>It is almost time for us to leave Eden Valley! We’ve been here for over a month now, and we’re leaving on Wednesday in the morning.

You know what? I don’t want to leave. This is the same feeling that I had in North Tallcree (another Indian Reserve in Northern Alberta) three years ago when my family and I left. There is such a need for people here to work with the kids, the teens, but no one is taking that role. George and Ulli are actually looking for someone who can work with the kids on Sundays just like a lady a couple years back named Debbie Ford.

Well, I couldn’t post anything on Wednesday, but here I am after the whole Kids Club is finished. On average, we had 35 kids out throughout the week, which is remarkable! Ranging from ages 3-13, the kids were very excited to sing the songs, watch the simulated violence and cheering and fighting of the Bible stories — David and Goliath, Paul and Ananias, Joshua and the city of Jericho, Gideon and the Midianites, and Joseph and his EEEEvil brothers — and to do the crafts. On top of what I mentioned we’d do before, we also folded frogs (hours of practice time in Gr. 12 math made useful), and made pom-pom guys.

One highlight I had during this week was driving throughout the week for the first time in over a month! I was going around in someone else’s Ford Explorer four-door picking up kids all around the East side of the reserve as George and Ulli picked up kids from the west. I got to say, that was a lot of fun! First, I drove on gravel roads that prepared me for Toronto winter driving, and also piled in 11 kids in the SUV, not including myself and one other kids club leader! A total of 13 people in this vehicle! That’s what I mean by trying to get as many kids out to kids club as we can.

Here’s a picture of all the kids who showed up on Friday. I have a CD-full of pictures that Rob took with his digital camera throughout Kids Club.

Because kids club only went from 1-3:00 pm everyday, we had plenty of time to recuperate afterwards, and then take a swim with some of the kids at Judea’s swimming hole and cliffs. The cliffs don’t compare to the cliffs near Jake’s North Bay residence (where the drop is two SCREAMS long), but I’m getting comfortable jumping (not diving, although some natives do that). At Judea’s, I’ve had lots of fun including these things: witnessing 7-year old (I think) Shay jump from the cliff for the first time, letting two little kids, Levi and Germina, just fling my arms around and babble nonsense words as I’m standing in the water, met the parents of some of the kids (and sadly, some kids don’t have fathers).

I truly wish I could come back to Eden Valley. Here we are, a month in, and we’re lamenting leaving, and only NOW people are beginning to be open to us.

My schedule for

Monday, Tuesday: wait for whatever happens, wait for kids to come over, go swimming, visit Wayne and his daughter Beverly, visit Quentin and Eveleen and their family.

Wednesday: leave for Lac La Biche after draining my eyes of tears with a massive sponge, then squeezing out the sponge by the river to heighten the water level, and then getting into the van waving goodbye to kids outside the window. Ok, maybe a bit too emotional, but it will be hard to leave a place where the people and the place is so beautiful, and the need is so great.

Thursday, Friday: Recap at Lac La Biche, where we’ll meet so many of the other trainee missionaries! More weeping! More stories to hear! More great scenery to try to soak in before we all leave!

Saturday: Take a plane from Edmonton back to the overly crowded Toronto, where rivers are not heard, but highways are the sound in the distance, and the highest mountain around has no rock top, but is topped by a ski lift post (uh, that would be Mount St. Louis Moonstone). I really feel like being born in the city was a slight disadvantage, although I am very thankful to God for all the amenities that I have in the city that we don’t have here.

See ya. I guess I AM looking forward to seeing all my friends back home!