The Last of the Mohicans
When I informed a longtime Russian friend that
our request to extend our documents to continue living in Yakutsk was
declined, he shot back, “You’re the last of the
Mohicans!”
James Fenimore Cooper romanticized the
history of the Mohican Indians in his historical novel, The Last of
the Mohicans, published in 1826. The events took place in 1757
during the French and Indian War, recounting the story of an unarmed
massacre, the kidnapping of two sisters, and their rescue by Hawk-eye and
his two Mohican friends Uncas and Chingachook. Supposedly, the
Mohicans died out long ago. But actually, several hundred Mohicans
survived and moved from New York State in the early 1800s to their
present location near Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Sometimes we feel like the last of the Mohicans! We were the first
missionaries with InterAct to move to Russia in March of 1994. And
now we’re the last resident missionary with InterAct in Yakutsk to
leave. I used to tell Kay, “We were the first ones to move here and
we’ll be the last ones to leave.” A former single member is
continuing to live in Yakutsk teaching English apart from the
mission. All the other members, who had served in Yakutia, moved
back to America. Some newer members of InterAct are serving with
the Tuvan people, some 1,500 miles southeast of here and one family lives
in St. Petersburg.
We are very thankful to the Lord that the growing Yakut National Church
will carry on--with or without us. It has been our ultimate
pleasure to serve with these Yakut brothers and sisters for the past 16
years. They are and have been dependent upon the Lord ever since
the Yakut National Church movement started about the time we move
here. Today there are nine Yakut National churches with their own
pastors/leaders having 10 or more Yakut members in their congregations
spread across this vast Republic of Yakutia. That has been very
exciting to witness firsthand!
More Christian literature in the Yakut language will take a lot of work
and coordination, but we hope to promote and help facilitate more along
with a personal visit or two back to Yakutsk. We'll see what the
Lord has in store. It's been worth all the effort when we consider
the lasting effect of widely distributed Christian literature in the
Yakut language.
God’s timing and fulfilling His will in our lives are crucial. I
well remember 5 years ago how stressful it was to receive our current
5-year documents from the Russian government which expires next
month. Five years ago, the head person in the government agency
bluntly and emphatically told me, “The apartment has to be in your name
or go back to Alaska!” I instantly responded, “It will be in my
name,” and left. I didn’t know exactly how, but I trusted the Lord
to work that one out for us in time to submit all the paperwork.
We had been renting our two-room apartment in a typical Russian concrete
complex, when it became available to buy while we were temporarily in
Alaska. Consequently, we had to put our apartment deed in the name
of a Yakut brother. At that time the government allowed this as
long as the “owner” agreed we could live there long term. But the
law changed requiring that our registered, physical residence must be in
our name. We have been checked several times and in different ways
to prove that we are living where we are registeredand, of course, we
are.
The Yakut brother was far away in Ukraine going to school. But then
we heard that he was on his way back to Yakutsk for a visit, we quickly
changed the title to my name during his brief visit. Whew!
Praise the Lord for working things out so efficiently! Yet, the
Lord answered, “No,” to our request to extend our documents last
September, which expire March 22, and 23. We’re so glad the Lord
decides these things.
We leave with mixed emotions. Our "good-bys" will be said
March 18th during the XIII Yakut Christian Conference. Then it’s
off to Moscow, New York and Chicago before we finally land in Alaska just
in time for American Easter. We’re thankful to have a log home
waiting for us on the outskirts of Fairbanks.
Lord willing, we will live and serve with the Indian people in
Alaska. This will be a continuation of what we did for more than 30
years before we moved to Russia. We see some of the Native people
each time we're in Alaska and plan to get even more involved as we're
there longer. We'd really like to fly out to the villages and visit
there, if that's God's will.
It was so special this past fall, when we stopped in to see Johnson and
Bertha, who were good friends in one of the villages where we had served
in the late ‘60s. They had their own little room in a rest home in
Fairbanks. When we were ready to leave, Dave said, "Let's
pray". Bertha also wanted to pray and even Johnson prayed,
which was the first time we heard him pray. Just a few weeks later
Bertha moved on to her eternal reward. How thankful we were for the
visits we had with them!
We also saw Paul and Mary in one of the stores in Fairbanks. They
had just received the shocking news that Paul had cancer! We went
to their daughter's home to talk and pray together before they flew to
their village on the Yukon. A little later they flew back to
Fairbanks to celebrate Paul’s 70th birthday at a big gathering. He
was telling people there and in the villages, “We're all going to die
sometime, but I know I'll probably die soon, and I'm ready.” Then
he encourages them to prepare for their own deaths someday. Pray
for them as they are living as normal a life as possible while treating
his cancer. They are a great witness to what God can do in and
through His children. We first met Paul as a young teenager in
Nenana, Alaska as a new believer while we were attending an Arctic
Training Camp in the late ‘50s. He also taught us how to drive
dogs.
We’re also very thankful to have great relationships and open doors with
the younger generation of Indian, Yakut and white people. Youthful
thinking helps us to act younger and stay busy. But a lot of water
has gone down the Yukon River since 1958!
The Mohicans did not die off, fighting to the bitter end. As long
as we’re alive and kicking, we plan, Lord willing, to continue working
with the Native (Indian) people in Alaska as well as somehow with the
Yakut (Sakha) people in Russia. Even though we keep aging with
every heartbeat!
As some
suppose, the last of the Mohicans,
Dave & Kay
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