LAMP Report – Sucker River Saskatchewan: February 24 Return

Lamp Partners,

When I thought, “My foot slips.” Your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.  Psalm 94:18

We’ve made it back safe and sound.  Long days of travel to be sure, that for me is the most difficult part of the mission trip.  But once again the hardship was immediately dispelled when we drove into the community and encountered two of the children whose faces lit up when they realized that we were back for another round of Vacation Bible School (VBS)!  By the time we drove the quarter mile to the school, we had more than enough help unloading the truck and van.  We then had to ask them to come back tomorrow because of course, they wanted to get started right away!  We explained that we were not ready for them yet but we would be tomorrow.  All glory be to God.

The theme of the VBS was Weird Animals: Where Jesus’ Love Is One-of-a-Kind!  The youngsters got to experience what it is like to be Left-Out Lepers.  Using round sticker spots they were separated from the fun that the Non-Lepers were having before being “healed”.  The tots learned that “Even when you’re left out…Jesus Loves You!  The next day the tykes got their feet washed.  It was a time of confusion and some resistance.  The lesson was “Even when you don’t understand…Jesus Loves You!”  On our last day the young’uns heard the story of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.  The children all put their names on a cross learning that “Even though you do wrong…Jesus Loves You!”  But of course, that’s not the end of the story.  The kids heard that Jesus had come back to life!  Jesus is alive!  And His love for them will live forever!

We had a total of about 30 youngsters for the three days of lessons.  We started each day by serving lunch.  We learned a couple of years ago that some tots break into houses to steal food, so we decided to start the VBS’ with lunch.  That was a good decision.  And although some of the tykes stay only for lunch a big majority of them stay for the lessons.  We do a skit, learn some dance moves, play some games, eat some interesting snacks; all designed to emphasize and support the Bible Point of the day.  We’re told by many adults that our visits are anticipated by the young’uns and that they seem genuinely happy when we’re in town.  Lord, I pray that our spreading of the Gospel message is changing the lives of the children.

We also had a community supper.  This year we held it at the Band Hall rather than the school and served Kentucky Fried Chicken, something that is popular in the area.  Again, our numbers did not meet our expectations.  But the bright spot is that one of our guests was a grandmother or kookum.  We’ve been told that the key to getting adult participation is to get support from the grandparents, so maybe this is the beginning of more adults at our community suppers.  We put it in God’s hands.

Please put us in your prayers as we are seeking God’s will for our next steps.  Some of the things being prayed over are: should we minister to another community; should that be in addition to or instead of Sucker River; should it be a drive to or fly in community; when is the best week(s)  to go in the summer;  we pray for God continue to supply new missionaries; should we be looking at ways to help fund missionaries who are willing to go but do not have the resources?  These are some of the decisions that we are asking God to help us with.

Once again we thank you for your prayers and support.  God Bless You All.