North and West: Stebbins Bible Camp 2013

Here's the group- night 5 and we all survived! What a blessing to share time with these wonderful people- 'Gloooory!'

I returned this afternoon from a small village called Stebbins where we held a Bible Camp for a group of students from the village. The backstory leading to this week of camp is incredible and a great place to start.

Kellen Katcheak and his wife Marlene began their relationship about 10 years ago. For the first 6 or so years their relationship was abusive and substance/alcohol bound. Their three kids started life in a very challenging environment. About four years ago, Marlene finally decided the abuse had gone on long enough and called the State Troopers on Kellen. He was taken to prison for 11 months in Nome. A pastor in Nome came to the prison to do ministry work and Kellen heard the word of God loud and clear.

Flying to Stebbins

Kellen and his son Kael on our way from Stebbins to camp

Kellen's story from that point on is completely different. Hearing Marlene tell her testimony about the last three years of their relationship is impressive as she describes not always being sure that the change that happened in Kellen's life is truly here to last. Now they have four children and they are inviting other youth into their home to love on them and teach them about God's love. In a place where abuse and neglect are so rampant, this story is incredible.

Kellen's heart is on fire for the Lord right now and he caught the vision of having the camp for the youth of Stebbins.

Our camp on the Nanuqaaq river

Students arriving the next morning

Friday July twelfth Byron, an intern, myself and several students flew from Unalakleet to Stebbins to join in the effort to make this camp a possibility. The group of students and leaders made their way all the way out to Kellen's family fish camp on the Nunaaqaq (pronounced 'noon-a-kak') river twenty miles south of Stebbins. The week was certainly not easy, but God was glorified and many students were introduced to the concept of a loving God who is with them at all times. The camp consisted of about 27 students and 15 or so leaders.

Keeping meat in our tundra chill! Just dig a hole till you hit permafrost, drop your cold stuff in and cover with 2x8s

Having fun playing games!

More games (this one's funny,
it's called Aquu Aquu- I'll tell you about it if you ask)

Baptisms at camp

A rare Alaskan summer sighting of the moon

While there were some lessons learned during year one of the camp, I do think that there will be more of this camp in future years. We had two of Kellen's aunts along with us to teach the students about the land and how to hunt, fish, and sustain themselves on the resources that God gives from his good land. It was fun to watch kids learn how to do each of these things and to see them interested in their culture. For some of the kids, coming to a fish camp like this was a first time experience. There were even a few kids who had never seen a bear in their lifetime!

We spent quite a bit of time around the camp fire (it's three days later and my clothes still smell campy!) keeping warm, cooking food and telling stories. The students had a great opportunity to help out with cooking native foods, learning what it takes to feed a family (even such a big one like our camp family..), and enjoying laughing and sharing with one another. We did have quite a bit of rain the first few days, which made things very challenging as many of the kids were under-prepared to deal with it. God gave us good wind and no rain the following day though to hang up kid's clothes in and get things dried out! We said a special 'Praise God!' when we saw the glorious sunshine peek through the clouds!

This is where the smokehouse and fish rack started.. Lots of work to do!

Helping Teddy, one of the elders, put a tarp over the roof of his cabin

Checking net and counting fish!

Unloading fish from the net, well over 250 in all

Aunt Becky, another elder, teaching young girls how to cut fish

Personally, I was able to interact with a wide variety of the students and try my hand at a few new things such as, building/repairing the smoke house and fish rack at camp, cutting fish (heading and gutting was my job), going on a seal hunt, and helping out where needed in all manners of getting a new camp off the ground.

We saw moose, bear, seal, birds of all kinds (cranes and terns were my favorites), and lots and lots of fish! We put out three nets to catch fish but had to pull them back in just about 20 hours later because we already had too many! Looking at the pictures you can see that we cut and hung about 250 chum salmon. They were nearly half dry by the time we left and will be smoked in the coming days.