Beach Reach Day 1

Today was the first day for our group out on the beach. Our team was assigned to Kasilof Beach which runs beside the Kasilof River. This was the first year that a mission team had set up food and activity tents on this particular beach. We got there at 9 a.m. Being Friday, many people did not come until late in the day to fish since they were working. The day was slow, and not many people were on the beach, but we did get to meet some people. Our team was paired with a church group from Florida. This group was mainly older people so the combination of ages worked well. We tried to set up an inflatable bounce house for the kids to jump in, but realized quickly that it had a hole in it and it would not stay inflated well. So we took it down and did not use it for the rest of the time. I really think God planned that for us because it forced us to develop other things for the children to do that was more interactive such as games,craft making, facepainting, balloon making and singing. We also set up the main tent for food and drinks and a smaller tent for the childrens activities.

I met a young lady who was camping behind our tent named Tona. She is from Alaska and had a small child. In talking with her I learned that she considers herself to be a Christian, but she was raised in the Russian Orthodox Church as a child. She does not agree with the teachings of the Russian Orthodox faith now as an adult. Tomorrow will be a more active day for our group. We stayed at the beach until about 6 p.m. and then loaded up and went back to First Baptist Church of Kenai for supper and worship service.