The clock in the kitchen here in Brevig Mission says 1:18 pm, which means we have less than 45 minutes until Day Two of Vacation Bible School. The view from this computer is still brilliant blue skies and still bluer seas. I can see multiple mountain ranges in the distance and people are still catching fish after fish.
Because the weather is so good, we worried we'd have a small attendance at Bible school. But they came. When it was all said and done, we had 49 kids who filled out attendance sheets. 49 kids and then 20 more at teen night, all in a village of maybe 350 people.
Bible school was the usual mix of stories, crafts, games and songs. The kids grow up fast and I struggle to remember their names because they look so mature since I last saw them. But all was well. Our theme for VBS this year is "God loves all people," and we're using several stories that show God's love for a diversity of folks. Yesterday, we did the Zacchaeus story and the kids hooted to see Karen Voris play Zaccheaus, jumping to see over a crowd a climbing a "tree" to see Jesus. After the skit, the kids stayed engaged for longer that I'd thought for singing time. We led them in a couple of songs and then Pr. Brian got on the guitar and they sang along. One of the highlights of the day for one of our volunteers was watching how some smaller boys were misbehaving and then seeing the teenage boys walk over and quietly and effectively admonishing the young ones.
Before we dismissed the kids, Chris Boehner passed out toothbrushes to every child, a gift from someone she knows who works in a dental office. We saw that toothbrushes are $4 apiece in the store here and kids' mouths are full of silver fillings.
After Bible school, Karen, Carol Petersen and I went over to visit Darla. She's a mom I know here and she had come by earlier and invited us to visit. So we went and were treated to a fine supper of BBQ fresh salmon, rice and corn fritters. I always feel humbled to be welcomed into homes here in Brevig.
At 7 pm, I went downstairs to welcome the teens to teen night. We'd forgotten to hang up signs announcing the event, though we'd told several kids about. I sat down there, alone, for about 30 minutes and no one came. Well, actually, two high school boys stopped by, but when they saw there were no others, they left, saying they were going to go talk to their friend Kevin. I was feeling really bummed. I thought they wouldn't come back. I was feeling bad that we hadn't hung up signs. I was mad at myself for not pushing hard enough to get teenagers to come on the trip.
And then, suddenly, there they were. Those first two boys came back, with a bunch of other guys. Then the girls slowly trickled in. We did some group games, then played cards and made friendship bracelets. I smiled to see the boys playing "I doubt it" with Carol and Jerene. They stayed until 9 and promised to come back tomorrow.
I plan for this trip every year and then I always feel like I lose some control as soon as I step off the plane in Nome. I always wonder how it will work out and if people will come and if they'll have fun. And somehow, it always works out.
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