ALASKA, is where the long, warm summer days of bright sunshine show forth God’s indescribable beauty of wildlife, mountains, and glaciers. These longed for days are followed by months of long, dark, freezing cold which bring snow and ice that keep people at home much of the winter. The results are often depression, drugs, alcohol, suicide, and child abuse. These problems occur more often in the small villages that dot the vastlands of Alaska. Here in Alaska less than 10% of the people are Christian, with churches few and far between.
Into these villages, the Alaska Mission for Christ (AMC) brings teams of volunteers from the lower 48 states to Share the Love of Jesus with the Alaska children. This year over 600 volunteers answered God’s call to “Go and Tell!!”
Trinity Lutheran Church (Cedar Rapids) assisted two teams of volunteers this summer, with prayers, time, talents, and treasurers. Thrivent for Lutherans matched funds and Trinity school children gave chapel offerings.
In July, a team of 13 people went to Lindeman’s five acre ranch at Ninilchik, SW Alaska. Sixty-four children were registered with an average of 46 attending daily. The ranch owners provided a pole barn for the music and Bible stories, garage with picnic tables for crafts, and a barn haymow for Bible study for the 14-20 teenagers.
In August, six people went to Gakonaan, an Athabascan Indian village of 100 people in SE Alaska. VBS was held in the community center with 31children registered, and a daily attendance of 19. Some children came 10 miles away from Galkana.
Curriculum for both teams was “God’s Perfect Creation, The Fall of Adam and Eve into Sin, Jesus' Birth, Jesus the Storyteller, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and Jesus' Suffering, Death, and Resurrection.” We taught them songs, including Jesus Loves Me, The Lord’s Prayer, and John 3:16. Music and crafts were coodinated with the Bible lesson of the day. We provided a hardcover, child-friendly Bible for the children of both villages. They carried their Bibles in a “JESUS LOVES ME” canvas tote bag they had decorated.
Both teams traveled in RV rentals. We slept in the RVs, on floors of churches, in a garage loft, and on a tiny cabin floor. We bought food and supplies and cooked our own meals.
VBS at Ninilchik and Gakona were entirely different in many ways, but the Gospel message of "Jesus' LOVE FOR ALL PEOPLE” was the same. LISTEN---Do you hear God calling you? Maybe your call is across the kitchen, the street, or the world. We plant seeds of faith and God makes them grow. May God bless the ninety-five VBS children of Alaska and their families.
Irene Reinking
Triniry Lutheran Church
Into these villages, the Alaska Mission for Christ (AMC) brings teams of volunteers from the lower 48 states to Share the Love of Jesus with the Alaska children. This year over 600 volunteers answered God’s call to “Go and Tell!!”
Trinity Lutheran Church (Cedar Rapids) assisted two teams of volunteers this summer, with prayers, time, talents, and treasurers. Thrivent for Lutherans matched funds and Trinity school children gave chapel offerings.
In July, a team of 13 people went to Lindeman’s five acre ranch at Ninilchik, SW Alaska. Sixty-four children were registered with an average of 46 attending daily. The ranch owners provided a pole barn for the music and Bible stories, garage with picnic tables for crafts, and a barn haymow for Bible study for the 14-20 teenagers.
In August, six people went to Gakonaan, an Athabascan Indian village of 100 people in SE Alaska. VBS was held in the community center with 31children registered, and a daily attendance of 19. Some children came 10 miles away from Galkana.
Curriculum for both teams was “God’s Perfect Creation, The Fall of Adam and Eve into Sin, Jesus' Birth, Jesus the Storyteller, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and Jesus' Suffering, Death, and Resurrection.” We taught them songs, including Jesus Loves Me, The Lord’s Prayer, and John 3:16. Music and crafts were coodinated with the Bible lesson of the day. We provided a hardcover, child-friendly Bible for the children of both villages. They carried their Bibles in a “JESUS LOVES ME” canvas tote bag they had decorated.
Both teams traveled in RV rentals. We slept in the RVs, on floors of churches, in a garage loft, and on a tiny cabin floor. We bought food and supplies and cooked our own meals.
VBS at Ninilchik and Gakona were entirely different in many ways, but the Gospel message of "Jesus' LOVE FOR ALL PEOPLE” was the same. LISTEN---Do you hear God calling you? Maybe your call is across the kitchen, the street, or the world. We plant seeds of faith and God makes them grow. May God bless the ninety-five VBS children of Alaska and their families.
Irene Reinking
Triniry Lutheran Church
