Nemeth Notes

I lived in an apartment, next door to a witch. She was a normal young mom, about my age, and she lived a normal life, except that she hosted séances in her home occasionally. She didn’t know I was a Christian, because she didn’t know me much, but our exchanges had always been pleasant; I liked her as a person and it seemed she also liked me. One day, after her witch friends had left, I was over. She was very upset about something, even though she was trying not to show it (some friends were still there). I asked her if something was wrong, and if I could seek out “spiritual assistance” in my way on her behalf. She said ok, so I bowed my head and began to pray. “My loving Father in heaven, I thank you for giving your only Son Jesus for us. I thank you for the cruel death He died, simply because of His love. I thank you for … (and from here I began, for some reason, to go into detail about the physical aspects of Christ’s crucifixion). Then she interrupted, “Yeah, yeah, heard that before.” And when I spoke a sentence that was somewhat predictable about the gospel (still in my prayer), she would pipe in, as if she knew the whole story by heart. But she was annoyed at me, and though she didn’t stop me, she started talking over me and ignoring me. Somehow I knew that she had been burned by Christians, and had buried that pain until now. So I asked her about her story. She talked to me, and though I distinctly remember thinking “she may not come to Christ today, but she will come closer”, it was amazing and beautiful to see Christ drawing her to Himself through me.

As I awoke from this dream this morning, all I could feel was the love He has for people like this, who are so lost without Him, and I also felt the joy in sharing His love, and in seeing another new life beginning to form.

Even if she had been a witch. “As such were some of you, before you knew Christ.”

My Jesus, I love you so much and am so thankful for the work you have done, both on the cross and in my life. Wow! You are still working to bring the lost to yourself; give us all a renewed passion for sharing your truth with this lost world. Give us a heart full of love for the most needy among us, such as those caught up in the occult. May we be full of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not full of fear, for your perfect love casts out fear. Thank you!

No, we’re not some kind of computer criminals. We are “hackers” of another kind…as in coughing.

On Labor Day, on my way home from a wonderful weekend at Family Camp at Gladstone, it hit. Seemed like a flu. In a few days, I knew it was more. Bronchitis, then pneumonia. A month later, I’m feeling human again, maybe up to 90%. When I was about 3 weeks along, on day 13 of antibiotics with no improvement, I went to the health food store and found some stuff called “Echanimide Anti-Viral formula”. It’s echinacea with a few other herbs that fight viruses. About an hour after taking the first dose, I felt a difference; if you’ve ever been sick for a long period of time, it’s that moment when you know your body is going to win, even if the battle is still going to take awhile. I also felt led to go back to the health food store the next day to get a better-quality Vitamin C. Those 2 things, accompanied by the Lord’s merciful answer to prayer, were key to getting me on my feet. PTL!

Meanwhile, I was generous with my germs, and gave bronchitis to Jeff, Elliot and Erica, and pneumonia to Isaiah. Jeff was the last to get sick, but was hit with a double whammy: stomach flu, then the bronchitis. So there’s been a lot of coughing around here lately.

Yet the packin’ goes on. We leave for a 4-month furlough on Oct. 18, Lord willing. We will arrive in northern Michigan the day before our 8th anniversary (PTL again!), and spend about a month there. Then a quick trip to downstate Michigan, and from there we’ll spend a month in the Chicago area. Then after Christmas we hit the road for many, many miles (in January? What are we thinking?!), and return back here sometime in February.

One thing about being sick and cooped up in your house for several weeks on end…it sure gets you excited to see friends! We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can.

And hopefully we’ll be leaving our Alberta Hackin’ germies behind.

I’m a world away, but I read about them, and I grieve. Young people wanting to change the world, wanting to be heroes. Taught from their mother’s breast that they are more valuable in death than in life. Mothers claiming to wish that their sons grow up to give the “ultimate sacrifice”.

Sorry, it’s too late.

No matter how valiantly these youth attempt to be, they will never, ever, be able to outdo the Jewish suicide bomber.

He, too, heard the stories from his mother’s arms that He had been born to die. He also knew it intuitively. He was trained in the trades, but that was not going to be his calling. He had a bigger job to do. He had a war to start…and win.

And He knew He had to die. It wasn’t easy to accept, even at the end, but when it was all settled, there was no going back. So, strapped to His death device, He walked, determinedly, up that hill. The world was so unsuspecting. He looked so harmless, so pathetic. How would they to know…

…BOOM. Lightning, thunder, earthquake. Even the temple veil torn from the blast. Gone was the life of this Jesus. Gone was the light from the land. Something had happened. No one was really sure what.

Then He arose! He came back from his own willful death, holding the keys of death! He had conquered every last shred of evil; He had conquered death itself.

And all in the name of love.

All so that we can know the love of the One who created us. All so that we can have our very past blown away, forever abolished by those words, “I forgive you”.

Of course, in the strictest sense of the term, Jesus did not die of suicide. That would have been easier, but He chose the hardest thing of all: to have full power over one’s life, but to yield it, to allow it to be taken. A suicide bomber is too much in control. He knows he will feel no pain; he knows he gets one last shot to be the boss. He is not thinking of saving lives, but of destroying them.

Thank you, sweet Jesus, for the difference You made.

Like Him, many Christians have also died at the hands of others, not only because they cannot deny their Savior, but also because they know their deaths will somehow broadcast Christ’s love and power to the world.

May we always be ready to do the same.

As of September 1st, we are officially

North America Indigenous Ministries

instead of

North America Indian Ministries

www.naim.ca

When you buy a pop-up camper for $75, you know it might just be a duct-tape special. This year we were able to get a new canvas, and so we’re not quite the eye-sore as we have set up in the midst of the busy August activity at Gladstone.

Our NAIM staff conference was non-stop, with Jeff not finishing up often until 11pm or later, so camping there made sense. Then the First Nations Alliance conference was last weekend, with Ron Hutchcraft and his “On Eagle’s Wings” team, and again Jeff was working until 12-1am. This weekend is our Native Family Camp, with 2 city and 3 reserve churches coming. It is a wonderful feeling to have all this ministry happening. It is especially wonderful to see Gladstone overrun with Native families from all over Canada (Manitoba to British Columbia), including some old friends we hadn’t seen in awhile. Folks, this is an answer to prayer, that the Lord would bring in Native folks. Of course the calendar still has many open spots, and so we covet your prayers. Also, as Gladstone reaches more people, the enemy starts attacking more. Please pray for us, all the Gladstone staff, and the folks coming in to do ministries, that the Lord would protect each one and help them do what He wants us to do. Please keep praying for a First Nations director for Gladstone; I believe the Lord has that person/couple and is waiting for the right time to bring them here…but it’s so hard to wait!

I think of Jeff’s truck. We waited a year for it, and sometimes thought it would never happen. But it did. God provided, in His time.

By the way, as I think of Ron Hutchcraft being here, I have to say what a strange feeling it was to hear his voice at Gladstone. See, I was once one of thousands of teens who listened to a radio show called “Saturday Night Alive”. Ron Hutchcraft’s voice would come to my home every weekend, challenging me to live for the Lord and to “Go MAD!” (Go Make A Difference). And since I’d heard his voice on “A Word With You”, a short 5-minute radio talk. Yet this time I was hearing him pray with a group of Native teens from across North America, praying–on the Gladstone lodge porch– as they prepared to go to a community close to my heart (Piikani Nation), for an evangelistic outreach. I overhead a little of how the Lord had opened the door for this outreach, and all I could do was wonder. And pray. With thanksgiving.

A couple weeks ago I got an unnerving call. A grizzly had been spotted across the road from Gladstone’s entrance, swinging a deer around in its mouth to prepare it for breakfast. Earlier a black bear had taken a llama from the llama farm (also across the street from Gladstone). The part I didn’t like was that Jeff was already out there, working alone that day, and there was no way to contact him to be on the alert. Fortunately, a couple hours later I learned that the neighbor went down to warn him.

I’ve been mugged at gunpoint before, and that’s no fun, but at least a robber usually only wants money, not muscle. It’s hard to reason with a bear. Well, it’s one of those workplace hazards that come with the territory.

I’ve seen 2 in the last 2 weeks. One was a black bear cub on the way to Gladstone (look out for those mama bears!). And yesterday we went for a drive about 30 minutes from here, and just as I was seeing wild raspberry leaves to harvest (makes a very healthy tea), we saw a grizzly cub cross the road, right in front of us. Needless to say, we kept on driving for about 10 more minutes until we stopped to get leaves.

Of course, whether it’s guns or grizzlies, we have the same Creator of all and Protector: our Lord Jesus. It is an awesome God that we serve.

The other day I had a run-in with a greater power than grizzlies: the power of the Good News. Now, of course as a missionary all of our work is dedicated to the spread of the gospel. But sometimes that involves so much mundane, and so little excitement (yeah, I know, that’s life everywhere!). Well, sometimes you get such a beautiful chance to share good news that it charges you for weeks…

My friend appeared at my door one afternoon without calling (perfectly acceptable protocol on the rez). She is white, but more Native in her thinking than any white person I’ve ever known. Her daughters are Native on their dad’s side, and her life is much like mine, living on the fence between Native and white cultures. I knew I’d like her right away when not long after she met she said she is really angry still at the hideous evil done to Natives in God’s name. She was unsure I’d want to be her friend, though, with strong opinions like those. Ah contraire! If she didn’t get angry at false Christianity, I wouldn’t be as drawn to this friendship.

Yet when she showed up saying she needed tea and a slice of my homemade bread, I actually winced inside. I still had a lot of cleaning to do before having company that evening. But the Holy Spirit said “talk”, so talk I did.

My friend is still learning the difference between false and true Christianity. She has been coming to church, but she is loaded to the max with questions. She says, “I’ve tried Christianity, and it doesn’t work for me.” So we get to talking about what she’s heard about what Christianity is. Folks, I really think ol’ Satan has 2 jobs: either prevent people from hearing the good news, or TWIST anything they hear (whether it’s because they don’t understand or because the messenger is wrong). How it must break the Father’s heart to see people trapped in false concepts of who He is! How joyous it is to speak His good news and see someone amazed!

Sometimes giving the Good News is telling someone the Passion and the Romans Road. Sometimes it’s telling them that the Bad News is a lie.

Summer camp time!
Gladstone is full-speed ahead, in our first week of camp season. Last week, another work team helped with so much, especially making bunk beds for the new cabins.

These cabins are soooo beautiful compared to the old (probably 100 years old) ones they had before. They are in a cozy, peaceful section of the woods, yet close to the circle center, outdoor kitchen, and (most importantly) the new washhouse. The previous workteam put up cedar paneling for the interior, which is not only cozy and pretty, it’s also very graffiti-proof—whatever goes on, just gets sanded off!

Jeff is even more excited than the camp kids (if that’s possible) over his new waterslide at the lakefront. He made it out of an old conveyor belt, and it is 70 feet of downhill, slip-slidin’ fun!

We are excited; yet it is also the time to PRAY. The Lord really uses these camps to bring these kids off the reserves or away from the cities, and tell them of His love and His ways. We need your prayer that He will work once again. We have all been discouraged by some of our own Piikani youth straying from the Lord. Yet we know that the war is not over. It still rages on. If Jesus said that our faith could cause a fig tree to dry up or a mountain to be thrown into the sea, how much more will He hear our prayers to touch the lives of the precious souls He created?

Our friendly neighborhood website developer asked us yesterday, “So, just when are you going to launch your site?” Well, perhaps perfectionistic and procrastinating tendencies go hand in hand. We didn’t (don’t) have quite everything ready. However, we really really need to get the word out! So if you’re reading this, we’re praising the Lord!

It’s been a long haul since last October when the Lord answered our prayers to have someone build a site for us. Tristan has patiently and professionally worked with us over the “quieter” (ha ha) winter months.

I just finished reading another ministry blog that was so wonderful. Here’s hoping my muddled momma brain can somehow let you, the world, know what an awesome privilege it is to serve our awesome God here in this corner of Alberta.

Now…

Blastoff! Yeehaw!

Filed under: Uncategorized — June 5, 2006 @ 2:06 am Edit This
The birdie comes home to roost. Americans are on both sides of the immigration issue, both making good points, and both completely forgetting one little teensy detail:

America was founded by people who felt it their God-given right to come here and displace the previous occupants.

Of course this didn’t happen overnight. But the ideology crept in, one greedful step at a time. God had certainly given them this land….their only duty was to be obedient and seize Canaan from the wicked inhabitants!

C’mon, folks. Welcome to the Age of Grace. Jesus’ style wasn’t necessarily “I will give you as much land and power as you like as long as you have the courage to discover it and conquer its inhabitants.” Yes, I know what happened in Canaan. Yes, I believe the Israelites did the right thing…back then. They were obeying God. Says so in my Bible.

Was Christopher Columbus obeying God? George Washington? Andrew Jackson when he said that he believed all Indians should be pushed to the other side of the Mississippi river (back when that was seen as a desolate place)?

The more I read on the illegal immigration issue these days, the more passionate I become for one thing: wisdom. Neither side seems to have grasped the full picture, yet.

And every single treaty that the US Government has made with the Nations who were here previously, they have broken.

What is legal? What is illegal?

Ahpistutuki, spumukinan. (Creator God, help us.)

Filed under: Prayers, Ministry — May 23, 2006 @ 1:54 am Edit This
My friend “B” is younger than me, but has much more experience parenting. She has 4 of her own, and 4 foster kids (neices and nephews). She has been raising them alone for over a year, now.

So when she received news that she had Stage 3 cancer a few months ago, all of us who love her were devastated. Not her, Lord; too many kids need her! When she found out that she only had 6-10 years to live, she was heartbroken. People told her to get rid of her foster kids, but we all could see plainly how happy they are with her, and she with them. She was exploring all the alternative cancer remedies, though it was often overwhelming.

But one thing she knew to do: pray.

And that’s what we did, too. We prayed as a church: “Lord, we know full well that you can heal her! Lord, we really, really want to see her healed. Lord, if you don’t, we know you know best, but please heal her, to show Your power.”

About 3 weeks ago, we met for a ladies’ Bible study, and B told us of a dream she had had. There was a Presence in her room, and He touched her ankle and pulled all of the sickness out of her body. She woke from that dream wondering, and after a few days when her cancer symptoms started to subside, she spoke with her doctor. She had new tests taken.

And last Wednesday on my answering machine, B’s voice was so excited, so awed. “I just got the test results back; there is NO cancer WHATSOEVER in my body. It is completely GONE. It is a miracle.” This was just 2 days before she was to have undergone major surgery.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. You are awesome.

I sure was excited to start my own blog. Could anything be more gratifying to the write-aholic than to know that one’s opinions can now be shared with the entire world? (As if anyone would actually read them.) Ah, I was ready. And more than the usual blah-g, my mission was also to get you all (that’s you, whoever is reading this) up to speed on the latest with the Nemeths and “our” ministry here in Alberta.

I posted and I typed and I actually had one friend (besides my inlaws) who mentioned she had read my blog. Great, I figured, it will catch on as we get the word out about our website.

Well, the wind picked up and something happened on the technological end that I still don’t understand, and voom; all my posts (ok, ok, so there were less than 20) were wiped out. Gone. Somewhere, I was told, between Tennessee and New Jersey. Lost like luggage, I guess. Swept away, leaving but a bare slab of a blog-site. I am left with the memories, but next time I’ll save the really good ones to my hard drive (am I vain or what?!).

As for you, dear reader, please be patient as I gather blog momentum. I am a mom with 3 children ages 6 and under. Need I say more?

Now that I’m done grieving my lost blog, perchance I can move on to newsy items. For instance, the wedding this past weekend at Gladstone. I was thrilled to be a part of it, especially because the groom is the son of some very special NAIM missionaries. I really enjoyed “playing caterer”, too, because it takes me back to the times I catered and waitressed in my younger years. The only difference now was being a mom in between, trying to manage getting my kids fed and instructed in wedding etiquette, serving tables with a baby on my hip, and taking diaper-changing breaks. It was crazy and fun.

The couple wanted an outdoor wedding. And what a beautiful time of year. In our neck of the woods, the sprouting spring-green leaves were a gorgeous contrast to the deep green evergreens, and a certain common yellow wildflower (read: dandelion) proliferated the green meadows.

However, this is Alberta. And so Murphy’s law says that in Alberta, you will have 12 consecutive perfect days until the hour of the outdoor wedding, at which time it will rain. So, to the basement of the lodge went the people, chairs, flowers….but what about that huge arbor securely anchored into the ground?

Ah, never fear, because galloping in on a white horse–or, rather, zooming in on a green quad–comes Jeff, chainsaw ablazing. zzzzzip, zzzzzzzip, and the arbor was ready to come inside. The neat thing is that it just fit through the door (there wasn’t time for taking measurements).

Now, you might think it sad to have to take a wedding indoors, but I honestly think the ceremony was so beautiful in itself, we may not have noticed it as much if we were outside. Also, about 10 minutes into it, the clouds literally began to part, with almost a circle of blue and sun over us. It was beautiful, and to me, it was as if the groom’s mom, who passed away a few years ago, was watching. There was a blessed sweetness to this wedding day.

And you never know when you need your chainsaw…even at a wedding!

My friend “B” is younger than me, but has much more experience parenting. She has 4 of her own, and 4 foster kids (neices and nephews). She has been raising them alone for over a year, now.

So when she received news that she had Stage 3 cancer a few months ago, all of us who love her were devastated. Not her, Lord; too many kids need her! When she found out that she only had 6-10 years to live, she was heartbroken. People told her to get rid of her foster kids, but we all could see plainly how happy they are with her, and she with them. She was exploring all the alternative cancer remedies, though it was often overwhelming.

But one thing she knew to do: pray.

And that’s what we did. We prayed as a church: “Lord, we know full well that you can heal her! Lord, we really, really want to see her healed. Lord, if you don’t, we know you know best, but please heal her, to show Your power.”

About 3 weeks ago, we met for a ladies’ Bible study, and B told us of a dream she had had. There was a Presence in her room, and He touched her ankle and pulled all of the sickness out of her body. She woke from that dream wondering, and after a few days when her cancer symptoms started to subside, she spoke with her doctor. She had new tests taken.

And last Wednesday on my answering machine, B’s voice was so excited, so awed. “I just got the test results back; there is NO cancer WHATSOEVER in my body. It is completely GONE. It is a miracle.” This was just 2 days before she was to have undergone major surgery.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. You are awesome.

Finally, we are online again.

We had more problems with our host and regrettably had to make a change.