Alaska Mission
Team Journal (July 3-27th)
Entry 4 (posted 7/28/08)
The long awaited and final update is here! The second week of camp was really long compared to the first week. The reason being we were leading High School aged students. They arrived on Monday and stayed until Sunday morning. The High School students were much more mature and less enthusiastic about our silliness and comical antics, so the biggest challenge was tailoring our activities to an older age group. They felt much more like our peers, and it was nice giving being able to give them more freedom and responsibility throughout the week. We performed a drama for them involving all of the counselors. Whistle played a girl who "took" different temptations from each of the other counselors. She tries running from "depression" and cries desperately for Jesus to save her. Jesus comes and throws the built up temptations off her and frees her. The campers responded well to this drama. Many of them were dealing with a ton of built up pain from their home and lives and needed someone to pray over them. We attempted a camp out on an island off the camp's beach, but the weather was not cooperating. We attempted to build shelters out of tarps around the camp, but the rain was fierce and everyone was soaked. We ended up having the first All Camp sleepover in Bromley Hall (the cafeteria)-- separated by gender of course. The time between the second and third week of camp was a few hours on Sunday afternoon. A few counselors went fishing with a fireman from town and caught two Alaskan Salmon, which was our dinner for that night. The third and final Junior High week was much like the second week. We performed both dramas during the week. This group of kids was great. We ended the week with a sleep-over, just like we did with the High School kids. We traveled back to Juneau on the ferry with the ‘out of town’ kids. We departed Alaska early on the 27th.
~ The Alaska Team
Entry 3 (posted 7/15/08)
Wow! We just finished our first week of camp! We had elementary school-aged kids and they were quite the challenge,but fun at the same time. We had about forty-something kids total. We played and had fun with them, but were glad to see that they were also interested in learning more about God and Christ as well. They had many questions for the Bible study leaders and were more than willing to learn more about what it means to follow Christ. The final prayer
service (which we call vespers) was very emotional. The servant (high school assistants) staff performed a skit showing how God can help us when we feel tied up by the world. It hit home for many of the kids. Some of them had no idea what being Christian meant or even what a Christian was. One girl gave her life to Christ which was amazing. All in all, it has been a very tiring, but ultimately rewarding week. We are now in Haines taking a much needed break. Hope everything's going well at home and we will update this when we can.
~ The Alaska Team
Entry 2 (posted 7/7/08)
Hey all,
we got into Haines safely after a long flight and ferry ride. we saw some whales and met some people from Chico on the ferry. It's a small world.
We were picked up by Amy (camp director) and her crew at the ferry station then dropped off at the church where we are staying this weekend. After being briefed by Amy, we then retired.
The next day we participated in the parade and got very muddy playing some mud volleyball. We bonded with the community and the Seattle crew (who just departed) with a crab feed. We killed the crabs ourselves which was quite an experience. We also had 'minute per quarter' showers which didn't turn out so well for some of us. We then watched fireworks and bid farewell to the Seattle crew.
Today we bonded with the community more at a BBQ and are now setting ourselves up for a hike.
Hope every thing is well at home!
~ The Alaska Mission Team
Entry: 1 (posted 7/1/08)
Hello friends, family and partners in this ministry to Alaska!
We are so grateful for your support for how God is moving here in Alaska and how He is going to use us for his good work. We could not be here without you and truly feel that you are here with us! We appreciate your generosity in prayer and resources to get us to Alaska.
Our departure date is Thursday, July 3 meeting at the Sac airport at the beautiful hour of 5am. We will fly to Juneau and then take a 5 hour ferry to Haines. This area is known as Southeast Alaska or simply “Southeast.” It is a gorgeous ride. We will post some pictures in our next update so you can take in just how breathtaking God’s creation is in this part of the world. We will arrive in Haines around 9pm on July 3.
Our mission will take place outside of Haines at Rainbow Glacier camp (RGC) where these seven students will be camp counselors for 3 weeks. All of these students have “camp names” that they will be answering to for the entirety of camp so I hope you also will learn to identify them by their camp names! I introduce to you: Whistle (Caitie Reiter—student leader of the trip) Breaker (Ryan Rodriguez), Peeps (Garvey Peterson), Rodeo (Kendall Fredericks), Tulie (Laura Sawicky), Moto (Kayla Naylor), and Brita (Karen Eley). We will be joining up with Mexi (a counselor from Southeast Alaska), Kilt and Templeton (counselors from University Pres in Seattle that also has a partnership with RGC and have been leading the first 3 weeks of camp). The director of the camp is Yea Yea (Amy Nash) and is originally from Seattle but is currently a missionary living in Haines. All of these names you will probably see thrown out a lot, so I want you to know who they are!
Each week of camp is designated for a different age group— July 7-11 will be Elementary camp (Age 9-12), July 14-19 Senior High camp (Age 14-18) and ending with July 21-26 Junior High camp (Age 12-14). Go to www.rainbowglaciercamp.com to find out more! These students come from all over Southeast some traveling on a ferry for 3 days! This camp is a great outreach to the kids of Southeast Alaska who often come from very troubled backgrounds full of substance abuse, depression and poverty. This camp is their week to truly be kids. What a privilege it is for us to be used by God to share the love of Jesus with these kids!
Our first few days will be experiencing the amazing 4th of July festivities where the tiny Haines community (about a 1,000 people) come together to celebrate through a mud volleyball tournament, a pie eating contest, a fun run up a mountain (literally), a BBQ and other fun competitions. This will give the students a taste of Southeast culture and build relationships with the people of Haines. They will also be preparing for camp and the many responsibilities they have ahead of them. RGC counselors run the entire camp—they plan and lead the camp activities, the Bible lessons, they sleep in the cabins with the kids… they are with the kids 24 hours a day, all week.
So would you take a moment to pray right now for…
1) Safe travels and Minimal flight/ferry delays
2) This team—that God would grant them peace and courage as they step out in faith and expectation for how God will move in and through them
3) Logistical preparation for camp—Bible lessons, activities, etc…
4) Energy and time to rest during camp so that they can fully invest in the kids!
We will be updating you on a weekly basis! There is more to come…
Grateful to be partnered in ministry together,
Jessica Lazdins, camp name “Nitro”
College Ministry Intern