Quite a day today. Some of our students helped to host Care Force, a radio show hosted weekly by Julie Elmore on KICY. The show was mostly about prayer requests from people in the community and surrounding areas. All of the students did a great job.
After the radio show was over we met with Wilfred Anowlic, an Alaskan Native who is originally from King Island, a very small island about 87 miles from Nome. The King Island community was forced to move to Nome some years ago, but the members of this community have remained a tightly knit group. Wilfred has a very interesting story, including a life of subsistence hunting on the Bering Sea, a stint in Vietnam, homelessness, a journey out of alcoholism, and appearance in a couple of movies, such as Steven Seagal’s movie, “On Deadly Ground.”
Half of our group had lunch with Alaskan Native elders at a retirement center in Nome. The students were able during this time to interact with people who have seen the considerable changes that have taken place for Alaskan Natives over the last century.
We had dinner with the Nome Ministerial Association in a cabin by the Bering Sea. It was pretty darn cold until someone lit the heater inside, and then it was pretty darn hot. Nevertheless, it gave us the opportunity to hear various perspectives on what ministry is like in this isolated and unique context.
Oh, and I saw a reindeer riding in the back of a pickup truck, which seems a little more normal the longer I’m here.