As I reflect on the first week mission trip to Nome, and my first mission trip ever, I feel so privileged to have been a part of the two most major events in Nome – the basketball tournament and the Iditarod. I am well suited to contribute in such practical ways.
I have to be honest and say that I found myself filling more practical needs than spiritual needs. I’m tempted to feel guilty about this from a mission perspective, but Brenda pointed out that there was a time when her teams weren’t welcome in Nome because of the fear they’d cram religion down the throats of the people. Today, however, non-religious groups call the church asking for practical help from her teams on a regular basis. For example, the big events bring more celebrations, which results in more drunkenness. A number of the mission guys were asked to work security patrol in the evenings and early mornings, which required preventing those who were drunk from passing out in the street and freezing to death…literally. As another example, caring for the musher’s dogs in the dog lot gave them, as one musher commented, “peace of mind that no one was disturbing [his] dogs.”
Faithfulness in helping the community on a regular basis results in building trusting relationships with school and agency leaders. These relationships may also lead to opportunities to share Jesus and to minister to spiritual needs. So, while my one week presence may not have had this major impact I was hoping for (who am I to think I’m that good), my presence contributed in some small way to the bigger momentum being built by God through Brenda with the Nome community.
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