Hey guys. I’m Tamara. So far, my experience with Behchoko has been super fun and exciting. When I first heard about the mission’s trip to Behchoko this September I found myself interested, I have never been on a mission’s trip previously and thought going on a mission’s trip to make new friends and also serve God would be exciting but didn’t apply. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to afford it. After a thinking about the mission’s trip I talked to Jessica about how badly I wanted to go but did not have enough money to pay for the trip, Jessica had told me that the church would pay for it and the expenses would be covered, so I decided to apply. After a few weeks progressed I started to get discouraged and had lost all interest in going on the trip, I had been dealing with some things and no longer felt like I wanted to go. The week right before this trip I had talked to Jessica and how I felt, she then prayed for me well I was sobbing, after she prayed for me, a few days right before the trip I felt like God was telling me I needed to go on this missions trip, it was a weird feeling, I was going to back down but I knew that I needed to go because God had been telling me “No you need to go!”. So instead of backing down I decided I was going to go, On the first day I haven’t really talked to anyone on the missions trip before, so I felt like I was going to be an outcast, but as 2 days of driving, stopping to gas stations, and talking to the team, I found myself to feel more confident and better, I felt like I was going to make amazing friends. Our first night in Behchoko we played a few games, chatted, ate supper, then we went to this place called sportsplex (It’s like millennium place) and started spreading the word about Alpha and the café, we gave out little cards and played in the sportsplex till it closed, we then went to sleep. On Sunday we started to set up for café and talked with everyone on the teams, everyone on the team has really good sense of humor. As it started to get into the evening, we got assigned roles, I was on art. I met amazing people and had good conversations with a few people but didn’t exactly felt like I was making connections with anyone. That night after we had debriefed, I felt excited for the next day. It was Monday, the day we started Alpha, I was on Hostess duty, I had finally made some new friendships with the girls and some boys, they were all super funny and exciting to be around, I was talking to a bunch of people in the foyer where kids come in, When Alpha started I was kind of nervous how the kids would react, I was looking around the room and kids were putting their full attention the the video which was such an amazing thing to experience. My group of girls answered the alpha videos with really good answers, one of my girls even asked me to pray for her. I started to feel confident in the girls. On Tuesday I was a floater, a floater goes from station to station. I was going everywhere, I learned new names and met new faces, but actually didn’t connect with the girls like I had the previous days. Then Alpha started, my group of girls didn’t really answer the questions or asked questions which was fine but I never really got to talk to them. After that I decided that Wednesday was going to be a better day, so I was excited for the next day, I prayed and went to sleep. I woke up and felt really tired. When we went to Yellowknife it gave me time to relax and just give me time to myself, the museums were really calming, I walked all around the museums twice all by myself and had no interruptions. Were got back from Yellowknife and we got assigned rolls, I got arts and crafts because I loved being on art. At first no one really talked to me or was at the arts and craft station and I started to feel super upset, I was going to leave the station and just walk around and talk to some of the kids, but then all of a sudden a group of girls sat down and we all started talking, we all had a really good conversation, I got to learn more about them and they got to learn more about me, I really connected well with the girls, I felt so happy. Then it was time for Alpha, as the video was playing I started to get super worried that the kids would not pay attention or leave, we got into a deeper topic then the following days, but I looked all over the room and there were many kids watching the video and saw that they were interested. One out of all my groups of girls had asked me to pray for her so I gladly did, we then went into a quieter space and she started to talk to me and open up, I saw that she trusted me and in that moment we became friends, I prayed for her again, the her friends started to come to me and eventually a lot of the girls had opened up to me, and I was there for them, I knew that for sure I had made friends. I also felt like God brought me to Behchoko for this very reason. At first, I wasn’t sure what the reasoning was. Later after Cole had called for rides home one of the girls came up to me and said “can I please give you a hug” and so we hugged, then the girls who had opened up to me saw us hugging and asked if they could join in and we all ended up hugging each other. It was such a powerful experience. I really felt the connections I had made.
Behchoko November 2019: Tamara