Interior Alaska
Planting Seeds...Of Faith, Of Hope, Of Love & Of the Gospel
...into the lives of many Alaskans & Two Arkansans!
By Mark and Kristine Schnarr
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow It’s not the one
who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of the process but God, who makes
things grow." 1Corinthians 3:6-7 (The Msg)
During the first two weeks of June we went on our second mission trip to Alaska. We volunteered to serve the Lord through the ministry of Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots – U.S. Our missionary staff pilot was Dan Treakle. Dan is a “man after God’s own heart” who serves the Indian people of numerous Alaskan villages with great love, wisdom and gladness. This year we spent time with the residents of two Indian villages. First, Dan flew us for a return visit to Fort Yukon, a village of about 700 people, just inside the Arctic Circle and a week later he flew us to Tanana, for our first visit to this village of about 400 people, located where the Yukon and Tanana Rivers meet. The Lord provided numerous opportunities for us to plant many seeds …. both literally and figuratively. Each “seed” was a miniature miracle in the making! Overall, we were abundantly blessed by the people we met and learned much from them. We hope to return next year. Here are a few stories that tell it like it was.
FORT YUKON
The Village of 1,000 Seeds
We were very excited about returning to Fort Yukon. We hoped to reconnect with people we had met and worked with the year before and hoped to meet new people as well … the Lord met these hopes and more! “Are you the Gardeners ?”, many people asked us as we attended a wedding reception of a young village couple the first night we arrived. We had sent numerous newsletters and hundreds of seed packets ahead to interested people. Many were eager to “talk garden” and attend the upcoming workshop. That was a wonderful affirmation for us to receive our first night back.
The workshop was well attended. There was a very high level of interest in gardening and in the distribution of seed packets donated by Heifer International and five wooden planter boxes constructed by Zion Lutheran Church in Fairbanks. Mark’s hands-on demonstration of planting mixed lettuce seeds in one of the boxes generated lots of interest and enthusiasm. There was a great exchange of ideas between residents.
A 90-day growing season presents many challenges to village gardeners , even though 24-hour sunlight offsets some of the negatives. Their primary crops include potatoes, lettuce, peas, turnips, carrots, beans, spinach and radishes. Many looked forward to planting several varieties of flowers. Some started seeds indoors and from these were able to grow cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and squash.
We also walked around the village, talking with men and women about gardening. Mark always offered seed packets wherever we went. It is our hope and prayer that the interest in gardening will grow and that more seeds will be planted in the years to come …. After all, life began in a garden by The Master Gardener and we believe that you “are nearest God’s heart in the Garden than anywhere else on earth!”
The Mission House of Living Water- Literally and Figuratively
LITERALLY --- As the first mission team of the summer to move into the mission house in Fort Yukon, we found the house did not have running water as the pipes had frozen and ruptured during the very cold winter. We were grateful that another missionary couple, Rev. Rod & Susan Pierce from Houston Texas, were staying in “the little house” next door. Their house had running water … they quickly became our “new best friends.” Fortunately, they were gracious and shared well with others. We hauled water from their house to ours for use in our kitchen as well as our second floor commode. Thus, our inoperable commode became operable with the addition of a few buckets of water in the tank each flush. (Thank you, Rev. Pierce for your life-saving, Houston-storm-based solution to one woman’s BIG issue!!!!; we understand that Jesus is The Savior, but you really helped out Kristine in a big way with your wise & calm trouble-shooting!) In addition, the village maintenance workers were working very hard to identify and fix ALL the leaky pipes … which was no small task! Nevertheless, we were grateful to God for what appeared to be a hopeful and workable plumbing situation.
Fast-forward to 3:30 a.m. on the third night of our stay …………. Kristine was awakened by the sound of running water (Mark can & will sleep through almost anything!!!) … At first, she rejoiced, thinking it was water running through the kitchen faucet that we were told to leave open; upon reaching the kitchen sink and seeing NO water flowing from the faucet, her joy turned to weeping as she traced the sound to UNDER the sink. Upon opening the cabinet and promptly getting major amounts of water in her face, she called (no, she screamed) for Mark!! Evidently, the permafrost had thawed enough that the pipe between the house and the street began to flow. Water was squirting from numerous places under the sink and from many other places in the cellar under the house. We don’t think this is what Jesus meant in John 7:38 when He spoke of “living water”, do you??? Twenty-four hour day light has it’s unsung benefits, i.e. finding the shut-of valve was easy … cleaning up the water was another matter.
FIGURATIVELY --- We thank God for the streams of “living water” that did flow through the mission house every evening that we held our small group Bible Study. What an honor and blessing it was to study God’s Holy Word together with several village residents. We thank them and the Pierces for attending. We brought with us a chapter from an LWML study guide entitled “Figuratively Speaking – People Pictures of the Bible ---- Bible Study 8, People Are Seeds”. This gave us the very special opportunity to open God’s Word together and discuss the application of it to our lives. We also sang many wonderful hymns of the faith together, prayed together and truly ended up being “bound together in Christian love”.
Someone’s Knocking on the Mission House Door
It was 8:00 a.m. A knock on the door startled Kristine from her morning “quiet time”. Another Lutheran Association volunteer, Steve Black, was also staying at the mission house that morning and had just come in from his morning run. At the door was a woman from the village. She was obviously distressed and expressed a need and desire to talk and pray with “someone from the church.” Kristine and Steve invited her to come into the house.
She shared with them that she needed someone to pray with and for her because she was feeling very “empty inside and no prayer would come out”. She shared her burdens that involved very serious family and personal issues. Immediately, Kristine and Steve began to pray with her. The Psalm that Kristine was reading was “just perfect” for the woman’s circumstances. They read the Psalm and inserted the woman’s name in the relevant verses. The woman seemed to relax and explained that she was on her way to the airstrip and was flying to Fairbanks for a day of doctor appointments. She said that she felt that God had directed her to the mission house that morning …. And He gave her a sense that there would be help for her there.
After our short time of talking and prayer, we invited her to return to the mission house in the evening for Bible Study. That evening she returned. Her countenance was totally changed. She had a smile on her face, explaining that with God’s help she had conquered the fears she struggled with earlier in the day. This woman continued to join us for Bible Study the next several evenings and at the end of the week came by the mission house and presented Kristine & Susan with hand- beaded earrings that she had made. Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots U.S. volunteers usually work with groups of villagers, however, often times God presents one-on-one opportunities to us to minister to others and to share the Gospel message of love and hope in Christ Jesus our Lord & Savior. We humbly thank the Lord for these opportunities.
Tea Time at The Mission House
One evening, 3 young girls came to the mission house with a message for us from our pilot, Dan, who had just flown some other people into Fort Yukon. We followed the girls back to the airstrip. They were full of pep and lots of giggles and conversation. They came back with us to the house and visited with us and with our neighbors, Rod & Susan Pierce. When it was time for the girls to go home, Kristine & Susan invited them to come back the next afternoon at 3:30 for tea. The invitation was quickly accepted by all 3 and then one of the girls said that we would have to pick some Blue Bells for our tea time ….. not for a centerpiece, but for snacking on with our tea & cookies!
At 3:30 the next day, the girls were patiently waiting on a bench outside the mission house … all dressed up for tea time. They were precious in our sight! They all agreed that our first priority was to find and pick Blue Bells. So out we went, to harvest the tea time delicacy. About 15 minutes later, we returned to the mission house with what appeared to me to be a bushel basket full of wild flowers …. Then the real work began. The girls taught us the proper technique for removing the tiny blue flowers. About 30 minutes later, a colander was full of freshly washed Blue Bell blossoms. “Are you sure we can eat these,” Kristine & Susan asked, with Mark snickering in the background. A resounding, emphatic YES came from all 3 girls. Mark was kindly asked to leave, for this was a tea time “for women only”. We promised we’d save him some of the goodies.
The table was set, complete with a floral centerpiece designed by one of the girls and candles, napkins and a beautiful, small cross Kristine had brought from Arkansas. We said a blessing and began passing around cookies, peanut-butter cracker sandwiches, tea and BLUE BELL BLOSSOMS …. Then came the sugar and honey … a must at any tea party … from London to Fort Yukon!
Then came a beautiful gift and surprise. The girls had decided ahead of time that they would provide some special entertainment for the tea time. They stood up with hymnals in hand and sang 2 beautiful hymns, including all verses of “Amazing Grace” and then one of the girls recited Psalm 100! We were blessed, including Mark who was listening from the bench outside the house.
The girls also shared their hopes and dreams with us. During our time together, a bond of love was formed. We will keep these girls in our prayers and plan on corresponding in the days to come.
TANANA
A Place Where Respect, Generosity and Community Met
Upon our arrival, many asked, “Are you the Gardeners?”. It was asked so many times within the first few hours of our time there, that we jokingly thought we might change our name to Mark & Kristine “Gardener”. With our affirmative response to that welcoming question, however, we were pointed in the direction of the Tanana Elders Residence (a nursing home). They needed to have 8 rows of potatoes planted in the garden and flowers planted in several flower boxes . During the next couple of days, we served this community in this small way as well as passed out many seed packets, talked with village gardeners and visited with the knowledgeable school librarian about local gardening issues.
Also, upon our arrival, preparations were underway for the funeral of a woman who was a former resident of the village. Her life ended as a homeless person in Fairbanks. She had been brought “Home” to Tanana, where her life had begun, for a proper funeral, burial and traditional potlatch.
We were invited to attend the potlatch … and made cupcakes to bring as our contribution. We soon discovered that we were in for a big treat in more ways than delicious food. This traditional Indian potlatch was to offer much more. We were to experience a little taste of this community’s overwhelming sense of family, sharing and generosity. From 30 gallon kettles of moose soup to “Indian ice cream”; from moose meat in to-go bags … all served with grace by men & women of Tanana, to heartfelt testimonies from family and friends of the woman who was buried that day …. we were overwhelming blessed.
How grateful to our Lord we are for this opportunity to “plant seeds” of faith, hope, love and the Gospel with the special people of Alaska. To God be the Glory, great things He has done……..
