The much awaited day for the Sopel’s return finally arrived. A number of the friends inquired after the meeting Thursday night as to the time of their arrival, as they said they were planning on coming to the airstrip to greet them. I told them that they were supposed to arrive a little after eight. Terri got up and went to the front house to make them some breakfast, as they would have had to leave before anything would have been available in ‘town. Then about 7:45 the phone rang and it was Joe letting us know that they were having some problems, and the flight was going to be delayed until around 9:00, which would have them arriving about 10:00. We called Solo to let him know, as he had talked about bringing the bus.
Shortly thereafter, Margaret, Joyann, and several of their small children came walking on their way to the airstrip. So they were told of the delay, and rather than have to walk home, only to walk back, they sat on the porch and waited, so Terri cooked a little for them as well. Finally everyone headed up to the airstrip, except for Terri who kept things in order at the house. The Sopels were surprised to see close to twenty people there to meet them.
One of this week’s adventures was a trip to Wauna. It had been a few weeks since I had been there, and I wanted to try and reach the man we had walked to Black Water to try and reach. One of the problems with going to Wauna is transportation. You are at the mercy of the bus drivers, and many leave Wauna quite early. One person we very much wanted to speak with was a teacher there, and he didn’t finish school until after three, by which time most of the buses had left.
I decided since the weather had been getting drier, that I would go out on one of the bikes. I asked Compton if he’d like to join me, and he was happy to. Since he had spent so much time early in the month in Matthew’s Ridge, he wanted to get some long service days in. I asked him to try and contact the man in Black Water to let him know of our plans, and see when he would be at his house.
When I got to Compton’s Wednesday morning, he said he had spoken to the man, and he was expecting us around 10 AM. So we set off. The road to Wauna is very rutted, and it was a challenge picking your way and then being able to hold to the course that you choose. Early in our journey I was following another bike. That gave me an idea as to the line to try and follow. But I found myself thinking of the many dogs along the way, wondering if having him in front would have the dogs all focusing on him and we could kind of slip by after him. Or if he would alert the dogs and get them stirred up, so they would be good and fired up for us. This became a mute point, as he stopped at a house along the way. As it turned out, we didn’t see a single dog all the way out.
We reached Wauna before school had started, so we went by the school and spoke to the teacher. We mentioned that we were out for the day and since we had our on transportation, would be able to stay later. He said he would meet us a little after 3:15. We also stopped by a man who lives near the school that Graem had studied with. He mentioned he was going to be doing a little work in the morning, but that he would be home around noon, and we could come by then.
We then set out for Black Water (or more correctly, Black Watta). The road was even more treacherous. At one point, I was headed up a hill, and the road had several gullies washed into it. I had to decide which was the best path through, but as I went along, the one I chose kept getting narrower and narrower, until it was about like a knife-edge, with deep washes on either side. Somehow I managed to keep balanced, and we made it across. We reached the settlement of Black Water, where we left the bike to complete the journey on foot, since the road passes through a long swamp, and consists of a long narrow boardwalk which would not support a bike, even if someone were crazy enough to try and drive it.
When we had passed though the last time (four weeks ago), we came upon a group of white men building a church. As we had passed by, I had heard one of them say, "Look there boys, there goes the devil." I just ignored it and kept walking, but it certainly cut to hear. That week in our bible reading though, was the scripture at Mt. 10:24,25 where Jesus said, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his lord. It is enough for the disciple to become as his teacher, and the slave as his lord. If people have called the householder Be·el´ze·bub, how much more [will they call] those of his household so?" That certainly made me feel much better.
I was anxious to see how the building would be looking this time. I must say it had certainly come a long way. The last time just the basic framework was being worked on. It was a good ways from completion, and work on it had stopped. I expect the men working had had to go back to the states. It also looked as though they may had run out of materials. It will be interesting to see what it is looking like when we leave in April.
When we reach the man’s (Earnest Samuels) house, he was waiting, and said how happy he was to see us. He mentioned how much he enjoys the scriptures, and always is happy to listen to someone more versed in them than him. I decided to share with him what the bible says about what happens to us when we die, since that’s something that we can only learn from the bible, as the only humans who would know the answer are those who have died, and they are not able to share that with us. He mentioned that only a few days ago, a neighbor had poised that question to him, since the man knew Earnest read his bible regularly.
It was enjoyable taking him through the scriptures, reasoning with him on what was written, and seeing him grasp the meaning. He at one point asked me to wait a minute since he wanted to go get paper and a pen, so he could write them down to share with the neighbor. I then showed him how to use the cross-references in the bible, as well as the Bible Topics for Discussion in the back. He was very appreciative. We could have easily stayed much longer, but we had to get back for the man who had said he’d be home at noon. I had thought the next time I went to Earnest, I would take my laptop, so I could show him the video on the organization. But on a hunch, I asked him if he had a DVD player, and he said he did. I told him the next time I came I would bring the video and leave it with him and collect it the following time. That way not only could he see it, but he could invite others to view it as well. He was pleased with that.
Unfortunately, when we got back by the school in Wauna, the man we were supposed to study with was not available. So we spent the afternoon visiting others, including an older man I used to visit a number of years ago. Finally we were able to spend some time with the teacher. The last time we had talked, he said he realized that all religions did not teach truth, but he wondered about individuals in those churches, who sincerely desired to worship God, would he not accept them? We shared John 4:23,24. We talked about the matter of truth. I asked him if as a teacher, if the question was asked of the students whether the sun went around the earth, and one said yes, since that was the way it appeared, would he accept that answer, knowing that the student really believed it? He said he wouldn’t and appreciated what we were saying. He then proceeded to say how he had been invited by an old girlfriend to go to Mass with her. He said he had gone, but could not share in some of what was being done, because he knew from the scriptures that it wasn’t correct, no matter how sincere the people may have been. I was surprised how quick he was willing to ‘throw the Catholics under the bus’. However, based on that, we helped him to see that the same would be true of all religions that taught things that weren’t in agreement with the bible. I left him with the March Awake which addresses the question, "Is There One True Religion?"
I apologize if this has gotten a little long. It’s just hard when I think of all the different ones we get to talk to and reason with. Now for this weeks pictures. The first is a picture of the long boardwalk through the swamp on the way to Black Water, the next is the partially completed church along the way, and finally the arrival of the Sopels.
We are well, although grieving with the Fisher family over the loss of our beloved sister. Just one more reason we must all continue to fight the fine fight of the faith, so we can be there to welcome all our loved ones back
