Arctic Village, Alaska
Fully Rely on God
by Curt Melland, Hazen, North Dakota
Arctic Village will always be special to me. You see it was there that God taught me the lesson we were s
ent to teach — to be a FROG, to Fully Rely On God.
Our team of six were Vacation Bible School (VBS) veterans. Although we hadn’t worked together before, we had covered all the bases, or so we thought.
Three days before we left, we finally made a phone connection with the pastor of the village. He had been gone and had not gotten the messages and letters saying we were coming. School was starting earlier than normal so there would be no daytime VBS, but evenings would be okay. “No the guitar sent up earlier by mail has not arrived.” Then, at the last minute, two of our team members couldn’t make the trip.
Things were not turning out as we expected.
The remaining team members first met face to face Thursday night in Fairbanks, Alaska, and we clicked — I knew we could handle this. Friday we purchased a few more supplies to handle evenings instead of daytime VBS and I found a guitar at a pawn shop. Things seemed to be working out!
Saturday we arrived in Arctic Village. We were picked up and taken to the Community Center. The villagers found propane for the gas range, but only three boxes of the supplies we shipped in advance had arrived – the box with our food was one that had not. Thankfully we brought enough food with us to get by until Monday when the post office opened. Oh, one more surprise; the guitar we mailed finally arrived, so now we had two guitars.
On Sunday we worshipped with the village. With two guitars we had a great time singing together and the pastor played really well. It was great to be sharing our music together.
OOPS another problem, the first three days of the week were cultural days. The whole village was going up the mountain so there will not be time for VBS until Thursday, but we were able to do a VBS session that afternoon before the cultural days began. We started our lessons to teach the children to be FROGs — to Fully Rely On God. The first lesson was Noah and the Flood.
Monday morning we went with the entire village up the mountain and were included in their activities. We learned about their history, some of their legends, how to tell the weather from the mountains and how to use snares and dead fall traps. It was amazing!
After the afternoon activities, the kids were restless, so we were told, “Take the kids up the mountain and teach them the VBS lesson.” The lesson for day two was Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain. In the story, God provided a ram to replace Isaac for the sacrifice. Up on the mountain, the story seemed to come alive.
The following day we were told to, “Bring your guitars to the village supper tonight and then teach the village your VBS lesson.” That day the Bibles that were delayed in shipment arrived so we handed out Bibles to all the families at the supper. Together we used the Bibles to read about the Israelites in the desert where God provided water out of a rock. We used the guitars with folks taking turns playing songs for the worship.
After the lesson an elder stepped forward and offered a prayer of thanksgiving for the lessons and the Bibles for the village. When everyone had gone, the elder stayed with us and talked. He told us how, as a young man, he had wondered if God had really heard his prayers and if God really cared. The elder told us how he went up the mountain and sang to God, first to the east, then to the west, then north and finally to the south. As he was telling us the story, with the guitar in hand, we heard the song and saw the tears running down the elders face as he told how God heard this song and sent an eagle to land near him. Yes God does listen to prayers he told us. Then the elder played and sang in G’wichen “Jesus Loves Me.” WOW!!! What just happened? This is way better than anything we had planned!
On Wednesday we prepared the lesson and waited. Just after dinner the children arrived for VBS. We had enough supplies to teach about Jesus’ birth and God supplying a way for us to be with Him forever. We were running low on food, but to our surprise, pizzas arrived from Dan Treakle (former staff pilot, now retired). Now we had enough for tonight and tomorrow night.
Thursday afternoon our boxes started arriving — lots and lots of supplies. We taught lesson five - celebrating with God in Heaven. Then we celebrated with the village eating all of those wonderful pizzas together. When everyone left, another elder came up. We shared our faith stories and he played songs. Another day, another surprise and we were blessed more than we could ever imagine and we have completed all the VBS lessons!
Friday we found out that the principal/Sunday school teacher can use our leftover supplies for Sunday School not only for Arctic Village, but Venetie and possibly Beaver too.
Saturday - it’s time to leave. The airplane arrived, right engine started, left one wouldn’t turn over. The engine refused to run, so we called for a mechanic to bring a starter. The mechanic arrived and discovered that the starter isn’t burned out it is breaking and about to come apart.
By now, I realize how God has been so in control and I have been so completely out of control this whole week. As we waited for the repair, the week’s events paraded through my mind. We started the week without enough food. Yet the food we did have, the cultural day feasts and the pizzas from Dan provided enough food for us and food to share with the village. God gave us the blessings of the elders, the perfect timing of the supplies, the arrival of the Bibles and the two guitars... God orchestrated all of that!
We had the privilege of watching Him turn disaster into one miracle after another. I didn’t want to leave this village. I knew when I left this place that I would want to control my life again. There was such peace, contentment and excitement in preparing and then watching God work and I don’t want to lose that ever again. Oh God please help me be a FROG — to Fully Rely On God.