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