We are well into our preschool/after-school work schedules and it's been pretty smooth. We are especially happy that we get to spend the afternoon working with the after-school program. It's just so much different than the preschool and it's way more laid back.
I am enjoying my work with the youth group at our church. We've been meeting for about a month now and it seems like more and more kids show up. I've been able to share what the Bible says about some questions that these kids asked at the beginning of the year.
We've had our last visitors for our time here on the island and they were Carrie's parents. It was a lot of fun to have them here. Carrie's mom enjoyed helping her in the preschool in the mornings and Carrie's dad and I went fishing quite a bit. We took an after-dark kayak adventure in one of the bays on the island where phenomenons of the phosphorescent kind are known to be seen. It was so magical to see the sparkle of the phosphorescence in the water and then to look up at the sky and see so many stars. We were surrounded by beauty. We enjoyed a beautiful sunny hike one morning and were in awe of His creating once again. That afternoon we decided to go on Uncle Ted's boat. Which leads us to story #1:
We wanted to do some gill-netting/Halibut fishing for an afternoon. But in order to do both of those simultaneously we needed another boat to stick around the gill net to pick the fish out. So we ended up with Ted's boat and a kayak we borrowed from the mission. Carrie's dad (Steve), Ted, and I headed out on the boat to set the gill net. Carrie and her mom (Penni) kayaked out there so the kayak would stick with the net. Once the guys had the net set and Carrie and Penni had reached the net, Carrie and I switched places so Carrie could do some Halibut fishing and I would just hang out with Penni by the net. Well the boat was now gone and it was Penni and myself in the kayak. It was relatively quiet, the ocean was calm and we were enjoying being out on the ocean. It was so calm that Penni said, "I feel like I'm not on the ocean. I feel like I'm on a lake." A few minutes later, right in front of our kayak, a silver salmon hit the net. As it struggled and splashed, we paddled over to the net to pick it out. The moment Penni grabs the net to keep us anchored the fish stops wiggling and I was able to see that he was not stuck very well but that he was fortunately on our side of the net. I knew we didn't have a lot of time since the fish wasn't caught well, so without thinking I just reached down and grabbed the fish's tail. A lot of people will tell you that grabbing the fish by the tail is not a secure way to hold a fish, especially of that size. However, the tail was in my hand and as soon as I clutched my hand I was surprised at how firm it was. So I just yanked the fish out of the water onto my lap where it then began to fight to get free. It was still stuck in the net a little bit so I quickly ran a line through the gills so it didn't get away. The fish eventually wiggled itself out of the net, but I had not yet secured the line to the kayak. During this time I felt like I was wrestling the fish. I literally had it in a head-lock the entire time I was trying to secure the line to the kayak. It eventually got tied to the kayak and it would not get away. But then there was the dilemma of what to do with the fish. It would have been routine for me to bleed the fish so it's not all bloody during the filet process. But we had been noticing a seal in the area and I didn't want to attract them over to us and I certainly didn't want to get the attention of a Salmon Shark. So I just kept it alive in the water- on a very short leash. Just moments after that the weather started to turn and the ocean was not so calm anymore. It was impossible to stay close to the net. You could even see white caps a little waves out. We didn't want to sit out there any longer so we started paddling to a nearby beach where Kathy (aunt) was waiting with a fire and some smores. About 100 yards from the beach I looked over to my right and I saw a shadow under the water between our kayak and the shore. I think it's a rock at first but then I noticed that it moved and it was moving faster than we were. Ok, so at that point I felt like this seal was stalking us with this fish, so I took the fish out of the water and put it on my lap which left Penni to do all the paddling. Penni was strong and she got us to shore and we were victorious with our fish in hand the seals left hungry. (And that was the only fish we caught that day).
 |
| Proud fishermen with their catch |
 |
| Carrie and Penni kayaking out of the harbor |
Steve and I went fishing one morning when I had a few hours off of work. This was really the only time we could do a good chunk of fishing at one time all week. We had heard about this bear that had been hanging around the same spot that we had been fishing at and we thought with this amount of time on this trip we would for sure see this bear. So we've been fishing for about an hour and a half, there are 4 of us at this spot (Steve and I, and a sweet old Swedish couple). At this point, Steve and I had caught 3 and the Swedes had caught 1 (the largest of all 4). Our fish were on our stringers and were keeping cool in a shallow part of the river right next to us. From behind us a hungry bear, that was probably just waking up for his breakfast, walked up right behind the Swedish lady. She heard the bear grunt and so she turned around; they ended up startling each other which sent the bear back a couple of steps, which is also when I noticed it. "Oh my. Steve, there's a bear." Now we had all noticed the bear. But the bear wasn't interested in us. It took the Swedes fish that they caught (stringer and all) and walked off back from where it came. We were left with our minds blown, the Swedish lady trying to collect herself and probably slow her heart-rate down, and eventually thinking when it would come back. So I went and grabbed the three fish that we caught and brought them over so Steve could filet them. In literally 3 minutes, Steve filleted one and took the carcass over to where the bear had seen the fish before. As soon as he released the carcass the bear was coming back up behind him. Steve backed off and the bear took the carcass and walked across the river and sat down to eat at the bank across from us. While it ate it's second fish, Steve fileted the other two fish we had. I then had my camera ready, so I took the last two carcasses over to where the bear was getting his fish. I made sure he saw me as I tossed the carcasses into the river. The bear then came over and got another carcass which it took back across the river to eat. Then it came back for the last carcass which it ate just behind some tall grass on our side of the river. It walked back across the river to the other bank and walked up stream in the river getting closer and closer to us (but still across the river). It walked right past us and up the river a little further before it crossed back over to our side again before it disappeared into the woods. Once I realized we were downwind from the bear, I walked very briskly the quarter mile to our truck and put our fish filets inside. WHAT A RUSH!!
And those are the exciting stories we have for you from when Carrie's parents were here. We didn't even mention the display of northern lights on their last night in town. If you just look around, God is everywhere. This is very apparent to us up here in Alaska.
It's amazing when we think about all of the memories we will have when we leave this place. We realized recently that we only have a couple of months left here in Kodiak. It's been such incredible experience.
 |
| Campfire while waiting for it to get dark so we can go kayaking |
 |
| Staying warm! |
Things to pray for:
- Clarity and wisdom on jobs/school/transition in our near future.
- Strength for us - it looks to be busy as we get closer to the holiday season.
- Peace and trust as finish strong here as well as prepare for more unknowns and transitions to come soon.
- Health! We work so closely with so many children - enough said.
No comments:
Post a Comment