Last installment of the add-on Eskimo
The young teacher got down on his knees in that dark arctic December night and prayed, “Lord, I give you my will and take yours in its place.” Nothing happened, so he to bed.
The next morning as he awoke, however, for the first time in weeks he had hope in his heart. It was like a luminescent pearl rising from his heart to his mind. He leaped up, threw on his clothes and ran over to the principal teacher’s house.
“Guess what!” he exclaimed, “I’ve become a Christian!”
“Great, how about some orange juice?” replied the principal. This great step in the young teacher’s life meant nothing to him.
However, the Eskimo kindergarten and first grade teacher (pictured below), who was a fine believer, was there and said, “Come and tell me about it!” And she encouraged the young teacher in his new faith.
Back home in the afternoon, after teaching that Monday, he said to himself, “OK, now I am a true follower of Jesus, what do I do?” It was not exactly a prayer, but God answered it the next day anyway.
Dave, the Wycliffe Bible translator working in the village of Sivukuk, came to visit Savoonga with an Eskimo friend. He stayed the night with the young teacher and answered all his questions! This was the first God sighting for the teacher after his surrendering to Christ—the first of many, many God-sightings in his life.
On Wednesday evening he went to the prayer meeting in the village church where they sang the same hymns that the young teacher’s church in Connecticut had used. The words then had been dry and dusty but now they were suddenly full of life and meaning. It was like there were flowers growing out of every line!
Things were light and lovely, empowered and encouraging.
It was literally a new life, one which over the next decades would continue to move upward and onward as the young teacher married and moved to the Middle East where he and his family shared about Jesus in a hostile context. And Jesus was always there, bringing transformation in many lives.
So, the story had come full circle. The prophesied outsider, Mr. Campbell, had brought the message of hope to the island of Sivukuk, which transformed Kalowi, Ayit, his family. As they added to their faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly kindness and God’s love, many others on the island and in Siberia came to accept Christ as their great Boat Captain, surrendering to Him as their Lord and Savior.
And now that message of salvation in Christ alone was passed on through the Eskimos to another outsider, the young teacher, bringing him to the same full surrender and transformation.
The teacher’s conversion was also the fulfillment of another prophecy. Psalm 139:9-10 says: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
As the island of Sivukuk was right next to the international date line, it was literally the uttermost part of the sea and there God’s faithful hand had guided the young teacher into His Kingdom! Now it was up to him to become an Add-on Believer.
Picture: Eskimo teacher who helped the young teacher in his new faith
