Web Video, Episode 2

So, I've been sick for about two weeks now, but I'm slowly getting better, SLOWLY! So here is the second episode for you all. ENJOY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTPxcrGcAZE

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Putting myself out there

            HI ALL! Sorry this one's late! Things have been going pretty well. I'm still slowly getting involved with the culture here, and I am becoming more and more involved with the church. Being a US-2 Missionary, I tend to have a lot of responsibilities. Not just at work, but with self-care and putting myself out there to volunteer for positions that aren't part of my two regular jobs.
            Other then cooking breakfast at the XYZ/ADC Center (Senior's Center) and working at the Boy's and Girl's Club in the afternoons I have signed on to work with the Nome Community Church's Youth Group, to help as a member of the Trustees Committee, helping out at this weekly event that the church holds called "Tuesday School" that helps educate youth between the ages of 6 and 12, and I am currently assisting a team in putting together a special outreach project.
            Since my schedule has been pretty packed and I've been doing things kind of on the fly since I've gotten here, I really need to start making a structured schedule. I recently got my planner shipped to me that I forgot to pack, so now I'm going to start using it. There are a lot of other opportunities in town that I could help out with. There are cultural organizations, other church organizations, and I can volunteer with radio stations (even hold my own shift, so yeah, I could be a DJ of sorts :D).
             Other then this I can join fishing teams, crabbing teams and hunting teams, all of which I think would be an excellent way to get more involved with the culture out here (even though I need to get licenses for all of these things). The best way to become part of a society is to bring yourself to be as similar to the society as possible.
             I'm sure people back home may not be able to see me doing these certain roles, but times change. Alaska is a state where a lot is imported for sure, but Alaska is also home to a people that are very resourceful. People use everything they can to survive out here, they have to. Alaskans are tough, there is no argument about it. True, this state has it's problems with substances and isolation, but a lot of the culture still lives off the land and with what they have. I to am going to have to live off the land like they do.
            http://www.ministrywith.org/ can shine more light on what it is like to ministry along WITH people. It speaks about how being involved with a culture and becoming more like a member of that culture's society plays an important role in ministry and mission. We as humans must seek to learn and understand the hows and whys of another culture in order to really minister to them. The role of a missionary is not to come in with their own ideas and change society, but to come in and listen to the problems of the society, and seek to resolve them. We are not only supposed to cloth, feed and give shelter to those who need it, but we should also understand their situation, be in community with them. Why?

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."    ~Matthew 25:40


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P.S.   No Blog on Saturday because I will be at a Eskimo Cultural Festival for the weekend. I will have pictures up on my Facebook so keep watch!

          

Video Blog Fail

Soooo, I made a video blog, but I'm not sure it's going to work the way I wanted it to. I had to split it into two parts and the second part isn't uploading like it should. The internet here is not the best, but it's just another one of those things I'm working on. Anyway, here is the link to the first video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EABHSSLJoZo

The second video will be titled The Northern Adventurer, Episode 1, Part 2. Search for it on YouTube later, hopefully it will be up. In the mean time, I know this first video was supposed to be up Thursday, so in two more weeks I will try this again, maybe if I shorten it it will work out.

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P.S. I JUST GOT IT UP!! HERE IS THE LINK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeOSeS0SU5E

Life after a Week

            HI ALL! After a week here I can speak only a little about what I have learned. Nome of course is very different from what I am used to back home in Northern Virginia. For the first week the weather was wonderful, of which you will see in the first many web videos I begin to post from here on out every Thursday. I have also started posting pictures on my Facebook to share with friends and family back home. I plan to keep those back home in Northern Virginia connected with my life, and perhaps others who stumble along this blog will follow as well.

            Nome is a town at the very edge of the map, and being here sometimes feels exactly like that. The scenery here, to me, is majestic and comforting. Even though it has been very rainy and windy for the last couple of days or so, I am still taken aback by how everything looks here. I have always wanted to spend time in a small town that is rather remote, or next to water, or is nestled in a large area of fields and mountains. I was blessed to receive all these at once. When I look out my bedroom window I have a wonderful view of the shoreline and the ocean, and when I walk out my front door and look off into the distance I can see the rolling hills of the Alaskan tundra.

            Personally, I feel comfortable here, even though I have only been here a week and know that I am not fully engulfed in the culture all the way. But I have been blessed so far in the walk in that direction. I work at a center called the XYZ Center (or Elders/Seniors Center) in the mornings making breakfast and then eating lunch with the Elders. This gives me a wonderful opportunity to speak with the Elders of the village and hear their stories, some of which I have already heard. I was even given a hug from an Elder the other day, AND they like my cooking might I add. These are all good signs to see as I am starting in this new community.

            In the afternoons I work at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club near the Nome Community Center/Community Methodist Church. My job there is to keep an eye on the Youth, making sure they behave, communicating with them, listening to them, playing games, and making sure they do not hurt each other. I have also helped a couple with their homework. I have found similarities between the Youth I worked with in Northern Virginia and the Youth here in Nome. Though, even with this, I have seen the challenge I will be facing with the differences.

Of course the culture here is very different from the culture in Northern Virginia. I feel there is a sense of proving yourself in this culture, showing that you can be self-sufficient. Since this is the first time I’ve ever lived on my own, I’m getting more involved in the parts of life I have to take care of that I normally wouldn’t. For one, groceries; items here in Nome are about three to four dollars more then what I pay for back home. This is because everything is pretty much imported into Nome by air. This is because during the winter the ocean water freezes over for miles off of the coast. Because of the expensive prices of everything here, people learn how to be self-sufficient by being involved in hunting, fishing, crabbing, berry picking and any other means they can to survive.

I see a social justice issue with this, but sadly, is this one that can truly be solved and helped? The town of Nome used to have livestock from what I have gathered by being engaged in conversation with the townspeople here. The problem was it was too expensive to afford the correct feed for the livestock, so the town did away with them. As I said air is the best way to get resources here because of the ocean freezing. The issue with this is that Nome has a 29% poverty rate, and the town consists of a population of about thirty-two hundred people; doing the math that’s about a third of the people living here, a third of the people who can’t afford groceries, who can’t feed themselves or their families.

In a place like this, should companies raise the prices on groceries in more economically wealthy areas and lower the prices in those areas that are not?

1 John 3:17-19

“But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won't help him--how can God's love be within him ? Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. Then we will know for sure, by our actions, that we are on God's side, and our consciences will be clear, even when we stand before the Lord.”                   ~Living Bible Translation~

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Learn something new everyday!

                HI ALL! It’s my second entry in Nome! Nome is a beautiful place so far. The weather has been wonderful since I have gotten here and I am slowly, but surely, getting involved in the culture around here. There are a lot of differences between Nome and Fairfax County as you would have probably already guessed. One of the many things is Velvet Eyes. Velvet Eyes is a Reindeer who lives with a family in town, and yesterday they were driving Velvet Eyes around in their pickup truck! I thought it was awesome to see and it really put into perspective where I am, a WHOLE different world.

Today was my second day on the job! You are going to love what I’m doing. In the morning I work at the Elder’s Center cooking. Since I love to cook this is going to be great, and a good way to learn more about what to cook and how to cook it. Then I get to have lunch with them and possibly even have to drive them home, although I have to get an Alaska Driver’s License which may take awhile. The Elders in town have been very friendly thus far, and they have been smiling, so this is a good sign. After that and about 1:00 or 1:30 every day, I head over to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club in town to work from two to six.

This is a great safe center in town where the kids can come to have fun and just be. To get away from the troubles if there are any, and the youth in the area take advantage of this opportunity! They like to be there, they like to be themselves, and it’s a positive atmosphere. It is part of my dream of working with a center where youth can feel this way. This is probably one of the main reasons God wants me here, to learn how to make this dream come to life.

The dream is this. Imagine a place where youth can go to get away from abuse, drugs, crime, and the toils of life where they can be welcomed, safe, loved, where they can learn, play, laugh, cry, and share without being judged or segregated against. Somewhere where they could even stay over night. Yes, such a place would have to be working with the government and the police force for legal purposes, but this would be a place where they could be safe. A place like this is hard to get running, but a place like this is a place I have always imagined working with, or creating.

Anyway! I am doing just fine getting into the mix of things. It’s going to take awhile getting used to everything, but there was a saying that was told to me yesterday: “Learn something new everyday, and by the end of the year you will know more than most people have that whole year.” And this is a great place to learn a lot of new stuff. Get out there and learn something new!
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The First Entry in Nome

                HI ALL! AND HELLO FROM NOME, ALASKA!! It is my second full day here and I am doing just fine. I have my apartment set up and I am extremely blessed to have a place of my own. Even more wonderful is the fact that I have an ocean view from my bedroom window. I’ve always wanted to live by a beach or in an area that gets a lot of snow, I got both wishes all at once! It’s also great that I can walk around in hoodies and coats, I just feel more comfortable like that. Eventually I will be posting a video to show you my home and parts of the area.

                I’m still suffering from a bit of jet lag since I left Northern Virginia, and I AM four hours behind the east coast. I do have to say I feel like I am adjusting well however. I’ve tried to get the sleep I need, and forcing myself to stay awake to adapt to the new living schedule. It’s strange here though, the sun isn’t completely down until 1am and it comes back up around 7:30am or 8. So I’ve had to cover my window with sheets and pillow cases to make it dark in my room. I usually sleep in pitch black darkness, so this will be interesting until it starts to be dark the whole day. That should be happening fairly soon too, we are losing six minutes of daylight a day now. AND everyone is expecting the first snow by the end of the month. Needless to say there are a lot of changes going on.

                There are also a lot of inner thoughts going on that are keeping me going, and will keep me going during this transition. Remember one of my first entries where I spoke about the crazy coincidences that happened to me before I arrived here in Nome? Well something happened to add onto this that just made everything more coincidental. When I arrived here, Julie and David, my supervisors, said that I was the first US-2 Missionary that arrived in sunlight, the rest arrived in rain! What the heck does this mean!? Also we were driving around Nome the evening I arrived and just seeing everything, and we ran into a woman named Paula. She said that I brought the sun with me, and the day I arrived was the nicest day they have had the entire summer. Coincidence? Or planned by God?

                Moses traveled through the wilderness in a direction that was only told to him. He didn’t fully understand why he needed to go this direction, just that God had told him to do so. When Moses arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses went up to the mountain peek and received the tablets of the Ten Commandments! My point is everything happens for a reason. I feel a lot like Moses right now. I have come to this land, I am a foreigner, I don’t understand why God wants me here or what I am supposed to exactly do (other than the tasks that have been assigned to me by my supervisor). Yet, here I am ready to find out.

Sometimes in life we need to take leaps of faith. I understand that this leap I have made is quite dramatic, maybe even radical and extreme. However, if you look into the scriptures you can see that many leaps of faith that have changed the world and shaped new lives for people took extremely dramatic leaps of faith. My Lord and Savior knew what was going to happen to Him, He know what He had to do. He had to take a leap into death, do die on a cross. Indeed my leap is not as dramatic as that (at least I don’t think I’ll be dying here… I hope not), but see what that leap did to mankind. Look what the leap Moses took with his people did for God’s Chosen People. This leap is not a stepping stone for a better life financially, it’s not to get a better job in the future, it’s not to make me look better in the eyes of others, it’s not just for me or for you. Those leaps of faith that Biblical figures took those leaps for their Lord, their Creator, their Savior. This leap is for Him, the one whom I give my soul to, my love to, and my loyalty too.

God be praised in everything we do. Guide me and guide those I’ve known and will know. Bless us each day and make strong our hearts. Amen!

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