Brevig Mission, Day 1

Hello from Brevig Mission, Alaska, just under the Arctic Circle. This is the first of a series of blogs about the Central Lutheran Church (and friends) trip to lead Vacation Bible School for a week in this Inupiat native village.

This is the third year Central has taken the trip. It's my fourth year, as I went with Amazing Grace Lutheran in 2004.

Our team this year consists of 11 people: Joyce, Shannon, Marilyn (a guest from St. Andrews' in Eagle River), Lawrence, Donovan, Merri Lynn, Lisa N, Ted, Karen, and Jay (my brother who lives in the OC, California. He thinks this is really cold!)

Let me tell you how we got here. First, we flew Alaska Air to Nome, each checking group luggage (food, crafts, supplies) as well as personal luggage. We bring all our own food and stay in the church parsonage with Pastor Brian Crockett.

We arrived in Nome on two separate flights yesterday (Saturday, July 12). It was raining and blowing sideways. We saw the sights of Nome (storefronts and the museum). One of our members (Donovan) found out he was actually related to the host at the museum...small world!

We lunched at Airport Pizza, a great all-around dining establishment. Their feature is that they take orders from villages and will put a piping hot pizza on the next plane so villagers can dine on their fare. Yum!

We drove to Teller from Nome, a 60-mile drive along mostly gravel roads. Though the clouds settled low, we could still see lush green hills and clear, flowing streams. Merri Lynn points out that many of the rolling hills remind her of Iceland. Along the way, we saw a herd of reindeer and one lone musk-ox. We also saw fishermen catch salmon at a stream. We only stopped briefly at the creek at Wooley Lagoon, where on sunnier days, I've seen Pastor Matt (from Nome) drink right from its clear waters.

Landing in Teller, we thought we'd stay overnight there. But the parsonage was full of construction workers building the village's new clinic. So, we hopped in Pastor Brian's Lund aluminum boat with outboard motor and he took the first load of folks across to Brevig. He dropped off Joyce, Merri Lynn and Marilyn at a fish camp where he'd left his Honda (ATV) and Joyce drove it (fast!) back to Brevig town site. The rest of the boat (Lawrence, Donovan and Pr. Brian) boated all the way to the town site. There were also three Brevig villagers whom Brian dropped off at fish camp. The 7-year-old boy hopped out of the boat, grabbed a fishing pole and almost immediately caught a salmon.

Brian eventually came back for the last three (Shannon, Jay and me). We were wondering if he'd ever return! We had a chilly but pretty boat ride over to Brevig. This year, we all wore lifejackets. The folks in Brevig almost never do. However, I'd just done a funeral for a man who drowned on the Kenai because he didn't have a life jacket. So we wore the PFDs.

In Brevig, we were greeted by folks fishing on the beach and a musk ox hide hanging from the outside of the church. I got to drive the Honda to the beach and back to haul luggage. I had forgotten how to drive it (and Lawrence got to learn for the first time!) so the kids showed me how. Very humbling!

Inside the church, women were decorating for a wedding to be held today (Sunday) at 2 pm. We hope to be invited but won't insist :) We asked a little girl whose wedding it would be. She said, "My mom and dad!"

Our evening ended with a great chiil supper (thanks Joyce!) and evening devotions.