Stormer Lake

Closing Stormer Lake camp

2011-03-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

October 4, 2010 with the help of friends we closed down the camp. Drained the water lines, packed up all the bedding and towels in garbage bags, emptied the refrigerators and freezers. Put a chain across the drive and drove away. It was a very hard thing to do. We know the Lord has great things in mind for us. We press on to what the Lord has for us and the Stormer Lake camp in the future.

As I am writing this we are at the end of a six month sabbatical. We are returning to Red Lake and from there will begin a new phase in our lives. We are sure this new phase will still involve Stormer Lake. The past six months we have done quite a bit of praying, seeking counsel and listening as we discern the next step for us to take.

"no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 1 Cor 2:9-10

Home for Christmas

2009-12-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well I looked and saw it has been way to long since I wrote anything....so here goes

I am so excited that all our kids are coming home for Christmas! Six from Marvin's family are coming as well. That makes a grand total of 24!!! So with all the people and lack of space at my house and the fact that there is a dishwasher up in the camp kitchen that is where we will be spending most of our time. I am waiting to bake cookies until the girls get here, and the guys want us to wait to get the tree, so they can experience chopping down a tree I quess, so that is on the agenda for next week. I will even try and post some pictures, later of course

the chapel gets a new deck

2009-09-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

2009-09-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

we kept seeing this bear at the dump

its been along time,eh?

2009-09-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

My how time flies..I have been going to update this thing all summer as you can tell it didn't happen. It has been a strange year, with lots of cancellations. Never less we still are quite busy. Sarah (our youngest) was gone to stay with sisters in Oregon all summer so that left Marvin and I here alone. I honestly can't say alone because we might have had 5 nights the whole summer that we were the only ones in the camp. Since it rained all summer it meant that I had to mow yard every week. It takes 8-10 hours to mow the whole yard. Marvin was busy building cabinets in the shop, it is really looking good in there, of course you all wouldn't know that because I haven't posted any pictures. My excuse; we had our camera stolen and our hard drive crashed. We now have a new one so I will try and do better. It has been a beautiful fall, the bad thing is the mosquitoes are awful. We picked lots of blueberries they are everywhere. We got 6 gallons just picking along our drive. Marvin started cutting firewood Tuesday, it would be nice to have 6 or 7 men cutting, de -limbing, dragging, loading, unloading but he is doing it alone. we should get some help next month, yeah!

We are on the home stretch! PTL

2009-01-05T08:34:00.000-08:00

the outside is pretty much finished and the inside needs the trim finished, workbenches, shelving and tools which we have everywhere and are so ready to put it into the shop! Praise the Lord for all the help also for health to get it done!

finishing up the shop

2009-01-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

Here we are puting the primer on the walls. the tan colour you see behind Marvin is the colour of the top coat. We finished the top coat on Friday. Marvin needs to put up the trim. I will put another picture up when the trim is finished.

New toy, I mean tool

2008-11-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

Landmark Christian Fellowship came and helped us cut firewood. With the use of the above grapple they got the rest of our firewood cut. (60 cords all together) Praise the Lord! now its back to working on the shop, plowing snow, fixing the generators and feeding the fires.

October 1, update

2008-10-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

This noon as I talked with a mother who has lost 7 children, five which were to suicide, I wondered how a heart can handle such grief. Yesterday there was another suicide which brought back feelings of pain and sadness to this mother. How do I assure her that He is our comfort, our hope? Again and again I am reminded to comfort those who morn, rejoice with those who rejoice. As I wrote in the last update things are slowly getting done on the shop. Last week we had two guys from Red Lake come and help us. They got the electrical roughed in, insulated the walls and put up the ceiling. Then on Friday they cut about 4 cords of firewood with 55 more cords to go! We also reroofed cabin 3.

This week we have a couple from Germany here for 2 days helping. They helped insulate the attic, put OSB sheeting up on the walls. We also cleaned a couple cabins. We pray that they saw Jesus in us as we relate to them. Pikangikum has closed school for 2 weeks for moose break so we have had hunters stopping by quite a bit.

We were telling people that called for counselling that we weren’t taking anyone until Oct. Well October is here and we still feel like there is so much work to do. In spite of that we have a young girl coming from a reserve northof us on the 15th. Pray with us that there will be healing of past hurts and forgiveness. Pray for us also as we relate to her and open our home to her. The first week of November we have a family scheduled also. Oct 7 -11 Marvin and I along with 10 people from Pikang ikum are attending a healing conference in Minnesota.

working on the inside of the shop

2008-09-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

get ready for the electrical

finishing the outside

2008-09-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Five men came from Indiana to finish the siding and put in the windows.

The outside is finished!

The women worked also

2008-08-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

making beds

WE picked blueberries

and cleaned cabins. In the past month the camp was full 3 times and all but 2 cabins the 4th time. I was thankful for help for 2 of the weekends.

Shop Pictures continued

2008-08-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

These are picures of getting ready for the concrete and pouring the shop floor. The picture of the log cabin is using the extra cement to pour a walkway for the log cabin. (yes they are out of order, sorry!)

2008-08-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

A view from our house

What Stormer Lake is about

2008-08-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

The goal for this facility is to be a place of peace for anyone who needs some quiet time with the Lord. We want to be available to the body of Christ and to provide a facility for the teaching, training, equipping and mobilizing of the members of the body. We try to keep a comfortable, serviceable and attractive facility for any person or church who comes to us with a spiritual need. Our employer is Living Hope Native Ministries in Red Lake, Ontario. The people that we desire to minister to primarily is the First Nation Ojibway people.

The work team was one “link” in the chain of help and support that we are very grateful for. The previous week there was a work team here from Souderton, Pennsylvania. One of the projects they finished was the forming and pouring of the foundation for the new shop. Mtn. View then carried on the project to the next step with pouring the concrete floor. Two weeks later, a team from North Carolina under Joshua’s Army arrived and we began to frame the building. When they left, the roof was on and one of the end walls was almost ready for siding.

As we watch the different teams come from the various churches, we are very aware of the extended body of Christ. We are humbled by the knowledge of the fact that the people are not coming to do our work but that the Lord is doing His work and prompting His people to come and labour with us for Him.

It was on December 4, 2007 that the old shop burned. It was very apparent that the cause of the fire was electrical and had started in the attic. We tried to start our water pumps in order to fight the fire but could not get either of them to start. As we are well out of the district of any fire department, all we could do was stand and watch as the shop and all of the tools, equipment and spare parts burned to the ground. It was a very discouraging day for us.

So how were we going to be able to maintain eleven buildings, a tractor, a pickup and all of the miscellaneous things that we are responsible for and minister from? What was going to be the response of our leaders? How were we going to add the work of rebuilding a shop to all of the other work that needed to be done that was going to be even more difficult to do without a shop to work out of? How can you be a maintenance man without tools or a maintenance shop? Now who are we?

All of these questions were in our minds along with the immediate need of restoring power to the rest of the centre and keeping the grounds safe. As we began to make phone calls and arrangements for different needs, the question of rebuilding soon surfaced. Do we rebuild? Surely we will. Do we build bigger or with a different layout? Winter has just started and it is cold. (It was -20F that day). Do we start now and push the project through somehow? It was easy to feel so alone as these questions began to surface along with the realization of the amount of work before us.

Even though we sometimes felt alone, the Lord was showing His support of us through various people. There were various people who quickly donated tools which was very encouraging. We soon found that there was adequate insurance to rebuild the shop and replace the contents.

As we look back from today, it is very obvious that the Lord began to orchestrate His plan. The problem was that it seemed that He directed by either just saying “no” or simply not allowing my plan to work out. It was easy to feel frustrated and grouchy when delay after delay was realized. It wasn’t until the sun took the frost out of the ground (around June 1st) that we were able to start digging and rebuilding the foundation.

What excitement to see the new foundation being formed and poured! What a joy to see concrete being poured over the new heat pipes in the new floor! Such a good feeling to screw the ridge vent onto the new metal roof! And the work goes on.

On September 8, there is a five man crew, four carpenters and one electrician, planning to come from Indiana to continue the work of putting up siding and wiring the building. Another “link” in the chain is being put into place. Who will be next? I don’t know but I know the Lord has someone in mind and may be even now prompting them. Are they available to the Lord? Will they answer the call? Will the Lord have to move on down the list to the next available person? I’ll leave those details and responsibilities to Him. He is well able to bring the next link in the chain, the next partner in the work that He is doing in and through His people in this area.

Below we have put some pictures of rebuilding the shop. It will work best to go to the bottom and scroll up.

2008-08-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

below the trusses are up putting the roof on

2008-08-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

It takes team work to get the walls and trusses up. Joshua's Army from North Carolina came up to help with the shop. They arrived August 11th and left on the 17th. They also did a lot cleaning, washing sheets and blankets. They painted all the staff house door and the entry way to one of the staff houses. It was a great week! On Saturday we did a prayer walk around the property lines asking Gods protection at each corner post. We also felt like we should do a prayer walk around the laundry cabin.

more shop pictures

2008-08-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

It took team work to get the walls and trussees up. Joshua's Army from North Carolina came up to help the week of Aug 11, 08. They got the shop under roof and one side of it ready for siding. They painted the doors on the staff houses and painted the entry way to our guys staff house. They also washed lots of sheets, blankets and cleaned most of the cabins.

rebuilding the shop

2008-08-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

pouring the footers

setting the forms
Leidy's church from Pa. helped the week of July 13th 08

2008-08-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Marvin is digging the footers for the shop

2008-08-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

Rebuilding the shop

2008-08-22T13:41:00.000-07:00