Island Breeze Manitoba Comes to Nunavut from April 4-9, 2010

Iqaluit, at the southern end of Baffin Island, is Canada's northernmost capital city.

On Easter Sunday, April 4, I (Roger Armbruster) flew into Iqaluit along with Isi Masi and Jullius Malama, members of Island Breeze Manitoba, who are building bridges, and making connections between the people of the South Pacific Islands and the people of the far North.

On the flight between Ottawa and Iqaluit, Isi took out his ukulele, and began to sing. Who should happen to be on the same flight, and walk right by him, but Terry Audla, the executive director of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) who had recently been to Hawaii.

Terry asked Isi and Jullius if they were from Hawaii, so they told him that they were from the South Pacific Islands, but further south than Hawaii, all the way from the islands of Samoa and Fiji. Terry told them about how he had heard an Island Breeze Team perform at one of the hotels in Hawaii, so of course Isi and Jullius told them that that was exactly the ministry that they are a part of, Island Breeze, which now has a base in Steinbach, Manitoba.

This was on April 4, so Terry Audla told them that Toonik Tyme was coming to Iqaluit from April 7-12, 2010. This is probably the largest annual Inuit festival, and celebrates the unique culture of Inuit, and the welcome return of spring after a long, cold winter. Even though the schedule of activities and performers was pretty much already established, Terry still promised to try to get Isi and Jullius of Island Breeze Manitoba on to the Toonik Tyme stage in the course of the next few days.

In the meantime, we arrived in Iqaluit on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010, in time to participate in the annual Inuit Easter Bible Conference which was hosted by James Arreak and Billy Arnaquq.
What a time of joy and celebration this turned out to be! The sign behind these Inuit tells it all! They are celebrating with joy because they have been "Forgiven!"

The Inuit worship God, not superficially, but passionately, and from the heart!

The fellow with the striped shirt there is Isi Masi, the director of Island Breeze Manitoba, who, even though he is from Fiji, can immediately identify and enter in with the Inuit who praise and worship in the midst of movement and dance!

Jullius Malama, Isi's partner with Island Breeze Manitoba, also enters in wholeheartedly with the Inuit worship, raising his hand to the Lord with feeling.

The dances that Isi Masi and Jullius Malama perform flow out of a lifestyle of intimate worship with the God who created them for Himself. Here, in the striped shirt again, is Isi, and Jullius is in the row in front of him.

On the Easter Sunday evening of April 4, Isi was asked by the Conference leaders to perform the haka dance for the glory of God!

He was joined by Jullius, and together they performed a haka that depicted the message of Easter. When the message is depicted visually and in action, it is even more powerful than when it is in words alone.

People all over the world are intrigued by the haka dance, and what it means to the people from the South Pacific Islands. Isi and Jullius performed another haka dance at the Toonik Tyme in Iqaluit on the evening of Thursday, April 8, 2010. Sure enough, Terry Audla made good on his word, and got them on the program just in time.

For the Toonik Tyme audience, the guys performed the haka bareback, as they would in their own nation and culture. Isi ended the performance with a leap into the air that really woke up the crowd, and captured their attention for the rest of their performance which was a big hit.

Isi was able to inform the Toonik Tyme crowd that if they wanted to hear more, that they were planning to bring an even larger Team with Island Breeze Manitoba to Iqaluit for the summer of 2010. There will be able to do much more, of course, with a larger team including Maori (from New Zealand), Samoans (from Samoa), and Fijians (from the Fiji Islands).

Now, to get back to the annual Inuit Easter Bible Conference, on the closing night, of Tuesday, April 6, James Arreak and Billy Arnaquq called Roger Armbruster up, and publicly affirmed their long friendship over many years, and prayed over him with other Inuit leaders present (including Etulu Anningmiuq from Pangnirtung on the far left, and Moses Kyak from Pond Inlet on the far right).

On this picture, from left to right, are Roger Armbruster, Isi Masi, Annie Tertiluk, Mark Tertiluk, and Jullius Malama. Mark and Annie, of course, are well-known pastors from Kangirsujuaq, Nunavik, and they will also be welcoming the Island Breeze Team to their community from August 4-9, 2010, during their annual Youth Conference.

One of the speakers at the annual Inuit Easter Bible Conference was a 21-year-old man by the name of Steve Carleton, who was the first Inuit drummer on stage during the Opening Ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics when the First Peoples of Canada (Inuit, First Nations and Metis) appropriately welcomed the nations to Canada for this great event.

Interestingly, not only were the Inuit a part of the welcoming ceremony, but the very symbol that represented the Olympics was an Inukshuk, a symbol taken from Inuit culture that is also on the flag of Nunavut.

Steve Carleton is the son of Boyd and Reepa Carleton, some friends of mine who live in Ottawa, Ontario. Steve already has a powerful ministry, and can speak effectively into the issues that affect Inuit youth today, and he also played the Inuit drum on the last night of the Conference.

It has been a blessing to see how Steve Carleton and Isi Masi and Jullius Malama from Island Breeze Manitoba connected. I have a feeling that they might be doing more things together in the future.

On Wednesday, April 7, Isi Masi and Jullius Malama got on to a plane to fly with me (Roger Armbruster) from Iqaluit to Cape Dorset, Nunavut, to talk to the community leaders there about bringing a Healing the Land Process to Cape Dorset during the summer of 2010.

That afternoon, Isi and Jullius (standing) together with Roger (seated at centre) had a round table discussion with the community leaders of Cape Dorset, including the mayor, some of the municipal council leaders, the elder's committee, the educational authority, the social services, and the church leaders. What a wonderful time we had as the community leaders opened up their hearts to the ministry of Island Breeze Manitoba.

Isi Masi is already quite familiar with the Healing the Land Process, having been a part of the Canada Awakening Healing the Land Team in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, in July of 2006, and in Clyde River, Nunavut, in August of 2007.

Clyde River is now anticipating the process coming to their community during the summer of 2010.

After a very successful meeting with the community leaders of Cape Dorset, Matthew Jaw took Isi, Jullius and Roger out on to the land during the afternoon of April 7 and the morning of April 8, just before they flew back to Iqaluit where Isi and Jullius would participate at the Toonik Tyme Festival that evening.

While out on the land, they saw a real, live polar bear, and they also went right up to the edge of the ice flow, where Roger and Isi are pictured above. All-in-all, it was a very successful tour, and many people in the North are looking forward to the return of Island Breeze Manitoba to the North during the summer of 2010. Stay tuned!