| Thoughts of a Growing Christian | |||
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Friday, July 26, 2002 I like cheering people up....giving out what I call "packaged happiness" just thought I'd share....never hesitate to hit me up on my cell if you ever need someone to talk to ~_^ posted by Sewa at 2:39:00 PM # Thursday, July 25, 2002 I really dislike egotistical/condescending/tactless people. I'll elaborate later...I'm tired...and I'm still working on the rest of the Alaska stuff so stay tuned. posted by Sewa at 2:21:00 AM # Tuesday, July 23, 2002 Now that I have recapped some of the many events and experiences that occured while I was in Alaska, I now want to share with you what I take FROM Alaska. First off, I realize I am a city/suburbs type of girl, I enjoy being able to choose from different malls, I enjoy shopping, I enjoy driving, and anything else that involves a place with a population over 100 people. But nothing here will make me forget what I have learned in a short two weeks. Before going to Alaska, I was anxious, I felt unprepared and to be honest I thought I was gonna go see some eskimos and igloos. I was told that at this time of the year Alaska is beautiful and that the weather is great. I was also told there was gonna be constant daylight...but not a problem...I can sleep whenever. But when I got there and started really seeing Alaska with my own eyes, my eyes were opened to a world entirely new to what I have known my entire life. I have known my small townhouse of a home, I have known my envious feelings towards friends who live in large homes in the nice suburbs. I have known what the malls have to offer, I have known not being satisfied with my collection of clothes. I have known what great food and generosity my parents show me when they feed me, I have known being ungrateful and complaining about what there is to eat. I have known alot of things, but yet I now realize that I have a lot more to learn. The second week of this missions trip in Beaver Creek was one of the most humbling experiences to date in my lifetime. We had to live in trailers for the entire week, which was much less pleasant compared to what we had in Glenallen. We were very fortunate to be able to use the community club otherwise I think I would have gone insane if we had to stay in the trailers all day. When we first got there (saturday), we were notified that we would not be able to shower till tuesday. At first I didn't think it was gonna be that bad. But later I realized, some people do live out of trailers, day in and day out, some people don't have regular showers. But I do. I have a car, I have a home, I can take a shower whenever I want. I used to call my home "a shack" because I felt it was so small, and this was because I was comparing what I had to what my friends had. I was taking what I have for granted. I've gone to a private school starting from the 2nd grade all the way to my senior year in highschool. I had a choice in where I wanted to go to highschool. My parents paid for me to go to highschool. But some of the kids in Beaver Creek get home schooled. Because the one school there offers education only up to the 8th grade. If they want to further continue their education to the highschool level, they would have to go to White Horse (a city about 5-6 hours away). And there they would entire highschool away from home. I remember complaining about school...granted I prolly still will...but I realize now, that even WITHIN my school, I had a choice, what classes did I want to take? Did I want to do extracurricular activites? Do I really have to get up and drive myself that grueling 15 minutes to school? I used to mock my parents when they gave me that speech I know so well..."education is important, be grateful that you at least get to go to school etc etc." But now I realize that where I am, I am blessed with many opportunities and chances...it's just that now...will I take advantage of them now that I know I should appreciate them? In Beaver Creek, I could tell some of the kids were "different." The lifestyle there is very laid back. Karen told us that we should also becareful of the questions we ask the children. She said not to ask about family unless the children were telling us on their own. She said that caucasians have a tendency to ask questions such as what does your dad do? Your mom? But it would be a no no to ask questions like this to the locals in the area. This was because in the area there are alot of unwed pregnancies and there seems to be almost sort of like a "missing generation of men." The kids seemed like they were less mannered as well, they came and went as they pleased, they didn't care about what you were teaching alot of the times. I have a family that I often times find annoying and long winded. But I have a complete family, I have a family that tries to instill good manners and morals in me. It is also a family that I missed when I was away from home. I have a family that God gave to me, for me to learn to love and cherish. Ok I'm DEAD TIRED now I'll have to finish the rest of this blog after I get some sleep....come check back later. posted by Sewa at 6:23:00 AM # Monday, July 22, 2002 I'm back into the blogging world! After about hmm nearly two months of absolutely nothing I'm ready to blog again! *warning...do not read further if your eyes get tired easily for this is a long blog* =) but a blog very worthy of reading none the less for it consists of the details of my first week in Alaska. First on the agenda, two weeks ago on July 8, 2002, I left for Alaska to do my very first missions trip with a team of thirteen. After a long time of wondering should I go and was God calling me and worrying about financial expenses I had finally committed to going. We were gonna be teaching kids in vacation bible school (vbs) format for the most part and then visiting homes to witness to adults and families of the children. The time to go approached so quickly. But the time there seemed to have gone by even faster. I almost feel as though it didn't happen. The team consisted of 4 adults (Dan & Jocelyn Lau, Fred & Kim Yu), 8 young adults/college students (Laura, Tim, Kelly, Cassie, Joyce, Lindsay, Larry, Myself), and Fred's nephew Kevin. It was the first time that I would be that far away from home without any family. The flight was a grueling 6 hours. I'm really not good with flying. On the way thereI got sick and it seemed more like 12 hours to me. When I got there, I was faced with another 4 hour BUMPY bus ride to the actual small city (Glenallen) we were to be working in. To be honest, when I first got there, I wanted to go home, I wanted to be back in my comfort zone. I didn't feel well and the plane just drained me. At that point I prayed to God, hoping that He would be with me, reassure me that I had a reason to be there, and that I would survive and things would be ok. God answers prayers...as the ride went on I dozed off from time to time and at others times I saw some of the most amazing and beautiful scenery in my lifetime so far. I believe it was God's way of saying...here relax for a little let me show you some of the stuff that's in store for you here. As the ride went on, we stopped cause there was a moose on the side of the road. Nature in it's purest form was so close to me. On the plane I could see glaciers miles wide, moutain tops covered in white, and now animals undisturbed and real. When we got to where we were to stay for the first week (The willows), it was already 1am. At first we were told that we might be living in camping conditions for the whole two weeks. But the willows were actually pretty nice. And the people in Alaska had warned us about the mosquitos there but I was seriously still in for a surprise! The mosquitos are HUGE there and there are SO MANY! When we all got into the willows all 12 of us were on a mission to kill all of the mosquitos that had followed us in. I will never forget how Fred armed himself with two fly swatters and did some mad swatting and Kim covered herself in a "mosquito net"....it resembled a pillowcase. The laughs didn't stop for nearly 20 minutes...Joyce laughed so hard she started crying. Kelly was the first to get bitten. But after that was all said and done the week would start. So we would start teaching on wednesday of that week. So tuesday Ken and Karen, a married couple who were very helpful throughout the trip showed us around Glenallen. We got to see everything that was associated to and owned by SEND, an organization that recruits and sends out missionaries all around the world. After a day of touring and visiting the Glenallen Chapel (the place where we were to hold VBS), the night had already approached and we had a long night of final preparations before us. Ken and Karen had also given us some moose meat. In alaska you are not allowed to hunt moose. But you can however, sign up on a list, and when someone accidently hits a moose and it becomes...ahem...roadkill, and your name so happens to be next on the list, you are eligible to go and get the moose. So Ken so happened to be next on the list and he got a moose so they gave us a few packs of moose meat. Now although I LOVE to cook and I love to experiment...I have never before in my life ever worked with moose meat. And for some strange reason I just hopped right to making meals for the team whenever it was time for lunch or dinner. So seemingly since everyone wanted to try moose, I decided that maybe I could make moose congee. Congee for those who don't know is basically rice soup, almost the consistency of a porridge. So Larry suggested that I fry up some moose and let everyone taste some before I make a huge pot of congee and run the risk of having it taste horrible. So here I was, marinating some ground moose with limited seasonings and spices. After marinating I then fried up a patty of ground moose about the size of a large hamburger patty. And by the time I was done frying it and yelling "ok who wants to try moose!" I was already a little worried, but brave Tim was the first to try a morsel, and the first words out of his mouth were "mmm that's good" (now you're reading this, but if you were there, he seriously sounded like he was being sarcastic to me) So I look at him and ask him "are you for real?" and he goes ahead and eats another piece and tells me that it seriously is really good. And then the whole team became rather excited was saying "I wanna try I wanna try" and everyone tried moose off of the same plate and fork and WAHOO they all like it! So now I have a secret marinade for moose! And I made a huge pot of moose congee which was generally well liked and all consumed. Whew! If you're curious as of what moose tastes like, well hmm, it doesn't taste like venison, it's really tender and very lean, and it's a little gamey. Ask some others on the team and maybe they could tell you what they think of moose. So wednesday came and although we were unsure of the number of kids that were gonna come until the day of, God was faithful and had prepared all of us in His own way. We had an avg of about 40 kids each day for three days. Our theme was "Gone Fishing, Fishing for God." The children were so open and each was a blessing in his/her own way. The third day when we had to say goodbye, all of them had grown attached to us. It was a bittersweet moment. I am starting to like kids more and more. The eagerness, blind faith, and willingness that fills each one of them astonishes me. Although I believe the team was drained after each day, I think we're all still really glad we got to work with them. In Glenallen, dinner was prepared for us everyday at the "Food Cache" by Jody the food manager. She fed us so well, fresh alaskan salmon the first night, and then much more on other nights. She gave me an awesome recipe for biscuits (much like the ones from Red Lobster.) The people in Glenallen knew just about everyone else. The town was small, intimate and something I had definitely never experienced before. One family even had us over for a special dessert just because. The people of Glenallen were so warm and welcoming, so encouraging and hospitable, they will always leave an impression upon me. Barry Rempel, a long term missionary who works for SEND, and also used to speak at our church, is now also working in Alaska. When we were there he opened up his home to us to roast s'mores and just chill (and jumping on his trampoline! =). And he also asked us, who wanted to go fishing with him on friday at 6am! That meant that if I wanted to go I would have to wake up at five! But I was in for it, whether it was five or not sleeping at all, even though I still had to do vbs the next day I still wanted to experience fishing in Alaska. For some reason alot of people find fishing boring, but I like it. In fact I like it alot. For me, it's filled with suspense. You never know when and if you're gonna get that bite. I've only gone fishing a few times before but I've never caught anything I've never even had a bite =(. He told me that I could run the possibility of catching a king salmon, (HUGE FISH), and then if I were to come back and fish in michigan, it would all be downhill. But six of us decided we wanted to fish so we bought our fishing licenses and then the next day at 5am I was up and getting ready. So we take a drive and then we had to walk a little before we could get down and right next to the river. The walk was not really pleasant for me considering that we had to go down this REALLY steep hill. I was the last to get down the hill cause I was so afraid of losing my balance and plus the fact that I have a phobia of heights. Everyone else seemed to have such an easy time...not fair. But then when I was down next to the river my adrenalin was pumpin' and I was ready to get at it. So Gordon, a friend of Barry's helps me with my rod, and teaches me how to cast. And right after I cast I get my very first bite! The tug that was going on already told me that this would be a huge fish but I was so excited I was just screaming "yes! I got one!" So here's the lesson...never count your chickens before they hatch. The stupid fish got away...it snapped the line it was so strong. Grr. So don't despair right? Plenty of fish right? Wrong out of the six of us, no one got a fish even though there were alot of them that day. The fish were just to strong they were biting and all but they all got away. Congrats to Joyce though cause she somehow managed to catch a dead salmon. It seemed to have been caught before and looked like someone took all the meat off of it and then just threw the skeleton back in the river. *sigh* It was fun and dissappointing at the same time...so close yet still no fish. So that concluded the first week...it seemed like we just got settled in and then it was time to leave again. We said our final goodbyes and everyone wished us a safe journey. Things were gonna be very different this week. Destination: Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, Canada. Population: roughly 100 people Living Conditions: two small trailers and one crew cab The above should tell you that our week in Beaver Creek would be much rougher than our week in Glenallen. This blog is WAY longer than I expected it to be. I wanted to include the second week in here too but that'll be in the next blog. So check back REALLY soon! And then after the second week will be all of my deepest thoughts and emotions during the whole trip and what I've learned! OoooOoooO you know you wanna come back and read soon! posted by Sewa at 2:33:00 PM # |
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