Category Archives: LAMP 2010 Blog

The Norway House teams got up around 7:00 this morning. Al and Darlene joined them for breakfast. Team #2 and Team #3 made their lunches and took off early to the other churches because they wanted to have enough time to set up for this first day of VBS. Team #1 ate a quick lunch and also started preparing, setting up tables and chairs, getting supplies out, and running through their plan for the day.

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Team #1 (see blog header for team members’ names)

Team #1 had 45 kids today. “Kids started showing up early. Went very well. The kids sat and listened very well like last year,” Shari said. Joanie played guitar and lead the music. Jane lead the lesson. “We handed out Bibles and had the kids read out of Matthew with us, about how God cares more for us than anything else in creation.” They also played games and ate snacks. “We recognized some of the kids from last year’s VBS, and some of them remembered us,” Shari added. Some of the kids stuck around afterward to play games with Olivia, Sara, and Kayla.

Nathan Bone, a friend and helper from last year, showed up. “He’s already remember the nicknames he gave to team members last year and giving the new people nicknames. Joanie is ‘Joanie Phoney Baloney,’” said Shari, within earshot of her aunt, the now-nicknamed Joanie Tonneson.

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Team #2 (see blog header for team members’ names)

Team #2 had about 72 kids! “Pastor’s taking a nap right now,” Shari commented with a laugh. Ginny Lange, a member of Team #2 said, “Had a great day. Exhausted. We were totally out of space, out of tables. Don’t know if we’ll switch to shifts or what.” Ginny also said that “Dan is an absolute joy. He’s wonderful with the kids. The kids love the puppets. Even with a group that large, they pay attention to the puppets. Dan also played keyboard and the kids loved the music. The kids are very respectful. Of the 72 kids only about 20 of them have ‘the wiggles’.”

York boat. Photo by Verne Equinox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YorkBoat_FEP.jpg).

Every year, Norway House has a big celebration called York Boat Days. (If you don’t know what a York boat looks like, see the photo here or check out this Wikipedia article). Part of the celebration is a York boat race. The top prize is $25,000. “Two of the girls from our group are in the 9-13 year-old bracket, which has its own prize. The kids train for an awfully long time,” said Ginny. Ginny says that Dan Carlson saw some people practicing in their boat and offered to be a cheerleader for them. Instead, they handed him an oar and told him to join them. So, sure enough, he took one of the huge oars and joined one of the women’s teams as they practiced. After he got back, Ginny said, “He looks a little stiff around the edges. His back probably aches a little (laughs). Hopefully he’ll still be able to pound on that keyboard tomorrow. You’ve probably never heard music like this before. It’s pretty peppy (laughs).”

“We’re prepared for 100 kids tomorrow,” Ginny said. “We had two mothers show up to help us today, which was assistance we really needed. We could use more staff. We’re all gonna sleep really well tonight.”

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Team #3 (see blog header for team members’ names)

Team #3 only had 18 kids. “This is the first time VBS has been held at the Catholic church,” said Joe Peloquin. “Some kids came by car, some walked, and some came by boat.” The church, a rather small, but new building, is located on a river. The old church still stands on the same site. There is also manufactured home on the site, which is the office for the priest in charge of the church. “The priest is not full time. He’s not there this week. He has a church in Grand Rapids and also in Winnipeg, so he travels a lot,” Joe added. Some church members who assist the priest were there to help with VBS today. Joe said, “It was an excellent session. Kids were interested in what they were hearing. Only one of the 18 kids who were there today had been to a VBS before. The kids also enjoyed the songs and were very active in the games. We’re hoping for an increase in the number of kids tomorrow. It looks like we might have a couple mothers come with their children to help out.”

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As I talked to these team members on the phone, everyone was back together at the United church. “People are taking it easy and spaghetti is on the stove,” Shari said. “After supper, we’ll have to get ready for tomorrow.”

The teams are inviting the families of all the VBS kids to come to the United Church on Wednesday night for a Family Night, which is something the teams didn’t try last year. Keep reading here on the LAMP 2010 Blog for updates on that night, as well as day-to-day updates on the rest of this week of teaching Vacation Bible School in remote areas of northern Canada.

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Shoes, shoes and more shoes, our room was carpeted, and removal is a school rule

The Registration table Lori , Sharlene, and Jessica

One happy girl!

Leon and his friend John

Up early, gathered together to eat breakfast, this morning will be working on todays lesson review, checking with the Band office, putting Dave on the radio to advertise, getting our school room lined up for the weeks session. More to follow……………………………………………………..

Ok I’m back it’s about 5:00PM on Monday the rest of the team went with the kids to the river to swim, I have stayed back to edit pictures and write this to the website, It is 5:15 as I start this again. We had a great day of teaching, 58 kids today. We were able to use a classroom at the school. Just pushed the desks back and used the floor. We used the puppets Ronnie and Bonnie for the lessons, sharing with the children how God cares for us each day. They really settled down when it was time to color, and did enjoy the music. It seems dificult to get them to listen to the lesson, but many seemed to be attentive. We just pray that God’s word is heard and understood even if it is a simple message.  Tonight we will evaluate our day, looking at what was effective and what was not. We will be doing our devotion together as a team based on Mathew 6:25-30 showing us how God really cares about us. Those of you that have the devotion books please follow with your devotion time as well. Thanks for your prayer , we do have much to be thankful for, we have been provided all we need, and more, here in Shamattawa. From all five of us, Leon, Lori, Dave, Jessica, and Sharlene, Thank you!

Dave doing a little "screen door ministry"

The Dave in the Morning Show 96.9 FM Shamattawa

Our LAMP "Team Shirts" for 2010

Dave and Puppet Ronnie interacting with the kids

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The teams left Grand Rapids, where they had spent the night at a church. They had breakfast at a gas station restaurant, drove further north, crossed the Jenpeg Dam, then took the ferry (they were able to fit all 4 cars on at once) and made the last leg of the drive into Norway House. They got there just in time for a worship service at the United Church, where all 3 Norway House teams are staying and one of the teams (Team #1) is hosting a VBS. The other two teams are at the Anglican Church (Team #2) and the Roman Catholic church (Team #3). The worship music was lead by a guitarist and an accordionist. The last hymn was sung in Cree, as is their custom. There were 2 baptisms at the end of the service, like last year (apparently there are a lot of babies in the community). The teams were introduced to the congregation at the end of the service.

They then checked out other two churches. The Catholic church has a rectory (parsonage) with a shower that the teams will be able to use.

They went back to the United church and everyone staked out their spot in the sanctuary for sleeping. Some people from the community, mostly pastors and their families, made supper for the teams and brought it to them. Al and Darlene Anderson from LAMP showed up and also ate with them. Al and Darlene try to visit the LAMP teams in various areas of Canada to help them get set up for VBS. (Al was recently forced to make a crash landing, and explained to the teams how God helped him through it safely. His plane still sitting in a bog, waiting to be rescued.)

There was a big thunderstorm outside during supper, similar to the thunderstorm last year. Some of the team members saw two rainbows in the sky afterward. “It’s beautiful on the lake. The breeze is nice. Having a good time,” Shari said.

Some went and took showers at Al and Darlene’s hotel room, while others took showers at the rectory, while others still jumped in the lake, namely Olivia, Sara, Kayla, and Dan. Dan fell down in the water and cut his knee open on a rock. Apparently Tim King offered to stitch it up for him. [I'm writing this blog post for the team a day late, and they say Dan's knee is looking much better today already.]

Pastor Lange had a devotion for them in the sanctuary related to King Hezekiah, whom the sermon had been about earlier in the day.

Everyone was exhausted, so they went to bed a little early, except Olivia and Sara, who stayed up to work on a puppet script for tomorrow. (It was also noted that there are a bunch of snorers in the group…)

[It's looking like Olivia doesn't have reception after all, so you'll just have to enjoy the Shamattawa team's photos for now. We'll post the Norway House photos when the teams get back.]

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Shamattawa Girls

Sunday morning 7:02 AM in Shamattawa. We had  visitors last night. Our friend Howard Canabie and Daniel Redhead, who is a pastor at new church start here. They stopped by to welcome us and to get to know us again. The night was very late, we had our devotion and prayer time earlier, but still kept talking and laughing and talking and laughing. It was long after midnight when all retired. Church is not until 3:00 at the Anglican church where we had VBS last year so we can relax a bit and maybe enjoy Dave’s pancakes this morning.

Sharlene and friends

Today we will be doing our “walk-a-bout” trying to advertise the Vacation Bible School. Word travels fast here especially among the children, Yesterday we had many at our door getting reaquainted. We will add more to this Blog later in the day. Thanks again for keeping up with us, and thanks for keeping all of us in your prayers as we share Jesus with our friends here in the northern region of Canada.

6:10 PM

This afternoon we went down to “The Rock” on the river Dave went into the  river with the kids to swim, they all had fun. At 3:00 we went to the church at the Anglican Church. It started late but still a long service. Just got back about 15 minutes ago about 6:oo. We are now preparing supper. A storm is brewing in the west so looks like rain in the next 1/2 hr or so. Tonight we will prepare for our first day of Vacation Bible School.

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Norway House teams

NOTE: Unlike the Shattawa group, the Norway House groups have no Internet access, so I (Kyle Sorkness) will talk with them on the phone every evening and write their comments here on the blog. Hopefully they’ll still be able to send some photos via text messaging with their cell phones.

The 17 people (3 teams) headed to Norway House left Fergus Falls early this morning. They drove for around 13 hours today, covering about 560 miles. Sara Christianson said it was “a long ride” and that “the border was interesting.” She said that they saw a couple bears and deer along the way. There also seemed to be debate about the amount of junk food eaten on the road.

Tim King said, “We’re tired of being in the car. Beautiful country. Nice weather. … Wish you were all here with us. Keep praying for us.”

The 3 Norway House teams will be spending the night tonight at St. James Anglican Church in Grand Rapids, Manitoba. They’ll hit the road again tomorrow morning and arrive at Norway House later tomorrow.

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Shamattawa team in Thompson

Today was a long day of driving for the five of us. Dave our fearless leader has driven the whole trip. We were up at 6:00 AM, glad to get up off the hard floor. Out the door of the church at 7:00 AM sharp. Stopped at the ESSO gas stop for a quick cup to go, and off we went. Our plane flight up in Thompson was at 12:15, so we had to keep moving. We arrived in Thompson at about 10:30 stopped at an A&W for quick food and then on to the airport.

Dave helping pilots just after landing in Shamattawa

We checked our luggage and were over weight by alot, as we have all supplies for VBS and food for ourselves. The trip home should be no problem. We flew about 1 hr + out here to Shamattawa arriving around 2:00 PM. The plane is Perimeter Airlines, a 12 passenger twin prop loud airplane. First hint is they hand out earplugs as you get on the plane.  Upon arrival MaryAnn Mile the Anglican priest picked us up in her pickup and gave us a ride to our apartment. We spent some time cleaning unpacking and organizing things, making a trip to the Northern Store, (where milk is only about $14.00 / gallon), then returning to a wonderful lasagna (just add boiling water)supper prepared by chef Dave.

Jessica with Rosina at the Northern Store in Shamattawa

As I write this the other 4 team members, Lori, Dave, Sharlene, and Jessica went to see the store that Howard Canabe our Christian friend from last year has started in the last few weeks.  I thank Kyle Sorkness for getting our church website redone and giving me step by step instructions how to add to this blog. I hope to add pictures as soon as I figure out how. Words will need to suffice fro now.  Please pray for this community this week as we share Christ with the children. Pray that they hear the Word and can know the hope that we have in Him!

Leon

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Shamattawa team

Left Fergus Falls on Friday morning 9:15 AM. Drove all the way to Grand Rapids Manitoba by about 9:00 PM. Stayed at the  St James Anglican church  in Grand Rapids, (on the floor, but thankful for a place to stay). This team heading to Shamattawa Manitoba consists of Sharlene and Jessica Schmidt, Dave Schneeberger, Leon and Lori Dawkins, served in Shamattawa in 2009, and is very excited to see their friends young and old in Shamattawa. Please follow us each day as we share our experience.

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A brief article about this year’s LAMP mission trip appeared in Friday’s edition of the local newspaper, The Daily Journal. You can read the article here: “Trinity Church group heads to Winnipeg“.

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