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Uyagaq: Rock and Roll

In 1894 Uyagaq (Ojeark, Uyaraq, Rock) earned the nickname “The Eskimo’s Paul” for his missionary travels, but his trip of 1896 was an epic journey. Traveling over rolling hills and crashing waves, Uyagaq adventured for months on end, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to virgin ears.

Uyagaq first came into contact with Jesus Christ through the Axel E. Karlsson in 1888. The summer previous was Karlsson’s first in Norton Sound: which is how we celebrate 125 years history today of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Alaska.

Uyagaq was traveling from the Kobuk area to St. Michael with his father. His father was murdered en route, and Karlsson, living in Unalakleet, received custody of the boy. Karlsson shared the love of the Great Father while being a father, and Uyagaq was a believer. He would travel with Karlsson in 1893 to Wales to share the news with others: God loves us in Jesus! Two of Uyagaq’s cousins there became believers, returned to Unalakleet with them for a short while, and were baptized.

In 1985 Uyagaq and Karlsson trekked near and far in the Norton Sound and Kobuk Regions; sharing the gospel and encouraging other believers. Fred Savok's historical narrative Jesus and the Eskimo places Uyagaq and Savok's grandfather Egaq meeting for the first time in this season.

Egaq was traveling south because of a vision he had. A man dressed in white told him there was a father of all peoples. Uyagaq confirmed the hopes of Egaq and his wife Qutleruq (Ruth) that this vision was important. So they set their hearts south on Unalakleet; but Uyagaq’s was set on his home country up north: Kobuk region.

Uyagaq was often on the trail. His ability to run with dogs and sled is seemingly unmatched. His confidence in survival and navigation does not fail him, and he runs trips with speed and clarity of purpose. When a baby is in need of condensed milk from Saint Michael in February, Uyagaq will run the trail. When a month later Axel Karlsson wants to venture north to Golovin Bay, he surely needs Uyagaq with him: traveling alone in Alaska’s country is dangerous. They leave in late March with the sun high in the sky and return a week or two later having helped a shaman pray to the Living God, encouraging the saints in Golovin, assessing the reindeer herd in the region, and sharing the gospel in homes while seated on hides.

In less than one week after returning from Golovin Bay Uyagaq sets out on a trip north once more. His young wife and baby Eva accompany him to Golovin Bay, sick of seeing him go. Leaving in April Uyagaq would return to Unalakleet in November.

In his November 24th journal entry Axel Karlsson describes their long missionary journey as first having covered the coastal villages from Unalakleet to Wales. The most likely villages would be Egavik, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, Golovin, and Port Clarence. Next up were the islands in Bering Sound, perhaps the Diomede Islands (Diomede and Little Diomede). In four words, “was over to Siberia,” Karlsson notes that Uyagaq crosses into a new country and continent. The next part of this itinerary has them catching the U.S. Revenue Cutter “Bear” on its summer trip north.

That summer near Selawik, many gathered at Kikiktagruq for a few weeks of trading, feasting, athletic competitions as they had done for years. They came from as far as the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Empire to west, from the Koyukuk to the east, Point Hope to the north, and the Circle City mines to the south. Here Uyagaq and Johnson would preach to thousands of people at one time. The people requested that a church be established here, and Kotzebue was to be a Friends Church region.

Before the festival ended in August an Eskimo council decided to take action. Johnson and Uyagaq paddled in an umiak the rough 200 miles to Port Clarence on the west end of the Seward Peninsula. There they hoped to catch the southbound Bear and passage to Douglas Island.

Once in South-East, they contacted the Friends missionary there. Impressed with Uyagaq, their church sent missionaries to the festival before it was underway the next summer. That same year Karlsson's journal 9 April 1897 reads: “Brother O. Rock and Mrs. Rock left us this morning. They are headed for Selawik and the region around Kotzebue, their work field for the time being... May the Lord of mission prepare the way for them and lead them! They are both his servants and on his behalf they leave their possessions and friends here to glorify their master’s name further north.”

The Friends missionaries in Kotzebue would need much help, and Uyagaq and his family would be there to help them in his homeland. Uyagaq passed to be with his Father in 1930, his daughter Eva lived in Unalakleet for many years. Uyagaq completed one the greatest missionary journeys in Alaska’s history.

--Jamie Rose 2/15/12 – condensed for the March edition of ECCAK’s "The Sinew"

Bibliography

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Bowman, C.V., The Mission Covenant of America. Chicago: Scandia Printing Co, 1925.

Burch Jr., Ernest S., “The Inupiat and the Chrisianization of Arctic Alaska,” Etudes/Inuit/Studies 18(1-2) (1994): 81-108.

Jackson, Sheldon. Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1895-96: Report on Education in Alaska. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897.

Jackson, Sheldon. Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1897-98: Report on Education in Alaska. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899.

James, Bushrod W., Alaska, Its Neglected Past, Its Brilliant Future. Philadelphia: Sunshine Publishing Company, 1897.

Jarvis, D.H., Report of the Cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899.

Karlson, Axel. Axel Karlson: January 1, 1894 – June 23, 1897. Translated by Charles Peterson. Chicago: Covenant Archives and Historical Library, 2005.

Matson, P., E. B. Larsson, W.D. Thornbloom. Covenant Frontiers: Half a Century of Covenant Foreign Missions. Chicago: Lundquist-Foyer Co, 1940.

McElwaine, Euguene. The Truth About Alaska: The Golden Land of the Midnight Sun. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1901.

Olsson, Karl O. By One Spirit. Chicago: Covenant Press, 1962.

Roberts, Arthur O., "Eskimo Religion: A Look at Four Transitional Persons." The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 1 (1981): 89-100.

Savok, Fred. Jesus & The Eskimo: How the Man of the Sky Brought the Light to My People. Fairbanks: HLC Publishing, 2004.

Smith, Eugene. The Gospel in All Lands. Baltimore: Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Society Press, 1902.