June 2015 - Let The Work Begin!

The months of planning and contacting teams and communities is coming to a head.  This is what I’ve been preparing for and what a major part of my call as a pastor/pilot is about—ministry to the communities and the VBS teams.  And to be quite honest, I am chomping at the bit!

But as in all things, first things first. 

My check out in the Piper Lance continued, but was hampered by weather which has not been kind to us.   That has limited my visits to the communities that I need to get into before the VBS teams arrive.  So I had to pick and choose the communities to fly into based on where the weather was good. 

The first community I was able to get to was Tadoule Lake, MB. It's north of Thompson beyond the 58th parallel. What made this trip interesting is that the ice is just breaking up on the large lakes! It's the middle of JUNE!   

That is a lot of ice left on the lakes up north!

The other thing I noticed as we walked into the community that it has its own power generating station. There had to be hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil that were brought in on the winter road.

The electrical generating station at Tadoule Lake.  Each one of those white tanks is about 3 times as big as a tanker truck!

The road from the airport to the community of Tadoule Lake.

It’s a 10 minute walk from the airport to the community.  The church we walked by, that looked fairly new, stood vacant.  Up the hill from there was the Band office.   I was able to meet with one of the band counselors who introduced me to Chief Ernie Bussidor.  We had a brief but good conversation as the Chief had a prior commitment (his grandson’s program at school).   He put the VBS on his master wall calendar.  They are anxiously awaiting the LAMP VBS team to arrive.  He mentioned that in spite of having a church building, there was no one who was coming in to serve the community with worship services.  He also said LAMP can come as often as we like.  The need is that great in the community. We also met with Julie Sandborn who has been a contact for the community in setting up the VBS.  She needed our prayers for the multiple health issues she is facing.   Afterwards, we walked back to the airport for our flight back to Thompson.

The weather did a "deep 6" on us for the next 3 days.  But on the next Monday, we made it to  Red Sucker Lake. Remember those 8 totes of VBS supplies? Well, we got all 330 pounds of them in the Lance and flew them down. 

And that's how you get 8 Rubbermaid totes in an airplane!

I met with Rev. Sean Harper, the youth pastor at one of the local churhes who will store the supplies for the team.  Gordon Disbrowe was there to meet us at the airport as well.  After hanging out for an hour we got around to loading up Sean's truck and then headed home before the weather started to tank on us again. 

Sean's truck is all loaded ready to take the VBS supplies to storage for the team

It's always great to meet with the community leaders and support them however we're able and Red Sucker Lake is no exception.  One of these trips, I'm going to have Gordon take my Pickerel fishing!

The one constant between the weather here and back home in Indiana is that it’s like a yo-yo.   One day it’s “severe clear” and not a cloud in the sky in Thompson.  But an hour away, it’s low visibility and precipitation.  Or it’s the other way around—good where we want to go but garbage here.  The question was whether the weather (like that double meaning tandem word chain?) would be good enough to go to one community I needed to get to before the end of the school year--Cross Lake, Manitoba.

It's one of 3 VBS communities I can drive to if needed—one of those being here in Thompson.   The day came to go there and a decision had to be made after looking at the aviation weather.   Let's see...3-1/2 hour drive one way or 40 minute flight?   Flying wins!  (Always!!!)

 

Not the greatest weather, but good enough for us to fly. Notice the sun trying to poke through the clouds.

Yes...I actually fly an airplane!!!

The weather took somewhat of a break...not a huge one, but we were able to get down the Cross Lake.  Father Guru was kind enough to be our taxi and take us to the Mikisew middle school to meet the principal, Connie McIvor. 

Left to Right:  Connie, the school principal, me, and Andrew, LAMP's aviation director.

She is a wonderful Christian woman who is letting the VBS team use the school and the teacher housing for accommodations. She showed us the gym the 8th graders are decorating for their graduation. 

 

Father Guru took us back to his house for refreshments after we had lunch at a place next door to his house. All-in-all, it was a great trip and the community can't wait for the VBS week!

Overnight, a front moved through with rain and winds.  Checking the weather the next morning, weather in Thompson was good and the clouds were clearing in western Ontario thanks to a high pressure system moving in from the northwest.  So it was off to Cat Lake which is one of the longer trips (375 miles) requiring a fuel stop on the way back to Thompson at Island Lake.  

 

A nice view from a mile and a half high in the sky!

We crossed into Ontario at 9,500 feet (Yeah! Higher is better!). We also had an awesome tailwind that gave us up to a 207 MPH ground speed! (We would pay for that on the way back to Thompson). We walked the quarter mile into the community and found the band office.  We were able to meet with 5 of the band council members who were finishing up meeting and talked about some of the needs and issues the community was facing. There are some serious challenges that the community is facing, especially among the adolescent and teen age group.  The leaders see the VBS as a way to give the children a more productive and positive activity.  They also hoped that LAMP could visit more often because they crave Bible studies.  Afterwards, we met with Chantal the coordinator of the VBS team and her father Charles.  They are working on accommodations for the team that will be closer to the church since the school is at the opposite end of the community.  

The Cat Lake airport has a fairly new terminal building

It is obvious that Cat Lake, their children, and leadership can use our prayers and support so that they would have guidance and hope moving forward.

Chantal took us back to the airport for the flight back home.  We stopped for fuel at Island Lake where we have our fuel tank.  Island Lake is a key piece of the LAMP VBS and community visits as it allows us to reach those communities that don’t have fuel available.   (More on Island Lake later.)

The trip home was longer thanks to a slow 130 MPH ground speed.  The good news was the weather got better the further northwest we flew.   Looking at the forecast gave us hope for another good day of flying into Ontario.   We were going to need it as it was going to be an ambitious day the next day.

I had made a couple of phone calls and emails.  With a good weather forecast, we were planning to get into two communities—Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake in one day.   That was going to be a challenge.  The good news was that both communities were only 30 mile apart.  I filed our flight plan to Wunnumin Lake, Ontario. Two and a half hours later, we touched down at the airport. 

But then we discovered something.  Even though some of the communities are east of the 90^th Longitude, they are not on Eastern Daylight Time. (Note!  Everything on the internet is NOT true!)  They are still on Central time.   That meant we got there when everyone was going home for lunch, not coming back from it.   Oh well…

We started walking toward the community that was a mile and a half away.   About a third of the way, someone from the community in a pickup truck offered us a ride.   They said that a half mile up the road was the dump and that there were black bears there.  Nice!   However we never saw one as we drove past it.

This is the local radio station with satellite feeds for phone.

As much as each community can look like another one, each one is also unique.  As we walked around we saw a family memorial to their children who had died. The oldest was 20, the youngest was 5.  It was well maintained and was a testimony to the pain and difficulty that not only this family faced, but people throughout all remote First Nation communities face at a much higher level than any of us.  It’s too easy for us to take for granted things like available high quality health care, a church with a full-time pastor and staff, and easy access to all those material amenities that surround us.  

The family memorial to three of their children who died

We continued our walk going past the school, band office, and various stores.  

The school at Wunnumin Lake 

We grabbed something to eat at the Northern Store.  After looking at the prices, I will never complain about the cost of fresh produce! 

Notice the prices.  Most of that is transportation costs as most fresh items are flown in.

After eating our sandwich, we went to the band office and met Chief Rod.  We discussed the VBS team coming and the arrangements needed.   Then Chief Rod gave us a ride back to the airport.  Then it was off to Kingfisher Lake, a brief 20 minute flight and in the direction towards home.

We landed earlier than planned (that time zone thing again).  We walked the 2 miles into the village and found Bishop Lydia.   She graciously received us and we discussed the VBS teams that were coming to the communities she serves.  Then we walked down the street to the band office and met Chief James who was also Lydia's husband.  Great guy with a sharp wit.  We talked about the team and the community.  We prayed with Chief James which he appreciated.  Actually, everyone we met and prayed with in the communities is glad to do so with another Christian.

Bishop Lydia arranged a ride back to the airport for us.   I check the weather and we were good to go.  I filed a flight plan all the way to Thompson allowing for a fuel stop in Island lake.  We took off without incident and landed at Island Lake to refuel.

As we taxied over to where our fuel cash is located, I noticed that it took a little more power than normal to taxi across the gravel apron.  I shut down in front of our fuel container and we got out.  That's when we discovered the right main landing gear tire was flat!    
  

Changing a flat tire on an airplane is a little more complicated than you car.

There was NO maintenance around the airport either.   We soon realized that we were stuck for the night.  We did find a local fishing lodge to stay at Ricks Island lake lodge.   Rick came over in his boat to the airport boat dock, picked us up, and took us to the lodge. He scrounged together some dinner for us including warm blueberry pie even though the kitchen was closed.    It's a gorgeous view from the shore.   

 

A view of the afternoon lake at the airport boat landing

Wednesday morning came.  We determined that when you're handed a bowl of lemons, make lemonade. The focus for Andrew was getting the airplane fixed.  Andrew did some phone calling and internet browsing and found an aviation supply company in Winnipeg that would ship a tire and tube up to Island Lake.  However, the tire and tube were not going to be able to get to Island Lake that day. That was the bad news.

The good news is that I had planned to return to Island Lake and go over to Garden Hill today to meet with a Rev. Don Little.   Rick took Andrew to Island Lake airport boat dock so that he could see about getting us back to Thompson and to find out if there was a mechanic who could replace the tire and tube when it arrived.  

I was dropped off at the nearest boat dock at Garden Hill  that happened to be near the church and cemetery. As I walked past it toward the band office, I couldn't help but notice the huge pile of flowers on little 11 year old Teresa Robinson's grave. Her death 6 weeks earlier is still painful for the community and for the family.

At the band office, I was greeted warmly and taken in the conference room to meet the Chief and counselors present who graciously met with me.   I prayed with them for specific people's needs and for the Robinson family who continues to mourn her death. Our contact for our VBS team was ill and I was unable to meet with him, but the Chief and council are aware and ready for the team. "The children need this," one of them said.After our meeting, I headed to the boat dock for a ride back to the airport. 

Because of the remoteness of so many communities, the access to thing, especially necessities, isn't always easy and convenient.  This is one of the stores on Garden Hill, that is just one island community in a group of many others.

The local convenient store at Garden Hill

I walked down to the main dock where the water taxis come in to take people to Island Lake and other communities and places in the area.

If you look in the distance past the boat at the dock, you can see the Garden Hill cemetery and the church to the left of it.

When I got there, Andrew had secured rides for us with a cargo flight operated by Wings Over Kississing that had room for a passenger—at no cost!   I went back on the Noon flight and Andrew on the 3 PM cargo flight.  

My ride back to Thompson courtesy of Wings Over Kississing

After I got back to Thompson, I was able to arrange through Wings Over Kississing a ride for Andrew and one of their mechanics with tools on a King Air that's going to Island Lake for a charter flight Friday morning at Island Lake. The plane would be going down empty. So it's basically another free ride. (Thank you Lord--again!). The new tire and tube should be  there waiting for Andrew and the mechanic at Perimeter Airlines baggage claim.   The tire fix took about an hour including refueling.. Then Andrew brought the mechanic back with him since the King Air had gone off on the charter flight.  So we were back in business.

After inspection of the tire and tube, we found a small 1/4 inch crack in the tube.  There was no puncture mark in the tire.  We're keeping the old tire as a backup since it's in good condition.  

There is incredible beauty in this part of God's creation. But that beauty also hides the pain and struggles of the First Nations People of northern Canada. Most of us live in such comforts and conveniences that we take them for granted. Our wealth and lifestyles are incomparable to what so many of the communities have...or don't have.  

It's such a beautiful place that conceals the true struggle in so many First Nations communities

But it goes far beyond that.  Each of us has a pastor and a church to support, encourage, and to build us up in our faith.  Many of these communities have Christians without a church or someone as a pastor to serve them, even on a part-time basis.  And that is what makes the ministry of LAMP so important to the communities we serve...and those communities who would like us to come.

Please pray for...

* The First Nations People for peace and hope

* More teams to provide a VBS and Christian support to a community.

* How you can financially support LAMP to continue the work of Church in the north

* The VBS teams that are traveling or will be soon to their communities.

*  Much fruit to be produced through the VBS's in the coming weeks.


"This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also Overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."

                                                                                              (2 Corinthians 9:12–13   NIV)