Update Report

This mission field in Anchorage has a diverse crowd of children, as we were told to expect; many different backgrounds, many different family groups.  More than one family will often live together in the same house or trailer.  When we ask kids about their brothers and sisters, they always list several, and the list always includes "step brothers and step sisters" too. 

Each day we arrive around 1:30 pm with the sack lunches and drinks to give to the children.  We brought 50 the first day and ran out, so Tuesday we upped the number to 55 and it was just right.  Activities and bible lessons follow for the next few hours.  These kids have very little supervision from parents or guardians, so many of them are there at the park seemingly all the time. 

There are 14 on our team from First Baptist Atlanta, and then Hannah and Jennifer from Graceworks Ministries are our guides.  They supply the continuity, with experience from working with other mission teams back in June.  Bryant and his wife are the church planters for the Russian Jack Springs Park area.  They will be here year round.  Maliek from GraceWorks is a college student here for the summer.  He meets us there, and the kids ADORE him.  Renee and Angela, who do the teaching, crowned Maliek as King Josiah the boy king in the Tuesday lesson, and the kids loved it!  Cameron and Kristin from GraceWorks also come and assist some.  We have a large team, and everyone is needed because there is such a large amount of work to do.

Almost immediately we saw the need to change our ministry plans.  Attention spans are short in large group settings.  Skits will not be effective.  Bryant and Maliek showed us that one-on-one storytelling and relationship building work with these kids, many of whom have no father figures at home.

We are tired and worn out by early afternoon each day, but by that point we have only just begun that day’s work.  We pray, and the Lord supplies the energy that we need to go on.  Last night after dinner at the church, we returned to the park for another hour of balloon making and refreshments.  Cheese Nips and juice seemed to be the only dinner some of the kids would get, as they returned to the food line time and again.

 

CJ before his morning cocoa