Bush Camp Day 5

   The day began with clouds, but the rain held off.  Tim led the devotions for the morning, and shared what it meant to him to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  No religious babble, just plain speaking about his faith in God.  It was good for the teen boys to hear from someone more their own age.

After breakfast, the group went on a paddle to the north, to explore the lake.  The lake is long.  It would take two days of canoeing to get to the north end.  Along the way are petraglyphs, rock paintings, done by Native people hundreds of years ago.  The rock paintings seemed to be located at unusual geographic features, like caves and cliffs, along side water.  It was fascinating to gaze at a persons record or story told in cryptic images, and try to figure out the story.
   After the paddle, there was lunch, and time to strike camp.  Everybody pitched in to pack every thing up.  They were blessed with dry weather, so the tents could be packed up dry.  Always a nice way to end a camping trip.
   The 1993 GMC 4X4 pickup truck ate up the steep dirt road exiting the camp.  It sure is a relief when it works like that.  The other option of winching the truck out of the camp site would have been a night mare.
    All in all, this was the best Bush Camp we had seen, even with the somewhat adverse weather conditions.  May God bless the boys who came, and draw them to their own relationship with Christ.  May God bless the counselors, Rick, Steve, Jack, and Tim, for their sacrificial giving of their time to be a blessing to others.
All praise to Lord of the Armies of Heaven, for He is worthy.

Bush Camp day 4

Tim led an expedition up the mountain to find three caves.  It turned into a four hour "hike".  Some of the hiking was on rather narrow rocky outcroppings.  One of the caves appeared to be actively used by a cougar.  Another was the home of a bat.

Wood carving turned into a group activity, while weary hikers looked for a quiet activity to rest their weary bones.  Howard found a dead standing fir tree and went at it.  Eventually, a face emerged from the tree.  It is funny to look into the woods and see a face looking back at you.

Jack Teeter, our resident "Elder" for the camp told a lot of funny stories.  After a while, we noticed a pattern in the stories.  At some point, he would say, "...and after I regained consciousness..." and we would laugh.  He is definitely a risk taker.  Then he led into a talk from his heart about choices we all face.  He quoted from Scripture, "choose life, or death, what will it be?"  That led into a round the fire time of sharing from the other counselors.  Some good thoughts to go to bed by.

Bush camp day 3...

Wednesday, day 3 of camp.  The guys are holding up well so far.  They have weathered the rains and thunderstorms.  There were lots of periods of blue skies with some sun today...thanks for praying :)!  And then there were a couple of downpours usually lasting about 20-30 minutes.  It didn't dampen the spirits of the campers.  They are keeping themselves busy with checking traps, knife throwing, atlatl spear throwing and other activities.  And then there is the food, lots of it.  This is not a survival camp by any means.  Stories are being shared around the campfire.  Personal stories that share God's faithfulness, forgiveness, love, patience and care for us.  Pray that these stories will impact these young men and that they will experience forgiveness, hope and peace with God.
  
God has entrusted something very special to us, the Gospel. Have we accepted it as a sacred trust from Him to us?  His trust in us is great, for He has no other plan for reaching people for Himself.  (excerpt from: "Be Still and Know" by Millie Stamm). 


1 Thessalonians 2:4 "On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts." 

Bush camp day 2...

It's Tuesday and day 2 of bush camp.  I just got a brief update on the activities of the day thanks to cell phones :).  There are 3 young men who came on this camp.  Two were part of the canoe camp last year and another teenager is new to the camp.  Even though we had spaces for 4 more people, we also had prayed that God would bring the teens who need to be there.  So pray for trust and friendships to grow during these next few days.

Today's activities included learning how to make traps to catch small game.  Going on a 3-hour canoe paddle, fishing and exploring the area.  They discovered more petroglyphs and imagined what life would have been like for the ancestors hundreds of years ago when they lived in small settlements all around this lake.

There was a minor miss-hap when Steve suffered a cut to his hand that was deep enough to require stitches.  Four hours in emergency and several stitches later he has returned to camp again.

The weather has been cloudy and rainy at times.  They have had a few thundershowers go through the area, but also have times of sun.  The forecast for the next couple of days calls for clouds and chance of rain again. Pray that the weather won't dampen their spirits and that bonds of trust and friendship are being built.

Bush Camp day 1...

It's is Monday morning and the weather has turned nice and sunny and according to forecasters promises to get quite nice and warm.  A balmy 28 degrees Celsius (or 82 Fahrenheit).  


Rick and Steve from Wisconsin arrived here Saturday night.  We  purchased, pre-cooked and  froze a lot of the food for the camp on Saturday.  Yesterday packing lists were checked and double checked.  Last night Tim came over and we had a briefing and prayer time for the camp.


A lot of prayer has gone into this bush camp.  Many people all over North America, Europe, Africa and maybe other parts of the world, have been praying for God to open the doors to be able to use the traditional village site, as well as bringing the young men who will participate in this camp.  And it wasn't until the last few weeks that things finally started to fall into place.  We are constantly reminded that we walk by faith and not by sight.  We know that God's timing is always perfect, we just need to look and listen and be willing to wait and move when the opportunities present themselves.  In our flesh it is so easy to fret and worry and wonder and yet God tells us: Be still and know that I am God.  


After our meals we have been reading through the book of Kings and this mornings' passage was 2 Kings 19.  It is the story of Hezekiah, king of Judah where Sennacherib, king of Assyria is threatening to destroy the nation and insulting and mocking God.  Hezekiah spreads out the letter before God and prayed hard!  God's answer to Hezekiah is, I am going to take care of this king of Assyria, and that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians.  One angel did battle against this enemy.  We as Christians are in a spiritual battle against Satan and his many cohorts.  If one angel is able to defeat such a massive army in the physical realm, we can also believe and know that this is true in the spiritual realm.  So as we pray against any spiritual opposition that might come up against us in whatever way, shape or form, remember this true Biblical account of God's power over the evil one.  We know that we have the victory through Christ.  I thought it was a very fitting passage before the guys would leave for camp.  


Let me end with the very familiar passage from Ephesians 6:18 and 19 (paraphrased)

^"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for Howard, Tim, Jack, Rick and Steve, that whenever they speak, words may be given them so that they will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel..."

bush camp

Howard setting coordinates on his GPS

a view on Adams Lake from the campsite

Next week is our bush camp on Adams Lake. We have been given permission to use a traditional site, which is an answer to prayer. In the last two weeks our meetings with people at the band office have been very positive and they are in full support of what we are doing. They are funding the young men to go on this 5-day camp where they will learn about the ancient site and traditional hunting techniques. There will be a lot of opportunity for our staff to interact with these young men. So we would ask for your prayers, that God’s message of love and hope will shine through in everything that is being done. Pray for physical and spiritual safety as we know that we are in a spiritual battle and oftentimes encounters may manifest on these camps. We know that God’s power rules over all and He has won the victory over the evil one. The camp will be from July 11-15.

Where did it go?

I can't believe it...it is July already!  Today celebrations are going on all over the country because of Canada Day. It is one of the busiest traffic weekends.  Even here in our area, we notice it.  Yesterday, due to an accident the highway was closed for about 5 hours and traffic was diverted.  We had a steady stream of cars going both ways on our otherwise quiet road.  


Where did June go?  How can it pass so quickly with no blog entry the entire month?  I guess we have been busy.  Busy with life, ministry, work around the house.  Howard has been felling trees and cutting and splitting the wood for our winter fuel.  And we are making plans for our furlough, or better called business trip in the fall.  June is also the month when school ends and graduations take place.  


We were part of a grad celebration on the reserve.  We were asked to do some traditional sports.  So we brought out the archery equipment and the atlatl spears.  We arrived a bit earlier to set things up, but it was overcast and threatened to rain, so we held off.  There were a couple of ladies cooking hamburgers and hot dogs on the bbq.  The night before we helped our friend peel and cook 50 lbs. of potatoes, cut up bunches of celery, carrots, peppers and onions for the potato salad for this graduation supper.  People were pouring in by the time supper was ready.  The prayer was said by our elder language teacher in Secwepmectsin.  There was more than enough food for everyone.  Towards the end of the meal the high school graduates were honoured with a certificate and a gift.  Then all the kids who were there were called forward, one by one, to receive a couple of gift certificates and tickets to a waterpark here in town.  

The weather was still a bit unpredictable, but one boy in particular kept asking Howard if they could play the two-ball game. It's an ancient game that uses a double ball made from two sacs of deerskin stuffed with deer hair, joined by a leather thong. The players each have a curved stick and the playing area is an open field with goals placed on either end.  (in ancient times the goals could be several kilometers apart) The object of the game is to be the first team to throw the ball over your opponent's goal line and between the markers.  They came up with enough players for the two teams and Howard ended up being the referee.  After the game, the weather was more stable and we were able to do some archery.  Everyone enjoyed trying to shoot at the targets we had set up.  From bunnies and cougar to a big moose target.  In spite of the weather, it turned out to be a good day for all who were there.


We had lots of birthdays in June as well.  I was blessed to be celebrating my special day too.  I thank God for the many blessings in my life and for His faithfulness to me over the many years.  I also celebrate the fact that I have survived my cancer that was diagnosed two years ago.  Each new day is truly a gift from God who knows each one of us. 


"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12