(top: five of the six high schoolers who went on our trip. bottom: "Jesus Church" where we ministered and did VBS)I have been meaning to post on my mission trip to Canada. Here is the follow up letter that is going to my supporters. It gives you a great overview of what my mission trip consisted of.
I have returned from my mission trip to Hobbema, Canada, safe and sound . . . but not the same. Let me explain by sharing with you what happened on the trip. First, let me say a big “thank you!” for supporting me on this trip. You did not just support me; you supported the work of the kingdom of God.
We arrived in Edmonton around 1:30 on Saturday, July 14. From there we headed straight to Hobbema, home to Canada’s Cree Indians, and one of the largest Indian reservations in the country. Hobbema has a certain reputation among Canadians, in part because it has the highest rate of violent crime in all of Canada. Many people asked us, “why are you going there?” Upon arriving in Hobbema, we quickly learned of its problems. Almost all of the native teenagers are in gangs, which account for most of the violence. Native spirituality also holds a powerful sway over the people. The medicine men essentially act as both native “pastors” and individuals with great social and political clout. Into this context we came to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We worked with Marcus Toole, a full time missionary and ordained pastor who has been working with the Cree for about five years.
We had two main projects on our trip. The first was Vacation Bible School, which our mission team, along with members from other Presbyterian mission teams, hosted at Jesus Church from Monday to Thursday (July 16-19). I had the privilege of leading singing for VBS and our team had the privilege of teaching the Bible lesson each day. After having around 20 kids the first day, we ended VBS with over 50 kids on Thursday. Praise the Lord! On this trip we learned a great deal about the reality of spiritual warfare and the importance of prayer.
The following story from our trip helps to convey what we learned about spiritual warfare and prayer. On the last day of VBS the Bible lesson was essentially a gospel call to believe in Jesus and have eternal life. The theme verse that day was Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved." This verse, as well as any other in the Bible, expresses the heart of the gospel. Anyway, as two of our youth where giving this Bible lesson, all the mission team members from all the churches noticed that kids were acting very strange. They were getting up out of their seats and walking around for no good reason, or looking out the windows of the church, or acting in other strange ways. After telling this to Marcus, he replied, "That is evidence of demonic oppression of the message you were giving. And believe it or not, that is actually a good sign, a sign that God was actually working in those kid's hearts, because Satan does not oppose what he is not worried about." What a testimony to God's grace!
We heard many stories of spiritual warfare during our trip, most of them being recounted by Marcus from his own experience. Marcus managed to strike just the right tone in telling a bunch of Western, white, middle class church goers who don’t have a lot of experience with spiritual warfare (at least that we realize) that Satan has real power, although God’s power is immeasurably greater. All of this reinforced a point that I was already stressing to the six high school youth from Redeemer who went on the trip with me and one other adult: the need to pray. Prayer is our greatest weapon in the spiritual battles that we face. I feel like our team experienced firsthand what Paul said in Ephesians six, “our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.”
In addition to VBS, our team (along with the other teams) also did a number of work projects, including renovating a local community center and painting the fence of an elder. These work projects helped to make our presence known on the reservation, and toward the end of the week one of the Council Members (member of the Cree ruling government) hosted the mission teams for a cookout. During the cookout a few of the native children killed two gophers (for many reasons, the Cree view these animals as pests, as we do cockroaches). One of our high schoolers decided it would be fun to try to skin these gophers, in order to have a souvenir to take home! He never got the chance, however, because two local stray dogs ended up making these gophers their dinner. Our team ended up getting a big laugh out of this high schooler’s unfortunate (or should I say fortunate?) missed opportunity.
I firmly believe that our trip was a blessing both to our team and to the Cree people. One thing Marcus continually emphasized is the concept of “building” within the Cree culture. Over the years, the Cree people have become accustomed to watching big government and local initiatives start with lots of hoopla and fanfare, only to slowly die after a few years. This is not something a socially troubled and poor community like Hobbema needs. The mission teams that participated in this trip were able to give the Cree something that is “building.” For the last few years, the number of people going up to Hobbema on short term mission trips to work with Marcus has steadily increased, and the evidence of that increase is in the end result of the work projects and the kids who are exposed to Christianity each year through VBS. By God’s grace, it is my prayer that the entire Hobbema community will one day view the mission work as a blessing to their community—I know some already do. Please join me in praying for Marcus and for the people of Hobbema. Pray that God would deliver them from a dangerous native spirituality which has many social as well as spiritual consequences for the Cree people. Also thank God keeping our team safe, healthy and for giving us a greater vision of his kingdom. Yours Sincerely in Christ,
We arrived in Edmonton around 1:30 on Saturday, July 14. From there we headed straight to Hobbema, home to Canada’s Cree Indians, and one of the largest Indian reservations in the country. Hobbema has a certain reputation among Canadians, in part because it has the highest rate of violent crime in all of Canada. Many people asked us, “why are you going there?” Upon arriving in Hobbema, we quickly learned of its problems. Almost all of the native teenagers are in gangs, which account for most of the violence. Native spirituality also holds a powerful sway over the people. The medicine men essentially act as both native “pastors” and individuals with great social and political clout. Into this context we came to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We worked with Marcus Toole, a full time missionary and ordained pastor who has been working with the Cree for about five years.
We had two main projects on our trip. The first was Vacation Bible School, which our mission team, along with members from other Presbyterian mission teams, hosted at Jesus Church from Monday to Thursday (July 16-19). I had the privilege of leading singing for VBS and our team had the privilege of teaching the Bible lesson each day. After having around 20 kids the first day, we ended VBS with over 50 kids on Thursday. Praise the Lord! On this trip we learned a great deal about the reality of spiritual warfare and the importance of prayer.
The following story from our trip helps to convey what we learned about spiritual warfare and prayer. On the last day of VBS the Bible lesson was essentially a gospel call to believe in Jesus and have eternal life. The theme verse that day was Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved." This verse, as well as any other in the Bible, expresses the heart of the gospel. Anyway, as two of our youth where giving this Bible lesson, all the mission team members from all the churches noticed that kids were acting very strange. They were getting up out of their seats and walking around for no good reason, or looking out the windows of the church, or acting in other strange ways. After telling this to Marcus, he replied, "That is evidence of demonic oppression of the message you were giving. And believe it or not, that is actually a good sign, a sign that God was actually working in those kid's hearts, because Satan does not oppose what he is not worried about." What a testimony to God's grace!
We heard many stories of spiritual warfare during our trip, most of them being recounted by Marcus from his own experience. Marcus managed to strike just the right tone in telling a bunch of Western, white, middle class church goers who don’t have a lot of experience with spiritual warfare (at least that we realize) that Satan has real power, although God’s power is immeasurably greater. All of this reinforced a point that I was already stressing to the six high school youth from Redeemer who went on the trip with me and one other adult: the need to pray. Prayer is our greatest weapon in the spiritual battles that we face. I feel like our team experienced firsthand what Paul said in Ephesians six, “our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.”
In addition to VBS, our team (along with the other teams) also did a number of work projects, including renovating a local community center and painting the fence of an elder. These work projects helped to make our presence known on the reservation, and toward the end of the week one of the Council Members (member of the Cree ruling government) hosted the mission teams for a cookout. During the cookout a few of the native children killed two gophers (for many reasons, the Cree view these animals as pests, as we do cockroaches). One of our high schoolers decided it would be fun to try to skin these gophers, in order to have a souvenir to take home! He never got the chance, however, because two local stray dogs ended up making these gophers their dinner. Our team ended up getting a big laugh out of this high schooler’s unfortunate (or should I say fortunate?) missed opportunity.
I firmly believe that our trip was a blessing both to our team and to the Cree people. One thing Marcus continually emphasized is the concept of “building” within the Cree culture. Over the years, the Cree people have become accustomed to watching big government and local initiatives start with lots of hoopla and fanfare, only to slowly die after a few years. This is not something a socially troubled and poor community like Hobbema needs. The mission teams that participated in this trip were able to give the Cree something that is “building.” For the last few years, the number of people going up to Hobbema on short term mission trips to work with Marcus has steadily increased, and the evidence of that increase is in the end result of the work projects and the kids who are exposed to Christianity each year through VBS. By God’s grace, it is my prayer that the entire Hobbema community will one day view the mission work as a blessing to their community—I know some already do. Please join me in praying for Marcus and for the people of Hobbema. Pray that God would deliver them from a dangerous native spirituality which has many social as well as spiritual consequences for the Cree people. Also thank God keeping our team safe, healthy and for giving us a greater vision of his kingdom. Yours Sincerely in Christ,
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