It has been a few days since getting back home. I have had a chance to reflect back over our time in the village of McGrath, Alaska, and the opportunities we had to minister to the kids. Just a few thoughts to close this mission trip.
The word for this trip was “a new work”. For the past 10 years a group of faithful believers have made the trip to the bush village of McGrath. And over those 10 years God has worked in an awesome way to establish and build relationships between the mission team and the people of McGrath. This was the first year that someone from that regular group has not been a part of the team. I have to admit, a part of me was a little afraid of how this might impact the effectiveness of the team. I knew that this trip had been covered in much prayer, and the team had worked very hard in our planning. But we were a “new” team, two of the four going for the very first time. But as our God always does, He worked it all out.
The first day of VBS brought many “NEW” faces! Many kids had never been to a VBS at the church. This was a very exciting start to the week. One of the workers at the local school mentioned that most of the kids from the school must have been there.
The VBS program that we used was called “Finding My Place In God’s Story” and was based on a scavenger hunt thing. To many of the kids a scavenger hunt was a “NEW” concept. But by the end of the VBS several of the kids were asking questions about God’s story and how they could have a place in it. Two girls talked to one of the team members and mentioned that they wanted to be a part of God’s story, but were not ready to talk to us. We made sure that Pastor Wayne and their parents were aware of this and someone followed up with these girls.
We introduced the kids to 3 brand “NEW” VBS songs, and by the end of the week they had learned the motions and were singing the songs as they came into VBS each day. The music rotation was extremely loud and lively as Ms Leah lead the kids in the songs!
For recreation time each day we introduced the kids to several “NEW” games, instead of just going to the playground. These kids can play a mean game of freeze tag.
This year we added a “NEW” Twist to the VBS schedule. We had regular VBS for 4 days and on the 5th day we had a big Fun Day! We invited all the kids that had come to VBS, and their parents to join us for an afternoon of games, fun and a hot dog cookout. WOW, what a turnout! We had beautiful weather all week, but the last day the clouds moved in and it threatened rain. We had an outside scavenger hunt planned, but it started to rain as Fun Day started. But thanks to Ms Melynda and the team we put Plan B into effect and adjusted to an inside Fun Day. (God is so good…ALL the time) At the close of Fun Day, the kids presented their VBS songs to their parents…they did an awesome jobs with the motions and the words…no one will forget the “Power” song! To close the program I had a chance to share the Gospel to many of the kids and parents by sharing what we learned in VBS that week. Many of the parents that came to the Fun Day do not come to church, so this may have been their first exposure to the Gospel.
What an awesome week! In the team’s devotion at the beginning of the week, I expressed that my prayer was that each of us would look for “open doors” to impact one life that week; to not miss someone that the Father may allow to cross our path. My “someone” was my “NEW” friend Jeremiah. This was the young man God arranged for me to meet. He is a young man struggling to get out of a life of alcoholism. I had a chance to share the love of Jesus and pray with him in the middle of the street one day. I only saw him one other day, but he told me he wanted badly to turn his life around and not be chained to the bottle any more. I talked to Pastor Wayne and he will try to follow up with him.
As I look back on this week, the faces of the kids, and the many opportunities for the Gospel in this village, I am taken to this passage from Psalm 139:7-18 (The Message)