PETER’S TRAILS

Fisher River
A native pastor from Fisher River called me and invited me to attend the funeral of a 13-year-old boy and to hand out Scriptures. I was happy to go.
This was a very sad funeral. The boy who died had had an argument with his foster parents, and when they went to his room later, they found he had committed suicide. The boy’s father and uncle, who are both in prison in Alberta, were brought to the funeral, in chains, by four prison guards. After a visit with them, I offered each one a copy of The LifeLight, and all six of them gladly accepted it.
Following the funeral, the pastor requested that we go to the school at Fisher River, where we had not been previously, to hand out New Testaments. A month later Carl Whiteway and I returned and had the opportunity to distribute five hundred Scriptures in the school. The teachers were so happy, and one of them prayed aloud, thanking the Lord for these easy-to-read NTs.
Carl is a native, about sixty years old, and has a great love for the Lord and a desire to have his people to get to Him as well. He has gone with me on a number of trips to reserves and is waiting for the winter roads to freeze up so we can travel to the more isolated areas.
Peguis
Peguis claims to be the largest reserve in Manitoba. I met one of the Peguis councillors one day in Arborg, and he asked when we would bring New Testaments to their school. The Peguis School has about a hundred classrooms and approximately a thousand students. The students in Grade 4 and up each received a NT. I had been asked to bring nine hundred NTs: seven hundred for the students and two hundred for the staff. At the band office I left a box of Scriptures for the chief and councillors.
Jackhead
It had been three years since I had visited the Jackhead School, and Carl and I had a great time giving LifeLight NTs to the grades four to six students. One of the students welcomed us by saying, “I told you Pete was coming back, and here he is.” He turned to his brother and said, “Now you will have your own New Testament and don’t need to read mine anymore.”
Carl and I also visited Mr. Ross, a native pastor. He had asked me three years ago to come to the school. One time, when he came back after two weeks of holidays, he found that all his books at the church had been packed and a sign hung on the church door: “We don’t need you any longer.” Mr. Ross has a strong desire to serve the Lord, but now he has no church. Instead he teaches several weekly Bible studies and does a lot of personal witnessing. He asked for a case of The LifeLight to give away.
Pine Falls, Bissett, Sagkeeng
Henry Penner and I went to schools at Pine Falls and north of there. We distributed eight hundred Bibles that day. At Sagkeeng we handed out LifeLight NTs to grades four, five and six students. The teacher said he liked these Scriptures because they are easy to read and understand. At the high school the principal eventually accepted the NTs, although he was hesitant at first.
We left NTs at Pine Falls for the students in grades four to six. This was the first time we had been there. Since we had never been at the elementary school in Bissett, we gave New Testaments to all the students there.
Peter Loewen is on the LifeLight Ministries Board and travels to northern Manitoba regularly to distribute Bibles in the schools.