Our God is an AWESOME God

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before,
 and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” ~Psalm 139: 1-6

What happens when 5 “adults” and 12 teenagers are thrown off a train into the middle of nowhere? I would love to tell you because we were ever blessed to be a part of how the Lord worked this past weekend. As with any bush experience when taking a large group of people on a ‘vacation,’ (like how I can now act as if I take large groups of people into the bush often?) there is bound to be some amount of chaos. On Thursday morning, while gathering all of the necessary items (bug nets, bug spray, bug zappers, etc), the deputy chief told us that our leader team was too large and we needed to cut 2 leaders ASAP. I’m thankful that I did not draw the short straw in that instance and I did not have to make the phone call. Unfortunately, the phone call led to crying and drama and 5 people backing out of the trip. But, without a doubt, we knew the Lord had hand selected those that He would have on the train. Around the time when the barge was scheduled to arrive for us, we were missing 2 teens. A group made a mad dash to the car and drove around the island, trying several houses to locate Isaiah, all while he was standing at the barge docks wondering where we were. I drew the “phone call short straw” for the other missing teen. I called the girls parents and spent 15 minutes hearing her father angrily scream at me because leaving on the barge at 1:30 was utter ridiculousness in his eyes when the train did not leave until 5. He acted as if HE was the one that was going to have to spend 2.5 hours entertaining a group of 12 teens in another little town with nothing to do after we crossed the water.  After much one sided anger and arguing, I simply told him that is when we were leaving and I would love to have her join us if she could. Click. He hung up. I called back a minute later and her mother answered the phone, in a much less angry state, but still not much easier to speak to. She told me that her daughter would meet us at the train at 4:30.

As it turns out, the barge runs on island time as well and arrived 40 minutes late. Phew, 40 less minutes of entertaining, little did we realize the entire rest of the weekend was essentially entertaining 12 teenagers. An hour and a half into the train ride, we reached mile 131- Onakawana. The train stopped, two men jumped into the luggage cart and literally threw our baggage onto ground and if possible, probably would have thrown us off too. There we stood. Surrounded by trees, empty train tracks, and the ever-faithful bugs that are always waiting for us. It was a 35-minute walk through the bush to reach camp, but the Lord (and the Tozer family, provided 4-wheelers to carry our luggage). The bush was stunningly beautiful the trail was so much fun to maneuver. Due to my most recent trip the emergency room, I have developed a slight anxiety toward bugs. As we “swam” through wave after wave of black flies and mosquitoes, I sang “These are the bugs, these are the bugs, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made, I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in them.” When we arrived at camp, the view, as you can see from the photo above, was strikingly picturesque.  The girls were given a cabin and the boys were given a cabin. The third cabin belonged specifically to the Tozer family that included: William Tozer, the owner of the camp, his wife Pam, their daughter Autumn Rhayne, their son Ben, and two of their teenage nephews Colby and Keenan. We all chose bunk mates and started preparing dinner right away as it was nearing bedtime. After supper, we gathered the troops and presented the first “session.” All 12 looks on their faces were priceless. They were confused and very uneasy. However, the Spirit working in Josh hit a homerun that night. Despite the rude comments, the joking, the sleeping, throwing things at one another, and literally standing up in the middle of his message to walk out the door, Josh remained calm and focused. We had 3.5 days and we were all determined to really make the most of the time. That night, the girls decided that staying up ALL night sounded like a great idea. When two people (or more) are awake the entire night in a cabin, it means that everyone is awake the entire night.

Friday morning after breakfast was time for session number 2. Partially because at 4:00 am, the girls chose to sing Adele songs as loudly as possible, but mostly because these teenagers (all teenagers) are always plugged into to something electronic. We desired that they would interact with one another and not spend the weekend looking at a 4-inch screen. First, we make them sit and listen, and now we are taking away their I-pods. I won’t go into detail, but I’ll just let you picture the reactions and then multiply whatever you are picturing by 12. The entire weekend was filled with activities: soccer, swimming, running from flies, badminton, volleyball, fishing, preparing Sturgeon, and perhaps 500 games of Spoons. John Carter, the Native Mission Representative from Mission to the World (MTW) accompanied us to the bush. The teens adored him and he was very gracious, participating in at least 498 of the 500 spoon tournaments. Friday, we had 2 additional sessions where Josh taught about Psalm 139. He explained thoroughly that the Lord and Savior love them with an incomparable love. He taught them that He knows their thoughts before they think it and though they think they are hiding things from their parents and “getting away” with how they live their lives, the Lord cares too much about them to ignore it. Since the teens did not spend the day sleeping like usual, they were exhausted by Friday night and went to sleep relatively early.

By Saturday morning, they were becoming quite used to the routine, but they still were not used to the early morning revelry. We felt that wake-up time was the latest in camp history, but at 9:00 every morning we drug them out (most of the time, literally) out of their beds. It was enjoyable to watch what progress was made in just 2 days. When we held them to consistent expectations, they came close to rising to the occasion. During Saturday’s sessions, they were more attentive, less rude, and allowed themselves to drop their guards occasionally. During the afternoon session, we taught them several songs. However, as a group, they enjoyed “Our God is an Awesome God.” At first, they were unwilling to sing or even look at the lyrics pages, but that song had them all clapping. When we sang it twice on Saturday night, I almost didn’t make it through the song emotionally. Here we were, in the middle of the bush, with 12 Cree teens, worshiping the Creator as a group. These were the same teens those 2 days prior were doing just about anything to avoid what we were about (never knew so many young people had such issues with overactive bladders). Saturday evening was testimony night. Alaina, Kristen, Brittany, and Brenden all shared how they came to know Christ. After sharing, Josh asked, “Does anyone see anything that these stories have in common?” And a girl answers, “You all really liked to drink.” She wasn’t exactly wrong. He explained how they all came to the realization that for hope, for love, for peace, and for fulfilling that God shaped void in each of our lives, the only answer is to realize that life with Christ is the answer. Asking every one in the room to close their eyes, he explained how one comes to make that decision. He asked if over the weekend, as they gained knowledge of the truth, anyone felt like they wanted to act upon that new knowledge. 6 of the 12 teens secretly raised their hands and repeated the sinner’s prayer (JASMINE was one of the 6!!!!). Although it will take watching them change, grow, and display the fruit of the spirit, to really know for sure if they accepted Christ that night, it was encouraging that despite the pressure around them, they really are searching for a Savior. As the Bible says, if one sinner repents, the angels in heaven “throw a party.” And that is exactly what we did. At 10:00 p.m., we lit the barbecue (oh, we could not have a fire all weekend because of the Canadian fire-ban), made popcorn and s’mores, sang “Our God is an Awesome God”, played spoons, and had a dance party. That night was incredible. It was a true testament to the fruit that can be seen when you give 100% of yourself to 12 teens for 3 days. I can only imagine the opportunities if we had more time with them. I am so grateful for Josh and Kristen. Their ministry on this island will produce so much growth, in time. Their dedication and heart for the teens here is going to be used in wonderful ways.

On Sunday morning, it was time to pack up, clean up, debrief, and make our 35-minute trek to the train tracks. We spent most of the morning feeling like puppeteers. Our marionettes needed us to stand behind and above them each step of the way through washing dishes, sweeping, making their beds, and putting the camp back to order. The 7 leaders could have easily done the work in half the time, but it was worth the extra hour to watch them suffer, I mean, to teach them necessary skills. We arrived back at the train tracks around 11:45, expecting the train to arrive between 12:10 and 12:30. In the heat of the day, the options were to bake in the sun or stand in the shade and be eaten alive. Those two choices seemed to be an important theme of the entire weekend. At 12:30, we are all still opting to sit in the sun on our luggage beside the tracks. At 1:20, we were still there, but with slightly less amused facial expressions. At 2:00, I came to realization that I never really matured; I just have more control over my tongue. The teens were whining and complaining about all of the things I was whining and complaining about silently. By 2:15, the train arrived!!!! We used the red flag to signal the conductor. There were over 400 people on the train, including our MTW team! What a joy it was to see so many family faces, and seeing the team was nice too. Haha. Actually, for as excited as we were to see them, they are the beginning of the end to our momentary missionary life. When I think about the past 5.5 weeks, I can barely process a minute of the journey, let alone the experience in its entirety. Alaina and I would not have given this summer up for anything.

This week we will be working with our MTW team, running a VBS program alongside them, attending Creefest/GOOP activities, and emotionally saying goodbye to many friends that mean so much to us. Look for the final, or close to final, blog-post about our trip to be added this coming weekend.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Please pray for continued growth and change in the hearts of the 12 youth that accompanied us into the bush: Jasmine, Sereena, Ashley, Chelsea, Rachel, Faith, Jane, Jimmy, Donovan, Isaiah, Daniel, and Brier. 
• Please pray for strength as Alaina and I first say “goodbye” to the island and then as we say “goodbye” to one another. 
• Please pray that the Lord will give us grace and excitement in returning home. Pray that opportunities will present itself with unsaved family and friends at home while sharing about our summer.