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A "NORTHERN
LIGHTS" MAGAZINE ARTICLE
(from Issue #500)
Just the Beginning
People's
kindness and God's graciousness: a missionary recalls these blessings
by Naomi Epp
"The chimney is on fire!
Get the kids outside!" Carl yells. Not only are the flames leaping
out the top, but also around the stove pipe in the basement. By the time I
have jackets on our four children and get them out the door, four or five
men have appeared out of nowhere. One of them is up on the roof, pouring
water down the chimney. How did they find out so quickly?
We were new in this village.
That incident turned out to be just the beginning of many memories of
people's kindness and God's graciousness.
Just four days after we arrive
15 kids come out for Sunday school. The next Sunday 28 kids come. They don't
seem to know the Bible stories. What a privilege to teach them! A six
year-old girl recites the memory verse every week. I'm amazed she is
learning the verses so faithfully. Finally I ask her, "Who's helping
you memorize the Bible verses?" She replies, "No one."
Someone's at the door. He
hands us a gift: a zip-lock bag of fresh moose meat. Another time someone
brings a gift of fish, just caught that afternoon. What generous hearts!
Someone rounds up enough ski-doos
and sleighs for our whole family to go on a loooong ski-doo ride
with them -- zigzagging along trails and zipping across frozen lakes until
we reach our hosts' cabin. There we are served a meal of duck soup. Our
family will always treasure this experience.
Another day that winter we
open the mail. A Christmas card from ........, a local family we hardly
know. How sweet of them!
The Sunday school children are
practicing a play for the Christmas Community Supper. The day of our final
practice arrives. Our (adult) narrator says, "I had planned to go
(away) shopping this weekend, but I didn't so that I could be here for the
play practice." Thank God for her commitment!
A young woman gets up during a
service with her guitar and sings a song she has written. She has had a
difficult childhood. Her parents have both passed away. What a thrill to
hear her honor God with her music!
We have to move out of the
house we're renting. Someone graciously lends us a house to stay in, and a
trailer for hauling our things. We arrive at our new house and find
several women scrubbing out the kitchen cupboards and washing walls. How
kind!
One day we overhear some boys
as they are playing. One boy says to the other, "Words can't hurt
you." "Yes, they can," replies the younger one, who is
being raised by his grandmother. "They won't hurt me! Try it. Say the
meanest thing you can think of!" says the older. Instead of replying
with cruel, cutting words, the younger boy replies with words of kindness!
Thank God for Christian grandparents who teach their grandchildren what is
right.
A single mother gives her
heart to the Lord and comes to church and Bible study every week. She
continues faithfully following God year after year, never going back to
the world. What a testimony to God's grace and power.
It's June. We've been very
busy. A couple invites us to go canoeing down the river with them one
Sunday afternoon. It's a sunny day and turns out to be sooo
relaxing, enjoying the beauty of God's creation and visiting as we paddle
downstream. Thank you, Lord, for friends and for a beautiful afternoon!
Carl comes home for dinner. He
says how much he enjoys building a house with the men, talking and
laughing as they work. It's great that they can have fun together as they
work.
Several boys are over at our
house. One, who sometimes helps me with teaching Sunday school, says,
"Do you know what I do when I get angry? I go down to the lake and
pray." I can learn a lesson from one of my former Sunday school
students!
The church ladies put on a
Ladies' Night to reach out to the community. I sit there watching and
listening to the plays, the songs, the testimonies, and the pleas for
women to turn to God. I am deeply moved.
A good number of women are
gathered in a home one evening. Shortly before I leave, one of them hands
me an envelope. I open it and find a card with money and handwritten
messages all over the inside of the card. Why did they do this? I feel so
unworthy!
Carl comes home all smiles.
"Quick, get the camera! Come outside and take a picture." It's
our neighbor and Carl with "the fish" -- the biggest pickerel
he's ever caught. How kind of our neighbor to take Carl fishing.
Memories of people's kindness
... acts of love ... God's graciousness ... and His transforming power.
 Carl
& Naomi Epp were stationed in northern Manitoba before moving to
northern Saskatchewan several years ago, where they find continued
opportunities encouraging believers and reaching out to unsaved people.
Recently they were asked to lead a session in a community-held
"Parenting Conference" and had Christian media resources
available. Their son Alden (top) has begun a 15-month internship at NCEM's
Timber Bay Bible Centre. Caleb (right) is presently serving on the
Operation Mobilization ship, Doulos.
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