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May 26, 2011 (Update)
by Pastor Ron Opmeer
Athabasca Reformed Congregation
At the Slave Lake worship
service last Sunday at the Multiplex, I commented on
how quickly life can change for persons caught in a
crisis.
Three Sundays ago Slave Lake
residents were watching
The Amazing Race
on T.V; the next Sunday they were in a
race for their lives. Three Sundays ago they were
thinking about the May long weekend as a time to
work their gardens or pull out the camper; on
evacuation Sunday they sped by scorched
neighbourhood gardens in some of those RVs as they
escaped the flames.
While properties and
possessions were lost, we praise the Lord that every
resident of Slave Lake made it to safety. As evacuee
Nancy Larocque shared during our May 22 worship
service, as the fires entered her town that fateful
night she thought nothing of saving her possessions
as she packed her car with people. As a result, God
filled her with joy as she drove towards Athabasca.
(Note: Nancy will appear in an interview on
100 Huntley Street,
likely on June 6).
Romans 12:13 says,
“Share with God’s
people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
These
past two weeks God has not only inspired many Slave
Lake evacuees to practice this scripture, but He has
offered us the privilege of practicing what the New
Testament word “hospitality” means, namely, “the
love of strangers” (Grk.
philozenia).
Quick
crisis decisions were made by our church members to
respond to the needs before us. While many of our
congregation focused on serving the 1,200 persons in
or around the Athabasca Multiplex, our church’s
Ministry Centre
was served by dozens of our people as it became home
to around 30 people that first night, and as many as
84 persons later that week.
Ministry really does happen
during the interruptions. Life changed for many of
us in an instant as God called His church to
mobilize.
While life may be returning
back to normal for Athabasca, in many ways we are a
different people as we look forward using our new
Ministry Centre
to fulfill our call to follow Christ in mission.
In an
instant, we are:
“Together:
… serving Jesus Christ our Head… Presenting the
gospel in innovative and diverse ways… Providing
warm and loving places for all ages… (and) Preparing
servant leaders to help others serve with their
spiritual gifts and abilities.”
(ARC
Vision & Mission Statement)
News from Athabasca, Alberta - Pastor - Ron Opmeer
Most are aware that the Town of Slave Lake, Alberta
has been devastated by fires and at least 7,000
residents were evacuated on Sunday night.
As our community of Athabasca is located 130 kms. to
the south on Sunday night we received around 1,000
evacuees with over 600 registering at Athabasca’s
Regional Multiplex to be fed and housed.
I was one of the first to arrive at the Multiplex
along with church Administrative Assistant Barb
Sawchuk who woke many church members to come help
prepare for the arrival of those whose cars and RVs
lined the highway for miles entering Athabasca.
Snacks were immediately prepared, and one of our
members, a caterer, set out to help plan three meals
for Monday for all evacuees.
That same night a half a dozen church members
scrambled to our new Ministry Centre, a former
seniors home, in order to prepare a dozen beds for
those with special needs (young moms, and the
physically challenged.) The Ministry Centre housed
30 persons on Sunday night and provided showers and
food. Kitchen volunteers worked through the night to
prepare muffins for the Multiplex breakfast, and
cleaning volunteers quickly prepared additional
rooms as 30 more mattresses were added on Monday. By
Monday evening the Ministry Centre was buzzing with
more than 60 residents, many of whom could be
staying for over a week due to the loss of many
homes in Slave Lake.
Please pray for the fire situation, and that
Christians in Athabasca will be able to minister
God’s presence to the evacuees wherever they are.
There are no immediate financial needs but updates
will be provided as the crisis continues.
* * *
Melanie Opmeer's Report
Hello All,
Thank you so much for all of
your prayers. We certainly appreciate them and will
need them in the days to come. That being said, we
are doing well here in Athabasca.
Update: We are currently
housing approximately 60-70 people in our facility.
Late Sunday night we began preparing around 30
rooms, cleaning bathrooms, floors, pulling in
mattresses, etc. The majority of the rooms had been
standing empty since January (the seniors moved to
their new lodge then) and needed our attention. As
we were still cleaning many of the rooms the first
of the evacuees began finding their way to our
facility around midnight Sunday. Many came in
shocked and weary, a few children in tears. Their
evacuation was very quick, with minimal time for
people to prepare to flee. It was so wonderful to be
able to direct them to a peaceful, safe and private
place to put their families to bed for the night.
Yesterday (Monday)
was a full day of arranging for further mattresses,
emergency cots, and bedding as we had quite a number
of rooms available but nothing for people to sleep
on. We cannot express how thankful we are to the
people of Emmanuel Community Reformed Church and
Devon Community Church who provided us with towels,
bedding, pillows, blankets, etc. Your efforts were
not only appreciated, they were essential. As cots
came in from the Red Cross we were able to quickly
make up the beds. These rooms were used last
night for evacuees, and we are almost at capacity in
our facility. Your donations were a key element we
needed. The blessing was multiplied because since
you took that significant task off of our hands, we
were able to work on other urgent needs that were
pressing. We want to especially thank Pastor
Kurt from Devon and Irene Apon from Emmanuel for
driving the items to Clyde, where they met up with a
member of our congregation to deliver the goods.
The commercial
kitchen at our facility is in constant use now as we
cook for our guests and are also supplying some
foods to the main kitchen at the multiplex (the main
evacuee site). Recent estimates state that we have
approximately 1,000 residents of Slave Lake staying
in Athabasca. Our town is only 2, 500 people (6,000
in our county), so you can imagine it’s been quite
an influx! At present, we do not know how long
we will be hosting our guests. The main concern will
be ensuring what is left of Slave Lake will have a
clean water source, power, natural gas and amenities
for returning residents. No one is saying yet when
that will be.
While, thankfully, we have
plenty of volunteers and donations in our community
please do continue to pray:
·
Pray for the
people of Slave Lake, who need God’s peace at this
difficult period of waiting. Very little accurate
information regarding their homes and town is
available – rumours are rampant and often
distressing.
·
Pray for
strength for the volunteers in Athabasca, who are
housing and feeding hundreds of people at present.
·
Pray for peace
in the processes of caring for these people. As you
can imagine, many decisions and plans have been
made, and continue to be made, in very urgent times.
·
Pray that God
will move mightily in this situation to draw people
to him.
When we purchased this facility
this spring for our new church home many of our
members did so with a strong desire to allow the
building to be a real ministry centre and to use the
rooms to bless people in need. Little did we imagine
that it would be for a time like this! Praise the
Lord!
In gratitude,
Melanie Opmeer
Athabasca Reformed Congregation
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