Getting There

Transportation in NCEM

“Funny you should mention transportation,” wrote Tom and Donna Cnossen. “We just spent a half-hour each way traveling 12 miles to visit.”

The Cnossens were responding to an e-mail request from the Northern Lights editor about “transportation.” After 24 miles of “washboard, mud, potholes, puddles, more mud…,” transportation seemed like a relevant topic!

The road they travel isn’t always that bad, but transportation is relevant to all of us in NCEM. After all, we have responded to the Lord’s command to “go” (Matt. 28:19) — so in this issue we’d like to tell you a bit more about how we’re getting there.

It’s northern Canada’s vast and rugged geography, plus the extreme seasonal changes, that make transportation a major factor in our mission work. It isn’t hard finding stories — the experiences are innumerable. Tom and Donna also tell of difficulties that local believers had just getting to church. For instance, sometimes a chainsaw has been needed to remove fallen trees from across the road on Sunday mornings. As for themselves, “We’ve learned that a 4×4 is best for this road,” they say. “We have two of them!”

So, how else do NCEMers get there? And what are some of the other challenges?

First of all, the oldest method of all — walking — is still pretty practical for doing ministry. For missionaries in smaller and more isolated villages, like Jim and Lois Stauffer, vehicles are only required for traveling “in” and “out” of their community. But for them, and others, ministry also takes place out “on the land.” That’s where skidoos, ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) and boats — more commonly used elsewhere for recreation only — are a necessity.

There are also a few other rather unique ways that NCEMers have traveled. The late Roy Markel hitched his sled dogs up to a bicycle in the summer (somewhat successfully). Former missionaries Wayne and Chris Friesen used their garden tractor and trailer around town (till the police informed them that it was illegal). And missionaries crossing lakes or rivers on newly formed (or melting) ice, may still push small boats — into which they jump for safety should the ice break.

Chris Friesen also mentioned horses. “It was a great inroad to people’s lives,” she says. “I used my horse to get back and forth to the Reserve … through my horses I have been able to share the Gospel with many women.”

But for most missionaries — and with more roads built every year — it’s cars and trucks that transport them to and from their ministries. Phil and Grace Welch, in the Maritimes, stressed the missionaries’ need for reliable vehicles — and sufficient funds to operate them. NCEMers in the area are not able to live close to the First Nations reserves. “It’s definitely a ministry where we must GO to them,” they say.

Jim Davis, a Headquarters worker who has been involved in a weekly urban children’s ministry, explains, “If we didn’t have a mini-van that God kept running, we’d have been unable to serve at Club, and also unable to bring kids from our end of the city to participate.” And for summer outreaches, Jim wonders, “Can you imagine Bible camps without vehicles to get kids there?”

Albert Heal’s comments take us back a few years: “When I first ‘joined’ NCEM in 1954 as an MK,” he remembers, “our main transportation was dog team in the winter and boat in the summer. My dad had a very reliable team of five dogs … [Then] in the early 60s Dad bought a used Chevy pickup to use in the spring to fall months for visiting and hauling wood.

“In about 1962 he got his first skidoo. It was big and heavy and had a 7 hp Kohler engine. In 1964, the skidoo became our main winter transportation for many years. In summer Dad always had a boat … I remember one trip. Dad had a 7-1/2 hp Evinrude outboard and it took us two days to travel the 50 miles.”

Albert has covered a lot more distance in much less time. He has served as an NCEM pilot for our fleet of Cessna planes. With commercial air travel in the North very costly, having our own Aviation Department has proven very practical. But, as Albert tells, getting there is still a challenge.

For example, team evangelism to locations in the Northwest Territories means sending fuel ahead on a summer barge. The 900-mile trip (from the Airbase) can only be made when the ocean is frozen, because our planes are single engine. Spring is a good time to make these trips, says Albert, but “spring” can still mean temperatures in the -30s with potential blizzards. “Then there is always the challenge of finding the barrels of av-gas under the snow drifts.”

Weather can be a big factor in NCEMers’ travels, especially so for flying. “We’ve often had to wait out storms,” says Albert, “but it’s missionary work as usual when we are delayed. There is always lots to do, no matter where you are.”

Gilbert Bekkatla regularly visits Dene communities — some by air and some by road — and, along with mechanical breakdowns, he knows how much weather affects plans. He tells of many opportunities to minister to people during these delays. “God uses these delays if we are submissive and available,” he says.

Gilbert was raised in northwestern Saskatchewan, the son of a fisherman. “I grew up in communities where travel very much depended on the weather,” he explains, “so I just do what I can when I can!”

That’s how it often is for our missionaries. But that’s okay because transportation is more than just getting there. It’s also ministry on the way — ministries such as talking to hitchhikers, or to young people on the way to and from Bible camp.

It is also sharing with Canada’s First People while traveling the very same routes their ancestors traveled for generations … and in the very same way! We conclude our “Getting There” article with these thoughts and experiences from Tom Cnossen:

“By far the best traveling that I know — and some of the best ministry I’ve had — has been paddling canoes on our Higher Challenge voyages. Nothing can compare to days and days of travel through pristine boreal wilderness. The rhythmic dip and swing of a paddle can prompt some of the best thinking a person can do!

“I like conversing in a canoe, too. I’ve had some great talks with teens. They really open up on a long trip. It is one of the best ways I’ve found to really get to know them and hear where they are coming from. Canoes have brought us into beautiful, wild and remote places where it is quiet enough for a teen to think, for a body to get free from tobacco and drugs — and for the Spirit of God to begin to open up a hurting heart.

“But one of my favourite trips was with my adult friend, Buddy. The two of us went up to the Churchill River for a few days. We paddled and fished and visited. It was one of those trips that will live forever in our memories — a trip when I really got to know my friend.

“It was invaluable discipleship time — a lot like in the Bible: … a lake … fish … a boat … a friend.”

Adapted from our Northern Lights magazine (Issue #480). Note: some of the locations and involvements of our missionaries may have changed since the original publishing of this article.