beginning at the beginning

how did this all go down?

I'm just sitting in my living room in Patuanak, Saskatchewan. Those words are still strange to me a week after arriving on this small claim of God's land. I drove through this province in March with my foot heavy on the pedal, wanting nothing but to be away from the endless stretches of farm fields. But that isn't where my story started...

 It started in 2008 when I met Marsena and we started talking about how we wanted to someday live and work on a northern reserve. The thought of living in a place that embraced traditional ways of trapping, dog sledding and canoeing seemed incredible. But what really drove us to head north were hearts that wanted to see those lives rescued from brokenness and made new by the truth of Jesus. So we prayed that if God would have us go to the north that He would make it clear to us when it was the right time.

I didn't think that 'right time' would ever manifest itself in my life. It was the start of 2011--I was going to graduate, Mars still had a year of teachers' college ahead of her. We still talked about going up north, but we both knew it wasn't likely that in another year it would work out for us to go. I was working full-time doing respite care for families with special needs, loving my job yet knowing that life could take me anywhere at all. But it didn't. I stayed in North Bay for the year and made plans to go to school for massage therapy the next fall.

This March found me road-tripping west with my cousin Erin. It was a whirlwind--we drove from Sudbury to Thunder Bay the first day, then landed in Edmonton late the next night. As we drove across Manitoba and Saskatchewan I remember thinking "I hope we don't have to stop here for the night--this is the ugliest stretch of land I've ever seen--now I know why people fly west and skip central Canada." God really has a sense of humour...

Then came one of the craziest summers ever. Two weeks after the trip west, I got an offer to plant trees for May and June. I called the families I worked with and they were so supportive of my going--one of my families even bought me a tent and some supplies for my birthday/going away present. With that I opened a new mini-chapter of my life.

We lived in tents and I planted until my body, mind and spirit were in a bad state. Then I quit. I've never been a quitter before, but this round of planting was pretty miserable. I told one of my crew members while we were driving to our plant camp in Chapleau that I knew I was going there for a reason. I was blessed to have an amazing Jesus-loving couple take care of me on days off--our tree-checker was a Christian too and he'd come pray with me on my land. But they made me homesick for people. I needed to realize that I couldn't spend my life serving trees or some hippie ideal that had been lingering in my head--I was made to love and serve God first then people second. How could I ever be satisfied living for something else?

Now it was the last half of June. Marsena was finishing her additional qualifications for teaching in North Bay when it blew upon facebook that she'd gotten a job. I was excited for her.. Really excited.. Thenn mostly excited.. turns out it was a teaching job on a reserve in Northern Saskatchewan. Ungh.

I had my moment of "ew, Saskatchewan" then messaged her to say I was coming. And that was it. Suddenly the dream of two 19-year-olds that seemed like it would never materialize... DID!

I mean, it took work and planning to get here. I called the principal of the school the next day who said I could certainly supply teach and told me to apply for a position as School Community Recreation Coordinator. So I sent him my resume and somewhere between working and visiting friends all over Ontario non-stop in July, then being totally absorbed at camp for August (what a blessing to be there!), I got an interview for the job!

This brings us up to last week. My dad sacrificed his week off to drive with me across the country, which I am so grateful for. As we drove north from the Battlefords with dad behind me in a rental, I saw a little bear. No big deal. Driving along with dad behind me in a rental, I saw a deer coming out of the ditch in front of my car. No big dea... wait.. not a deer? NO, IT'S A TIMBER WOLF! I've seen them before, but I've never seen one canter across the road--this thing was huge! I know because an hour later, driving along with dad behind me in a rental, I saw another one not nearly so big (don't worry Grandma, there are TONS of dogs here that keep the wild animals far away from town!). Wolves? Bears? Endless stretches of trees and dirt road?.. I am so not in the city anymore! Yeehaw!

After a long few days of driving, we got to Patuanak. Mars had been here for two weeks already setting up her classroom and getting all of our utilities straightened out. Almost as soon as I got in, there was a call asking if I would go for my interview the next morning. That was last Friday.

Deep breath...

Yesterday I met with the Director of Education and today I signed a letter of offer. I am now an employee of English River First Nation working with the school and community members to facilitate programs that nourish the physical, spiritual, cultural needs of the entire community. I start work on Monday, I have an desk in the main office of the school, and I have to run a meeting next Friday for a Community/School Action Plan steering committee. Talk about INSANE. I can't even connect the dots, they don't make any sense at all, but I love this community and once I have more time to wrap my head around this job I know I'll love it too.

So please pray for me, I need to find my strength in Jesus. This is going to stretch me a whole lot, but I'm excited to work with the people here. OH and by the way, there is a river beside our town (we canoed on it already!) and on that river are pelicans--Weird! More updates with photos to come!