Well, hello there. It has been a bit to long since I (Matt) wrote something, so I figured I would take advantage of some down time to update you on week 2 ½. Again as Lindsay said in the last blog, there is so much to write about. So, much happens in each day that it is often surprising to sit back and think about a particular incident, and than realize it was only two days ago instead of a week.
I decided to start with an overview of what we are doing here on a day to day basis. Six days a week we start out our mornings with an hour of quiet time to read scripture, pray, and just spend time with God at about 8:30. We than move into an every other day rotation of group worship or intercessory prayer at 9:30. This is followed by an hour and a half of team time at 10:30. We use this to debrief the previous days activities, take prayer walks, plan events, and anything else that needs to be brought to the whole groups attention.
After lunch we are free to go out and visit people in the community. We have been blessed with many opportunities to visit with people and share God’s word, or even just encourage believers by getting out and visiting in a more personal setting. We have even knocked on a few wrong doors since there is no such thing as road signs, house numbers, or anything to really distinguish one house from another here in Savoonga. Some of the newest houses do have names of the owner on them, but we have heard more than once of 10 or more people living in a house. So, one name outside does not always help. In fact getting directions for how to find someone’s home is a bit comical.
Here is an example of actual directions I received. “You go down by the Head Start building, go to the last row of houses to the west, on the corner you will see a brown dog, you than come back this way (motioning with his hands), and it is the house by the corner.” So, Lindsay and I ventured out to the other end of town in search of a couple that had called the church and asked us to visit. I had found the head start building on a previous walk, and felt confident that I could figure out the house. We headed SW toward the Head Start building, on the corner there was a dog (black and brown), we headed back toward the church (north), and tried the second house from the corner since our understanding was that it was “by” the corner but not the actual corner house. There was no one home though. So, we decided to try the corner house. Also wrong. However, it turned out to be very much God led.
The woman that was there welcomed us in. As she showed us around her house we discovered that she was the mother of two kids that had been coming to the church regularly. We talked to her about her kids, and she showed us all their photos and awards. A connection began to grow with her and we just kept visiting. We ended up listening to her story of battling severe depression a few years ago. She shared with us a book she was writing as well as some heart wrenching poems she had written about feelings she had when she was going through some bad episodes. It was incredible how she opened up to us, and how much she just wanted to be heard. God worked amazingly. We were able to encourage her in her writing, and to encourage her to continue sharing with others. Mostly I think God used us to give her confidence in her desire to write, and use her experiences to help others.
Before leaving we asked how to get to the house we were originally searching for. She directed us to continue back north along the row of houses. “A little ways down we would see a snowmachine (snowmobile) trail that came through the houses, and there would be a brown dog chained up on your left, and their’s is the greenish house on the other side of the trail. That is their house.” We left her house, went down six or seven houses, found the trail, saw the dog (all brown this time), and sure enough there was the house. I learned that day that dogs are very specifically described, and that you have to know your trails (roads) around town pretty well for directions to make sense. There are a lot more corners than one might think.
Where was I.....I believe I was talking about our days. So after school gets out at 3:30 there is usually a stampede of kids coming by the church. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday there is organized kids ministry in the afternoons. We have been reading them stories from a children’s bible, singing songs, coloring, and anything else we can think of to share Jesus with them. Monday of this week was incredible for me. I discovered that I can not assume anything with these kids. I had been noticing that most if not all of the kids that come by know all the songs we sing and the actions to go with them. This combined with chances I have had to talk with some of the kids about whether or not thier families are christians, and stories some shared about their baptisms after a lesson one day gave me an incorrect perception about what these kids really know.
At the end of our time together on Monday, the three of us that were running kids ministry for the day, decided to break up into groups and pray for the kids. I found it encouraging that they all wanted to pray, and was not to surprised when they wanted me to do all the praying as they offered up things to pray for. I also found it cute that they repeated everything I said which made me have to slow down and pause as they followed along. I than wanted to pray the Our Father with them, and was a bit surprised that not one of them knew it. I prayed it out, and they followed along with me. I assumed that since the kids in my group were between 7 and 12 that they would know the Lord’s Prayer. I then explained what the Lord’s Prayer was actually saying, and they listened very intently. Then the questions started coming. “Where is heaven? Did Jesus die? How old were you when Jesus was here? Did Jesus’ family Die? Has anyone in your family ever died? I was amazed as I sorted through these questions with them. I realized that even though they came from Christian families, attended Sunday school, and memorized a bunch of songs, not all of them had ever really heard the story of Jesus or had anyone to answer their questions. They would just go with the flow of things, and than go home at the end of the time. It has really given me a desire to take every opportunity I have to answer questions, explain prayers and songs, and share more stories about who Jesus is with them.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday nights we have scheduled activities for adults and teenagers in the community. Wednesday nights a local teacher has been putting on a bible study, and we are helping with that while we are here. Thursday nights we have a time of community intercession/prayer for Savoonga, Friday we put on a worship service, and Sunday we have a night were we just invite over the teenagers and have small group time. We have also been a part of the Sunday service at the church as well. Some one from the team will be doing the sermon for each week. Lindsay did last Sunday’s sermon, and did a wonderful job.
I shared a short five minute (which actually went 25 minutes) testimony/message at the worship service last Friday. It was incredible and God really blessed me with it. I had the opportunity to share about faith, and was able to use my testimony as well as bible stories to share with them. This led to an opportunity to share with a man that had come by to show us some ivory carvings he had made. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, for him he caught us in the middle of worship and had to wait patiently until the end to show us his carvings. He sat, followed along with some songs, and than stayed for my not so short message of what God was putting on my heart to share with them. Afterward, he produced his carvings for me and a couple others to look at. He took out some rings, and a necklace piece. All where very nice. Than he took out a small mask carved from whale bone that looked like an Eskimo face, and had fur wrapped around the outside like that on their hoods. This was the only thing that I had been interested in possibly buying after seeing one in Homer, and I had not seen one since we had been here even though two carvers a day come by. After some thinking I decided to buy the mask. It was a fair price, and just seemed a bit like a God thing since I was just sharing about faith and how God wants us to put our trust in Him to provide. Long story short, I ended up talking to him for almost an hour after we got the business end of things out of the way. He had not been to church in many years, and a lot of the things I was sharing seemed to be speaking to him. I heard a lot of the things he is struggling with, and before he left he let me pray for him. As he went he had a big smile on his face, and said he was feeling really good. I think God let me plant some seeds in him, and I pray that he will seek God out some more. Thank you Jesus.
Well I got long winded again. So, I would just like to say that Lindsay and I are doing well. There still seems to be a bit of a cold going around here, and we would like to ask for prayer in that. Otherwise we are just happy to be here serving, and looking forward to the next four weeks. We only have one more week in Savoonga, and then we will spend 3 weeks in Gambell.
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