The 5th

I can just imagine what's going through the mind of people reading the title of this post.  The 5th?  Is it a date?  Sort of.  Is it a count of something?  You're getting closer?  Is it the 5th VBS season for Pastor Dennis?  Bingo!

It's hard to imagine that this is the beginning of my 5th year in the north in the summer.  So much has happened in the ministry to the communities and to the teams in that time.  It's been an unbelievable blessing to me with the friends I've made and the relationships that are special beyond description.

So let's begin with some of those special relationships.  The first trip after arriving in Sioux Lookout for the last 2 weeks in May was to Big Trout Lake, Ontario.  This community lost an entire family of 5, a mother and 4 children, in a house fire that happened just 3 weeks after the team and I were there in April.   It was important to go and provide whatever support we could.

The weather to Big Trout Lake was picture perfect!

One of the pilots we know from a charter company took this picture just before touching down.

We had a nice weather system move in that I like to call "severe clear".  We were blessed when we arrived with the use of a vehicle from our friend Eno Chapman.  He also helps with arrangements for the teams on both VBS and off-season trips.

Our first stop was the school to meet with the principal, Jemima Cutfeet.  She wasn't there, but the 6th grade teacher, who is also a deacon in the Anglican Church and attends the ministry school where I teach, Mary McKay, saw us and immediately came over to us in tears and hugged me.  She had known well the children who were killed in the house fire.  I was able to comfort and encourage her.  Mary is just one person of many in Big Trout who were deeply affected by these tragic deaths.

We stopped at the band office to see if Chief Donnie Morris was in.  He was and were able to talk with him about how LAMP could help the community in the aftermath of the tragedy.  He said, "Just come with the Bible camp."  I offered to pray with him.  He then yelled for all the Councillors to come into the conference room for prayer! 

The next stop was to Rev. Steward Namokeesic who is the pastor of the Anglican church in Big Trout.  His house was next door to the one that burned down with the family inside.  The community set up a memorial at the site for the 5 killed in the house.

This is the memorial site for the 5 who died in the house fire that was at this location

We made a couple of other stops to visit friends and then went back to the school.  Jemima was now there and we met with her.  When I asked if I could pray with her, she said, "Follow me."  We went to the main office where she got on the PA system and had me pray for the entire school!   She also asked me to announce when the VBS would be taking place.  Wow!  They really need LAMP to be with them.

Instead of making the 15 minute flight ( and the 20 minute walk from the airport) to the community of Wapekeka, Eno was going to go there to meet with an elder.  I had never been on the road between the 2 communities.  Eno stopped at the elder's house and gave us the truck to go do our visits.  I got to see one of our friends briefly and then went to the band office to follow up on accommodations for the VBS team.  We headed back to where Eno was.  He had me pray with his elder friend before we left and drove the 40 minutes back to Big Trout Lake.

Me, Keith in the middle, and Eno Chapman, our host.

Eno took us to the airport to fly back to Sioux Lookout.  It was a major blessing to have Eno's truck.  There was no way we could have covered that much ground without it!

The next day, we flew up to Sandy Lake, Ontario.   My good friend Doreen Fiddler met us at the airport.  We drove over to her dad's house to visit him.  Sanadeus is the retired pastor of the church where LAMP holds VBS at Sandy Lake.  He has been a long-time supporter of LAMP.  That is obvious by all the pictures he has on the walls of his home with past LAMP pastor/pilots who served Sandy Lake.  While there, in LAMP tradition, I gave a quilts to those people who had recently lost family members and prayed with everyone.

Blankets handed out to the people who lost family members recently.

Rev. Sanadeous Fiddler and Pastor Dennis

We grabbed lunch at the small restaurant attached to a community run store.  Then it was back to the airport to fly back to Sioux Lookout.  It's so much fun to be with Doreen and her sister Lucy.  And it's also great to keep the relationships growing.  That's what makes LAMP work up north in the final analysis.

Dennis, Doreen, and her sister Lucy at the plane before leaving

We had a couple of days of overcast weather.  So we weren't able to make more trips that week after Sandy Lake.  But the next week, the weather broke and we headed up to Cross Lake, Manitoba.  But first, we needed to stop and check our fuel supply at Island Lake.

The office had 1,000 gallons of aviation gas delivered on the winter road.  So we needed to stop to check that it was delivered and that the pump worked.  I also needed to fuel up the LAMP plane to get to Cross Lake and back to Sioux Lookout.  Everything checked out, and we were soon off to Cross Lake.

One of our contacts and a friend of mine picked us up at the airport.  It was almost lunch time so we went to one of the local restaurants and grabbed some food.  Then it was off to the school to visit my friend and school principal, Connie McIvor and the vise-principal, Kerry.  They were getting ready for the big end of the school year dance.  But we got to spend some time with Connie and pray with her.  She is a rock in that school for those children.  So I have become her pastor from a distance.

L to R: Keith, Connie, Kerry, Pastor Dennis, Dion.

After the school visit, Dion took us to his mother and brother's house for a visit.  It was also Dion's birthday.  So before we left Sioux Lookout, I stopped at the store and had a birthday cake decorated for him.

Dion and his birthday cake.

Dion then took us back to the airport (after a stop at Tim Hortons for coffee) and we loaded up and headed south to Sioux Lookout.  The best part of the trip home was the huge tailwind we were able to take advantage of.   I'll take a 37 knot wind on my back anytime!  (177 kts versus 140 kts)

A fast trip home with the nice tailwind.

Our next pre-VBS trip was to Muskrat Dam, Ontario.  Roy Fiddler, the deputy chief, is one busy guy.  He helps with organizing the crew to prep and maintain the winter road.  He supports the local hockey teams (Junior and Adult), works with other communities when they are in crisis, and is one of those people who would do anything to help someone else.  He picked us up while we were walking from the airport to the community.

L to R:  Pastor Dennis, Roy Fiddler, Keith

We went to the band office and then hung around with Roy to join the community feast that was being set up next to the band office.  My participation was wielding an ax to split logs that had been cut to stoke the cooking fires.  The food being prepared included fresh geese (man can those elders strip the feathers off of them fast!), potatoes, bannock, bannock dogs, white fish, and other bean and salad dishes.

Preparing the geese for soup and stew at the feast

Rev. Morris Fiddler, Roy's brother, blessed the food and then everyone showed up to fill up their plates.  It was just a great day to relax with Roy and the people without having any agenda or specific program.  As the food and people started to dwindle, Roy took us back to the airport for our flight back home to Sioux Lookout.

People starting to gather for the feast.

The next day was one of those trips you hope you don't have to make, but unfortunately, it's part of life up north.  We had heard the week before that a 3 year old boy was run over by a piece of construction equipment prepping the ground for new modular homes in Wunnumin Lake, Ontario.  I had contacted Rev. Joey Bluecoat to keep tabs on what the funeral arrangements would be.  Bishop Lydia also was keeping me posted and asked if I would participate in the service.  So Keith and I flew up for the funeral.  When we arrived, there were vehicles shuttling people from the airport to the community hall.  The wall had sheets of easel paper with lists of all the communities and the names of the people going to Wunnumin Lake and when.  It was an amazing display of support for the family and community.

After grabbing some lunch, Joey took us to the church.  It's heartbreaking to see such a small casket.  But the peace and hope offered to the family is that through Joseph's baptism, he was a child of God and now his soul rests with Him.  I offered words from 1 Corinthians 1:3-5 that speak of the comfort Christ gives us so that we can comfort one another.

The viewing for little Joseph before the funeral service

The cemetery is just down the hill from the church.  We gathered for the burial.  Afterwards, Joey took us back to the airport for our flight back to Sioux.

Gathering at the cemetery for the burial service

The beginning of this 5th season got off to a quick start and allowed us to visit more communities and help support the people and communities with the trials and tragedies they so frequently have.  So we wrapped up this first 2 weeks up north which were quite successful and productive in ministry.

One final note on this trip, or should I say the trip home.  My middle daughter had given birth to twin girls.  Their baptism was schedule for June 2nd.

Lois on the left and Virginia (Ginny) on the right.

The 2 grandpa Pastors with their little ones

I was the one who would baptize Ginny and my daughter's father-in-law who is also a pastor would baptize Lois.  So it was quite a special occasion.  I dropped Keith off in Winnipeg and then headed south to the Omaha area for the weekend of family festivities and the baptisms.  It was such a joy to see my daughter's family grow from 3 to 5 people (they have a boy who just turned 7) and to be able to share bringing one of their little ones into the family of Jesus.

Now, after a couple week respite at home, it's time for a couple more community visits and the VBS teams to start heading north.

Please pray for...

* Safe travel and good health for the teams and the missionary field staff.
* all arrangements that have been made will be good.
* Open hearts that are ready to hear the Good News of Jesus at VBS and other activities.
* The LAMP aircraft to perform flawlessly over the summer.

Thanks in advance for your prayers and support.

Until the next time...

Peace of Christ.
Dennis