Note: Recently my son travelled to northern Canada for a short missions trip. Here is the testimony of his trip as he writes:
Here for all your reading pleasure is a short review of the recent MX trip. Enjoy!
On January the 8th, two fellow students, Gillian Hunt and Karen Krahn, accompanied by our school president, Rob Reimer, together with mobilizers from SEND North, Bob & Trudy Mclaughlin and I made the long trek. This trip was a part of SBC’s MissionX program and a partnership with SEND International. This was the second time that a MissionX group had gone. We had a wonderful time and were warmly welcomed into this small northern hamlet for our short visit.
Things We Did
Visit to High School
Our team had the goal of keeping connections that were built with the youth by the previous year’s team. This led us to visit the local high school. The principal openly received us and let us into 5 classrooms to share about Steinbach Bible College and the role that it has had in our lives. We received much more than we expected and our hope is that future teams will have a similar experience.
Meetings at the Complex
We held two evangelistic services at the community complex and we were blown away by what God did. We did some skits and shared our testimonies and then the Bob gave an evangelistic message and an opportunity to respond. Combined from both nights 59 people came forward to give their lives to Christ, or about 95% of those in attendance. It was unlike anything like I had seen before. I turned around once to see empty chairs. I attended the Franklin Graham crusades in Winnipeg but I never saw 95% of the audience want to come forward to receive Christ like that and so we praise God for what He did.
It is unlikely that everyone was genuine, but many people were and so we leave it in God’s hands, trusting that He will finish the work He started. There is an Anglican church and the goal is that these folks will become a part of that fellowship.
Joe & Susie
Our hosts for the week were Joe & Susie Evyagotailak. We were warmly received into their home many times and had many good visits with them. Joe told us about certain aspects of traditional Inuit culture that I found fascinating and he also shared traditional food with us. He borrowed us his vehicle and so whenever we drove through town many people waved at us. Joe is a former MLA and is very well respected and is a part of the church leadership. Getting to know Joe & Susie and learning from them was one of my highlights of the trip.
Personally, I really enjoyed learning about traditional Inuit culture. I had the opportunity at the high school to have an Inuit man explain to me how they use their spears to hunt whales, how they heated with whale blubber and how they lived traditionally. I also really appreciate the opportunity to spend time with Bob, he is a gifted evangelist and it was a joy to be with him.
Thank You Lord!
The connection we were able to make in 5 days was beyond all that I expected. Whenever I went to the complex, there would be a couple kids who would come to greet me and they were so friendly. I had a hard time remembering names but I am thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to meet so many people in our short time.
Our trip was an overwhelming success and this was partly because of the connection we were able to make with the community. We hope to have made inroads for more teams to come and eventually for a full time missionary to come. Our trip was also a success because of what God did at our meetings at the complex. We thank the Lord for His goodness toward our team!
Lessons
Openness
Openness to meeting and getting to know people was a lesson for me. Everyone knows that on mission trips it is good to get to know other folks but I feel like I learned better how to do this. Bob is very gifted in connecting with someone very quickly and so it was a blessing watching him interact with some of the people. We also had the opportunity to go to a volleyball night while we were there and got to meet many more people. To some extent connecting with people and then leaving is painful, but it makes the whole experience worth it. So I learned about being open and continuing to be open. The sheer number of connections we made was a great highlight for me and a great lesson for me.
Trust in God-Psalm 1
I was also reminded to trust and rely on God for the energy for the trip and for greater things in my life. I was glad to learn more about this because missions work is all about trusting God. The devotional that I shared about David and Psalm1 connected with me. I want to be rooted in God and not in other things because all else will fail. When we put expectations that are not reasonable on other things and not on God we are setting ourselves up to be let down.
Power of the Gospel
I was amazed to see the response of the people toward the gospel. The gospel is a powerful; it transcends all cultures and is for all cultures. Howard Jolly told me once that perhaps Native people are not so much rejecting Christ but are rejecting the Western culture that cloaks Christianity. It is not meaningful to them. Seeing what happened testified to the power of the gospel and motivated me to share it in culturally sensitive ways.
Here for all your reading pleasure is a short review of the recent MX trip. Enjoy!
On January the 8th, two fellow students, Gillian Hunt and Karen Krahn, accompanied by our school president, Rob Reimer, together with mobilizers from SEND North, Bob & Trudy Mclaughlin and I made the long trek. This trip was a part of SBC’s MissionX program and a partnership with SEND International. This was the second time that a MissionX group had gone. We had a wonderful time and were warmly welcomed into this small northern hamlet for our short visit.
Things We Did
Visit to High School
Our team had the goal of keeping connections that were built with the youth by the previous year’s team. This led us to visit the local high school. The principal openly received us and let us into 5 classrooms to share about Steinbach Bible College and the role that it has had in our lives. We received much more than we expected and our hope is that future teams will have a similar experience.
Meetings at the Complex
We held two evangelistic services at the community complex and we were blown away by what God did. We did some skits and shared our testimonies and then the Bob gave an evangelistic message and an opportunity to respond. Combined from both nights 59 people came forward to give their lives to Christ, or about 95% of those in attendance. It was unlike anything like I had seen before. I turned around once to see empty chairs. I attended the Franklin Graham crusades in Winnipeg but I never saw 95% of the audience want to come forward to receive Christ like that and so we praise God for what He did.
It is unlikely that everyone was genuine, but many people were and so we leave it in God’s hands, trusting that He will finish the work He started. There is an Anglican church and the goal is that these folks will become a part of that fellowship.
Joe & Susie
Our hosts for the week were Joe & Susie Evyagotailak. We were warmly received into their home many times and had many good visits with them. Joe told us about certain aspects of traditional Inuit culture that I found fascinating and he also shared traditional food with us. He borrowed us his vehicle and so whenever we drove through town many people waved at us. Joe is a former MLA and is very well respected and is a part of the church leadership. Getting to know Joe & Susie and learning from them was one of my highlights of the trip.
Personally, I really enjoyed learning about traditional Inuit culture. I had the opportunity at the high school to have an Inuit man explain to me how they use their spears to hunt whales, how they heated with whale blubber and how they lived traditionally. I also really appreciate the opportunity to spend time with Bob, he is a gifted evangelist and it was a joy to be with him.
Thank You Lord!
The connection we were able to make in 5 days was beyond all that I expected. Whenever I went to the complex, there would be a couple kids who would come to greet me and they were so friendly. I had a hard time remembering names but I am thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to meet so many people in our short time.
Our trip was an overwhelming success and this was partly because of the connection we were able to make with the community. We hope to have made inroads for more teams to come and eventually for a full time missionary to come. Our trip was also a success because of what God did at our meetings at the complex. We thank the Lord for His goodness toward our team!
Lessons
Openness
Openness to meeting and getting to know people was a lesson for me. Everyone knows that on mission trips it is good to get to know other folks but I feel like I learned better how to do this. Bob is very gifted in connecting with someone very quickly and so it was a blessing watching him interact with some of the people. We also had the opportunity to go to a volleyball night while we were there and got to meet many more people. To some extent connecting with people and then leaving is painful, but it makes the whole experience worth it. So I learned about being open and continuing to be open. The sheer number of connections we made was a great highlight for me and a great lesson for me.
Trust in God-Psalm 1
I was also reminded to trust and rely on God for the energy for the trip and for greater things in my life. I was glad to learn more about this because missions work is all about trusting God. The devotional that I shared about David and Psalm1 connected with me. I want to be rooted in God and not in other things because all else will fail. When we put expectations that are not reasonable on other things and not on God we are setting ourselves up to be let down.
Power of the Gospel
I was amazed to see the response of the people toward the gospel. The gospel is a powerful; it transcends all cultures and is for all cultures. Howard Jolly told me once that perhaps Native people are not so much rejecting Christ but are rejecting the Western culture that cloaks Christianity. It is not meaningful to them. Seeing what happened testified to the power of the gospel and motivated me to share it in culturally sensitive ways.
This was the appointed tim and place for you and your companions. Look what the Lord did! Precious souls! God wants souls from every kindred, tribe and tongue in heaven. You are a part of making this happen. God Bless You!
ReplyDeleteThank-you for your kind comments Mrs CJB. God is at work and what a joy it is to see Him work!
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