TADOULE LAKE TREASURES
ATHLETES IN ACTION BASEBALL
CAMP
AUGUST 2012
For the past eight years we, a group of 6 – 8 Athletes in
Action staff and volunteers have been privileged to fly to Tadoule Lake each
summer for a faith adventure.
Integral to our work is showing the love of God to this
community.
There are months of planning, recruiting volunteer staff,
finding financial sponsors to support this ministry trip, and communication
with the band and people responsible before this one week is possible. Road travels, lodging, flight and food are
some of the basic essentials in planning and preparation.
Programs and activities include Bible lessons, crafts, games
and sports such as baseball, soccer, swimming and mini-Olympics. In this community fishing is also taken quite
seriously and is a great way to spend time with the local children as well as
adults.
The men’s breakfast is always a highlight, as is the ladies
tea. Each event had about 50+ community
people come out. The community wiener
roast brought a great crowd and when we showed a 20 minute presentation of our
time in their community the previous year, the church was filled with adults
and children.
Our faith adventure began about 2 days before we were to
leave on this assignment. I called the nurses’ station to confirm our accommodations
(approved by the Health Department in Winnipeg) to be informed that this was
not available to us. This was quite a
shock since things had been going very well for us over the last number of years. We were 7 adults about to fly to this
community and now had no accommodations.
I called the chief of the reserve and asked his advice. He did some homework for me on Sunday evening
and we were assured of some accommodations at the teacher’s apartments.
Then I received a call from our friend Matt, that we needed
to head for Thompson, not Flin Flon, since the plane that they normally used to
get us to T.L. was in for some repairs but they would have a different plane
for us in Thompson. Not a problem, since
driving distance is pretty well equal.
We were finishing supper In Thompson, when Curt Enns, owner
of the Kississing Lodge walked into the restaurant with some of his staff. Kurt told us the weather for the next morning
did not look great, and we might have to ’cool our heels’ in Thompson for a day
or so, but we would see what the morning brought.
The next morning we decided to check out of the hotel, with
an option to come back if need be, and set out for the Kississing dock. We arrive, the pilot came out to greet us and
said to load and go. Clouds were low and
there were strong winds, but we taxied out into the open water and took
off. As we taxied my cell phone rang and
it was Curt, just checking on us and to let us know it might be a rough ride.
We literally flew within feet of the tops of the trees. Edna said she had prayed that God would keep
the pontoons from taking out the trees. Over the lakes he dropped the plane to
skim just above the water. And of
course, this low ride was a rough one; we were jostled and shaken up so that
even those who were not prone to air sickness were beginning to wonder about
the condition of their stomachs. The
Gravol did not work for one of our team members as she made her acquaintance
with a couple of those special bags meant for just these occasions.
When the pilot landed quite quickly on the middle of a lake
and yelled, ‘I can’t hold it any longer’ we assumed he meant the plane, but he
made a quick exit and spent some time below the plane on the pontoon. The break did give our insides a time to
relax, and we got a chuckle about the bush pilot side of reality. Eventually the pilot reentered and we resumed
our bumpy ride to Tadoule Lake.
Although we were all using our seatbelts, it seemed a good idea to hang
on to the seat as well. Edna happened to
sit by the back door where a handle did quite a job on her arm…the bruises are
slowly disappearing.
When we eventually saw the community we were very relieved -
this had been a two hour adventure that none of us cared to repeat. Once the aircraft was ‘beached’ it took a few
people to hold it in place while the rest of us unloaded our supplies.
I ran into the community and fetched someone with a pickup
truck to come and load our supplies and take them to the far end of the
community where the school and the teacher’s apartments were located.
We spent some of that day getting established in our small
apartment – 7 adults: 3 men and 4 women sharing one bathroom, two bedrooms and
two living rooms. We chose the more
convenient of the two kitchens and then got settled and unpacked. One living
room would be our dining room and the other one was an additional bedroom. Then we got to making posters and going
around to the Northern store, the nurses’ station and the band office to put
these up. We already had spoken to
various people and they were asking us when we were starting the kid’s
activities, the men’s breakfast, the ladies teas, etc. Once we were set up, we sent Pastor Rick out
with his fishing line to get us some supper, which he did quite willingly,
joined by numerous kids of the community who had gotten to know him over the
past few years.
Finding the keys to the church, the person responsible for
the band office, someone who could assist with transport took another few
hours. It was an interesting start to
the week and with all the ‘rough patches’ we were aware that there would also
be great things in store for us and the community. It was great to hear the
kids and adults greet us and call out our names as we walked to sandy roads and
paths
Our next joy was to get into the church and see the church
benches that had been donated by our church in Steinbach to this
community. They were beautiful to see,
and with the ‘new’ benches the community had taken pride and ownership and the
church was clean and neat. It was very
rewarding to all of us to see this. The
people of the community also thanked us for these pews. Some of us were pretty close to tears to see
these pews put to good use in this northern community.
Between 36 – 40 kids showed up for the Bible lessons, crafts
and sports each day. We were so pleased
to see some of the older kids show up each day as well.
A special event this year was to get a pickup and driver to
take our team to Stony Lake, about 20 kilometers north of Tadoule Lake. This evening was an adventure of its
own. The people of this community had
talked about this to us and we had never gone out there before. The ride in the
back of the pickup along 20 kilometers of Esker and sand was quite eventful,
passing places like Twin Lakes, Wiener Lake, and Hamburger Hill… Of course there was always a logical reason
why these names came about. When we got
to our destination we had to remind ourselves that this was still Manitoba, it
was God’s creation and we were very privileged to experience this.
We were just back to our suite when Bernice, the Education
Director knocked on our door; we needed to come outside and experience the
Northern Lights. What a show! It felt
like we could almost reach up and touch them as they flowed across the skies.
Our last evening we again did the traditional community
wiener roast and fireworks. We served
240 hotdogs in a very short period of time.
This was followed by the new event – a slide show about their community,
photos taken the previous year. I was
privileged to get everyone totally quiet for a few minutes before we began the
show and it was my opportunity to share with the community WHY we were here.
After the fireworks ended, we assumed the evening was done,
but Bernice asked Randy and me to come back up to the church. She had arranged for three men of the
community to drum for us … and after she thanked us for our work in this
community, they did their song. It was a
very moving ending to a great week.
The next day there were numerous people on the beach to say
their farewells, and there were lots of tears, on the beach as well as in the
plane. We knew we had seen God at work
in many lives and hearts and seemingly each one of the AIA volunteer staff
already asked for their seats on the plane in the coming year.
This year’s AIA volunteer staff were: Rick Bettig, Diane Reimer, Bobbie-Jo Friesen,
Rhonda Blanchette, Randy Hepner, Edna and Albert Martens.
Albert
Martens
Athletes in
Action
posted by Albert Martens at 10:57 AM
0 comments
