Workstudy 2012

Workstudy 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Day 6 July 31, 2012


Today was another day of VBS followed by cleaning up the Metlakatla Church.  We had students out in the rain moving piles of weeds and debris, others cleaning all the wood and pews, others degreasing the kitchen, another group fixing screens for windows, and two of our talented students redoing the writing on the stained glass windows (great job Darcey & Veronica!)  All this while the rain came down in buckets!  Overall a great day, though everyone is very tired and fighting off getting sick.  Please keep us in your prayers! We got to go see a clan dance and even participated in the dancing (thank you Killer Whales!)- Christy

Today we had our second day of VBS!!! And for the opening I was in a skit. My character Jill didn’t get any supplies for her camping trip. So a little girl named Micheal gave me her very large red and white hat to keep my head warm! Such a sweet girl. It rained pretty much the whole day and I was very thankful for that because it caused a shorter work day!! No matter the weather it’s always beautiful here!! ~Hannah

Everything here is going great! VBS has been going smoothly, even if some of the kids don’t exactly listen. I’ve been in the skits in the morning (corny competitions at the beginning of the day), which has been an odd experience, but fun! I’m loving the weather here, the rain is AMAZING compared to the 100 degrees in Colorado. I’m not looking forward to going back to that exactly. We’re going to go see native dancers later today, that should be exciting! –Hope

Yesterday we had 23 kids for VBS and today we had 27!!!  It is so much fun!!! One of the little girls came up to me today at the end and repeated the bible verse we had worked on.   She couldn’t remember the one from yesterday so we worked on it.  She said she has been listening to the CD in the car.  That made my day.  I helped clean the wood.  It has definitely been a soup and grilled cheese kind of day today so everyone was happy to have that for lunch.—Brooke
P.S. I did discover last night that I am not the only one to blame for the snoring in our room.  Just Saying!!!!!!

Hi Daddy!! I miss you SOO much! I really wish you were here with us-you would love the mountains up here really a lot! You and momma will have to come up here when Jill and I are on our next Workstudy. I learned how to put a new screen in a window. Shoot-maybe I shouldn’t tell you that. We have windows at home that need new ones too! I also learned I don’t like rain as much as I thought I did. I am the only Sunshine here~It rains ALL the time! And it is uber cold rain! I can’t wait to see you and tell you all about our trip. ~Karli K

Hello to everyone back in Colorado. We are up to about 27 kids for VBS today. The VBS kids are starting to get used to all of us by now and are very energetic. We are all very tired by now as you can probably tell our spelling/writing. Several of us are fighting off getting sick at this time. The rainy weather is probably not helping with us all being exhausted. We are heading to a dance rehearsal for their big 125year celebration that is coming up at the end of the week. The locals have been wonderful hosts with introducing/showing us things about their culture. Last night we were all able to shower in the high school which is where we will have showers for all of the other days we are here in Metlakatla. However, these showers were freezing to where the rain outside would have been a warmer option for taking a shower. ~Jess

Hello Everyone- Showers last night were freezing…. The high school is better than Loveland High because of an amazing rock wall in their gym. So VBS…. We had 27 kids today, 3 more than yesterday which is a reassurance that they’re having fun. We cleaned up around the church today because it’s been pouring rain for about 15 hours! I thought I loved rain but I’ve realized that 3 days of on and off rain is way too much! We just finished eating a delicious meal of comfort food, many of us are starting to get tired and worn out. We’re now on our way to watch an Indian dance team practice, then off to the showers. Definitely missing my family now but I’ll see you on Saturday! Love you all! ~Makenzie F.

The good news is, all the wood in the sanctuary has been polished. Twice. The bad news is, it took about 3 hours with 4 people doing it. We got to go to a Killer Whale clan dance rehearsal for the upcoming 125th anniversary. It was sooooo amazing. You can feel the rhythm from all the drums through your shoes. In some of the dances, we got to dance with them which was really scary at first… its totally foreign from what we’re used to. But after that, it became one of the best experiences ever! I loved it. I don’t know what all of the songs meant but the one they explained to us was about flirting… The guys tried to impress us and we played hard to get. It was sooo fun. I’ll remember it forever! ~Jill K.
          Good work day today. Got to do yard work out in the pouring rain and get totally soaked to the bone.  It adds to my experience on this trip because this is a natural occurrence to all the citizens of Metlakatla, since it rains almost every day of the year here, so we got to experience what they deal with everyday if they wish to get any work done outside.  Then, we went to watch some of their native dances this evening and we were accepted into doing a few of the dances with them, which was a neat experience, but since I am not a dancer at all, it was very strange.  Good day overall for sure. – Patrick
          VBS was fun today and I loved to hang out with the little kids and talk with the older ones. Watching them with their faces lit up and smiling makes me so happy. After that I went out with a few others to clear some branches and stuff away from a yard out in the rain. And it was pouring in sheets and there was a strong breeze. I was soaked everywhere and was grateful for those inside making us hot chocolate. After dinner and such we went to watch the people practicing their dances for the upcoming celebration. It was great to hear them sing and beat their drums and dance. Then they invited us to dance and I had so much dancing with them and talking with them even though I didn’t know what to do. It sure is cold but I keep loving Alaska more and more. ~Meaghan
Today at VBS, I had a cute little girl, named Lacey, become my cute new friend, and I tried helping another little girl feel better because her tummy hurt. I also helped with singing, even though I’m a story teller. After VBS, and a filling lunch, we had to do separate jobs, so Meaghan, Patrick, Ben, Adam and I all went to this local’s house to move some clippings from his yard to a dump. Sad thing was, Jim told us it was 1 small pile and load. Lie, it was four piles and three trips to the dump. At least we don’t need a shower tonight; we got a nice, two-three hour, cold one. But we were thankful the church had hot chocolate for us when we got back. A little later we went to some locally owned shops, but they were starting to close up, so we only went to the basket weaver’s. Then we stopped at a shop that only fit three-five people in it, but we got invited to a ceremonial dance practice. So we got back to the church, ate a quick dinner, then went to the practice. It was quite interesting, the way they danced was so graceful. They had us dance with them a few times, it was so much fun (especially the one where the guys were pretending to flirt with us so we had to walk flirtatiously and when a certain part in the song came up, we had to tell them no and go away.) long story short, best day so far. –Karli O.
Where to begin?! Today was such a great day! We got to go see Native dancing and it was amazing! I loved the flow of the beat and how they used their chest voices to sing. We actually were invited to dance with them in some parts! I had a fantastic time and really got to experience the culture! Today was definitely my favorite day!! ~Raelynn Myers

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