Colville 2012

Our final adventure in July was participating in MTW's annual missions trip to Omak, WA, to serve the Colville Indian Reservation.  At least two people from our family have been on every July trip since 2005. All four of us got to go this year, which was fun. The MTW team this year included members from the Vancouver/Portland area, the Seattle area, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Most of those individuals had been on previous trips. It's always a joy to work with this group.

My photo documentation seems to be decreasing in recent years, but I still have a few shots to share. Again, Facebook friends, you probably have seen these pictures already.   

The traditional Sunday morning after-church picture. 

Also after church , some of us visited the top of "Suicide Hill." This is where Omak's annual Suicide Race takes place.

And what is the Suicide Race? Horses and their riders race down this steep hillside into the river below. They cross the river and run into the arena you can see over on the right.

The view from Suicide Hill.

While Sunday gives us some time to rest and recharge after traveling up to the reservation on Saturday, Monday through Friday are generally pretty full with various ministry activities. For me, that meant a lot of painting on Monday through Thursday.

The first house I helped paint.

Finished!

The second site I was on included installation of a ramp, which you can see some of our hardy guys working on here.

Another (almost) completed project.

 Painting wasn't the only thing we did that week (just the only thing I have pictures of). Other ministries that week included singing for seniors and inmates at a couple local prisons, construction, Vacation Bible School for the kids, and just visiting friends from past years. We had an exciting opportunity to host a women's gathering on Wednesday night to share "Stories of Hope." The biggest night of the week is Friday night, when we host a meal for all our friends from the reservation.

Through all of those diverse activities, our purpose is to show love to the people of the Colville Reservation, just as God has shown his love to us through Jesus Christ. We hope to show that we care for both their physical and spiritual needs. God blessed this year. Like every year, it wasn't without challenges, but we had exciting opportunities as well.  

Group shot on Saturday morning, before heading back home. It was a great year!

Colville 2011!

We returned last Saturday night from an eight-day mission trip to the Colville Indian Reservation with Mission to the World. While we certainly faced difficulties during that time, God was faithful to provide for us through them all and blessed the trip with much success. It was a very good trip and I count myself blessed to have been a part of it. It was a real joy to see and participate in God's work on the reservation this year.

Okay, now for pictures.

Saturday, July 23

Our week got of to a rip-roaring start by...spending several hours in the parking lot of a towing and transmission shop after one of our vehicles started having trouble. We were about half-way to the reservation when this happened. Mount Vernon Towing was kind enough to allow us to borrow a vehicle for the whole week. This was just one of many times when we watched God provide for us in exciting ways.

We took the North Cascades route to Omak and stopped at the Diablo Lake overlook.

Photo op!

It was kind of neat to see the mountain pass in the evening (the incident with the Suburban had gotten us behind). I loved the shadows of the mountains reflecting on other mountains. We finally arrived in Omak somewhere around 9:30, I think. The other main team, from New Jersey, arrived after us, so it was a late night.

Sunday, July 24

We went to First Pres. in Omak Sunday morning. We've gone there every year and have always been graciously received. It's become a tradition to take a picture just outside the door after church.

Sunday afternoon we had time to go for a swim in beautiful Omak Lake (sorry, no pictures) and hike up to a little waterfall not far from the Longhouse where we stay.

Monday-Friday, July 25-29

Monday through Friday are our work days when we do our projects such as wood sheds and house painting. We also do our senior, VBS, and jail ministries on those days. I personally was involved only in painting projects. 

 We got to paint this house inside and out. It was really exciting to see it transform.

The outside before

Inside before: Moving furniture in preparation for painting.

Scraping loose paint off the outside

Washing the inside walls

Inside after: it was so much brighter!

 Outside after: not sure if this is the primer coat or the final color, but you can see the difference from how it was before!

Painting a fence on Wednesday

The final fence color was a cheerful yellow. The folks in the picture below are some of our friends from PCNJ, the other big church group on the team. Sadly, I somehow managed not to get any posed pictures of us and them together. : (  But we really enjoyed spending time with them. It's been neat to see how our two groups are able to compliment and support each other. They would help us with work projects in the morning, then run the VBS in the afternoon. From past years, I know that they have a true gift for working with the kids!

The adorable kitty at the fence project having a cat-nap.

 The third paint project, known as the "duck house." (Think Oregon Duck team colors.)

Before: The front

The back

 Duck house no longer! The front after

And the back after.

Friday Night

Friday night we normally have a big meal with our friends from the reservation. Normally we've had it at the Stampede grounds in Omak, but this year we had it at the Longhouse where we stay all week. It's a time for us to say thank you to those on the reservation who have allowed us to be a part of their lives, and to share a little more about our relationship with Jesus, Who is the reason for what we do. It's also a time for goodbyes.

This year we made a special friend in Chanell. She lives on the reservation and met the MTW team that came in June. She decided to spend the week working with our July team and we're so glad she did!

Us gals with Chanell (showing off her new slippers that we gave her as a parting gift).

 The inside of the longhouse where we had our Friday night feast, complete with delicious salmon prepared by our cook, Ron. 

After dinner we had a time of singing and sharing with our guests, similar to the worship time we had as a team every night during the week.

Saturday, July 30

Saturday was its own adventure. The Suburban was still out of commission, so some of us had to hitch a ride with other MTW team members who live in Kent. In Kent we met up with some other friends who providentially happened to be up in the area for something else. In the end, our whole team made it safely back to Vancouver around 9 p.m. It was a great week and I'm very glad I could be a part of it. 

Colville 2009

We returned Saturday night from another week-long missions trip to the Colville Indian Reservation. This was my fifth time going. I felt really privileged to serve with such a fine group of people, and I think we were all excited by the things God is doing up there. Our team from Westminster was pretty heavily involved in the construction part of the ministry, but different ones were also able to serve through VBS and the senior music ministry. It was a real whirlwind of a week. It's nice to be home, but part of me is sad to have it over and already missing everyone I spent the week with. I didn't take as many pictures as I have other years, and a lot of these are more artsy than documentary, but here they are.

Nice pose

The moon over the hills near the Longhouse, where we stay.

The beautiful entrance to the Longhouse

Evening sky

One evening we took our traditional hike up behind the Longhouse and the school grounds. This is looking roughly northwest, over the school grounds to a storm in the distance. We saw more thunderstorms than ever before.

One of the houses we worked on early in the process.

Getting closer to finished

Another house we worked on.

Friday evening barbecue at the Stampede Grounds is an important time. We invite people we have met throughout the week to join us for the evening. A good number of tribal elders attended this year, as well as kids from VBS.

Playing the stick game after dinner. The stick game is a special traditional game for the Colville people.

Colville 2008

This was a another exciting year up on the reservation. Every year we stay at the Omak Longhouse, a beautiful building we are graciously allowed to use. Actually, the guys stay at an old girls' dorm across the parking lot, but everything else happens in the Longhouse.
This year I was involved in several work projects, and spent one day visiting. Here's an overview of my week.

Monday I got to go split wood with my dad and others at the home of an elder in the community. This was my third year getting to help out with wood-splitting, and I always find it pretty fun, even though it's not exactly a girl's activity. Mostly I just helped stack wood, but I did get hold of an ax a few times. It was nice to do a project with my dad. The woman who owns the shed is respected in the community, and something of a spiritual leader. Despite the strength of her belief in her native religion, she seems to understand quite well that we come and do what we do because of our relationship with our own God. Hearing her say this was exciting.

On Tuesday I helped paint the interior of home. It was a bit challenging, since we had to paint a popcorn ceiling. This was the home of a veteran, I think, and he seemed very pleased with the work we did. We all had fun playing with his cats and one very cute Chow puppy. Most residents on the rez have multiple pets, and they love them dearly.

Wednesday and Thursday I got to help paint a deck for a WWII veteran named Mr. Steele. He and his wife had a nice home, but wanted to get their deck a face lift. After painting all the railing and the bench a cheerful barn red, it looked a lot better. The Steeles were very kind to us, and several team members were able to visit with them. We enjoyed spending time with their extremely friendly cat, who was not at all shy about claiming someone's lap, even while we were trying to paint. Friday I joined a group that drove over to the town of Nespelem to visit the residents on the tribal convalescent center. We sang hymns for some of the residents and visited with them. I must say this is an area I am not very comfortable with, so it was stretching experience. The loneliness and suffering that surrounds you when you walk into a place like that is sobering. I'm also not really good at visiting with people. Seeing the smile on someone's face because we cared enough to spend time with them was rewarding, though.

Friday evening was our annual barbecue at the Omak Stampede Grounds. It's always a good time to say goodbyes and spend a little more time with our friends from the reservation. This year we were treated to a drumming performance and giveaway. It's also an opportunity for the young people to run off a little energy. I had more fun taking pictures of everybody else, though, since I'm not really talented with frisbee games.
There's a quick overview. So much happens in that one week, it would take a very long time to tell it all. (Of course, you, my blog readers, probably wouldn't want that much detail anyway.) God was abundantly gracious to us in every detail of the trip. If you think of them, please pray for the people we interacted with up there--for the Irey family, that we would be able to continue our relationship with them; for all the children who came to VBS; for the people whom we were able to help by our work projects; for the prison inmates we met; the convalescent center residents; and others.
This year it was brought to my mind that our work on these trips is only a very small part of God's plan. It's also part of a very long-term plan. Each year is a little piece of what God's doing. It may take years for the fruit to show.