The Glory of God

We have finally had a chance to settle back in after a few crazy weeks. Here is an update of this last month:

Staff Retreat – KBM closes down the first week of every July to give the staff a break. We spent most of the week pretty much as far away as you can drive from Kodiak (about 40 miles) before the road ends. We stayed in cabins across the road from surfer’s beach. (Yes, people do surf up here in Alaska!) The weather was mostly rainy, but it didn’t keep us from enjoying the area with hikes, walks on the beach and even 4-wheeling. We enjoyed the time spent with the staff and were grateful for the opportunity to get to know them all a little better. (There were about 25 of us there). Luke did a great job leading devotional time that week. We were VERY ready to get home and take a shower, though, as there was no running water where we were staying.

Camp – we have done 3 more weeks of camp since the retreat. The camps that I led were 2 weeks of kayaking and this last week was Splash camp (we went to the city pool every day). I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the older girls that come to camp. There are only a couple that are in the 5^th-8^th grade camp. There is one in particular that my heart just goes out to. She is a fun-loving girl who has a great personality, but I know that her home/family situation is rough and she doesn’t like to open up and talk about anything deep at all. Please pray that I can continue to build a relationship with her and that I can surround her with God’s love.

Luke led kayaking camp for 2 weeks as well and this last week he had fishing camp with 1^st graders.   There were about 14 1^st graders each day that they took to a couple of different rivers to “fish” (they were not allowed to use hooks) throughout the week.  A lot of time was spent untangling their own lines and fixing poles, but it was fun to get the kids out and teach them about fishing.

Ouzinkie – a couple weeks ago we did our kayaking camp in the nearby village of Ouzinkie. We were there for a week along with 4 other counselors and the camp director. KBM has a very good reputation in this village. There was a missionary couple who lived in a KBM house there for many years – even raising their kids in the village. The husband passed away about 10 years ago and the wife just recently passed away a few years ago. They had a great ministry there – even holding church services in the basement of the big house.

The goal of the mission is to continue providing camps for the kids there a few weeks every summer until another couple is found to take the place of the previous one. There are different visiting groups that also make their way over there to work on remodeling the old house.

This native village is such an interesting place. The lifestyle is so different. They are a village of about 170 people on a neighboring island to Kodiak. So there is really almost nothing to do there. There are not many actual jobs for the adults and it’s hard for the teens to “get out”. It was very sad one evening about 11:30pm we were inside the house and a bunch of young kids came by on the road, wanting to play with us – meaning their parents were out late drinking and didn’t care where the kids were. 

We really enjoyed our week there. It was great to be part of a smaller group and get to know each other well. We spent time in the Word together with our group every morning and spent the afternoons leading kayaking camp for the kids. We would take a couple groups out every day, kayak to a beach or island, spend a little time exploring on shore, tell or act out a bible story with the kids, then kayak back. We did bonfires some evenings for the kids and spent a couple evenings just exploring the island ourselves.

On a beach in Ouzinkie

The Ouzinkie harbor

We got the opportunity to visit an island nearby where a group of 5 orthodox Christian nuns live. They welcomed us, gave us tea and cookies and we spent time talking with them, learning about their lives and enjoying their company. I think what surprised Luke and I the most was how real they were. They were telling jokes, laughing and having a great time. Just across from their island on the bigger (Spruce) island is where Father Herman’s Monastery is. In the Russian Orthodox Christian faith, Spruce Island is considered the most holy island in the world – because this is where Father Herman spent his life. There is a pilgrimage to this island every year.

Other things we have been doing in our spare time:

• Hiking mountains

Luke on our way up 3 Sisters

• Enjoying the warmest summer Kodiak has seen in over 50 years! (We had about 2 weeks in a row with sunshine and no rain!) Today was our first day of rain..

• Kayaking

• Whale watching – on our way to Ouzinkie, we had the most amazing opportunity to enjoy the presence of more than a dozen humpback whales. We just sat in the middle of them for almost an hour. They got within 10 feet of our boat! It was so incredible seeing these enormous animals just playing in the water! They were slapping their tails, calling out to each other; we even saw one on his back with his two fins in the air. It was SO SO amazing!!

• Soccer – Luke has finally had the opportunity to play soccer on the island and he loves it.  He recently found out about this group of men from the community who play soccer at the local park twice a week.  It wasn’t until this last week that he was finally able to play.  It’s a group of mostly Hispanic guys and a few “gringos” (what Luke and the other non-hispanic guys are called by them).  They play pickup games for a couple of hours.  Luke has gotten to know Seth, who organizes the games, and he is a great Christian man who sees this as a ministry. 

We are absolutely loving our summer here – the staff we get to work with, the kids we spend time with every day, the beautiful surroundings – the glory of God is visible everywhere. Thank you for your support and prayers as we continue in ministry here. We are so thankful for this opportunity to serve God in Kodiak.

If you want to see more pictures, you can look at Luke's website: lukenfroese.wix.com\main

Prayer for:

• Energy for next week (we are doing two camps a day because about half our staff will be in Ouzinkie)
• Carrie’s relationship with the 6^th grade girl
• More beautiful weather
• Joyful hearts (no matter how tough the day of camp is) 
• There was a young boy who drowned last week and some of the kids that attend our camp witnessed it.  Pray that God can be evident to everyone who was involved.