off to work she goes..

Being done almost a week on the job, I would like to report that I'm still alive! My first week in town I had a lot of time to explore and play outside, cook, bake bread, clean, and do arty things. Now comes the task of learning how to juggle so that I can still do the things that make home more relaxing and enjoyable. The nice thing about being a recreation coordinator is that my time is split between coordinating and recreation--so this week is filled up with meetings and paperwork, but next week I go to cultural camp with kids from the school and their parents.

The culture of this reserve is unlike any other I've ever seen. Most of the residents subscribe at least to some degree to Roman Catholicism, so traditional spiritual events like pow-wows, smudging, and sweat lodges are barely spoken of. In the past week there have been events like vigils for National Suicide Awareness Day, and a Gospel music Jamboree (which I caught the tail end of with some of my little friends). The church in town holds Mass every week which seems to cater more towards middle-aged and older generations of the town, although attendance is by no means booming. Aside from saying the Lord's Prayer every morning in school, the children and youth seem fairly disconnected from the faith of their parents.

Something I love to see though is how the older generation cares about teaching their children traditional ways of hunting, trapping, fishing, beadwork, and tanning moose hides. At the culture week, if they shoot a moose then the kids can watch and learn how to cut it all apart! Then we get to eat it, om nom nom!! People here are friendly to me, but it's sweet to connect on the level of being northerners. I'm noticing that when I tell them I'm from a town only slightly bigger than this, and that I grew up seeing moose in the back of my neighbour's truck, they tend to let down their guards and joke around more with me.

Ah, did I mention that I love it here? I love that even though work can be hectic, we can get away from it. Mars and I went for a walk with our two little walking/blueberry picking buddies tonight and watched the last of the beautiful sunset--the girls wanted to race down the road so we were running and laughing with them. It's so sweet that we can find enjoyment and delight in simple things again. Those girls are just delightful, they've been great for pulling us away from our adult lives, we thank God for them every day! He's so so good to us..

Other quick updates: We're making better friends with the other teachers. It's been nice on the weekends so we've gone canoeing twice, SO fun. Two of the RCMP officers in town live across the street from us so we're making friends with them and their significant others--they want to have us over for wings and to go four-wheeling. It's nice to have other people around who know the feeling of being far from home and in a whole other world!

I was hit in the face by this verse today :
"ONE THING I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of  the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple." (Ps 27:4)

This is just our temporary home. We make the most of the opportunities God gives us while we're here: we hold up God's truth as our banner, we love Him and honour His name, and we love the people He has given us to love. At the end of the day, that's why we drove across the country.. We could have done that anywhere, but for whatever reason God wanted us here. Mars and I take time to pray together so that we remember why we're here--it's a blessing to have jobs, but we don't love work itself. It's just a means of being able to be here and be with the people here.. And so we work, and we try to work well. But pray that we don't lose sight of what's really important--that we set our hope on Jesus Christ, the One who started this and is going to finish it!