This
summer we have had students from Mt. Edgecumbe participating in a variety of summer camps: Unalakleet Bible Camp in rural Alaska, the Student Leadership
Project in Michigan, Washington Family Ranch in Oregon. All these events had
great impact on the kids.
This
June 20 people from MEHS arrived at Unalakleet Bible Camp, 10 miles inland from
the Bering Sea. Sixteen students, two leaders from Sitka, and two MEHS Alumni
camp counselors met to enjoy a week of making new friends and experiencing
God’s presence. Our days were filled with playing games, eating good food,
canoeing, taking saunas, hiking, running the 3 mile
Muskox race, doing chores after each meal,
laughing with our cabin mates, and multiple times daily attending chapel. In chapel we sang songs
together, and listened as staff and students shared about their lives and what
God has done. God’s presence filled the hearts of the students there and many in our group were changed. They were excited to grow
in their relationship with Christ
and talked about how their lives returning home could be different. Young Life financially helped a group of 9
students St. Lawrence Island attend camp this year and
they too were changed by God’s presence and work in their lives at camp. Two days after returning to Savoonga the
group took Bibles and snacks up to a hillside out of town and sang songs from
camp and had a Bible study with one of the town elders. It is great to see how God can use camps to encourage an entire community!
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| Our group of 20 folks from MEHS on top of a hill outside of camp |
At
the end of June we were fortunate to have
the opportunity to send two students to
Michigan to participate in an amazing opportunity entitled Young Life’s Student
Leadership Project or SLP. The program’s motto is “developing spiritual
leadership in a multicultural world,” and so the Isaiah and Danielle attended sessions on
leadership and theology. Isaiah is
from Savoonga and Danielle is from Kipnuk.
Isaiah shared “I learned so much about God and I learned how I am a leader back home. It was amazing to
meet people from all over and get so close in such a short time. This was the
best week of my life.” Both students attending were juniors and we look forward
to them coming back to MEHS in the fall and getting more involved in the spiritual lives of their classmates.
In
mid July a group of 27 Sitka high and MEHS students
left Alaska for Washington Family Ranch, a Young Life camp in Oregon. This was the first time that many of the students
had ever left the state and boy did they have fun! Many of them for the first
time were able to experience things
like go carts, a high ropes course, and zip lines! They also meet one on one with their counselor, and in small group to
discuss the daily camp message. Again, the students
responded and hearts were changed. Kids
grew in their faith and many in the group opened their hearts to Jesus.
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| Our group at the Oregon Young Life camp |
One
of the things I was most excited for this summer was for two of our MEHS Young
Life Alumni to return and serve at Unalakleet Bible Camp. Both Jason and Dolena dedicated their lives
to God at Bible camp and this summer returned to counsel kids. Jason brought some kids from Tuntituliak and
stayed for a week, while Dolena came from Alaska Christian College and stayed
for the month. “It was totally awesome,” Jason said “I mean most all the guys
in my cabin either committed their life or recommitted their life to God and to
be a part of that is so awesome- it is hard to put into words.” Dolena from Kipnuk said “camp was awesome,
life changing, and the best month of my life.
It felt like I was running a marathon. I was drained and I had to rely
on God to continually renew my strength and energy. (Psalm 18:1-3) There were kids who grew up in
broken homes, who were abused: physically, sexually, and verbally. It helped me to realize Alaska has a real
need for ministry.” Dolena was “constantly reminded that God not only creates
the path for our life, but he is also walking it with us.” Experiencing God at camp effects both campers
and staff. Dolena was “overwhelmed by the grace of God” and now plans to go
into teaching and help run ministries in villages. Jason also wants to always be a part of youth
ministering to the youth wherever he lives. This is
huge and so stinking exciting!
Thanks
for all of your prayer and support in helping make this ministry possible!
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