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.

Transitions

It has been a busy summer. We had weekly archery events on the Rez, a teen camp in the mountains, a kayak camp on the coast, Bible studies, preaching opportunities, the usual maintentance things like arrow repair, atlatl building, vehicle, and camping items to tend to.

I think we are finally slowing down to the Fall season. I have a lot of reading to do, and thinking. Thinking, planning for the future takes time, but I have been too busy for months to give it the attention it deserves.

We get rain often, now. It seems more often than in former years. On one side, it is good, since it will reduce the likelyhood of a forest fire. Nights are cooling off nicely. Haven't had to run the AC for over a week.

Yep, I like the change. I will be busy soon with study and planning, and by Spring, I will be ready for change. It will be nice to get outside when the snow melts.

Back from the Coast

Been busy here. We have been serving the local community by providing archery each week, and canoeing events on the lake and river. There is also the Sunday night Bible Study with two new believers. Last week was the big trip to Nanaimo, BC. I brought a young man from the local community. He had never been on a ferry. He had never kayaked, or fished in the ocean, or bow hunted, or slept out in a hammock. He did all these things and enjoyed the new learning experience. It was also a good opportunity to get to know each other, and a time to just let Christ live through me and do what he is so good at...redeeming souls.

So, I am back, and it is nearing the end of summer. Two more weeks and all the community will be turning its attention to the kids going to school. We will have a couple of times to do archery and maybe go on a berry picking trip in the mountains. In between, I will be visitting a tired elder who isn't feeling so well lately.

In all these things, God leads us in a victory procession, for Christ's sake.

Still Breathing

Our teen camp went quite well. Maybe I should qualify that remark. The kids liked it. They got to do archery three times a day. They could eat,go on hikes, canoeing, eat, atlatl spear throwing, do beading crafts, sing around the camp fire, and did I mention the good food? Yep, they had a good time. There was the learning curve for them though. Like the time I saw a kid wearing shorts and a t-shirt almost clinging to the fire. I suggested that he go and put on some warmer clothing. He answered, "this is all I brought, I don't have any warmer clothes." One of the staff let him borrow a hooded sweatshirt. Then there were the nights.

At our home elevation of about 300 feet, the temperature gets down in the 60's at night. When we went up several thousand feet, to our camp, we discovered that the temperature drops into the upper 40's F. For kids bringing their ultra light summer weight sleeping bags, the first night was a wake up call. A wake up since they didn't sleep too much from all the shivering... "he he he" (in the voice of Major Paine).
So, they learned to dress up before they went to bed. Some put on two pairs of socks, sweat pants, and the all important stocking cap. Then, they slept better.

Funny how things said at the camp fire can be used by the Holy Spirit to bless others. We had just sung a song, "Are You Washed In the Blood" and a little guy accross the fire askes what that song was about. One of the counsellors gave a simple but clear explaination of the symbolism for the "Lamb" and "the blood." The eleven kids listened intently. After the counsellor finished, I chirped up and said, "and the blood of Jesus Christ is the most offensive thing to evil spirits. They hate it; so if you are washed in the blood of Jesus, you have power over the evil spirits, too." That was all, and then we went on to another song.
Later, that little boy came up to me and said, "When I was younger, I could see the shadow people (meaning spirits); but after I asked Jesus into my heart, I didn't see them any longer. When you explained that the blood of Jesus was offensive to the evil spirits, it all made sense! I wondered why I couldn't see the spirits anymore, and now I know."

If you were running the archery program, you might have a slightly less enthusiastic reflection about the camp. The kids loved it though. Some learned to do the old indian trick of shooting an arrow into the open hole of the neck of a gourd. Well, we didn't have a gourd, so we used the styrofoam cup, less the bottom. They loved it, but just under the thin layer of soil were many many rocks. Rocks and arrows don't mix well. Few rocks would complain, but I counted 18 broken arrows in two days of shooting. Rocks - 18, Arrows- 0.
The cardboard mountain sheep target was so shot up that it litterally fell apart. I did enjoy the archery. It was really fun to see kids having a really good time learning to shoot arrows.

Jannie and I were rather tired when it was all over. Oh, and some are probably going to ask, "Did it rain?" The answer, "we did bring tents, so of course it rained." But it also cleared up for the other two days. We got back home, and the power went out. No power, no water pressure, and no shower. We had to wait two hours for the power to come on and then we could clean up. After the shower, we went to the Wake of an Elder who died while we were on our camp out. The next morning, we were singing songs at the funeral service.
We were pretty tired by then. I think we had to check to see if we were still breathing. We were. God is good.

In Such Times as These

We are planning to try a teen camp. Actually, it will be for the Junior High age, mostly. Someone once said that junior high camping trips are a present form of purgatory. Well, I don't rely on works righteousness, but if I did, junior high camping trips would probably earn 20,000 years off a stay in purgatory.

Anyway, we have learned that we need the day before the trip to organize and pack the truck, otherwise we will forget something important. So, yesterday, we started to pull out all the items for the trip and organized them on the porch. We only got started when the phone rang. The distraught voice on the other end said, "Dad isn't doing well, can you come?!" So, all our best efforts to be ready and relaxed for the camping trip was now changed.

Do you ever like to have a little control over your life? I am not asking for or expecting a lot of control. I would like just a little control, but even that is stripped away. To be truthful, I wasn't a happy camper.

I prayed a lot on the way to the grieving family. I was praying that my attitude would come in line with a servants heart, and be available to the Holy Spirit to be a blessing to those in need.
Of course, God answers prayer, and by the time we arrived, in the three minute trip, I was in a better frame of mind. I was still wondering how this would affect the camping trip.

The aged gentleman was laying on his bed, being attended most tenderly by his daughters and grand children. He was very weak and looked as though he would depart this world at any moment. We sang some songs and prayed with the family, and waited. After a few hours, he actually looked better than when we first arrived. Six hours later, and he was still going.

We excused ourselves and returned home to resume the work for the camping trip. I needed more spear shafts for the craft time since more guys were planing to come than I had expected. I selected three shafts from my stock of raw shafting, and went to work carefully reducing the diameter to that of a finger the whole six foot length. Then I went to stream them straight. One snapped like a pencil from dry rot. I left another on the stove to steam a few minutes, and then got distracted with some other important task at the truck. By the time I returned, that shaft was on fire. So, I worked three shafts, and lost two. Grrrrrr............

It is now 8:30 am, and it is the day of the camping trip. What will happen today? Will the old fellow pass on to his Maker? Will I need to spend time with the family? Will we get away on time with the kids? How many kids will actually come? Will I have enough shafts after all?

I don't know...but the day is engaged, and prayer is still an option.

PS~ minutes after posting the blog, "the egg hit the fan". People were knocking at the door, one was crying. I hadn't even had a chance to visit the "rest room" and needy people were in my life. My heart was at peace, though. I guess since i started the day without any expectation of control, I wasn't stressed out when that was experienced. Ha ha.... the phone is ringing, I wonder what is coming next...?

This week in Review

We had our team camp out up at the Corral. I heard it said that rain will travel vast distances and against prevailing winds in order to rain on a tent. I believe it. We got rain for half the camp out. Still, it could have been worse. We had a view to the east of several higher points in the mountains than ours. We could see the lightening strike several miles in the distance. Rain may be a nuisance but lightening, that is a whole new category! We were grateful that we were not in the highest part of the mountain when the lightening was active.

This week has been busy getting ready for the teen camp next week. I have been preparing atlatl spear shafts as a craft project, setting up tents, re-filling propane fuel tanks, etc..

One thing we want to explore is how to get some control over the mosquito population at the Corral. Yikes!! They were a distraction.

We ran a archery program today for the local rez. It was well attended, and we moved the shooting line a little further back to step up the challenge for the kids as their skills improve. It was a costly day at the range. I saw three broken arrows, and four damaged ones that will need repair. Still, it brought a smile to my face to see the enthusiasm the kids, and some adults bring to the archery shoots. One little guy just loves it. He isn't very good at shooting, but he loves it anyway.

A time to everything under heaven

Been busy. Did three hospital visitations in one afternoon. Good thing we went when we did; soon after, the morphine drip was increased and our friend slept until his greatest adventure ever. When the birds were singing praises to God in the early morning, he was ushered into glory by the angels.

Down the hall another friend was sharing some tender moments with her new little baby. On the next floor, an elderly lady waited out her slow recovery from a fall.

In between, we are busy with serving the local reservation with various sporting activities. Archery is still a favorite. It is fun to see little kids learn to master the bow and arrow and hit the target for the first time. No wonder they are eager to get back at it when we come back a week later.

Been getting ready for a youth camping trip. In anticipation of the camp, I have been making an outhouse. It is my first attempt at making an outhouse. My first design was to make a triangle shaped base. After all, the three legged stool is self leveling on uneven surfaces. It would also use less materials. Then I remembered an incident that happened in my house. A little boy was enchanted with the three legged stool. It was just the right height for him. He used it for a while successfully, but then decided to stand on it. Bad idea! Place your food in the center, and you are okay; but too close to the edge, and bad things happen. The chair dumped the little guy to the floor.
I then applied the physics of balance and centering with an outhouse. Hhmmm..... a little shift of balance to the right or left and the outhouse could tip over. That would be funny, embarrassing, but ultimately, a bad thing. So, I shifted to the square or rectangular base form. Much safer.

A couple of people died on the highway near my house today. Nine died last year. Summer vacations have just begun and the score is two souls departing this life for eternity. We get so we just start praying when we hear the sirens.

Too tired to keep my eyes open. Guess I'll go to bed and plan to get up bright and early to get ready for the camping trip in the mountains. Did I mention that it is likely to rain? Yep, a 70% chance for rain and thunder showers. Ah camping, a fine and pleasant misery...