Surprised

Yesterday we went to the memorial feast for our late friend, elder Mary Thomas. She died last year, and the family put on a feast to honour her memory and thank those who had been a help during those last difficult days of Mary's life.

We read about the memorial in the paper, and almost didn't go. We hadn't been in touch with the family much recently, and they didn't contact us to remind us of the date of the memorial. It was a holiday weekend and nice weather. From my view point, we weren't expected to be there, and probably wouldn't be missed if we didn't show up.

Still, an hour before the memorial, we decided to drop in anyway. We were there on time. I took a seat on a bench and chatted with two people who had come from Lillooet, BC.

Shema-Mike surprised me by showing up. I owe Mike a little pouch of tobacco. He had demonstrated making fire using a stick and the drill method,...all by hand. this is really hard to do, but he did it. I knew that the best way to honour the gift he gave of sharing the knowledge was to offer tobacco. I promised him the same and he was pleased. But here he was and I didn't expect to see him, so I had not brought the tobacco. Argh.....!!!

Mike sought me out and we began talking about a birchbark canoe he made. That led to trapping and talk of deadfalls and snares. He mostly uses snares, and I don't. A snare trap catches the animal and lifts it up off the ground. But it doesn't always kill quickly, and for that reason, I almost always use deadfall traps. A deadfall imploys a large heavy rock or log. When the bait is disturbed, the heavy log falls on the neck of the animal and kills it instantly. Mike asked me to teach him how to make a good deadfall trap, so off in the bush we went, while people were eating, and I showed him a new trigger system. He was very pleased with the information sharing. I was pleased to see our friendship grow yet another step deeper.

I made it back to the circle of people. The meeting and honouring time had begun. The pall-bearers received gifts. Important family members were honoured with gifts. The master of ceremonies then said, "I would like to ask Jannie and Howard to come forward to be honoured."
Jannie and I were both surprised! We had not expected anything. The MC went on, "We would like to thank Howard and Jannie for the faithful and tireless support they have been to our family over the years. We think of you like family. Thank you." We received a birchbark basket and a twist of sweetgrass. We hugged several family members and sat down, trying to take it all in.

The Scripture tells us to do good works, and by them we will disarm those who oppose the Gospel by their ignorance. Here we were witnessing that truth. It surprised us. May God add His blessing to the friendship with Mike and further our relations with the Thomas family.