My home church has been partnering with CAN-DO MISSIONS out of Concordia University Austin for the last 7 years on their mission trip to Chevak, Alaska.  Since our first trip in 2012, I have been in love with the people and culture of this village, and I've been a part of every mission team we've sent.  

Chevak is a small tundra village on the western coast of southern Alaska.  Home to about 1,000 Cu'pik [choo-pick] people, Chevak is very community oriented, which means one person's problems are everyone's problems.  This can be a good thing, but it can also be detrimental. Depression, suicide, abuse, and alcoholism run rampant, especially with the youth of the village.  Also, they are still very much dependent on the "hunter-gatherer" lifestyle of their ancestors.  Food isn't always abundant when you live off the land...and that land is the tundra.  Life in Chevak, Alaska seems like life in a different country - totally foreign to us, and hugely different from our own lives here in the lower 48.

While in the village, we make house visits, give out Bibles, do VBS twice a day, and have adult and teen breakout session each evening. After the work is done for the day, the kids love to watch us try to beat them at basketball (we never do...but it's hilarious)!  This trip has been enriching my life in so many ways for the last 7 years.  Lifelong friendships and treasured memories...blessings galore!  I wouldn't trade any of my experiences with the people of Chevak for the whole world!   They are such a gift!