North for the Fourth

7/3
After indulging myself in a delicious lunch at Golden Corral for Ms. Judy Rice’s retirement, I finished my packing and preparation for my trip to Kotzebue. We bought 10 lbs. of frozen hamburger meat and that was placed in my carry on luggage. I also had toiletry supplies(toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) packed in my bags to give out at the church’s fourth of July event. We left for the airport at 3:45 p.m. on July 3 and I boarded the plane for Kotzebue at 5:20 p.m. While going through security they stopped me and dug through my bag, since they thought all the meat looked suspicious. Later, I also noticed where they had even left a note saying that they had also searched my checked luggage. I had a good flight and landed in Kotzebue around 7:20 p.m. We disembarked from the back of the plane and walked across the tarmac to the tiny little airport. I was thrilled about being 22 miles north of the Arctic Circle and about 220 miles from Russia! As I entered the small airport, I was greeting by John Forrester (pastor at First Baptist Kotzebue) and Paul Moore (pastor of GA team). We waited on my luggage in the tiny little room with the rest of the people who were on my flight. So many people had shipped boxes and coolers of alcohol, since none is sold in Kotzebue and it was a big weekend. It was sad to see that people would go so far just to have alcohol. Pastor John told me that some people would sell it for double and even triple the price they had paid for it. I got my luggage with no problem and then hopped into the van with about 6 other ladies and the pastors. We headed straight out for the Tundra, driving right across the runway I had just flown in on! It was gorgeous on the Tundra, but the mosquitoes ate us up while we were out there. We also saw many wind mills used for power and tons of bush planes. As I walked across the Tundra, I could tell that the ground wasn’t very firm, but rather ‘squishy’. This was because of the permafrost that was still deep below us. After our adventures on the Tundra concluded, we headed back to the church. There was a mission team of about 20 from GA that were also there for the fourth, who were also staying in the basement of the church. I met my distant cousin, Stephanie Deal, and walked with a group along the Arctic Ocean, handing out fliers for the kids events that would be held at the church. As we walked along the Arctic, we saw a group of people butchering a seal on the shore. The woman was using a Ulu knife to cut it, while the children rinsed the meat in the ocean. After that, they hung the seal on a rack to dry it out. I stayed in a small, Sunday school room, on an air mattress for the three nights I was in Kotzebue.

7/4
Four days, four flights, four people sleeping in the room with me, and lots of time on four-wheelers! These are just a few of the fours describing my trip to Kotzebue. We had such a great fourth of July, but it was also a lot of work. I was going non-stop from 7:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. Every thing began with a delicious pancake and sausage breakfast and then we watched the parade. Miss Arctic Circle and the town’s police and firemen were all a part and they threw out a ton of candy. Then the preparation for the 4th began! I rode in the back of the truck, holding on to two bags of balloons, which we put in the storage unit. The church rented two storage units. One was used for the balloons and the ‘Bible in a bucket’ ministry, while the other was used for the free sno-cones. This was a huge community 4th of July celebration, similar to a fair (except no rides or games). During the celebration, I took pictures and talked with many of the Native people in line to get their 5 gallon buckets. This event was very beneficial to the community because no one else at the entire festival was offering anything for free, only the church. The Native people I spoke with told me how they would use their bucket to store seal oil or wild berries. After I finished with my interviewing, I began making sno-cones. I scooped hundreds of sno-cones and the church ended up giving out about 1,000 free sno-cones! I then headed over and helped with the face painting. I had a delicious deep-fried Snickers bar and a PB and J sandwich for lunch. The prices of things at the festival were simply outrageous! They were selling McDonald’s cheeseburgers for $6, a meal was $15! All of which had to be shipped in because there are no fast food restaurants in Kotzebue. That afternoon I spent time with the youth pastor’s children. We fished and collected rocks. They were the sweetest little kids and the little girl had me sit by her at dinner. She had blonde curly hair and blue eyes and I asked her, “What is the most fun thing that you’ve done today?” She responded, “Meeting you was the best thing!” After a delicious dinner, we headed back out to the festival area and watched the snowmobiles race on the water!! It was a very dangerous feat because if they went down, the snowmobile was destroyed. That night we walked to the elementary school for the Eskimo dancing and Eskimo games. The dances told their Native stories, such as fishing and hunting. Their games consisted of the high kick and other unique events. We sat in the gymnasium of the school in utter fascination of the games for about 4 ½ hours! The Eskimo children made me smile and really touched my heart, they were so adorable.

7/5
There was only one shower for the team to use, so I woke up at 6 a.m. so that I’d be sure to get one. I ate breakfast and we left for the airport around 7:30 a.m. I was very excited, but a little nervous, as we were about to fly in a bush plane to the village of Shungnak. I took my Dramamine, but ended up not needing it. They asked me how much I weighed and then we headed back to board the plane. Mrs. Bonnie(from GA), Pastor John and I were headed to the village! The pilot on the way to Shungnak let me sit in the co-pilot seat and wear the headset. He told me all about his adventures in Alaska and flew us in areas where the National Forestry Association did not permit us to go. It was wonderful, he flew us down about 1,000 ft. above the sand dunes!! We stopped in the village of Ambler on our way both times and then landed in Shungnak. Each landing strip was gravel and at the end there was a big shed. Our transportation was waiting…Aaron and Hannah on the 4-wheeler pulling the buggy behind them. They drove us to the church and we met up with the rest of their team, who were also from GA and there to help with a VBS. Spring, who I had met at the convention office, was there too. She grew up in Kotzebue and is very respected by the Native people. We made towers of Babel out of marshmallows to help the team prepare for their VBS and then we visited the village store. They had quite a variety, but the prices were outrageous, over $8 for a bag of chips! We played with the Native kids all afternoon and they were so much fun…I carried one little girl all the way back from the store. One of the little girls was deaf. It is hard for me to imagine how difficult it would be living in a village and being deaf too. After lunch, Spring, M.A. and myself then went around on the 4-wheeler, visiting some of the elders in the village. One couple we visited fed us sheefish, which he had caught that morning and wild berries they had picked. The berries were small and tart and very different from blueberries, but I enjoyed trying them. The man told us the funniest story. He said “I kept receiving calls from this man who wanted me to buy bulbs, so I finally told him, I am Eskimo man…I don’t need light bulbs…they will burn my house down!” He was joking that he lived in an igloo, so that the man would quit calling, and he did! Aaron gave Mrs. Bonnie and I the tour of Shungnak. It was not a big place, only about 200 live there, but it was so gorgeous. He even took us across the river to the sand bar on the 4 wheeler. This was when I was riding on the front of the 4-wheeler, so that was really neat! We spent most of the day there on the 4-wheeler and used the radio a lot. That is the main form of communication for the village. They announce birthdays, fish for sale, and even when our flight was coming in. That afternoon we flew back to Kotzebue, but had a different pilot who flew very high up. The ride was kind of rough and one Native woman in the back got sick on the flight. We landed back in Kotzebue around 5:30 p.m. and I bought flat bread (with icing) from a woman who was selling it in the airport. She was also selling huge jars of pickled beluga whale for $50. Mrs. Terri, John’s wife, picked us up from the airport and took us back to the church. Emily, the youth pastor’s daughter, was waiting on me when I got back. I read her Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Clifford’s first Christmas and then we had dinner. After dinner, I braved up the courage to take the Polar Bear Plunge. There were5 or 6 others who also got in the Arctic Ocean with me. The stipulations for receiving a ‘Polar Bear Plunge’ certificate are that you have to get your head wet too! I did and it wasn’t too bad, a little bit cooler than spring water. I went inside, played Uno for awhile and then showered. That night I talked with Pastor John a lot about his ministry in Kotzebue. He really shared his heart and a lot about how God is working in the lives of the Native people there. It amazed me to hear about the winters there and how no one would come to take the position of pastor in Kotzebue for two and a half years. John said, “If I don’t tell the Eskimo people about Christ, who will?” and accepted the call. John and Terri are doing whatever it takes to reach the people of Kotzebue and the other surrounding villages. Things are extremely expensive there, but they know God will provide. I watched the sunset around midnight there on Saturday, which was so gorgeous!

On Sunday, Pastor Paul Moore, from Georgia spoke and the whole church was invited for lunch afterwards. I packed my things up and flew back to Anchorage Sunday afternoon. I sat by a woman from Nome on the way back and she had all kinds of neat stories about the Iditarod. It is hard for me to imagine what it’s like in the winter. They have enormous amounts of snow and some days of 24 hours of darkness.
On Monday I worked in the office from 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and then on Tuesday we made the trip to Healy for the World Changers. We were gone all day yesterday, but I got lots of good information from the pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church and from Bubba. We stopped at the Alaska Veterans Memorial, outside of Denali. It was neat to see how the Eskimo men helped fight and they simply carried a little satchel, while our men carried huge backpacks! The Eskimo people still today live off of the land, many just don’t understand that the Lord created everything that they thrive off of.

Please pray for the people of Kotzebue, for John and Terri, and Matt and Tammy.
Please pray for the villages of Kiana, Ambler, Shungnak, Kobuk and Kivalina.
I will be traveling to Seward and Soldotna on Thursday and Friday, so please pray for continued safety in travel. I'm excited about visiting the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward tomorrow...check it out at http://www.alaskasealife.org/