I passed was not loaded with seagulls or people catching these very small fish. We talked some more about the grease obtained that has sustained the First Nations people in the Pacific Northwest.

White is the purest kind of grease collected, and the darker oil is only good for cooking.  As I was heading out the door, I heard someone calling my name. I came back in to see my contact holding a pint jar of white eulachon grease.

“Here take some,” she offered handing me the jar. I refused knowing that’s hard to get and very valuable. “No, please take some, this is yours.”

I asked if I could pay but was quickly told that it’s a gift. Since I had a jar of Marionberry jam in the car that I bring with me as a gift, I insisted that we trade. She agreed. 

This is how things were done thousands of years ago. You can learn more about the Grease Trails in northern British Columbia, and how the people traveled very far to trade eulachon grease for things they did not have. While this gesture of trading is a highlight in my ministry and building relationships with First Nations, the story of what happened next is even more exciting. 

I made a “quick” stop to visit the chief counselor of the band office. Since he was also pastor of the church in Gingolx, I wanted to ask him about preaching, especially in a First Nations community. Normally, our conversations are short, and since I did not schedule a meeting, I figured this would be even shorter. But, like anything we try to predict, this was one of my longer meetings with him.

We talked at length about preaching, conducting church services, and his desire to see more people attend church. He then asked me if our team was coming back this summer, underlining how important it was for the children in their community. I was not able to give him an answer, since many of the teams for LAMP are unable to conduct a VBS this summer or unable to send a team. I left assuring him that I would return in the spring for a visit and provide an update on my studies. 

Please pray for congregations to send teams to serve in First Nations communities. More and more communities are asking us to send groups to work with their children. Plus, we are looking to replace the teams unable to come to teach the children in some of the communities.

After my visit up north it was a quick turnaround to attend Best Practices in Phoenix, Arizona…and they were having winter-like weather. I met my boss there, Dr. Steve Schave, and together we visited with people at the LAMP table. I was able to attend seminars needed for my schooling and catch up with people I hadn’t seen in a while.

I was then home for a week before heading to visit Trinity Lutheran in Richmond, B.C. Before Sunday we, Tina and myself were able to visit with a young man from Gitanyow living in Vancouver, who was working on becoming a journeyman for pipe fitting. This is the same young man I was able to baptize several years ago in a lake not far from Gitanyow. We were encouraged to see him doing so well and praying that he keeps making wise choices. Then on Sunday I had the privilege to preach at the Chinese service, where everything was in Mandarin including the hymns. Thankfully I recognized the melody and was able to sing in english. Despite the language barrier, people were able to hear about LAMP and our ministry with First Nation people.

Then at the 11m english service, the president of the Lutheran Church Canada and the mission director both attended the service. I was already nervous as the pastor of Trinity Lutheran was the former prof of homiletics at Concordia Seminary in Edmonton. But the services and my message was about God and His gifts that He gives us through His son Jesus, and how we are to share that with others, especially with First Nations in northern Canada. 

Please continue to pray for people like Taylor that the word that has been planted on his heart would grow. Please pray for more churches to come and help teach Jesus to the children in First Nation communities. And keep me and three other teams in your prayers as we will have a Spring Fling trip at the end of this month. Four other people from three churches will be in two communities for a couple of days working with children and adults. 

I thought he was taller.

            I remember the times that my family would go on a vacation to see my mom’s relatives. A couple of years would have gone by. My cousin would be taller and older looking, but somehow we would just pick up from where we last saw each other as if it was only last week.

Our first in-person staff and board meeting since 2019 was like this. When I walked into the main office in Edmonton, it felt very familiar – the paintings, the smells, and the old binder still being used as a door prop. But the offices had different arrangements. There was one change I hadn’t seen in person, our new executive director, Steve Schave. I thought he was a lot taller. 

Even though we have all seen each other online for the past few years, this was our first in-person staff meeting. After some fun and laughter catching up with everyone, we got down to business. We look forward to a summer with more Vacation Bible Schools in more of the villages LAMP serves.

 There wasn’t much time to rest. The next day was our first in-person board meeting since the fall of 2019! Both the US and the Canadian board gathered in Edmonton with only three directors missing who joined us online. The purpose of this meeting was to put a strategic plan together for the immediate future, three years from now and five-plus years. It was a very productive meeting with great ideas coming from both boards, which included two former LAMP missionaries. The time went by too quickly.

And yet my time in Edmonton wasn’t done. Tyler Steele joined me to meet up with two different teams that serve in B.C. Tyler works as a sales rep for Eaton Electrical,  he was able to talk at length on both visits because

there were people who had extensive knowledge of electrical.  On Saturday evening, we visited with the team from Barrhead, AB that serves in New Hazelton. The team plans to serve but not until the summer of 2024 as their church is presently trying to grow its own Vacation Bible School program.

On Sunday, we attended worship with New Life Community Church in Stony Plain. It was their Sunday to report on last summer’s mission trip in Witset. What timing! I opened the message part of the service with Luke 10:2, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

 

There were six different presenters including the missionary pastor serving in Witset. The Holy Spirit was at work as each shared parts of one another’s message. It sounded like we all had worked together on writing our message when in fact no one had. To God be the glory!

Afterward, Tyler and I flew back home to Oregon. There were only a few quick days to prepare before I drove up to Canada for another in-person visit with a vehicle full of quilts…it did not go as planned. 

Summer 2022 Minsitry

 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

My summer began with a quick stop at Faith Lutheran Church, Surrey B.C. to pick up boxes of material and gifts for children in the community of Gingolx.

Since the team was unable to travel into the community, I picked up the boxes and delivered them several days later to our community contact in Gingolx.

This summer marked the first time in three summers that LAMP communities were open to teams. But like we are all learning, things are different now. Despite communities being open, many teams for different reasons were not able to travel. Across LAMP only a quarter of the communities LAMP serves had a team travel in for ministry. Most of the teams were small, for example, my home church only had three team members. 

The Gitanyow team has typically operated with a group of fifteen volunteers, but this summer we were down to a team of only three! I panicked because I was the only person with experience being in Gitanyow. 

Rewind to a week earlier. Details for a five-member team had been worked out. Arrangements were made regarding how we would teach Vacation Bible School and handle meals. Then five days prior to the team arriving in the community, one member came down with COVID. We adjusted and felt confident that we could still handle conducting a VBS program.

An hour before the kids would arrive for VBS, the fourth team member was throwing up from food poisoning. So I hastily gathered the two new members for consultation on what we should do but, more importantly, for prayer. Before we started our prayers, in walked the food-poisoned team member, who felt better. Praise God!

Thankfully, that was the last of our troubles. The rest of the week went very well with a daily average of fourteen kids in attendance. Your prayers were felt and most appreciated.

  The team worked well together, balancing roles and jumping in where ever assistance was needed. Believe it or not, there were moments when I forgot the chords to songs that I have played for many years. And yet it felt good to be back in a place that I knew well and to help lead a VBS, something that I haven’t done in nearly six years since starting my staff missionary role with LAMP.

On Thursday, our team partnered with the youth worker in the community. She planned a day of family-related activities, including a dance in the ice rink in the evening. We helped make sandwiches, packaged items for the kids, and set up the games on the ball field. Some of us even participated in the games (as you can see in the photo of Tyler Steele…) Despite a little drizzle, there were a lot of people who came out for the games. 

As I drove the team to the airport, they were very enthusiastic about their time serving with LAMP. They began to talk about their next trip to Gitanyow, and they hadn’t even left for home yet! Everyone looks forward to next summer with hopes of a larger team and the chance to show new members that it doesn't always rain in northern B.C., and that there are really tall mountains, but most of all, we persevered and shared the love and Good News of Jesus Christ.

Ten days later I drove back to B.C. to support the team heading into Kitamaat Village.

I have often written about not knowing the full impact of us serving in Indigenous communities. Several days ago, I was reminded why.

It was a slow start in Kitamaat Village. The first day in the community was a holiday, and nothing was open, which meant we could not set up our VBS program. But, in the first two hours of waiting for a key to access the church, the all-woman team from Sherwood Park visited with three women from the community. One woman made a special trip just to see the group.

It was evident relationships had been built. There was lots of laughter and sharing about what each person had gone through during the two years of COVID shutdown.

At the start of VBS the next day, we learned that there was another cultural camp taking place at the same time. Hence, on our first day, we had only one child until the end of the day when her sister showed up for about half an hour. However, this five-year-old girl and her three-year-old sister were very intelligent and outgoing. The five-year-old talked the entire time, and any time we asked questions relating to the Bible, she would answer “baby Jesus.” While we enjoyed having these two sisters, we had hoped to have more children attend.

During my discussion with the team leader about what to do to increase attendance, the father of the girls came to pick them up. We thanked him for letting his daughters attend. We shared how much we enjoyed having them and that he and his wife have done a marvelous job in raising them. What happened next was a humble reminder of why we serve and do what we do at LAMP.

In return, the dad thanked us and encouraged the team to keep doing what they were doing. He pointed out that these lessons were important to his girls since attending church camps had helped him through his drug addictions. As a child, his dad also had sent him to any church camps in the area.

As a youth and young adult, the father of the two girls had struggled and used a variety of drugs. Several times while high, he would suddenly remember words from sermons he had heard as a kid. During a hospital stay, he was told that his body was slowly eating itself to death from taking so many drugs. The dad shared a verse he had remembered as a kid, and it continues to be the verse he draws strength from: Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The dad is now twelve years sober and is the deputy fire chief for the Haisla community. For the rest of the week, the team enjoyed having these two girls for VBS.

The women’s ministry in the evening was a blessing, and gifts were exchanged between the team and members in the community. The seeds of faith have been planted, and those in the faith have been encouraged. We look forward to the next time we visit with the community.

This summer marked the second time that New Live Church from Stony Plain, AB was in Witset. Since the team is small in numbers and still getting to know their community, they partnered with the local First Nations church, Kyah Bible Fellowship, for their 2022 summer mission trip. 

Instead of the usual VBS program, the group decided to have different activities geared toward all ages throughout the week. We had no idea what to expect. But like every team who has done something new before, we prayed in confidence that there would be a person or two to share about Jesus. (Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7 NIV) We knew that God is with us through the known and the unknown.

The events included breakfast and worship at the lake, a giant slip and slide, card making for the women, and time in the woods for the men. One evening, we watched the Jesus film. On the final evening of activities, the group coordinated a pizza meal, games, and a short devotion.

While the group did not have large numbers in attendance, they did have several prominent people from the community attend different events. This helped the team get introduced and start to build relationships. In the future, they will have deeper connections in the community. 

A father attended one event with his small children. The group learned later from the Pastor of Kyah church that he had not seen this father in a long time. The next day this children’s father also came to the men’s time in the woods. No one was sure if he had faith in Jesus, but he did hear the gospel message when the team leader Ralph gave his testimony.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)  

The seeds of faith were planted, hearts were encouraged and relationships were built.

Before the team left on Saturday morning, they were already talking about next year. In the meantime, the team plans to send Christmas packages for the kids and a spring visit.

 Every year, something exciting happens towards the end of February (besides the start of spring training for baseball), it’s attending the Best Practices Ministry (BPM) in Phoenix, AZ. Since last year’s conference was closed due to COVID, many people were looking forward to attending this year's event. A record number attended, over 2000 people! Plus there were around 300 workshops where presenters/attendees shared what they are doing in ministry, including my session on how to use social media to reach the lost.

         

Pictured here are Pastor Tim Norton, LCMS Navajo Mission Church, and Pastor Robin Abrol, Director of Ministry with On Eagle's Wings.

            It was great to visit with people while representing LAMP Ministry at its exhibit table. Many who knew or supported LAMP in the past shared their stories with me. Others asked where we served and what we do. It was a great time of sharing and connecting.

 I was able to visit in person with my instructor and dean of the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center through Concordia, Irvine. Dr. Fluegge even led our class online from his hotel room. One of my classmates was also at BPM and led a workshop on leading worship music well; less is more!

             In addition, I was able to spend time in person with the three other mission organizations that serve indigenous people throughout Canada and Alaska －Alaska Mission for Christ, B.C. Mission Boat Society, and On Eagles Wings. It was nice to finally meet in person since we have been meeting online for the past two years.

 On Saturday, I led my workshop on reaching the lost with social media, using my ministry with LAMP as an example. Although an introvert, I don’t normally get nervous when speaking, except with the LWML groups (more of a reverent fear), and I found a new one －speaking in front of my former college speech teacher, Dr. Steuve! Thankfully, she was gracious and said I did “very well”, which was an improvement when I was an undergrad at Concordia Portland.

         
           Once the conference was over, I visited with a long-term serving team from Yuma, AZ. It was a good visit, and an opportunity to thank the congregation for their many years of service.

             All in all, it was a great trip. When I left Phoenix, the weather was in the upper 70s. When I landed back in Portland, we had record lows for late February as the evening temperature dropped to 27 degrees.

 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)

This time of year is exciting for many different reasons. One reason is that there are certain foods to be enjoyed that are only made during the season of Christmas. No one would drink an eggnog latte during the middle of July or pumpkin pie during Easter. Just like you wouldn’t eat barbecued chicken on Christmas day, unless that’s your thing.

Christmas food, music, decorating and all the other things tie into the Christmas season. What is more exciting is the chance to spend time with family and friends. While I love to play trombone with my church’s brass group, I really enjoy playing with people I know. Doing things with other people to enjoy this time of year brings me a lot of joy.

This past Sunday was exciting for several reasons: I shared with my church some of the recent events and what LAMP has and will be doing during this time of COVID. We also started to think about next year’s mission outreach to Gitanyow. The day ended with a large gathering online of volunteers and LAMP mission staff to meet our new executive director and also start looking ahead for next year. People coming together to minister alongside one another, that is what gets me going! And we did gather last Saturday to assemble the Christmas packages that will be on their way up to Gitanyow. Thank you to everyone that donated and helped assemble them.

Not everyone will feel this way about Christmas to come together to celebrate our Savior's birth. Many get overwhelmed by the stress of the holidays, the hurried pace, and shopping. For some, the holidays will be a reminder of who they lost and what they are missing. How important it is to “meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another”.

Most of our LAMP teams are doing something like this for their northern communities. One team is sharing Christmas cards, several are sending Christmas packages with the storybook about Jesus’ Birthday, a craft item, and a personal note. Please pray that these packages will make it on time to each community, that the children will be blessed by the knowledge that Jesus came for each one of them. Please pray that the communities stay safe from the variants that are going around and will be greatly encouraged by clinging to the precious hope we have in Jesus.

Below is a link to my time with Martin Penner who has been supporting the LAMP teams for a very long time. Martin and Marian live in New Hazelton. In the podcast, you will hear how God has been using them over the years to minister to the people of the Hazelton community.

On a personal note, the boot came off about three weeks ago from my torn achilles tendon. Every day my leg grows stronger and I no longer walk with a limp. 

The first picture is ten days after surgery. The second is twelve weeks after surgery.

May God bless your Advent and Christmas celebration of the birth of the Savior of the World. May you find time to connect and encourage other people by sharing His light and love. Thank you for partnering with my ministry. Your support is a huge blessing to me!

 

https://soundcloud.com/nathan-schmidt-931528488/martin-penner?si=1f7279f0556e4ccc8286e4fe9d60a6a5

 

5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ 6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. 7 Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. (Luke 10:5-7)

 

Praise be to God! On August 9th, the Canadian government opened the borders for air travel. This was God’s timing since a brand new mission team was heading to Witset (Moricetown) to conduct LAMP’s only in person Vacation Bible School this summer. Unlike times when Jesus sent the disciples out to do ministry, I was able to pack my bags and bring the things needed to support the LAMP team from Stony Plain, AB serving Witset.

 

On August 16th, I met the team in Witset for a normal start of a first-year trip.  Normal start as in － no kids showed on day 1 of VBS. Luckily, we had partnered with a local non Indigenous pastor to help connect with people in the community. Pastor Doug and his wife Sherry have been living in Witset for forty years and knew every person living there, and everyone knew the Andersons!

 

So we walked the neighborhood with Pastor Doug and Sherry to invite any kids to our VBS. When we all got back, we had three kids. During the rest of the week, Pastor Doug and Sherry would pick up a few kids and others joined them.  The team averaged 11 kids every day after that.

 

Video of the team to Witset

Another exciting event took place that week.  After taking a break due to COVID, the Andersons re-initiated a Friday night pizza party at their home.  This is a tradition that they have been doing for almost fifteen years. About a dozen youth showed up, scarfed down pizza and ran around playing games. Later, a family of five boys and five girls joined in the fun. After a while, the Anderson’s gave rides home to most of the kids from the community.  The family of ten kids, along with the Anderson’s three grand-daughters, led the team and myself in some worship songs and a short devotion. It was such a fitting way to end our time in Witset.

 

The Anderson and Goerke kids leading everyone in praise songs.

The following week I was able to visit most of the communities that LAMP serves in B.C. It felt so good to see people face to face and be able to pray with them in person. It has been several months since any COVID cases have been reported, and nearly everyone has received their second vaccine. For the most part, everything seemed back to normal. There were the usual soccer tournaments, restaurants were open, and the movie theatre had just opened. And almost everyone was not wearing masks . . . until Wednesday, Aug. 25th when the BC government implemented a mask mandate to reduce transmission and protect people indoors again.

 

Visit with Minnie from Kitamaat Village

Other exciting things happening: A new secondary school is about to break ground near Gitanyow. The school will save some students an hour of travel (one way), and the school is geared towards the First Nations’ students. The idea for the school is to help slow the dropout rate by providing access to education closer to home and offering classes that will teach their culture.

 

Gitanyow fishing grounds

On Saturday, Aug. 28th, I was invited to a special announcement at the traditional fishing grounds for Gitanyow (Wilp Wii Litsxw Meziadin). I had always seen pictures of people fishing at this place but never really knew where it was. Most of Gitanyow was in attendance to witness a document signing by all the chiefs. The document declared that the Gitanyow fishing area would be protected from any development or other environmental impact (mining, mineral extraction) from the rivers and nearby land. There was then some dancing, and fish that was caught that day was served.  A couple of news reporters were on hand to record the story.  It was an exciting day!  Again, I was thankful to physically be present for this event.

 

Melinda showing me how they fish.

I also was able to record some podcasts that will be released soon. One podcast that I recorded offered me more insight into the residential schools and life in the community of Gitanyow. As soon as I finish editing them, I will post a link.

 

If everything stays the same, and the border remains open, I plan to make a trip in November to visit the communities again and begin to set things up for winter visits.

 

Your prayers are so needed and greatly appreciated. Please pray that any COVID variants do not make it into the Indigenous communities, that the US/Canada border will remain open for travel, and that we can find opportunities for God’s Word, grace and love to minister from a distance or whatever way possible.

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

 

          When I was volunteering with my home church, it was on our third or fourth mission trip when we found out about residential schools.  With each summer trip, we learned more about the schools and their impact. Provided below are links to more information. In short, they were designed to “get rid of the Indian out of the Indian”.

 

From 1831 to the last school closing in 1996, thousands of children were taken from their homes and placed in schools built by the Canadian government and run by various churches.  Conditions were very poor with under funding and overcrowding, resulting in many of the children dying from tuberculosis as well as being abused. In 2007, the Canadian government started the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, but many of the survivors of these residential schools have seen little to no action concerning this Agreement.

 

          You might have heard the news about the 215 bodies being found in a mass unmarked gravesite at a former residential school in Kamloops. Unfortunately this has brought up negative feelings from the past of both the survivors and those whose parents or other relatives attended residential schools. There have been peaceful protests, but also several churches have been burned down. Some of the churches were affiliated with operating a residential school while others had nothing to do with them. As time passes, there will be more discoveries of unmarked gravesites and more protests for the Canadian government to take action on reconciliation.

 

          Recently I read on the news about a residential school only an hour away from my house. This residential school is still operating.  It is not like the former residential schools in Canada, but it makes a person wonder: did the United States have similar schools or mistreatment of Indigenous people?

 

          These recent events are reminders of why LAMP exists.  As stated on our website: “We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ can heal and transform people and communities.” It is important to note that LAMP only serves in communities that invite us to come.  Please continue to pray that God would use people in each community to help others hear of the peace that only God offers through His son Jesus. Pray that teams might be able to travel soon into their communities to encourage and be present with people.

 

New about the school in Salem, Oregon:

https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2021/07/feds-may-investigate-chemawa-indian-school-in-salem-after-discovery-of-canadian-mass-graves.html

 

History of residential schools in Canada:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools