Morning service

What a great time we had this morning with Togiak Assembly of God.  This is such a great body of believers.  I think there were 15 of them in attendance this morning an it was such a wonderful fellowship together.  Tim led some worship songs and they also led some.  I love hearing their songs in Yupik.  Very rythmic and happy sounding. 

It was very great to present the students from the Bible School here with their certificates.  The 6 of them felt very special as we brought them up front and made a big deal about what they accomplished.  They have now finished their 4th semester, so there is one more until they graduate.  This is very exciting.  Good job Rich & Berin.  You both would have been very proud of all that going on in the ISOM curriculum up here.

I taught on adoption and how we are defined by our Father.  They responded very well.  We prayed for them and had a great time together around the Lord's Table.  There is something very right about taking communion with people of other tribes.  

We have a quick break now and then we will baptize.  After the baptism we will have a pot luck supper.  This is when we are having some of the real native food.  We will do a few more building projects this evening and then get ready to head to camp tomorrow.

River Camp

This is the view up river where we will be camping with the kids. It is absolutely beautiful! The place where we will put the camp is like a beach area, but it is gravel. We are going back up Monday morning to clear some land and build a latrine, and then they are bringing the kids up later in the day. The plan is to stay up here until Wednesday.

Saturday

Last night with the kids was a great experience.  They have about 30 - 40 kids who come every Friday night.  They are really special children.  We went up river today to scout out the camp.  Wow, is this exciting.  (Unfortunately, the internet here is too slow to upload pictures, so they will have to wait until Anchorage.)  The land is 12 miles up river and the ride and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.  Much of the land is muddy and full of brush, but there is a lot of "beach" area.  That is where we will have the sleeping quarters (tents) and the campfire.  It is also where we will play.  We walked the land and prayed over it.  

We thought we were going up there on Monday and helping to clear the land.  Well, it turns out that we are going to be building an outhouse and then in the afternoon they are bringing up a bunch of kids and we are holding a camp for two nights.  I think it's so funny how God has surprises lined up for us in this great life.  

On our way up we saw up close and personal a beautiful bald eagle.  Wow, what an impressive bird.  

Tomorrow we have church service in the morning.  Well, here's another great surprise.  There are about 7 people in the church who want to get baptized.  So, in the afternoon we are having a baptism.  We have a little baptismal that they have never used and we put it in the sanctuary.  We will have communion the the morning, presentation of ISOM school certificates in the afternoon.  Baptism at 3:00 and then a Pot Luck supper to follow with a bunch of Native food.

I will try to update this tomorrow evening but then we will be up river Monday - Wednesday so I won't be around the web.

On a side note, after 3 days up here I think we finally got caught up on sleep.  Last night was the first night that I really got any sleep.  I think about 6 or so hours.  It's not the jet lag, it's the fact that it never gets dark.  This is really messes with the mind.

We are having an unbelievable time and we thank you all so much for praying.

The Kids

What a great day we had today.  First of all it has been fantastic to just be with Marian.  She is truly a remarkable woman of God.  Right after we got here we began rebuilding one of her stairways to get into her house.  We just about finished it this afternoon.  We had a great dinner and then we met with the kids this evening.  There were about 40 of them that gathered in the church and we had a great time.  We played some games and oh, did the kids have a ball.  We sang some songs.  They sang some of them in the Yupik language - that was great.  It was just a great evening to connect with the people.

Then afterward we really had a great blessing.  Joe, one of the leaders in the church is a fisherman.  We got to talking with him and we got to go out with him tonight and check the nets.  So at midnight we are on an 18 ft. aluminum boat with a 30 hp Yamaha outboard motor.  We went about 15 minutes out and came upon his net.  We got 3 big King Salmon in it.  It was raining and cold but it was awesome.  We are believing that God is going to really bless Joe and Lucy and their fishing business.

Sorry if my writing is poor.  I am totally exhausted as I write this, so this may sound goofy.  We Tomorrow we are heading back out to check the nets at high tide and then we are going up river to scout out the camp.

At Marian's house, pic of Togiak from air

We are in Togiak

Well, we made it!!!!  What a tremendous sight to see Pastor Marian.  We are sitting at her kitchen table sharing and having a wonderful time catching up and catching a vision for the week.  The trip up here was beautiful.  We traveled over some spectacular mountains.  

We traveled in on a Cessna 208 for those of you with plane interests - 2 pilots, 5 seats and a bunch of cargo.  We were met at the gravel landing strip by a guy in a truck.  He took us to the church and we got settled in.  It's overcast and in the 40's. 

Some pressure treated lumber from Dilingham arrived today.  We are going to tear down some broken down stairs out back of the church and rebuild them.  We are heading off to the camp tomorrow to scout out the land and pray.  Then we will go back up on Monday and take tools and begin clearing it out and getting a site plan.  The future is very exciting when it comes to the vision for this camp.  I can tell that this camp has potential for a long term relationship between PF and Togiak.

I would love to write more, but Marian is putting us to work. :-) Off we go.  We will also meet with the kids tonight.  God Bless.