First Hand Friday: Heather

The last four summers I have spent teaching Vacation Bible School, VBS, in remote Alaskan villages only accessible by plane or boat. I remember my first summer telling people that and almost not fully believing what was coming out of my mouth but now it’s normal. I remember coming back my first summer having to get used to roads that were more than 20 miles long and construction. Sitting at a table with my peers all with blue eyes took me a back as I was used to brown eyes the whole summer. Telling people I had fallen in love with Alaska.

I started off my VBS career in Koliganek. Myself and three others were leading the kids in song. The one that we chose was Praise Ye the Lord. In the midst of having the kids shout Praise Ye the Lord in walks this great dane named Stella. We paused for a second taken aback as all the kids were going everywhere. Meaning Stella was a big friendly dog that loved kids VBS seemed like a wonderful place for her. We hatched a plan and had to have Stella go home. We were always very careful to make sure the door was shut after that.

My second year we started off in Manokotak. There were some days that we had 60 kids with just the four of us. The kids loved to hang out with us sometimes before VBS, sometimes after, and sometimes both. We didn’t go too many places in that village by ourselves. It’s those moments that mean so much to me. Playing games, listening to music and painting nails is one of my favorite ways to get to know the kids. Hiking with them would be a close second.

Year three we got the chance to do ministry with two couples. One couple did the beginning and another couple for the end of the summer. It was fun to see the impact they had as they were already grandmas and grandpas. That was the summer we started our first double week. We would fly to Levelock to do VBS from 1-4 then fly back to Naknek, our home base, then fly to South Naknek to do VBS there 6:30-8:30. With weather cancellations and only doing a three day VBS in South Naknekour total flights that week was 13. The two minute flights over to South Naknek didn’t seem long.

Last summer didn’t end the way the I planned. I got a skin infection, cellulitis, that turned into sepsis that caused my organs to start to shut down. When I first saw my doctor the first question I asked him was when can I go back? At this point I didn’t know how bad things had gotten. Being a flight away from a hospital while I was recovering was not recommended a couple days later. Shout out to the body of Christ though!

Through all of my summers it has been a team effort. We have people join us in prayer and I do wish I had the time to share all the stories of answered prayer. People have supported financially so we can get up there in the first place and have food to eat. People have built the garage apartments where we gather for our meals and sleep. People have come to show love to the people at the cannery and fisherman. People have opened up their houses for us to stay in. People have flown us into the villages several times. People have organized so much that I don’t even know all it. People have spoken truth in our lives when it was hard. Some people have even been woken up in the middle of the night or early in morning because of a medical situation. It has really been a team effort and it’s a winning team.