God works in mysterious ways

Last Friday, while our family was enjoying a stroll back from the mail, we came across a loud argument in progress. It turned out to be a young intoxicated man threatening himself and others, while the others were trying to get him to go home and sleep it off. When my initial efforts to help were rejected, we went on home and finished our Sabbath preparations. However, I couldn't get the young man off my mind, and wondered and prayed about if I should have tried harder to intervene.

Later that evening, after the kids were in bed, Verity and I were enjoying the evening air outside when we again heard loud voices. The same young man had been going at it all afternoon with anyone who passed by, it seemed. Verity and I decided to see what we could do this time, so we went back to the scene, stopping to pray as we went. On arrival, another young man who was trying to calm the guy down, said something like "Here comes the pastor, talk to him". So I was in the "hot seat". I offered to take a walk with the guy, while Verity offered to talk with his girlfriend, who was still trying to calm him down.

The entire stroll was punctuated with angry outbursts (not at me, fortunately). Talking to him about Jesus calmed him down though. To make a long story short, while returning from our stroll, my friend became unable to walk. I offered him a place to sleep it off, since nobody else wanted to take him in. Another friend of his offered to ride him home on a 4 wheeler, but he kept trying to jump off while it was going. Finally, we got him to our parsonage, where after half an hour or more of agitated talk and some shouting, he finally went to sleep in my arms. When I finally got to bed myself, it was 2:30 am.

The next morning, having sobered up somewhat, my new friend was very embarrassed at what he had done. However, we have been happy to have him visit three times since then. He has resolved to "stay dry" and has begun reading a Bible and Steps to Christ. Please pray for him that he will continue to grow more attracted to Jesus and desire to have a relationship with Him.

This has been a breakthrough for us, as we have made our first spiritual-minded contact in this age range (21). Pray that it will bear fruit with this young man sharing with his friends.

- Warren

Historic Meetings in Selawik

Last month we had a very special native campmeeting. It began with a health fair on Thursday afternoon following by the first of three days of meeting based on the Power of the Cross Revealed Series. If you have watched or attended the Revelation Now series hosted by the O'Malley church in Anchorage, you may have noticed our speaker, Darlene Heckler. She led the children in singing “Jesus Loves Me” in Inupiaq to open the second meeting. She is a Selawik native, so we were all excited to have her present Jesus to her friends and relatives. The health fair went well with the whole school attending, yet we wish had had more adults and been more prepared for the younger grades. Though we prepared for a larger group by meeting at the school,we were encouraged by the small group who attended. (We would have had less if we had met in our church.) And there was power there. We all agreed that this only the beginning; next year may be better.


Darlene is an exciting person to be around. She is passionate about how God has touched her life. It was hard to her to come, since she has a lot of bad memories here. When her mother died about eight years ago, she said she would not come back. (She had been a teacher here, but had moved two years before.) We first met her last December at her sister's wedding, for which Warren was asked to help with the music. We were mutually encouraged when we discovered each other. Darlene has a dream of traveling to the villages and sharing what she has learned as she follows Jesus. Please pray that she will be empowered in her desire to share.


Blessings,
Verity

Does He Know Me?

People seem to admire that our family has moved here to the Arctic and think we are very courageous and have sacrificed a lot. Please do not think that of us; pride is the worst of sins– it does not seem to want to die. Yes, our home is smaller and it is colder. Yes, it was a big step for us. But we have sacrificed nothing. Instead, we receive countless blessings each day. We are so rich, it is hard to describe.

Yet I want more. I want to pray more. I want to hear God more every day. I want to be more dependent on him. I want to be more compassionate. I want to give more of myself away. I want to share more of the wonders I see with my family and those around me.

Jesus tells of the separating of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. Do I see Jesus hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison? Yes, I do. Around the world food prices are rising and people are becoming desperate and afraid. The food crisis is being caused by droughts around the world. People are thirsty. The world is full of people who do not know about Jesus, they are equivalent to the stranger or Gentile to the Jews. The church is also full of people who are naked because they need fuller understanding of how to be clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. There are many people who are suffering because they do not know how to care for their health or how good it feels when you do. There are people who are struggling to be able to live and share the good news of Jesus with those around them.

What can I do? I can’t go there to help them. But I can’t ignore them either. We still have money. Frankly, I don’t see how the world can go on with business as usual with droughts, a food crisis, and a growing
financial crisis. I want to disburse my remaining assets while I still can. I want to know Jesus and I want Jesus to know me. How about you?

Verity

P.S. We received great news this week. We had heard a rumor that the Adventist company at Barrow had drifted apart after their lay leader Ken Robbins’ job was transferred out of Barrow. But they are still meeting as strong as ever, their location had just changed. Praise God!

Better late than never post

Warren,
Here is an e-mail from Manokotak that might fit into your blog We have received a request for baptism, so the work is growing in Manokotak.
Love,
Dad

---

Thank you guys for coming over. I enjoyed the sabbath day! I am going to miss H and the other 2! I'm just so surprised at how many people that I've told by email, they never showed up at all. But just like Florie said, the devil threw all he could to make people not show up. Friday evening, M showed up and stayed all through out the bible study and asked if they were done when they were done. I guess he had fun learning. I always pray for someone from this village to be converted, someone who speaks well in yupik and for that person to become a 7th Day Adventist pastor for Manokotak. I also pray for a church to be built and for more people to convert to our church. This is such a very hard village. They'd rather stick with people who study with moravian church goers. A little discouraging.

Aright, I gotta get going here.

Take Care

R

On Life and Death

Here are some of my thoughts recently on life and death

On death, today Selawik is holding its third funeral of the last three weeks. Orren and Roy had both been sick for some time. Ira died the same day as his brother, Roy. Ira and Roy left a brother and sister as the last of eleven siblings. At Ira's funeral on Friday, we discovered Sara's Inupiaq name was the same as his, Paniyaaqluq. Louis, our Inupiaq teacher shared how he owes his life to Ira, his uncle, who stepped in as the one to comfort him as a baby when crying would turn him blue. We are beginning to see how connected they are in Selawik. Warren has gotten to experience that community spirit in coffin-making and grave-digging. They really do take care of each other.

On life, at Orren's funeral, the main speaker referred to the original Greek meaning of a word in the Bible text he was using. I have observed that the people here come in all personalities, shapes, sizes, and educational levels. Yet, incidents like this have showed me that it is not as hard as I thought to transition to life outside Selawik. The differences between us are mostly only in personalities. We are trying to study their culture, but they are acquiring our culture as fast as we are figuring out theirs, or so it seems.

On life and death, I want to ask you to pray for Elvis Jr. (Yes, Elvis. He's five and is called Junior). He is very sick, and going back into the hospital today. He has a cyst in his lung, and has a tube going to his heart as I understand. He was moved to outpatient for about a week. He is such a sweet boy and the medical care horror stories I have heard from people here have me very worried. I don't know why natives seem to get less quality care, but I want Elvis Jr. to come home alive and well.

On life again, I have good news, sort of. Warren and I have been discussing having Adventurers and Pathfinders Clubs here probably since before we came. Finally “Selawik Seekers” has been born. We have had two Adventurers Club meetings, mostly set-up, but some classwork too. We have ordered materials for Pathfinders and will make a plan when those arrive. We will need wisdom to structure the meetings to work with Inupiaq culture, but we will not be alone. Debbie Reiswig has experience for which we are most grateful.

To life,
Verity

Another house fire causes death

A recent Selawik house fire, the third one (second house fire) in two months, claimed the life of a woman. I received a call about the fire around 5 am, Friday February 8th. As I was getting my outdoor gear on, someone came to the door to get our fire extinguisher.

Arriving on the scene (the house was only four down from our church), I found one fire hose already hooked up and spraying the front and side of the house. Helping get a second one hooked up, we had a valve lever break off. I was able to help by supplying a pair of pliers to open the valve. Other than that, there wasn't much I could do to help.

Nobody seemed to know if the occupant had escaped the house, and nobody had a fireproof suit and breathing mask to make it possible to go into the burning house to check. We later learned of the woman's death. She was found near the wood burning stove. Rumor has it that she had mentioned the stove being dangerous, prior to the fire.

We are saddened especially by this loss of life, and have considered how such losses could be prevented in the future:

• Fire alarms need to be provided for all houses that don't have them. You can get fire alarms for $10 or less at Home Depot.
• Heating and electrical systems need to be held to safety standards.
• Education, exit plans, fire drills.
  
• Better and more fire fighting equipment.
• Fire rescue equipment (suits and masks, etc.)

One additional thought about fire safety. Using fire extinguishers (10 or more at times) from outside burning houses seems to me to mostly worsen fire danger. The extinguishers cannot stop the fire at the point where you can't get into the house. But using them up leaves the neighbors without a first-line defense. So unless fire extinguishers are handed out by the city, I don't think using them enmasse at a fire is much good. (I've seen them used at all three recent fires, but to no avail).

Having another death in the village brings home once again the urgency of our mission here in Selawik. Yet it is not only Selawik that is a mission. There are millions of people in this world going to Christ-less graves all around us. Do we really realize how serious this salvation issue is? Do we care for others enough to do something about it? What have you done for someone's salvation- today?

Let Them Come

We have a core group of kids who like to come and visit but vary in regularity. We may not see them for weeks and then they may come all at once. I try to make myself free to join in a game or have an activity for them. But sometimes when I am tired and don't have a plan, then I feel at such a loss for what I should be doing, that I just watch them in a stupor. I like these kids, but a group of 5-10 of them all talking at once do that to me.

Lately, my trust and respect issues with them have had more sting than usual for me. Yet I have also been having plenty of “I love being here” and “I belong here” moments. Meshing these two opposite feelings in my mind, I came to the conclusion that these kids really are special to me.

Our Valentine's Day cookie decorating as they watched The Jesus Movie for Children seemed to go rather well. They loved having their pictures taken as always. Despite all the things they have done and said to us, I still see the all good times we have together. So when I hear that nerve-racking pounding on our door, I let them come.

I am so glad Jesus never turns us away, despite all we have done to hurt him. God is so good to us, we are just beginning to discover how much.

Blessings,

Verity

Eleven visitors packed to the ceiling