A little history…
In 1996 I landed on the side of a mountain in Southwest BC, not by choice but by circumstance, like pretty much everyone else up there. The one thing we had in common was that life had thrown us all a curveball. Some were Christians, some were running from their past, and some were just passing through. It was as close to paradise as you could get, as long as you didn’t mind deprivation, hunger, and the occasional bear or cougar. It was a simple life, so full of things to do just survive, there was no time for frivolous things. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have fun.
David Lillos, was a man who actively sought out a place of refuge for people who could see the evils and decadence of society and wanted to live by faith. But there were a lot of challenges back then in the mid 1970’s, with a lot of drugs, and druggies, everywhere. And, since the “church” in the cities looked down on the place, there was favour from God, and that was all that mattered.
I first found out about the place when a bro took me up there after church one Sunday afternoon. Little did I know that I would be living there full time only three years later.
The most incredible person that I remember up there was David’s wife, Heidi. A year before she arrived, we were sitting in the Summer Kitchen, and, out of nowhere, David announced, “Her name is Heidi!” We were like, what? He said that God just told him his new brides name was Heidi. To say we were a bit skeptical doesn’t cut it. And, since I was only there for the weekend and still didn’t know everyone, I just kept my mouth shut.
One year later, almost to the day, as I was driving up to visit one Saturday, I came around a corner and saw what appeared to be a woman walking, loaded down with a backpack, a suitcase and a hockey bag, wearing a heavy fur coat.
I stopped.
“And who have we here?” I asked. “Heidi”. Heidi….. of course. I loaded her stuff into my car and drove her the last mile to the Summer Kitchen.
You should have seen the look on David’s face! He was beaming. His bride had arrived. The first thing she did was go to the sink that was like a science experiment and started cleaning.
They “dated” for a few months and one day, they stood before God and pledged their lives to each other. It was magical.
From left to right, James, Heidi, Darryl, Richard, Mountain Ed, Me, Eddy, and Rick in the Summer Kitchen, 1997.