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Encouragement to Kodiak Island
Arctic Barnabas EncourageHer Ministry fills a huge need among pastor and missionary families serving in remote villages across Alaska. Ministry husbands usually feel energized and challenged by the rough Alaskan “bush” living with its hunting, fishing, and trapping. When mission families defect, it often involves the discouragement of their wives to adapt, not only to the harsh environment, but to the social and cultural challenges.
Hosting Tea Parties in the homes of pastors’ wives gave ABM a way to meet with these women, encourage them, and honor them among the village women who came. Then another idea became a reality. Our team began hosting retreats just for the ministry women in different geographical regions. This gave us the opportunity to go deeper with these precious gals, as well as allow them to network among themselves for mutual encouragement.
Recently I was able to join them on a trip to Kodiak. Although Kodiak is large compared to most villages, it still is an island cut off from mainland opportunities. The day before we flew out, the four of us gals spent the afternoon and evening together to make preparations. We shopped for groceries, ate dinner together as we briefed the weekend and divided up responsibilities, spent time in prayer, and packaged gifts and groceries for air travel.
We lifted off the runway about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday for Kodiak and arrived about an hour later, enjoying an extraordinarily smooth flight. We unloaded the airplane and the Baptist Mission director picked us up. We stayed in a log cabin where we also held our meetings and ate meals together. The women attending this retreat stayed in women’s housing a short distance away. We spent the afternoon cleaning and preparing the log cabin and guest space with flowers, gifts, and favors. That evening we wrapped gifts and prepared handmade donated gift bags with gift items (notebook, devotional book, toiletries, socks, pens, notepad, Kleenex, etc.).
The next morning we finished cleaning the cabin and guest space and prepared gifts. The women arrived at 5:00 p.m. and we escorted them to the cabin where we enjoyed our first meal together of delicious local pizzas. We gave each of the six ladies the beautifully sewn gift bags, which they delighted to open. Each lady introduced herself to the group by relating her name, where she served, and a bit of testimony of how she came to minister in Alaska. Ginger gave the first of four messages on Femininity. We finished up with snacks while sharing stories until near midnight.
Our first breakfast with the ladies went well. Natalie headed up the cooking and kitchen responsibilities. Karen was responsible for all the logistics of the trip, and I was the camera gal. We enjoyed a time of worship songs and Ginger’s second Femininity study from Genesis. We presented each lady with a small heart-shaped mirror to remind her how we reflect the beauty of the Altogether Lovely Christ. Natalie prepared chicken soup for lunch with veggie trays and bread. The afternoon was free time for naps and walks. We gathered again at 5 p.m. to take the ladies out to dinner. All attended and obviously enjoyed the meal and just being together. We reconvened at the cabin that evening for the third message. This presentation on woundedness was followed by unwrapping a gift of Band-Aids to remind them of the Wounded Healer. After Ginger's talk, she asked the ladies to spend about fifty minutes alone with the Lord. The ABM gals went upstairs to pray for them during this time. When we came back together it was already 10 p.m., and only three ladies remained. However, it was God’s plan to make the sharing time safe and victorious. We especially prayed for healing and affirmed our love and care for these gals. It was difficult to get to sleep that night until the wee hours of the morning.
On Saturday we settled down to our last session together. After a sweet time of worship songs, Ginger gave the final message on our value as women. Each lady was presented with a sparkling tiara, a reminder that she is a princess crowned with God’s favor and glory because of His love, forgiveness, and acceptance of her. The women presented the ABM gals with hand-made thank you cards and verbal expressions of their appreciation for inviting them and for the sacrifices we made to come. We enjoyed our last lunch together and final words of encouragement and prayers with individual ladies. By about 3:00 p.m. we began to clean up the cabin, pack up all the things we brought, and make trips to the airport to load the airplane. We left Kodiak about 6:30 p.m., arrived at our Kenai hangar about an hour later, unloaded our luggage and supplies, and went to dinner to debrief our trip. Exhausted but blessed, we finished at about 9:30 p.m.
We thank God for answered prayer for safety, good flight weather, God-sightings, personal victories, and appreciation expressed by the women. The Lord graced us with a team that worked well together and complemented each other’s gifting. He obviously worked in the ministry ladies who attended. Even though most were from the same area, which inhibited some openness, God made a way outside of session time to connect.
We thank God and praise Him for using us to encourage His servants. We thank Him for His faithfulness to these precious women who follow Him to the ends of the earth!
