Alaska Mission Trip

An amazing opportunity was given to Ryan and me about 10 weeks ago. We were asked if we wanted to join a team for a mission trip to remote Alaska. We would go to a small village of about 300 individuals, most of whom are Inupiak Natives of Alaska. Something about this trip spoke to both of us, and we immediately jumped at the chance. So, last Friday, July 2, we all boarded a plane bound for Anchorage. Our 7 person team also consisted of our friends, Shane and Adrienne, their 7-year-old son, Jackson, and Shane's parents, John and Molly. We had an amazing journey! I will go on and say that there is absolutely no way this blog entry will do this trip justice. I spent at least an hour everyday journaling about the day's experiences, and it's just not possible for me to rewrite it all here for you. So, I will hit the highlights instead and hope you can understand how blessed we feel to have had this opportunity. Ryan and I would love the chance to talk to each of you about this trip so we can fill you in on more of the details that I simply can't write about on this blog.

We left on Friday for our 7.5 hour Delta flight to Anchorage. We made it with no problems and enjoyed some beautiful scenery on the way there.

We were greeted by Jay, a volunteer with Global Mission Partners ("GMP") which is the group that helped us with the planning of our trip. GMP is based out of Calvary Baptist Church in Anchorage, so Jay drove us there where they fed us a wonderful dinner (prepared by the sweetest gentleman from Chattanooga named Tom) and gave us dormitory-style accommodations for the evening.

The next morning, we were given breakfast and driven to the airport where we boarded Alaska Airlines and headed to Kotzebue. Kotzebue sits on the West coast of Alaska 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle. It is approximately 1.5 miles long by 1/2 mile wide. We planned on having a short layover before flying on to Ambler, a village about 45 miles north of the Arctic Circle that is inland on the Kobuk River. That is where we planned on staying for the week. On our way to Kotzebue, we had to first stop in Nome for a 20 minute layover. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Nome, we were told the fog in Kotzebue was too bad to land a plane, so they turned us around and we headed back to Anchorage. After landing in Anchorage, we spend awhile rearranging plane flights and collecting our luggage (we had 15 pieces between our personal bags and boxes with supplies and food for the week in it!) before heading back to Calvary Baptist. Luckily, they had room for our unplanned stay so we were given a place to stay again.

On Sunday, we were again in Nome when they started saying we might not make it into Kotzebue. The pilot was going to start heading that way and would see how things looked as we got closer. Can I tell you this made me a little nervous? I was already scared of a horrible plane crash and leaving our two sweet girls behind, but then this pilot says he will "try and see?" Sigh. Anyway, we managed to time the flight just right because we were able to land in Kotzebue without too many bumps. We were greeted by John and Terry, the pastor and his wife of Kotzebue Baptist. John is originally from South Georgia, so we enjoyed hearing a familiar accent! Ryan was able to take a quick knee-deep wade into the Arctic Ocean which was really cool (pun intended).

We had not originally planned on spending much time in Kotzebue, but our change in flight plans necessitated it. Thankfully, there was extra room at the church for us to spend the night. We spent a lot of time that evening talking with them about their experiences in Kotzebue and the bush of Alaska. He told us of the prophet Manillaq; an Alaska native who lived a few hundred years ago. He is highly respected by natives and many health care and social care areas are named for him. He prophesied that someday a big bird would bring the white man and his black book into Alaska to teach natives about the one true God. I had chill bumps thinking about that.

On Monday, we had some time before our flight, so John and Terry drove us around Kotzebue in the church van. We went on top of a nearby hill which gave us a beautiful view of the city; from far away, it looks like a quaint little fishing town. As we drove out a little bit, we saw the Early Detection Radar for missiles coming in from Asia and/or Russia; I couldn't decide if that was comforting or not. In the valley below this Radar though was a herd of caribou. Our first big wildlife siting! There were probably 100 or so that we had a good look at. That was pretty exciting. We continued our drive and passed several others eyeing the group too; I'm sure a few people had a delicious caribou dinner that evening.

Our tour ended and it was time for us to board our planes for Ambler. Because of our flight changes, John, Jackson, Ryan and I took one 8-seater plane while the other 3 were in a different 8-seater plane. Remember my earlier mention of my nervousness of a plane crash? This didn't help. I'm told bush pilots make these trips all the time which was somewhat comforting, but they don't make them all the time with Ryan and me on the plane.  Thankfully though we had a pretty smooth flight, and we all landed safely in Ambler. Finally, we made it! Upon arrival, we discovered our luggage had gone over the weight limit of the plane, so they left some of it in Kotzebue and would send it when they could. Also, our host missionaries, Paul and Glenda, were not in Ambler when we arrived. Paul's mother had passed away a few weeks ago in Louisiana. They were in the process of driving back to Anchorage to get on a flight to Ambler; some car trouble had delayed their trip. However, they had helped us arrange some transportation help from some of the locals which we greatly appreciated. We thought it was so cool that they drive 4-wheelers everywhere. There are no paved roads in the village, so there is no need for cars; the 4-wheelers are way better! Of course, they use snowmobiles (or "snow-goes") in the winter, but we experienced the fun of the 4-wheeler.

We were all taken to the Paul and Glenda's home which is about 20 yards from the church. They had two beautiful dogs, Kodiak and Sitka, to greet us. Kodiak looks like a Siberian Husky while Sitka is almost pure wolf. Sitka had also just had a litter of pups the week before. All that to say, don't go near Sitka right now. We were also surprised when we arrived at the home to find two individuals staying there. Steve and Amy were with a group called Campfire which teaches cold water safety around Alaska. Since the village sits right on the Kobuk river, these are important skills for the kids to learn. There was confusion because they arrived when we were supposed to arrive, so people thought they were the missionaries supposed to stay in the house. We got all the details worked out though because they were both super nice and flexible with plans. They ended up sleeping in the local school at night while our group had some sleeping in Paul and Glenda's home (which they arrived at on Tuesday) and some sleeping in the church. It actually turned out to be a huge blessing to have Campfire there. They offered a free lunch to the kids each day at 12:30; obviously this attracts a lot of kids! As lunch was ending, we would start with our Vacation Bible School activities which all the kids stayed for. When we were finished for the day, Steve and Amy would start back up with their swimming and survival lessons. Since the sun just circled around the sky and never truly set, swimming in the evening and nighttime wasn't a problem at all. It worked perfectly!

Each day we had great activities planned for the kids. Adrienne and Molly took care of these details, and they did a fantastic job. We had singing, skits, puppet shows, story time, crafts, snacks and play time each day. The kids loved it! The songs were praise music which had the kids up and dancing around. The skits were great too. One of the skits was called "The Smallest Man in Alaska." John was covered up and put his arms around Jackson. John was then charged with the task of getting Jackson dressed (putting shorts on his arms and shoes on his hands which is why he looked so small) and ready for the day (putting on a tie, shaving with a pretend razor, brushing hair, brushing teeth and eating cereal). John couldn't see what he was doing and Jackson couldn't use his hands to help, so it led to a big mess. All kids love a big mess! The puppets were used to tell lessons about sharing, loving your neighbor and God's love. For story time, the younger kids stayed in the church to hear Adrienne give Bible stories while Shane and I were outside with the older kids telling them about Joseph and helping them relate to him. Craft time included making faith bracelets, painting rocks by the river, making felt pouches and decorating beautiful crosses. This gave the kids some creative time which was fun to watch. Snack time was always welcome, and play time was just free time to be outside and be kids. We had lots of fun with kickball, bubbles, a pinata, frisbees and footballs. The kids really seemed to have a great time the whole week.  Here are lots of pictures of some of the precious children we met.

We also had a couple of ladies events where we gave out manicures. Several women attended, and we enjoyed getting to know them better. There was also a movie night where we watched National Treasure (a great movie if you haven't seen it), and a game night. We played card and board games inside the church while it was free play outside. Before we left, we also had the opportunity to meet a few of the elders living in the village which I loved. I wish we could have spent more time with them because I love listening to the stories of older people; they have so much experience and wisdom that we can all learn from. We were able to purchase handmade birchwood baskets and picture frames from them too which were so beautiful.

In the evenings while the kids were swimming, we enjoyed dinners with Paul and Glenda. They have been serving in Ambler for three years, and it was wonderful to spend time with them. They are both teachers in the local school. Paul leads the adults in worship in church on Sundays while Glenda leads the children in their home. We wish them all the best as they continue on in their ministries. Even though GMP had sent us to Ambler with so much food, Paul and Glenda were kind to share their caribou with us too. Ryan really enjoyed Paul's homemade caribou jerky. One night we had ravioli with a caribou marinara sauce which we all enjoyed. The best night though was when Glenda made her caribou chili. Wow it was delicious! I think Ryan could have eaten this everyday; he absolutely loved it.

One evening, Paul took Ryan, Jackson and me on his 4-wheeler for a tour into the surrounding hills. We ended up on top of Dome Hill which gave us amazing views of the Kobuk River and Brooks Mountain Range, specifically Jade Mountain. At one point, most of the jade from Alaska came from this mountain, but then the transportation became too difficult so it is no longer a working mine. It was truly humbling to see God's beauty here. What an amazing world He made!

Of course, the main point of this week was to make sure these precious children know that God loves them and we love them. We were thrilled at the end of our trip when a 9-year-old little girl started asking Ryan more questions, and she decided to give her life to Christ. We also found out later that Paul baptized three people in the Kobuk River this past Sunday. Praise God! We really became attached to many of these kids while we were there. We will not forget these children. The Inupiak Natives have such an interesting heritage, and we are so thankful for the opportunity to meet so many individuals on our journey. It is not easy to live in a remote village in Northern Alaska; we ask that you pray for the people that live there, especially their children.