It's another week which means another blog post! Welcome back to those who have been suckered into my writing and to those are new thanks for joining! This time it is now 11 at night but you can't tell by looking out the window as I write this blog in the natural light. Here's a photo of 10 o'clock at night. The sun is still shining in the sky! Yes, I did take the photo solely for the purpose of putting it on the blog.
This is the paragraph you can skip reading if you know what this blog is about. Welcome we are a Vacation Bible School team that teaches in remote Alaskan villages only accessible by plane, boat or really dedicated crazy hikers. We fly into the village because we're not the dedicated crazy hikers. We crazy in other ways!
This week we got to be the beautiful village of Kokhanok. Yeah, have fun trying to pronounce the name. If you say it slowly first you just might be able to get it. We were able to stay in the church which is a new church. As a repercussion of Covid there were mattresses at the Church! Score! Being totally honest there were 8 bean bags there which I definitely was more excited about than the mattresses. Due to not having a pastor there they live stream or Youtube services so there was a 72 inch tv there too! Okay we don't know how big it was because we had not way to measure it. We know it was bigger than 63 inches.
Matthew 18:3-5 was on my mind this week which reads, "And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."
We did just that this week as we built a blanket fort to sleep under, drank water from a hose, saw how far we could spit (okay that one was just me), watched Lilo and Stitch on a iPad in a car, watched other movies on bean bags and went to the store to buy candy! Outside of our normal of doing crafts, playing tag, eating snack, and playing with puppets. (Disclaimer the verse is not talking about blanket forts but more so the trust children have.)
Back to the fun! Monday came and we took two trips because flying farther with a full load is a lot. We would rather have the increased cost of fuel than be dead because we ran out runway. Jennifer and I headed out on the first plane at 9 am. The first day we started with 4 kids and ended with 2! It was an adjustment as the prior week we had 10 kids before VBS even started. It was good to be able to more one on one time with the kiddos.
Tuesday we had 5 come, I say as I question which day is which in my brain. We definitely got more kids throughout the week is the point! Children found out and came! Turns out most of them were here 5 years ago when we were last in the village. Some were just 2 years old at the time. It was such a blessing to see them again even it took a couple days before I realized it. One of the benefits of taking lots of pictures throughout the years. At the end of VBS one of the girls couldn't find her craft to which one of the girls replied, "Just pray!" One of our puppet skits we talk about praying about "little" things. It was joy to see how that messaged settled in her heart so quickly.
During the night Katy woke up with a pain in her ear unable to sleep. Don't know she did it but she woke up Zach while both Jennifer and I remained asleep! After making it through the night it was decided that she probably has an ear infection and it would be wise to go the clinic. We called and they were able to see Katy to confirm it. We were able to steam or sauna which helped Katy get a good night sleep along with some antibiotic ear drops and lots of prayers! It was Zach's first steam but I think we got him hooked. Katy is still on the mend but flying Monday will be harder on her due to the pressure of descending.
Thursday we had a new kid come to VBS and his grandma came too! It was such a joy to have her join us during the day. She even won musical chairs! That night we decided to invite the kids to have a movie night. We watched The Pilgrim's Progress or at least an hour of it before we lost all the kids to wanting to do something else. They're active kids so you can't blame them. We let them play with the puppets. During the time they did their own skits and we had them dance to VBS songs. As we were getting closer to saying goodnight the puppets prayed. They even folded their hands. (This is part where you go ahhhhhh!) OH!!!! During lesson time we kids pray to receive Christ this day! (This is where you go PRAISE THE LORD! You can even cry some happy tears if you want to! But seriously Jesus is so Great!)
Friday has become one of my favorite days of VBS this summer. It is not because we say goodbye to the kids. It is because we give them Bibles. We talk about their own Bibles throughout the week and they get excited to receive God's word to bring home. I love that they look forward to it. Every week it's always been the case. This week when we handed them out they started it right away. They couldn't even wait until they got home. (You crying yet because I most certainly am.) For some it was their first very own Bible. The Grandma got one for her grandson and told us that her grandson will grow up with this Bible. Children are being able to be brought up with the word and the God and it blesses my heart dearly. These kids face many hardships to know that in the midst they have the word of God is gratitude far from words that can compare.
From the whole team thank you! Thank you to those who have prayed! The LORD is working! Thank you to those who have given! The LORD has used those gifts for his GLORY! Man we are excited and humbled at what the LORD will continue to do!
On Saturday night during our team time with the Lord we listed off praises from the summer and it included a lot of people. We rejoice greatly in the body of Christ!
It is now almost midnight and my natural light is getting close to the point where I have to turn on a light. Instead I'm not going to proofread the blog this week. Thanks for the grace in all the errors I made! Most of the time I forget words because I can't type as fast as I think. Hopefully you get the main messages across of God is great, kids came to know the Lord and his word, and we are thankful.
Going forward: We will be in Igiugig this next week. Prayers for good weather as the beach has been the best time to have extended time with the kiddos. We will have a host home this week. Prayers for good time of fellowship with our host. Katy's ear to be fully healed. Safety in people coming up to help with other parts of the ministry and those traveling back down. Our fellow workers doing camp ministry nearby. (We get to share a lot of our kiddos with them. We are glad that they get two weeks of Jesus time. After 3 weeks 7 days a week they are needed some extra strength and prayers.)
Looking behind: Those who got Bibles would continue to read them. Those who prayed to receive Christ would continue in Christ. Prayers that Zach would be to connect again with a prior youth who committed their life to Christ.
We love to pray! Let us know how we can be praying for you because we would rather pray than watch the grass grow! Thanks for reading!
P.S. Zach and Katy also made a cutout for the radio station this weekend and surprised Bob the radio station manager! Here's a photo of it in progress. It's done but I don't have a finished photo and its now 12:30 at night so it's dusky outside and not the best lighting for a photo. We'll post a photo on the Facebook page.
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