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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Six Months

Six months ago I hugged you for the last time. It's been six long months since I heard your voice or listened to you sing or play. One hundred and eighty days since I heard the passion for your people in your voice.

Nothing prepared me for this moment, no amount of knowledge or information would have changed how broken my heart was when I got the phone call you where singing with Jesus. No matter how many days pass I still miss you, I still look forward to the next time we can talk. Even though I know that day will never come here on earth.

I can hear your voice as you sing to the Lord. I can see your face as you praise your husband. I can feel your arms around me as you give me a hug. The number of days between when I saw you last and now keeps getting larger. The memory of that day looms large in my mind, yet is overshadowed by the hundreds of memories from the last five years.

I still wear the kuspuk you made me, and share your story. Just a few weeks ago I spoke to a room full of elementary school students and shared with them all about you, your people and how your deepest desire was to see them love Jesus.

I fondly look back on the weeks I spent in your house eating native food, listening to you and loving every minute of our time together. I cannot wait to return to Saint Lawrence Island with Daniel to once more love on the youth of your home.

Over seven years ago I placed a sticker on my Bible that daily brings my mind to the Yupik people. It has brought purpose and joy to my life to work towards the goal of seeing the Yupik people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

Four years later I stepped foot on Saint Lawrence Island for the first time. I saw you love your family in the midst of deep pain. I watched as you challenged them to rise above what they have been told they are, and to rise up into who Jesus has made them to be!

It has been over a year since I was on Saint Lawrence Island, but my heart is still in Western Alaska. Life is changing, yet my purpose is still to see your love for your people shown through me. To see them find their hope in Jesus.

Ms. Dorcas, you may have left this earth, but your legacy lives on. If only I could put into words how deep your influence runs, but years of mentorship, love and challenge is impossible to write down. My only hope is that I am not the only one who sees how deep your love for Jesus and those around you ran. That your reach continues to grow and show the world just how powerful Jesus is in changing lives!