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Orientation to Village Living

Family Safety
Travel
Travel conditions in Bush Alaska vary widely. People normally travel to the offroad villages via commuter airline services connecting with Alaska Airlines through a hub village (e.g. Dillingham, Nome, Kotzebue, Bethel). Adventist missionaries have often bypassed the normal travel lines, often arriving by light aircraft. Locating villages when traveling via private aircraft is much easier than it used to be, considering the vast wilderness of Alaska. However, care is still needed to avoid an unplanned wilderness landing. A few villages have pickup trucks in use and some have a few miles of road to explore. In summer, people travel within the villages and the few surrounding roads by 4-wheeler, and by boat on the many bays, lakes and rivers. In winter, people travel sometimes over a hundred miles by snowmachine.

Travel Safety
Travel safety by boat or snowmobile is important. In some regions, due to strong storms on large lakes or bays during the boating season, and violent blizzards in winter coupled with monotonously repetitive landscapes, it is easy to become disoriented without navigational aids. Village men sometimes have an active trail committee which is responsible for marking snowmobile trails between villages. Hazards such as overflow on top of ice but under the snow, and thin ice on certain rivers, can catch the uninitiated

or unwary person. It is important to consult with trustworthy and competent village men when planning to travel away from the village. They have much wisdom to share with anyone willing to listen. Know how to get back on the marked trail anytime you are out of sight of the village, especially if the snow is blowing, etc. Sometimes you can follow your tracks backward, but often they blow and drift over quickly. Try to carry a dry pair of socks and waterproof snow packs if traveling away from the village more than a mile or two (In sub-zero weather, it does not take wet feet long to freeze, and there is no way to get out of overflow without getting your feet wet .)

Maintenance
Snowmachine Maintenance: Always carry a spare set of spark plugs when traveling in case a plug fouls. Also carry a spare drive belt which is in good condition, and know how to replace a broken belt. Make a habit of traveling with a well maintained machine, with a companion who also has a reliable machine when traveling away from the village. An exception might be made when traveling during a time when others are known to be traveling on the same trail behind you. Propane Bottles: Propane is a highly explosive gas. Propane tank handling requires extra caution on several counts: A full tank is under very high pressure. If something breaks off the nozzle/valve, the tank may turn into a missile, causing great damage or explosion.

If the connection or valve leaks propane gas, explosion due to a spark or flame may surround the tank for many yards on every side. Recently, three men were badly burned when they damaged a propane bottle while moving it out of their boat. The escaping gas was ignited by a near-by campfire. Years ago, escaping propane from a bottle hooked to a gas clothes dryer exploded, burning down the girls dorm at the Bristol Bay Mission School, and causing the death of a child. Propane bottle thread fitting rotation is opposite (left-handed) from normal, and will not fit an oxygen bottle fitting (right-handed). Remember that to loosen a propane fitting, turn as if tightening it (to the right). After installing a new tank, ALWAYS check for leaks by placing dish detergent/water around threads. Safety rules dictate that propane tanks are always kept outdoors rather than inside a building. In the Arctic, this rule is often bent due to extremely cold/windy weather, which causes the propane tank to run out of pressure while there still is propane inside (below zero degrees F, propane does not liquefy readily, and as propane is used from the tank, internal pressure drops, causing an even greater temperature drop than ambient. If a tank is in use inside an enclosed building or hallway, double check for leaks as specified above, and remember that a distant pilot light is all that is needed to engulf an entire building in an instant inferno!!!

Health
The best health program is good health habits. Dont share germs. Keep things clean. Drink half of your pound weight in ounces of water every day. Keep skin clean and moist (use Vaseline, Eucerine Cream, or some similar product on chapped hands and feet) and keep hair clean. Eat a well balanced diet with some source of vitamin C daily, green and yellow vegetables, variety of fruits even canned or frozen or dried, apples, at least 4 servings of whole grains daily, 2-3 servings of protein beans, lentils, split peas, and a source of Vitamin D and calcium. Learn the native edible greens, enjoy the berries in season. Get outside for fresh air and sunlight as often as you can. Dress up well whenever you go out. Keep extremities warm. Get 8-9 hours of sleep at night, 10-12 hours for children. Get 20-30 min. of aerobic exercise at least 5 days a week. Have a good first aid kit with Neosporin antibiotic ointment, thermometer, Band-Aids, alcohol, cotton balls, Q tips, hydrogen peroxide, betadine, silvadene for burns, larger dressings and tape, ace wrap, tinactin, deep heat or Vicks, use a vaporizer for congestion or cough ( if you dont have one, boil water on the stove or take a hot shower and spend time in the steamy bathroom) hot and cold baths help to keep the germ fighters active, use charcoal for infections and meat tenderizer for bee stings and bug bites. For vomiting do not eat until you are really hungry, keep drinking water until it can be tolerated. Then Jello or other clear liquids, broth, or juice. Follow this with the BRAT diet: banana, rice, applesauce, toast. For diarrhea after antibiotics take acidophilus or yogurt. For bad diarrhea use Imodium and if it continues see the health aid. Use Echinacea and Vitamin C or zinc at the first sign of a cold. Use hot compresses on chest and a hot foot bath for chest congestion.

Depression Depression can be a health issue for anybody who spends significant time in farnorthern or far-southern climates. For specific information on how to treat depression, see material from www.nedleypublishing.com on Depression recovery.

Child and Woman Safety


Generally, people love children. However, alcoholism is a serious problem in most villages, more or less all the time, but more acutely at some times than others. Sexual abuse also happens, requiring parents of small children, both boys and girls, to be extra cautious. Drug abuse has come into Alaskan villages, and also presents some concern for unattended children. Abuse can and does also happen to adult women, but most often it has been associated with those women being under the influence of alcohol / drugs. Generally, women are safe within Alaskan villages during daylight hours, and when accompanied by trusted companions at other times. Outside of the village limits proper, care must be exercised by all people, whether male or female, so that they may avoid or resist animal predators such as wolves, bears, and large non-predators such as moose.

Common Sense
Common sense is really not all that common. Common sense usually consists of accumulated wisdom from your mistakes and mistakes of other people that you have known. Common sense varies from culture to culture, and usually reflects wisdom commonly needed by that culture. Ask questions before attempting anything that might be risky.

Connecting With Your Village


To connect with the people you are serving, to most effectively share the Gospel, you need to know how to relate to them. Here are some tips that may help.

History of the work in Villages


Read the Alaska Mission History by Nadine Hanson, focusing on articles relating to your region. Many missionaries have come and gone over the years. Back when Bristol Bay Mission School was in operation, students were flown from the villages by various pilots in small planes to Aleknagik, Alaska. Student nurses from WWC spent summers in villages for a number of years. Following the mission school era, the Alaska Student Mission program was instituted whereby college aged couples spent one or two years pastoring in a village. Later this was expanded to include other workers. The coming and going of missionaries (as well as the yearly migration of many Public School teachers) has led many natives to suspect that you are not going to be in their village for long. It makes it hard for them to trust you and build a relationship with you, expecting that you will leave them soon. While none of us knows the future, plan to spend at least several years in order to build relationships and effectively share the Gospel.

Church Discipline
If you are in a village with an Adventist church, you will likely find baptized members dating back to each era when missionaries were present. Often these members have become discouraged and have reverted back to their pre-Adventist lifestyles. However, there is no such thing as an Ex-Adventist in native thinking. Though the

village may look poorly on the Adventist Church due to the low standard of behavior exhibited by some of its members, the village as a whole, and members from other clans, may have actually disowned Adventist members so that they cannot ever go back. Once a person has stepped across the line, they will always be an Adventist in the eyes of the village, whether good or bad. In this sense, it does no good to disfellowship them for aberrant behavior. It does do some good to visit them, pray with them, and encourage them.

Daily Cycle of Living


In summer, with 18-24 hours of daylight, adults are often up morning through evening, while children and youth are often awake evening through early morning. Some families will go berry picking at traditional sites. In winter, the daily cycle of living revolves around school life. Men will often go hunting, sometimes just for the day, and sometimes they will spend the night at a familyowned permanent camp. Due to difficulty of dressing in heavy outdoor clothing, indoor and outdoor activities are often grouped separately. It may require some sacrifices for you to spend time with people and get to know them. For example, you may prefer going to bed at 8 pm, but you may have to stay up to 10 pm to play a game of baseball with the youth. Then, after a late night, you may have to get up early the next morning, cutting short your sleep. Be flexible in order to serve people, but make every effort to get back in balance as soon as possible, to maintain your health and sanity.

Yearly Cycle of Living


The yearly cycle of living revolves around seasons: Freeze Up, Holiday Season / Winter Games, Spring hunting, Break Up, and Summer berry picking and fishing / drying. Since the high schools have been built, basket ball games and other school events also draw the villages together. Some summers, different churches provide Vacation Bible School for children and youth. Take the opportunity to participate in the events of village life, even if they are outside your comfort zone or area of interest. For example, participate in the Subsistence way of life. Ask to join in a hunt or go on a fishing trip. If you are not comfortable doing this, at least participate in berry picking or gathering wild edible greens. Ask the elders which plants are edible. They will be happy to share their knowledge, and the humility you exhibit as a learner will go a long ways toward building friendships. Holidays are very important in village life. Thanksgiving and Christmas are not just for the immediate family, but are shared by the whole community (which is often like a large extended family). Ask how you can join in the holiday with the community, even if you'd rather spend it at home with your family. In addition to the scheduled events of the year you can join in, funerals are very important to the community. They are often done in wake style. This means you should visit the family and grieve with them. Take food when you visit, to leave and share. (Label your dishes so they can be returned). For a person who died outside the village, the arrival of the body (generally via commuter airline) is a big event you can participate in. You can help dig the graves. This is a labor-intensive task especially in

winter, but the work is shared by a large number of people so it is not too much to handle. Prepare to stay a while, taking your turn and resting, eating the provided snacks and being part of the social atmosphere. If you are a carpenter, you can help make the coffin and/or grave marker (usually a beautifully stained and varnished cross).

Visiting
Visiting other people or having them visit you is important to your ministry. Be comfortable with silence. You do not need to talk a lot or loudly (unless the person you are visiting is hard of hearing). Avoid the perception of being egotistical and selfabsorbed. Nor should you ask a lot of questions-- that comes across as being nosy, in the native tradition. Observe first before asking questions. You can learn a lot by being a good listener. When someone comes to visit you, offer them something to eat or drink. You should keep snacks around for this purpose. Adults will often decline, though if you are sitting down to a meal, they just may join you. Similarly, when you are visiting someone else, they may offer you food. Don't feel like you have to eat, but if they urge you, eating their food will show you don't consider yourself better than them. Just be aware that some people are extremely poor, yet will offer food because it is expected. When large groups of children frequently visit, you may start to wonder if they are going to eat all your food. The younger generation has not always learned the polite ways of their elders, and may become quite demanding. You should be prepared with an abundance of healthy snacks. You can purchase cases of oranges and apples from Span Alaska (www.spanalaskasales.com/) and sometimes they even make it to the village

without freezing in winter. Popcorn is an inexpensive snack, and graham crackers are always a favorite. Cookies are something you can even make with the children as an activity while they are visiting.

Sources of Misunderstanding
Communicating cross-culturally leaves open the door to misunderstanding, especially when cultures have mingled enough to lure you into thinking everything is the same. Mistrust on both sides can build up, cutting of the opportunity to share the gospel. Miscommunication is very likely if you are not aware of the ways people communicate non-verbally. People may be responding to you, but you are simply not aware that they are. Just like a vigorous sideways shake of the head means no in European cultures, and a shrug of the shoulders means, I don't know, there are nonverbal ways to say things in native cultures as well. For example, slightly raised eyebrows mean yes, and a slight wrinkling of the nose means no. Watch for these cues when you ask a question, and you'll find people are more responsive than you may have thought. Additionally, you should learn common words in the native language of your region, even though English is spoken commonly. Native words tend to slip into conversation and even some English words may be used in a different sense than you are used to.

Example Village English/Native language


Snowgo/Snowmachine a snowmobile, not a machine for making snow. Honda Any brand of 3 or 4-wheel ATV.

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Evenrude Any brand of outboard Can I follow? Does not mean, Can I follow you on another Honda or Snowgo, but Can I ride with you? Go store or Go post office. You will sound stilted if you use the longer form, Let's drive over to the store instead of Let's go store. Iupiaq Adii (AH-DEE): An expression of dismay or disapproval. Used to discourage misbehavior of children, it is much more effective than if you say Stop it! Used to sympathize with someone else's problems, it will help them feel you really care. Iupiaq-English Taikuu (TAE-KUU): Thank-you. Yup'ik/Iupiaq Quyana (COY-AH-NAH): Thank-you or you're welcome, greetings.

You can learn many other words and phrases relevant to your region, so that even if you do not speak and understand full sentences, you can communicate more effectively, both in meaning and in connecting in friendship with the people.

Stinginess
One thing that can lead to mistrust is perceived stinginess on your part. Coming from outside the village, you will likely need to purchase most of your food (rather than hunting, fishing and gathering most of it, as many natives do). The most economical way to purchase your food is in large orders, perhaps even a yearly barge order. When your five crates of food (your year's supply) arrives, it will be easy for the villagers to consider you stingy if you do not share it with them. After all, whenever they receive a windfall of food (a successful hunt) they are expected to share it with the elders first before keeping any for themselves. You will have to determine how best to keep your food supply while still being a sharing person. You may wish to share some of it right away, but also let

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(especially curious children) know they can visit you throughout the year, and you will share more with them or others who are in need. If you fail to share, and even if you do share, children are likely to pilfer items from your home, whether it be food or other trinkets. You may be surprised at the things that disappear, things which themselves would have no value to the children, but which they may never have seen before and be curious about. Resist the urge to accuse and keep people out. Instead, make efforts to store curiosities, especially ones that may be hard to get (such as mirrors, bulb syringes, night lights) out of sight, out of mind when children are visiting.

Beliefs
Another source of misunderstanding is disparaging of local beliefs and customs (whether intentional or not). Some of the beliefs and customs may be harmless but different from what you are familiar with. Others may be unbiblical and need to be addressed, but in the proper way and time. Consider asking questions to stimulate thinking, rather than directly challenging false beliefs. There are various taboos still followed and passed on to the younger generation, dating from prior to first contact with non-native cultures. For example, one taboo is picking up raven feathers lying on the ground. Because of a belief that the raven represents a spirit creature, it is not considered safe to pick up the feathers. Doing so may be a way to challenge the belief system and point to our freedom from evil spirits in Christ, but if you simply do it out of ignorance, or simply make fun of superstitions, you

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are losing an opportunity to witness as well as putting yourself on Satan's ground (as the power of evil spirits remains very real in places where people live in fear of them). Here is another example of how taboos are passed on. The Public School system now provides for native language education to help preserve the culture. In one school, a Christian native teacher shares a traditional story with the preschool children. A man goes beaver hunting and finds a lodge full of beavers. Rather than merely taking one or two beavers, he seals off the exits, breaks a hole in the roof and smokes the whole lodge of beavers to death. Unknown to him, one of the beavers was not in the lodge at the time, and escaped death at his hands. That beaver determines revenge. After the man returned back to his village, he and his people gathered in their meeting hall. While they were all there together, the beaver changed himself into a man, came to the village, sealed off all the doors of the meeting hall, and cut a hole in the roof. Then, the beaverturned-human took the canoes of the village people, lit them on fire and dropped them in through the hole in the roof, smoking the whole village of people to death, in revenge for the death of his beaver family. This story is one of many traditional stories used to teach the morals of native society. It is intended to teach how we should treat nature with respect. In many ways, we can relate it to how European-culture fairy tales (for example, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and other stories) have been used to teach morals.

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When we compare these stories to the Bible (both western fairy tales and native stories), they do not measure up to the truths of the Bible. While they intend to teach good morals, they indicate a different world view than the one the Bible presents. For example, Hansel and Gretel escape the witch by doing unto her what she intended to do unto them (contrary to do unto others what you would have them do unto you). Likewise, the story about the beaver teaches respect for nature through fear of nature, not through a God-given responsibility to care for it. The beaver story also indicates a view of the spirit world in which animals and humans can interchange. This animist view is not seriously challenged by most Christian churches, even though it is contrary to the high Biblical view of mankind. Being aware of the beliefs about the spirit world can help in your efforts to share the gospel. However, your approach must be the careful one of a learner. And when you do have an opportunity to share the Biblical view, rather than disparaging native vs. European-based cultures, show how they both have their fairy tales and animistic beliefs, but that the God of the Bible is above nature and all other spirits.

Successful Ministry
Much of the efforts made in the past to reach native people have focused (rightly so) on the poor, those suffering with addictions, etc. This has born good fruits in a harvest of people brought to Jesus. However, it has also produced its challenges. One of these is a lack of native leadership in many churches. Often those who have been reached are people who, due to their past mistakes, or perhaps through no fault of their own, are not considered as leaders by their communities. Others may simply not have the personality to be leaders. Still others may have once been leaders but are getting older

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and ready to retire (yet there is no young leadership trained and ready to take over). This leaves the church in the poor position of being dependent on outside missionaries or pastors to keep it functioning. This situation points to the clear need to reach existing native leaders and lead them to see God's claim on their lives. If those who are workers together with Him will do their duty bravely and faithfully, God will convert men who occupy responsible places, men of intellect and influence... When converted to Christ, many will become agencies in the hand of God to work for others of their own class. (Ministry of Healing, p. 216). However, there are challenges in reaching existing leaders. Some may already be church leaders in another denomination. We are not trying to destroy the leadership of other churches, but help them to more fully understand God's message for this time. If they can be led to see the truth as it is in Jesus, and their responsibility to share it, they could be powerful messengers for God. They will face the temptation to not rock the boat, but we should make an effort to reach them still. Other existing leaders may not even be Christians, or be only nominally so. Our challenge is to help them see their need of Jesus. Being leaders in their community, they will be inclined to feel they are already good enough and better than those around them. Thinking our goodness can save us, they may be relying on their humanitarian efforts for salvation. We should demonstrate by our lives that Jesus has changed us, and lead them to ask what makes a difference in our lives. Christ's method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy

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for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, "Follow Me." There is need of coming close to the people by personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit. (Ministry of Healing, p. 143-144). Let us resolve to learn from past mistakes, and pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to empower us, and those we serve. Let us pray that we can inspire many others, as described in Great Controversy, p. 612 Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given.

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