Chapter 2: North to Alaska: June 2018

We have officially passed the longest day of the year! On June 21st the sun rose at 5:13 a.m. and set at 12:24 a.m. (the next day!) giving us 19 hours and 11 minutes of daylight! As much as we enjoy the sunshine, and do notice the lift in moods this time of year, Colby is quite happy to be moving toward more normal daylight hours again. Even with blackout curtains, it's hard to convince your brain that it should sleep when it's broad daylight outside. In honor of this endless daylight, Bethel held a half marathon on June 16th starting at 8 p.m. (because in Alaska summer races can start at 8 p.m.). Of course it rained like crazy that day for the first time in a long time, so the race became more of a mud run. I ran and Colby drove around Bethel and cheered me on (and made sure I was going the right way). It ended up being a really fun time, mud and all. However, I did realize that running 13.1 miles late at night makes falling asleep even more impossible.

Bright grass green has always been my favorite color. I think that is extra true this year. About a month ago, in what seemed like 24 hours, our world transformed from shades of brown and grey with the occasional raven calling here and there to bright and green and full of life! Bethel and the surrounding villages lie within the Yukon Delta Wildlife Refuge. The swampy tundra with countless lakes and streams that make up this area create a perfect habitat for Ducks, Geese, Swans, Cranes, and other waterfowl which migrate to this region each year to nest. Although you have to get outside of Bethel to see most of the birds quite a few found their way to town, as did many robins, swallows and other smaller birds. I can't tell you how amazing it's been after the longer winter to hear birds singing in the morning and to see ducks swimming on the lakes as I walk to work!

Fish Camp

Just in case you were not closely following the Kuskokwim Ice Classic this year, Breakup occurred on May 2nd at 7:51 p.m. River travel is now in full swing and the salmon have begun to run bringing a major change in the pace of life. Salmon are a major source of food for most people in this area. They are dried, frozen, and canned and stored to be eaten all winter. So when the season is open, everyone heads to the river. Many families have fish camps outside of town on the banks of the river where they hang and dry their fish. Colby and I were able to go with our friends, Francis and Lianna, to their family's camp this weekend. I'm still learning how the whole process works, but it is amazing...and a lot of work! The fish are caught, cut, and hung in a smoke house. The fire in the smokehouse needs to be kept at a smolder at all times, so someone needs to get there every day to keep it going. Some families stay at camp for the whole summer, others travel back and forth if their camp is close to Bethel or close to their village. It was so nice to get out of Bethel and see this first hand, and to see trees and have our own campfire :)

Community Garden

Another super exciting thing about this summer is that we have an Alaska garden! Bethel has a small fenced in area in the center of town that is used as the community garden. Each person pays $5 to reserve their row, water and garden tools are provided. At the beginning of the season we had a work day to clean up the space, have our rows tilled and get the shed ready. Colby put his construction skills to work to build shelves in the garden shed which everyone very much appreciated.

We know very little about gardening, let alone gardening in Alaska, but through watching what others do and asking a few questions I think we are off to a pretty good start. The growing season here is short (it's considered safe to go in the ground after June 1st and frosts can come early in September) so the things that grow are limited, but we have baby kale, onions, red beets, turnips and potatoes in our row, in addition to spinach and lettuce in planters on the porch. Possibly the most helpful thing this garden season is that my dad was here to help plant!

Dad Came!

One of the things I looked forward to most about this summer was my dad's visit to Bethel. It's good to live in a time where communication is easy, where pictures can be sent and phone calls can be made to stay connected. But especially in a place like this, nothing can compare to actually having a person here to meet the people and share in the experiences. Somehow we managed to time his visit for the absolute most beautiful week of the year. We had sunshine and 70 degree weather almost every day and he came and left just before the mosquitoes came in full swing (I now wear a mosquito net on my head to work in the garden, and I am still currently typing with 7 bites...on. my. face....there will be no picture). We toured all of Bethel (a few times) and even stopped for coffee at the new drive through coffee shop (the only drive through of any kind in Bethel). He was here for the Bethel Art Camp, which is when the dumpsters in town get to be painted, so he was able to see the transformation.

Before

After

Dad helped me plant the garden, was able to help with some work projects at our church and helped transport some things to the Bethel dump for a friend in town, we kayaked down Brown's Slough which runs through town, and (Thanks to Keira and Jesse) we were able to get out of town by boat to see the village of Kwethluk and to have a picnic. God gave us a really perfect week, I can't think of anything that could have been better. Goodbyes never get easier, but I'm just so thankful for the time we do have.

Church Events

Because our little church has been growing so much lately, we came to realize that some extra space would be very helpful. The church voted and decided to add some extra room onto the existing sanctuary to solve the problem for now. Job made the plans and most of the men from our church went to work at making it happen. In just a few weeks our church went from a tiny cylinder, to a tiny cylinder with a room on the back!

Because so many people in Bethel disperse for the summer months, we decided to take a break from our Wednesday night King's Kids. To wrap things up, we had a fun last night where we gave awards and had root beer floats! There were a lot less kids than usual because many had already left for the summer, but it was still a great time and we're looking forward to starting again in the fall.

The week after our King's Kids wrap up, our church held a vacation bible school. This is one of the biggest events of the year for our church and a lot of work goes into it. Pastor Bruce's parent's came to town to help lead and Job's family was also here to help with the activities. In total we had around 80 kids throughout the week, just over 50 each night. We had a bible story, games, snacks, verse memorization and a clear gospel presentation each night. It was definitely a tiring week for everyone involved, but it was so good to meet and have the chance to connect with so many kids from our community!

Final Thoughts

Over the past few months God has continued to teach us so much about ourselves, about each other, about the people around us and about Himself. Lately he has been teaching us to trust Him and wait on his leading as we make decisions about what our life and ministry here should look like. In my own study, God has recently brought me back several times to Isaiah 58. I was first pointed to this chapter while reading a great book "Disciples are Made not Born," (highly recommend) which Seth and Cassie sent us a little while ago. As I was reading through the verses I was very much convicted and realized that this was a part of scripture I had never really paid attention to in the past. Since then I have been brought back to these words several times through sermons and in my own reading. I would definitely encourage you to read the whole chapter (really the chapters all around there to get the context) but the specific verses on my mind today are Isaiah 58:10-11....

"if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

God has been impressing on me first, that we are not called to give out of our excess but to actually pour ourselves out for those who are in need. Giving of myself is definitely not something that is comfortable, and in reality it is something that I am very hesitant to do. But the promise that comes after that is so incredible. As we give of ourselves the Lord promises to guide us, to satisfy us, to make us strong and to fill us up. It's just such an incredible picture of this life in Christ, He calls us to pour ourselves out, but all the while He is filling us up to overflowing. Anyway, I just thought that was worth sharing, hopefully it will be an encouragement to you as well!

Prayer Requests

Please pray that we would have wisdom and hearts completely open to God's leading in regards to future decisions (pretty sure this is just a continuous process through life)
We will both be doing some traveling over the next month. Me to Hooper Bay for another field clinic and Colby to Talkeetna to work with Job. Pray for safety, productiveness and relationship building during those times
Job's boat motor is currently not working and he is without a plane, so pray for village transportation for Job and Colby to continue with bible studies in Napakiak and other outreach ministries
Finally, continue to pray that God would open the hearts of people in the Delta to His truth and that we would begin to see lives transformed by the Gospel.