Alaska Mission Trip #3

It's Monday, we must be in Unalakleet, AK.

The tour was designed to focus on small villages in western Alaska. Unalakleet was first on the list. These villages have all been here for years...count centuries...2000 years and more. Why here? River and Norton Sound converge for great food supply from the water and lots of food - meat and berries - from the land. And everything you see in these villages got there by plane or boat/barge...everything.

The people were very warm and welcoming. The temparature was very cold (10 degrees) and the wind fast (60 mph plus gusts). We were behind a bit because of Bob's delayed travel from the lower 48. The plan was to always do the school assembly first and then the evening program at the church. We had to reverse that for Unalakleet becuase we just got there in time for supper and then the evening performance at the local church. We do it that way to help get more people out in the evenings to hear the Good News of Jesus. Hopefully the students are intrigued by what they have seen and heard during the day and they bring others with them at night.

The church was still full in large part because of some great work by the local members and youth ministry volunteers. Unalakleet is blessed to have some very solid local Christians (we found those in every place we went) but also some young people focused on youth ministry in the community. It definitely pays off! (looking for a place to volunteer some time and help make a difference in the lives of young people?)

Supper was amazing. We were hosted by Jeff and Donna Erickson. Jeff is the son of a former Covenant Church Pastor to Unalakleet who served there long and died there as well - no outsider who came to endure a short stay and leave. His children are there now too and call it home and contribute strongly. Donna is a native from Barrow, AK (67, count'em, 67 days of darkness in winter). She works for Bering Air and makes GREAT berry pies. She has a personal quota each year to pick and freeze over 200 gallons of berries (blue berries, salmon berries, a local northern cranberry...) We had salmon, great home made bread and pies.

She is also the gal that let Jenica use one of her hand made parkas. (polar bear fur on the inside, then wolverine and then wolf at the edge of the hood.)



Various local folks hosted us for the evening. Jenica, Bob and I stayed with the local Pastor of the Covenant Church, Joel Oyoumick and his wife Olga. Great hosts!

The local High School (part of the Bering Strait School District) hosted the assembly the next morning and the response was strong. Bob always gave his VCR (Value, Courage, Respect) talk in the schools. Our job was to bring some joy through entertainment, model strong family relationships and entice them back for the evening performance when we would share the gospel.

The challenges these people face are many: a radical shift in lifestyle with introduction of "white" ways; alcohol and drugs; and abuse are high on the list. Suicide rates are high. Only a small portion of the native population is Christian. More on all this as I share with you about the other villages we visited.