Carmen's dream

Well, we are back in the village again. It's the hottest weather we've experienced during our visits--upper 80's today! And on the Yukon, it feels about 10 degrees hotter than it actually is for some reason. So we are hot and sweaty but rejoicing in the fact that mosquitos hate hot weather more than we do!

There has been a lot of activity since we arrived. I was awakened at 1:30 this morning by a medivac plane landing and then taking off with a stabbing victim. Arnold was stabbed by his younger brother who is hiding from the State Troopers somewhere in the village. Arnold should recover but I'm not sure what will happen to the brother when he's finally apprehended.

Then today, an older woman died in her home. It was of natural causes, and expected, but the whole village (and folks from surrounding villages) are gathering at the community hall for her funeral and memorial pot latch. Even though it's so hot and dusty here, there's been a flurry of people coming and going by the teen rec all day.

My friend Carmen dropped in on her way back from "downtown" (the part of the village that's down by the Yukon River). It was so great to see her--she was still glowing from a presentation she'd just given for a group of people down at the Catholic church. She talked about the Wellness program she was starting in the village--a tool to help local folks to stay sane and sober.

"I was very nervous, but I did it!" Carmen told me, wiping sweat from her brow. She looked awesome with her new glasses and cute haircut (she said she's still recovering from the haircut I gave her last summer) "I just feel like God wants me to help the people here."

As I listened to Carmen, I remember a dream she told me about several years ago. In the dream, a man rescued her from drowning in a sea of ice. She started to follow him away from the treacherous water, but realized there were many people still drowning. The man told her that she was to go back and help rescue all the other perishing souls. Carmen told me she knew this was a God dream, although it totally overwhelmed her.

When Carmen first shared her dream with me, she was struggiling with severe depression. She barely felt "rescued" herself--let along strong enough to help save others. But she's clung to Jesus with a tenacity I've rarely seen in a believer.

And He's carried her, through trauma and abuse most of us cannot even imagine, and now Jesus is using her to show others the way to safety. I pointed this out to her today, that she's fulfilling the dream. She's helping Jesus rescue her people.

"Oh my gosh!" Carmen exlaimed, her brown eyes wide with wonder. "I had forgottem that dream--but I am doing that! How can I do anything but obey my God?"

I gave her one of the journals I'd brought and encouraged Carmen to write her dream down, so she wouldn't forget again. We both agreed that the morning meeting was just the beginning of its fulfillment.

Such is life in the village . . . death, pain, life, miracles . . .