Anyone know Alex?

Reading through old LAMPLighters, I can across this awesome note from 10-year old Alex that was posted in one of the early editions. It makes me wonder if he ever volunteered with LAMP? Here's the letter, copied as written:

Dear L.A.M.P.,

I am going to work with you when I am a grown-up. I am 10 years old. I am a student at a Lutheran School, and my dad is the pastor at our church.

I love the Lord the Father in heaven and I'll give up anything to do His will. I have this little flame inside my heart that could become a fire. I keep thinking that I should be with you and I think the Lord wants me to be there, or at least be a missionary. I'll pray for you and the people you serve.

I think if I was living where the people you serve are I'd like a pastor too. I am only in 4th grade so it will take me a while to get there. Write soon. Yours in Christ, Alex

You see, it's letters like this that make me pray without ceasing for kids across southern Canada and the United States to be touched in this way by the power of the Holy Spirit when they hear of our ministry through our "Fueling the Mission" program. (Although my prayer is that their "little flames" turns into "fires!" and that they go wherever God leads them, taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.) Take a look at our present "Fueling the Missions" materials by clicking here.

VBS No. 1, 1970

The community of Chipewyan Lake, Alberta relaxes in quiet isolation 230 miles north of Edmonton. About 200 Cree First Nations people lived beside the small lake back in the 70's; presently the population shows to be about 90. Chip Lake was a Christian community; although there was no resident clergyman, the people gathered regularly in the small log chapel for worship. In August of 1970, the Youth Board of the AB-C District (LCMS) and LAMP flew in five teenagers and Pastor Cliff Guebert to teach a week of Vacation Bible School. Here's what those first VBS'rs reported:

"When thinking back on our trip to Chip Lake, we can't help but thank God and our church for giving us the opportunity to gain experience and awareness. Awareness of created land, trees, and lakes. Experience from living with people, learning to understand them and their culture. We were to teach a VBS if possible, but we didn't go with the idea of bringing these people from darkness into light. We are not going to say, "Now this is the way we do things and it's the right way." Instead we had the materials, and it was there if they wanted to come. As it turned out, it was accepted by the children, and they in their own way enjoyed it. The materials that we used were in some ways useless, because of the very isolated area. The topic was "Neighbors," which was good, but the idea of relating it to a city neighborhood was a bit out of reach for these people.

We were the ones that had to understand religion from their point of view, and from ours too. But at the same time we had to remember that we were worshipping the same God (as one of the Indian men had reminded us.) I think in judging the amount of time that we lived there that the people that benefitted the most were ourselves. We first became acquainted with the children by playing tag one evening. This fellowship progressed to ball games with the whole village each night we were there.

The situation also developed so that we had open house every day with both adults and children drifting in and out. We were amazed at how so many had the ability to play the guitar. The last night we were there one of the Indians had a fiddle and we all joined in and square danced. It was there that they first became familiar with pizza, and it was unfamiliar to them as bannock was to us. (Bannock is their form of bread.)

The most outstanding lesson that we learned was that the Indians, even though different in language, culture, and race are people just like we are."

Written by Ruby McCulloch and Sharyn Pieper
The LAMP Lighter, Volume 1, No. 1, September 1970