Trying New Food and Meeting Local People on aw Northern Reserve, Alberta

We met and debriefed each morning  in the meeting room at the Youth Centre

We were up early this morning as we were supposed to meet at 8 am this morning at the Youth Centre.

We did get there on time.  We had our devotion and  morning debriefing meeting and it was great to hear what everyone else was doing in their respective host family.

P. came and shared with us what our assignment was for today.

Sewing Centre on a Reserve

I volunteered to be at the Sewing Centre. However, when I got there,  I  was told that I could not volunteer at the centre as there was no insurance coverage for me.

I went looking for S. and Y.Y next door and joined them in their assignment which was cleaning up the basement and getting it ready for the evacuees from the wild forest fires from the Fort McMurray area.

This was a task which I would never have volunteered to do as I intensively dislike physical labour work. 

We helped to clean up part of the basement ready for evacuees

But God taught me a lesson. I was humbled by the experience and found that I was able to perform such a physically demand assignment and I was not in too bad a shape at all!

With the three of us working hard, we were able to clean the place in a few hours. Very proud of our work! 

We went over to the Admin building for lunch at the only restaurant in town.

The restaurant at the Admin Building

The restaurant was a nice bright place decorated with pictures and artwork of native themes.

We tried a bannock burger for the first time!

It served pretty good food, I ordered the Bannock Burger ( a beef patty sandwiched between fried dough, delicious!)  

The  dry ribs were delicious!

S. ordered dried ribs and Y.Y tried the mushroom burger.

The food was delicious! 

Joe ( not his real name), a resident of this reserve came up and introduced himself to us, a very friendly chap indeed. 

Son of a chief from previous years,  he was very frank and open sharing with us about the tragic events that happened to him recently. 

An aboriginal statute stands proudly on a reserve, Alberta, Canada

We invited him to join us for lunch and had a good long chat with him. Joe was interested in what we were doing on this  reserve. We asked him to come and join us at the Youth Centre the next day and hope that he would come.

 What impressed me was Y.Y. asked if he could pray with him and they prayed right there standing in the middle of the restaurant!

 I wish I could be as bold and direct as my counterpart!

R.T.

Alberta

May 10, 2016