To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, December 28.

By Andrew McChesney

In the small Alaska Native village of Togiak, two sisters, Josephine and Emily, were walking down a dusty street on a lazy summer evening.

Even though it was about 7 o’clock, the sun was high in the sky. The sun wouldn’t go down for many more hours; not until about midnight.

There wasn’t much for children to do on long summer days in the village.

“Look!” 12-year-old Emily exclaimed as she stopped in front of the Seventh-day Adventist church. “There is a Vacation Bible School at this church. I want to go.”

For her, Vacation Bible School meant interesting stories from the Bible. It meant fun activities. It meant yummy snacks. Most of all, it meant something to do in a place where there wasn’t much for children to do in the summer.

Emily tugged on her 17-year-old sister’s arm.

“Come on,” she pleaded.

But Josephine didn’t want to go. Even though there wasn’t much to do, she didn’t want to go to church.

“I don’t want to go to Vacation Bible School,” she said.

“But I want to go,” Emily said.

“Well, I don’t want to go,” Josephine said, speaking with all the authority of an older sister. “I want to do something else.”

Emily looked sad for a moment.

But only for a moment.

She was determined to win the argument, and she knew just the way.

“If we don’t go, I won’t share my chew,” she said.

Josephine looked sharply at her little sister. She didn’t have any chewing tobacco left, and she didn’t know where she could get more. She looked at the church. She thought about how grumpy, irritable, and cross she would become if Emily made good on her threat not to share her chewing tobacco.

“Fine,” she said. “Let’s go.”

And so it was that Josephine was blackmailed into entering an Adventist church for the first time.

She sat in the back row, while Emily joined about 20 children participating in activities in the front.

After a while, the church pastor came over to Josephine and introduced himself as Pastor Chad.

Seeing that Josephine was older than most of the kids, he asked if she would like to help out, perhaps by passing around snacks and materials for Vacation Bible School activities.

Josephine agreed.

After that, she and Emily returned to the church at 7 o’clock every evening during Vacation Bible School.

Near the end of Vacation Bible School, the pastor invited Josephine to go to a children’s summer camp. To get there, she would have to fly on a plane, ride in a bus, and take a boat.

She loved the idea. But she was sure that she was too old for children’s camp. She was 17.

“No problem,” the pastor said. “Would you like to help out at the camp?”

A big smile wrapped itself around Josephine’s face. She could certainly help out.

So, she went to Camp Polaris as a counselor. She helped a regular camp counselor take care of a cabin filled with Alaska Native girls from various villages. She also learned a lot about Jesus during her week at camp.

Josephine loved summer camp so much that she went back the next year and the next. Between camps, she kept going to the Adventist church at home. A love for Jesus grew in her heart. Jesus helped her to quit using chewing tobacco. She gave her heart to Jesus and was baptized.

Today, Josephine still works at Camp Polaris — but now as a leader. Every year, she brings 7–10 children from her village to the camp. The children don’t have much to do during the summer. Some of them become grumpy, irritable, and cross as they go through nicotine withdrawal without their chewing tobacco at camp.

But, like Josephine, the children also hear about Jesus at the camp and learn that He can help them kick the bad habit. They return home, knowing that life with Jesus is never boring and that they can do anything with Him.

Just like Josephine’s little sister once brought her to church, Josephine is now bringing children to church. But she does not have to use blackmail to get them to come. She prays and invites them to Camp Polaris.

“I love working with kids,” she said in an interview at Camp Polaris. “I have made a lot of good friends. Camp Polaris gives me something to look forward to.”

Camp Polaris, located on a lake near Dillingham, Alaska, is the only Seventh-day Adventist summer camp that caters specifically to Alaska Native children. Part of a 2015 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped improve the camp with new cabins and real toilets and showers. Thank you. Today, we have a chance to share the love of Jesus in Alaska with another Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. This time, one of the Thirteenth Sabbath projects will help share the gospel through a center of influence in Bethel, Alaska. Today’s offering also will support outreach projects in St. Louis, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland. Thank you for your generous offering.