God Loves Siberian Yupiks

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, October 26.

By Andrew McChesney

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reat-Grandmother Harriette has lived her whole life of 92 years on St. Lawrence Island. Can you find St. Lawrence Island on the map? It is way up near the North Pole. It is an island located in the Bering Sea right between the U.S. state of Alaska and Russia. On a clear day, you can see Russia from the western shore.

Great-Grandmother Harriette lives in Savoonga, the largest town on the island. About 830 people live in the town, and she is one of them. Nearly everyone who lives in Savoonga is Siberian Yupik, and she is, too.

Great-Grandmother Harriette lives in a house with her daughters and granddaughters and great-granddaughters. If you visit her house on a summer afternoon, you will see that she is the only person who is awake. More likely than not, you will find Great-Grandmother Harriette sitting in a chair at the kitchen table, sipping a glass of water. She loves water. You will find her daughters and granddaughters and great-granddaughters sleeping on mattresses on the living room floor. During the summer, the Alaskan sun sets at 2:30 in the morning, so it is difficult for people to fall asleep at night. As a result, many people go to bed really late, and they get up really late. Great-Grandmother Harriette’s daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters go to bed really late and get up really late.

But Great-Grandmother Harriette is used to the late-setting sun. She likes to go to bed early and to get up early. She also likes to take naps. It doesn’t bother her that her family is walking around the house while she is sleeping. Her family doesn’t mind if she walks around the house while they are sleeping. In fact, visitors can walk through the living room in the middle of the day, and no one wakes up.

Great-Grandmother Harriette learned about God from her own parents when she was a little girl. There was only one church in town at the time, and she went to it every Sunday. She loved going to church. She loved worshipping God because she knew that He takes care of the Siberian Yupik people.

As Great-Grandmother Harriette grew older, the church also grew older. It began to fall apart, and water dripped down the walls when the snow melted. Finally, the church was closed.

Meanwhile, a Seventh-day Adventist church opened in town.

Great-Grandmother Harriette went to the Adventist church a few times before her church closed. The people at the Adventist church welcomed her warmly, and she decided to keep going there when her church closed. She loved going to church — now on Sabbath instead of Sunday. She loved worshipping God because she knew that He takes care of the Siberian Yupik people.

But then the Adventist pastor left, and the Adventist church closed. There was no church in Savoonga where Great-Grandmother Harriette could worship. She missed going to church. But she had faith that the church would reopen because she knew God takes care of the Siberian Yupik people.

A few years passed. Then an Adventist husband and wife moved to Savoonga and reopened the church. The husband and wife were retired nurses who came from far, far away in North Carolina. They volunteered to live in Savoonga to make sure that the church was open every Sabbath.

Great-Grandmother Harriette was so happy! She could go to church again. She loved going to church. She loved worshipping God because she knew that He takes care of the Siberian Yupik people.

Then the husband died, and Great-Grandmother Harriette wondered if the church would close. But the man’s wife, Elouise, decided to stay and keep the church open.

Several more years passed, and Elouise had some health problems. She had to fly back to North Carolina to get treated by a doctor. The church closed. The town was left without any churches.

Great-Grandmother Harriette is praying for the Adventist church to reopen. She is praying that God will send Elouise or someone else to Savoonga so she can worship God at the church again. She knows God has heard her prayers. She knows that God always takes care of the Siberian Yupik people. “God is so powerful,” she said. “I always call on Him.”

Pray for Savoonga. Pray for Alaska. Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter that will help share God’s love in Alaska.