Rain, Rain, Go Away

It was our first day of RAIN here in Alaska! Luckily, it held off for most of our team members that got to go on a hike on Blueberry Hill- it was beautiful! Though we were a little nervous about how many kids (if any) would be at our parks, surprisingly a lot of kids showed up. The tire swing was definitely the main attraction at Government Hill though, there was CONSTANTLY a crowd, either pushing or riding the tire. Gary even took a spin! 

On the sidelines of the tire swing shenanigans, there was a lot of baby-holding, "How Far Can You Jump?" contests of the regular swings, and frisbee games! You'll notice the large amount of people hiding from the rain in the shelter, too.

We also had a good lesson with some of the older kids about the difference between religion and Christianity...

Religion: you have to DO.

Christianity: it has already been DONE.

We don't have to DO anything to get into Heaven. Chris used the analogy of a class you may take at school. What if you walked into a class on the first day of school and the teacher said she would give everyone an A, all they had to do all semester was show up? Who WOULDN'T take that class?! He said that that's how Christianity works... Jesus already gave us an "A" when He died on the cross, we just have to believe and surrender to Him. 

After being asked who they think goes to Heaven, one guy said, "Good people and bad people go to Heaven. You just have to believe in Jesus and make him your personal Lord and Savior. It's always nice to be reminded that we serve a gracious God who loves us so much- even though we fail Him daily.

At Russian Jack, Peter sang Amazing Grace and a few other songs in the Native Alaskan language, it was pretty cool! Denise also had brought some jewelry from Habitat to break apart and use for crafts. When she got the box out, ALL of the kids went for all of the gold jewelry! They loved it! They also loved learning about Lydia and the "purple fabric" she sold, they got to use purple markers on coffee filter and watch it bleed throughout it! There was a big ultimate frisbee game going on, too, which was awesome!

After the parks, we went on a group excursion to Beluga Point! We saw no whales, but we saw GORGEOUS views! .....and a whole lot of wind.

We are all feeling extremely blessed throughout this entire experience, and it's such a bonus that we are nonstop SURROUNDED by God's creation!

All of this chilliness and rain isn't even noticeable when we can "lean" on and be "covered" by God's grace!