The Storyteller
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Hazel Hahne (Lakota Sioux)
Hazel grew up on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When her family moved to the town of Dupree, she experienced prejudice for the first time. However, at a young age she ended up getting married to a white guy in order to get away from the abuse at home. The result was not what she was expecting.
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Soapy Dollar (Mescalero Apache) Part 3
"I never dreamed, I would not have dreamed this life, because it would not have occurred to me that it could happen. But God has opened up doors of ministry and influence and opportunity that are beyond my comprehension, and He?ll do the same for you."
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Soapy Dollar (Mescalero Apache) Part 2
I had evaluated everything that came into my life, even as a young street urchin. I knew it was all about me, every person that came down the sidewalk, everything that happened to me in my life, immediately my thought was, ?How was this going to affect me? How do I get benefit out of this?? Just a little con artist, a little manipulator, and totally self-absorbed, maybe by necessity, as all the street urchins are, but that?s the way I had learned to think and exist.
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Soapy Dollar (Mescalero Apache) Part 1
Danny was the big man on campus. He was the meanest, toughest, most foul-mouthed boy on the ranch, and we all wanted to grow up and be just as tough and mean as he was. But he would kick us around, hit us, yell at us, force us to do his chores and things, just a very mean fellow, but one day Danny just changed, totally without any explanation, without any warning his life changed. His demeanor changed, his vocabulary changed everything about him, and nobody knew what had happened.
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Cheryl Anquoe-Parnacher (Kiowa) Part 2
She tried everything, and couldn't find peace. She even thought of suicide. It wasn't until she connected with the same thing that her Kiowa ancestors learned that Cheryl found what she was looking for. Listen as she shares the rest of her story.
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Cheryl Anquoe-Parnacher (Kiowa) Part 1
Cheryl is a Kiowa from Oklahoma City. Her family is originally from Mountain View, OK. In this first part of her story, Cheryl talks about the confusion that resulted from her parents splitting up. She recalls going to church as a child, but as she got older, she chose another way. She got involved in drinking - using it's favors to try to find peace. But it only brought more pain.
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Gilbert Tracy (Navajo) Part 2
Admitting that he had a problem with alcohol was difficult, but it was necessary. Though his wife stayed by his side and his family stayed together, his drinking had taken it's toll. He felt that he may become another statistic of alcohol. He felt that God was so far from him. But He wasn't. Listen as Gilbert tells how he found forgiveness and restoration.
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Gilbert Tracy (Navajo) Part 1
"I used to sit on the hillsides back when we had no electricity or running water in our community I grew up in. And I used to gaze into the sky at night and the only friends I had were my dogs. I would sit there on a hill. I'd wonder where, and why and all these things. My sense of belonging... and all these questions were always there."
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Raymond Muckuk (Ojibwe) Part 2
"It was amazing because of who I was. When that craving was taken away from me, from my drinking, from my fornication, it was just a relief, like I was someone else, someone brand new."
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Raymond Muckuk (Ojibwe) Part 1
"I was so depressed, and often I would wander off and just walk around in the bush and try to make sense of it all, what life, what it meant. I never felt so lonely in my life, and I had no hope. So I started thinking about suicide; it was the most ugliest place I?ve ever been in and I tried in so many ways to make sense of it, but I couldn?t see it. 'It?s either kill somebody or kill myself', that?s what I was thinking. 'How am I going to do this?' So I said, 'Well, I?ll die drunk, because...
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Charles Paul (Maliseet) Part 3
Charlie's childhood experiences of physical, mental and sexual abuse left him a hating, cold and violent person who for forty years succumbed to the empty life of alcohol, drugs, crime and destruction, until one day God caught his attention, and he discovered the source of real life.
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Charles Paul (Maliseet) Part 2
Charlie's childhood experiences of physical, mental and sexual abuse left him a hating, cold and violent person who for forty years succumbed to the empty life of alcohol, drugs, crime and destruction, until one day God caught his attention, and he discovered the source of real life.
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Charles Paul (Maliseet) Part 1
Charlie's childhood experiences of physical, mental and sexual abuse left him a hating, cold and violent person who for forty years succumbed to the empty life of alcohol, drugs, crime and destruction, until one day God caught his attention, and he discovered the source of real life.
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Darla Shupik (Lakota) Part 2
The drinking and drugs so easily could have taken her life. But somehow she survived. Darla tells about how God turned this broken individual into a new creation. He took away the drinking and drugs, the anger and hatred... and now she's a new person. She gives God all the credit.
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Darla Shupik (Lakota) Part 1
Darla shares with painful honesty how broken and difficult life was. Hers is a story of simple survival. Abuse, drugs, poverty, anger, hatred... these marked her life. One day she came across an ol' partying friend whose life was now so different. Was it possible that Darla's life could change too?
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Matthew Backwater (Cherokee) Part 3
"It was like everything he was saying was he?d taken a page out of my life, and he was reading it before everybody and telling me how no matter what I?d done or where I?ve been, God loved me so much that He was going to send His Son to make a way for me to be able to have that relationship with Him that He wanted in the first place."
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Matthew Backwater (Cherokee) Part 2
"I got sentenced to six years, three years in and three years probation in the prison system, and in prison or jail, it?s all about race. So I hooked up with this Native brother and, you know, I just started doing things that he was doing."
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Matthew Backwater (Cherokee) Part 1
"The whole time growing up, I always swore that I?d never be like my dad. I was always going to be there. If I had kids, I was always going to be there for them, and when I finally had kids I?d still say that, but you know, even though I was there, they would have been better off if I hadn?t been, because of the things they saw me do. I turned out worse than my dad. I showed them that, 'I?m here, but I care more about getting drunk or high then I do about you.'"
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Shannon Sanderson (Cree) Part 2
Shannon knows the pain of losing a child. She lost one of her babies five months after he was born. He lived through seven operations, but eventually ended up on life support. Finally, his organs began to shut down. She was faced with the decision to remove the respirator from him. Listen as she explains what happened next.
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Shannon Sanderson (Cree) Part 1
Shannon is from the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. When she was young, both her parents were alcoholics Later on they became Christians, but she got into partying. When Shannon found out that she was pregnant, she tried to turn her life around. She didn't want her kids to see the same things she saw when she was a child.
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Matt MacIntosh (Creek)
Matt grew up as a preacher's kid. He knew lots of things about religion, but with all he knew, he didn't understand what God required. And for some time, he really wasn't interested. Listen as Matt shares how he came to understand that he was lost even though his dad was a pastor.
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Tom Claus (Mohawk)
New Years Eve is a very special time in the Claus family. It was on that night many years ago that the family gathered together around the radio and heard something that would change their lives forever. Listen as Tom reflects on the significance of that day and what it means to him after all these years.
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Jason French (Cherokee)
Jason French relates the Christmas story from the Bible, the story of the Christ, and tells what it means to him and to everyone who listens.
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Storyteller Christmas - Tom Claus
Tom Claus reflects on what Christmas was like growing up on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario many years ago. After all the gifts were opened, the family would sit down together and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Tom goes on to read the story for us and then speaks about the gift that God gave to all people - His Son, Jesus Christ.
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Claus Family Christmas
Celebrate Christmas with Huron Claus and his family. Huron invites you to join them as he gathers his grandchildren around him and shares the significance of Christmas. You'll enjoy the heart-warming expressions of the little ones as they interact with Grandpa.
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Alex Smith (Cree) Part 2
Alex observed the genuine faith of his room mate at the outdoor program, "Higher Challenge". He took note of this young man's commitment. Later, at a youth retreat, Alex heard about the fate of those whose names were not found written in the Book of Life. This concerned him. Listen as Alex shares about the outcome of that event and the impact that it would have on his life.
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Alex Smith (Cree) Part 1
Alex is from the Montreal Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. He grew up without a father, and moved around with his mom quite a bit. When they returned to the reserve, Alex ended staying with his grandma who taught him some important life-lessons... including respect. He speaks candidly about his turbulent youth and the impact of a program he got involved with called, "Higher Challenge".
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Ted Kejick (Ojibwe) Part 2
Living at home with his biological family was difficult. The longer Ted lived there the less hope he had in life. At age 15 he finally reached a point where he had had enough. He walked out of the house and went back to stay with his foster family where he knew that he was loved and accepted. But while he was there, he would learn about a love that surpassed even that of his foster family.
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Ted Kejick (Ojibwe) Part 1
Ted was born with Cerebral Palsy. His mother left him at the hospital because they told her that he would not make it through the night. He was bounced around in foster care and spent a few months with his family, but ultimately was placed in long term care. Ted felt valued and loved when he was in the care of his foster parents. They called him their son and treated him like one of their own. Told that he would never walk, they invested in the belief that he would... and he eventually did....
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Mae Moses (I'upiaq)
Mae shares her story of faith and recounts what it was like to grow up in a remote village of Alaska. Born in the village of Unalakleet before modern conveniences reached that far, she was aquainted with the ruggedness of life in the north. Fishing and berry picking weren't recreational, they were essential to living. She has good memories of life there. And it was there in the village where she met the most important person in her life... who is still with her today.
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Herman Williams (Navajo) Part 5
Herman tells the story of being cursed by a medicine man. He had gotten very sick and yet the doctors could find nothing wrong with him. As they crossed the reservation line to go see a doctor, the sickness would go away. As they headed back though, as soon as they got on the reservation, he got sick again. It didn't take long after that for Herman to figure out that something spiritual was going on.
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Herman Williams (Navajo) Part 4
Herman heads east from Montana to Minnesota. He was on his way further into the "Cowhide land". He was planning to attend the Mokahum Indian Bible School on the Leech Lake Reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Herman speaks of how he called to God and how God answered. He encourages his Native people to call out to God and hunger for Him.
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Herman Williams (Navajo) Part 3
The adventure continues as Herman explores the land of the cowhide. He finds much more though than he ever expected. Listen as he tells what happened next.
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Herman Williams (Navajo) Part 2
He'd never been off the rez before. There were many things he had never seen or heard. So when the opportunity came, Herman made his way into a brand new world. What made this adventure particularly interesting was that he only spoke the language of his people. Be prepared to laugh and wonder as Herman continues to share his story.
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Herman Williams (Navajo) Part 1
Herman was born and raised on the Navajo reservation in Chinli, Arizona. He grew up in a time and place much different than today. In this first of five programs, Herman introduces himself and tells of how, as a baby, he wasn't expected to live very long. Because of his illness, he didn't go to school. His grandparents raised him and he learned the Navajo way.
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Julius TwoHearts (Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux) Part 3
When people can tell you they see the joy of the Lord or they can see God in you, WOW, that makes it more worthwhile. That just gives me that joy that?s inexpressible, because there?s people that walk up to me and ask me, "Why are you always smiling, why do you smile?" Well, it ain?t really me being happy sometimes; it could just be the joy of the Lord, and that gives me a chance to just tell them who I am and why. That gives me a chance to say it?s all about God.
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Julius TwoHearts (Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux) Part 2
All this time these people are witnessing to me, telling me Jesus loves me, then I start finally understanding what they meant. They told me that Jesus came here and died for sinners. He died on the cross because of the human race rebellion and sin - that we needed a Savior, we needed to be born again spiritually. That?s when the Lord opened up my eyes to what it meant that I needed to be born again, because I was lost and I needed salvation, and Jesus provided that when He came to earth and...
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Julius TwoHearts (Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux) Part 1
I started running around as older adults do when I was a teenager, and we got caught one night, and we had an open container; I was only fourteen years old and I got judged as an adult, and I had to sit in jail. They wouldn?t let me out of jail for seven days. It hurt me, and that?s where, I believe? that was the turning point where I wanted to get even with society. I wanted to get even; I wanted to rebel against any kind of authority or law.
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Edna Shugak (Dena'ina) Part 2
She wondered what the point of life was... why should she go on living. She contemplated suicide, reasoning that it made more sense to leave the perils of this existence. Listen to Edna's story of how she struggled with these things, and the conclusions she reached.
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Edna Shugak (Dena'ina) Part 1
Edna grew up in Pedro Bay, Alaska. Her father died of stroke when she was five. Her mother knew how to live in the bush, but did not know how to work in the city... so they were poor. But they worked at it. At age 14, because she had some education Edna's mother charged her with heading up a commercial fishing venture for the family. They did this for four years, then she went to Anchorage to go to school. Her mother soon died and left Edna feeling very alone. It was around that time that...
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Chug Garreau (Lakota) Part 4
Chug has chosen to follow Jesus Christ instead of the traditional way... and there are many who don't understand. He says, "I've encountered other Native Americans who look at Jesus Christ as the Whiteman's Gospel - as something that is harmful and hurtful to them. And so they try to leave you with a sense a guilt... "Well how can you be a Native - embrace something that is not Native, that is not of your culture, your background, and heritage? How can a person do that? We're supposed to...
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Chug Garreau (Lakota) Part 3
The road to recovery can be long. Everywhere he turned there was alcohol. If you've ever been there, you know what Chug is talking about. So how did he deal with the temptation and ultimately find victory? Listen as he shares how he found the answer.
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Chug Garreau (Lakota) Part 2
"I knew I was doing wrong." Chug describes his awareness of how his life was going. After spending the night in jail for a DWI, and with his wife in the hospital after giving birth to their son, the shame and pain of life had become to much. He began looking for a way to end his life. But something happened that changed his course.
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Chug Garreau (Lakota) Part 1
"I remember sitting in the evening at the Silver Spur in Pierre. And I remember looking up and watching the crowd and hearing the music. I could see the smoke. I could see people laughing and dancing and everything going on around them. And I distinctly remember saying, 'God I don't want to live this way anymore'."
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Leo Bartibogue (Mi'kmaq) Part 2
Sometimes we have to hit bottom before we're ready to humble ourselves before God. That's what happened to Leo. It was in deep crisis that he called out to God, and God answered in a powerful way. Leo put his hope and trust in Jesus, and he's never been the same.
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Leo Bartibogue (Mi'kmaq) Part 1
Leo is from Burnt Church First Nation located along Miramichi Bay in New Brunswick. At a young age Leo got involved in alcohol and drugs. It was his way of dealing with the deep issues of life. But they wouldn't bring healing... only more trouble. Listen as he shares his testimony of how God saved him and set him free.
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Cassandra Okimosh (Pottawatomie/Menominee ) Part 3
When Christ died, we?re able to accept that death and kind of take it as our own, and so, now when God looks at us, He doesn?t see our sinful selves but sees the sacrifice that Jesus made, and that covers for our sins, so that, once again, like God originally intended, we can be with Him. Ultimately, Christ?s death and resurrection and a relationship with God is a gift that God wants to give to each of us and to each of His children, but it?s something that we each still need to accept, and...
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Cassandra Okimosh (Pottawatomie/Menominee ) Part 2
Finally I came to this point where God was telling me, ?You can choose that path, you are free to choose that; I will let you go, and you can go and drink and sleep around, but just know that means that you lose Me.? And that was a really scary thought to me, that God would let me go.
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Cassandra Okimosh (Pottawatomie/Menominee ) Part 1
God showed me that I was pretty good at working with other youth, and my pastor gave me the opportunity to lead small groups with some of the junior high girls. After a little while I realized I wanted to be a missionary and share the gospel, share about Jesus with other people. I told my dad this, and he told me, ?Cassandra, I believe God made you the way you are for a reason and there?s a people right here who need to hear the gospel.? Little by little God changed that around for me, and...
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Allan Jolly (Cree) Part 3
I know if you think about this on your own, if you don?t read the Word you start saying, ?Well, there?s more one way, everybody?s religion is okay.? That?s the way people talk today, but that?s not what the Bible teaches. Jesus said that He?s the way, He?s the only way, He said, ?I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.?
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Allan Jolly (Cree) Part 2
I knew about the Bible, and I always felt in my heart that the Bible was a sacred book. I vaguely remembered some of the verses and one of them says, ?Ask and it shall be given, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.? It just seemed to speak to me. It said that there was a condition to that verse and I thought, ?Well, I haven?t been knocking.? I picked up a Bible and I said, ?God, if this is your Word and if you intended this for me, then I?m going to make a point to read it. I?m going...
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Arlene Edd (Navajo) Part 3
The death of a loved one is always difficult. With one's passing, life's most important questions are often asked. Few ever continue seeking the answers before the sting of death has faded. The answers somehow seem less important as days pass. But this was not the case in Arlene's family. Listen as she shares how the death of her little sister became the turning point in their family's life.
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Arlene Edd (Navajo) Part 2
Struggling with bitterness, Arlene was determined to bring change in her life. She was tired of dealing with the way others treated her because of her mother's illness. She did find change, but it wasn't what she had anticipated.
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Arlene Edd (Navajo) Part 1
Arlene grew up in the heart of the Navajo reservation. It was a simpler time, but her life was deeply effected by the stigma that her family was cursed.
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Mario Swampy (Cree) Part 4
I said, ?Ever since God came into my life and I became a Christian, I?ve learned to forgive. I forgive you.? What was even more astonishing was, he said, ?Thank you. I?m thankful to Jesus that you?ve forgiven me.? Ever since that moment I?ve chosen to forgive him, I?ve never had to deal with that bitterness and that resentment and that hatred which really would only weigh heavy on me. I left it to God.
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Mario Swampy (Cree) Part 3
"One of the things that pastor said to me in Teen Challenge, ?If you go shoveling mud with a pair of white gloves, you can be guaranteed that those gloves are going to get muddy, not the other way around. The mud?s not going to get 'glovey'. You got to be careful, too, who you hang out with and places you go.? I had to learn to separate myself from a lot of the places I went, the people I hung out with, because even that in itself can really weigh on your spirit."
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Mario Swampy (Cree) Part 2
After doing cocaine, I felt this pain in my chest and my heart pounding and I started freaking out, panicking, and all I could think was, ?I don?t want to die and go to Hell.? I remember just crying out to God, ?God, please, I don?t want to die, please, get me through this night.? The next day I was alive. I woke up, and it was just on my conscience heavy; ?You prayed to God and you asked God, ?get me through the night? and He did. What are you going to do??
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Mario Swampy (Cree) Part 1
When Mario was growing up, he wanted to be like his older brothers, and he got into alcohol, drugs and trouble like they and the rest of the reserve did. With the deaths of two of the brothers, Mario began to think that there must be a better way to live.
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Ted Murdock (Cree) Part 2
You've heard alcohol referred to as spirits. Have you heard though about spirits leveraging the bottle? No doubt there are some who will admit this, perhaps others have never thought about it. What Ted experienced was frightening beyond imagination on his journey to loose the chains that bound him.
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Ted Murdock (Cree) Part 1
When alcohol is your master, it effects every part of your life. For some, it comes on slow. But eventually you begin to realize the grip is not you on the bottle, but the bottle on you. Ted speaks candidly of his journey to find something the bottle could not offer.
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Virginia Johnson (Cherokee) Part 2
"A lot of people don?t understand, but He said we were peculiar people in His Word, and I guess we are, and I would rather be peculiar then to indulge in those things that I once did. I just can?t say it enough or couldn?t express it enough, the love that I have for Him. It?s just, it?s sometime that I can?t explain, but I know that He?s working in me each day and helping me put the puzzle of my life together."
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Virginia Johnson (Cherokee) Part 1
"I can remember sitting there knowing it was wrong and knowing I didn?t like it, but I wanted to be like my friends and so I drank. I worked there and reapplied to go back out to Haskell, and I went out there and stayed for three years, and I never graduated. Course, if they could have passed me from hanging out in the bars, I guess I?d of got a good grade there."
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Norman Head (Cree) Part 3
"I prayed about it, and that?s what I did. I totally quit abusing alcohol and abusing my life and letting it go to waste. I want people to know that this is the only way, that the Lord is the only way. He?s our strength. People who are listening to me, I strongly urge you to come to your senses and to believe what I have just testified on. And to know that there is a God that loves you all, no matter what you?ve done in life."
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Norman Head (Cree) Part 2
"My friends, so-called friends, were drinking and that?s the only way that I can solve my problem of being sorry for myself. The guys back home that I partied with, I started seeing them die off, even the younger ones, younger than me have died, and not knowing the Lord. It grieves me very much."
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Norman Head (Cree) Part 1
"I can remember my dad beating up on my mum and giving her black eyes. One night my sister and I, my little sister, my mum was beat up so bad and it was in winter time. The snow was deep, and I figured it was safe for me, and my sister was walking already, she was about three years old, five years, four years old, and I took her to my grandpa?s where I know we would be safe."
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Herman McClanahan (Navaho) Part 2
"Just feeling the change and knowing that I was a new creation, everything was just like sewn up by the Lord. I knew that I had a purpose, that I was to glorify the Lord and to just be a servant; that?s all I want to do is just to be, in everything that I do, I want to be last, just help people. I don?t want any kind of recognition or anything, because it all belongs to the Lord."
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Sophia Harper (Cree) Part 1
Sophia grew up without her mom, and her grandmother was the greatest influence of her childhood. Sophia enjoyed caring for her as she grew older, but when grandmother became ill, she sent Sophia away to other family. Feeling in the way, Sophia set out on a relationship which became abusive, and was feeling trapped by her sense of commitment, and by a lifestyle of drink and drugs.
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- Bemidji, MN
- Storytelling, Christian Talk, World Talk
- English
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PO BOX 1001 Bemidji, MN 56619
877-766-4648
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