Highlights from July 2023...living in at least two worlds...

 July 2023

Wow! What a month! I started my month by attending the Impact Youth Gathering with a couple of teenagers from the church where I formerly served. During this time of transition to LAMP, it was decided that I would still help with three youth trips this summer and fit in as much time with LAMP trips as I could in between time. The Impact Gathering was hosted at a great camp just outside of Grand Rapids, BC. I had the wonderful opportunity to drive down to the event with some great friends from Riverbend Lutheran Church in Edmonton and some of their youth from their youth group. The gathering was really fun and really engaging...kudos to the organizers! I was so glad to attend with Avery and Madison!

After the gathering, I returned to Edmonton to prepare for my first official LAMP trip. My friend and coworker Catherine and I loaded up the rental truck on July 8 and we drove up to join the LAMP team at Hall Lake. Hall Lake is about an hour south and west of LaRonge, Saskatchewan if that helps. Judi and Brian served as our fearless leaders and did a great job helping us host a VBS as well as a clothing giveaway for the community at the school on the reserve. We also stayed at the school and ate our meals there. We had a great time connecting with kids and families in the community and even enjoyed a local youth night. I appreciated getting to know each of the team members better and was impressed with their hard work and dedication to the community there.

Following our trip home from Hall Lake, my next task was to prepare for some more team visits in northern Saskatchewan. Pastor Randy and Darlene Heide picked me up from home on July 18. We drove to their home in Warman, Saskatchewan that first day and stayed over there. On July 19, Pastor Randy and I drove up to Southend, Saskatchewan to visit the LAMP team serving there. We got a chance to meet with the team just as they were finishing up a busy week there. On July 20, we drove down to Sucker River to meet the LAMP team there and spent some time hanging out with them. Pastor Randy headed out on July 21 and I stayed over in LaRonge as I waited for the Junior High youth team from Bethel to meet me there. 

The Bethel Junior High Servant Event team arrived at 7 pm on Saturday night and we moved into the Alliance Church for the week. On Sunday, we had a hot breakfast served by Morna's crew followed by worship at LaRonge Lutheran Fellowship. Some of the Bethel youth and leaders led worship music with Angela. We also got to meet and hear LaRonge Lutheran Fellowship's new pastor John Blum lead the Sunday service. Pastor John and his wife Pat spent the week helping us with VBC in LaRonge and also at the Far Reserve. Great people!!! The youth and leaders worked really hard (we were a smaller crew) and did a great job! I was very proud of them!!

On July 29, we returned from LaRonge and I had a quick turnaround as I got ready for my next LAMP trip the next day. This time I hopped on a plane to Winnipeg, met up with Darlene Heide, and we drove a rental vehicle to Dryden, Ontario. We were hosted by Judy and the next day, Judy, Peter, Darlene, and I headed up to Sioux Lookout with Norma, one of the organizers of the trip. We boarded a float plane to fly to Cat Lake in northern Ontario. I had never been on a float plane so this was a lot of fun...taking off and landing on the water was great!! Pastor Randy met us in Cat Lake and we prepared to host a three day VBS in the community. A local missionary family allowed us to stay at their house so it was great to have real beds to sleep in and a real kitchen to cook and eat dinners in. We are now two days into our VBS and things have been going well. We'll fly out this Friday and then I'll head to my next adventure as I meet with the LAMP team serving in Grandmother's Bay next week. I'll save some notes and photos to share for my August update as July is now over.

Early impressions so far...it's been great to see the various facilities in the various communities I've been visiting. I appreciate being able to host programs and sometimes even stay in the schools in these places. The LAMP volunteers have proven to be very committed and very creative in their work with the children and families on the reserves. I'm doing lots of watching, listening, and learning from these fine people! It's also been good to work with LAMP staff like Catherine and Pastor Randy, getting to know them in a whole new way. The children and adults in the communities have been very welcoming...so kind!! Here's some photos from my month in no particular order...



















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