We made it to Alaska! Thank you for praying for us as we travelled and prepare for the debriefing conference to start tomorrow morning.
Betsy and I headed to the airport at at 9:45am for a 12:15pm departure (that's us first thing in the morning on the left), and we arrived at our temporary residence at 7:30pm local time / 11:30pm Eastern Time (that's us upon arrival on the right). Somehow, Betsy looks just as chipper, and I look like I need to sleep for 3 days, haha.
After a good night's sleep (my room has bunk beds, and the bottom one is the softest cloud-like bed I've ever slept in), we got up and went to church on Sunday morning. Betsy and I visited SonRise Church, home of one of my missionary families who are currently appointees (they have been appointed as missionaries, but are in the process of raising funds so they can be deployed). Everyone was super friendly, and we enjoyed a lovely sermon about Ruth and Boaz. The people we got to talk with knew a fair number of other folks from SEND all over Alaska (it's a small world of missionaries out here). We spent a lot of time talking with Mike and Juanita (below on the left) about SEND people they have known over the years, and really enjoyed getting to connect there at the church.
After church, we got some lunch (at a Wendy's that was out of fries - rough day for the workers!), then headed back to our place to get a little rest before dinner. After a much needed nap, we headed to the home of Larry & Kelly Bigelow, who have been missionaries with SEND North here in Alaska for decades. We were joined by Nathan Didlake and his wife, Rachel (Nathan is my immediate supervisor - Director of People Care and Personnel), as well as the Bigelows' daughter (Abigail) and her roommate (Stephanie). Stephanie also works for SEND North in their office doing accounting and other administrative tasks (and we're grateful for her!). We had a great time of fellowship and food, catching up and hearing hilarious stories from Larry & Kelly's long ministry career. The only thing that could have made the evening better was a Lions win, but we can't have everything I suppose. Kelly also has a great mug collection from all her travels that I very much admired (I'm a sucker for a travel mug).
This morning, we started off the day with coffee / breakfast at a local shop called Refuge Coffee (https://www.refugecoffeeak.com) whose purpose is not just to peddle coffee, but to help those who have been victims of human trafficking. It was really neat to see a local shop supporting and giving back to the community in this way!
We had a little time between breakfast and our walkthrough of the church where we will be holding the debriefing conference, so Stephanie took us on a walk in Kincaid Park, where we saw some beautiful Alaska scenery (even though it was raining), and caught a glimpse of a few moose in the woods (if you look hard you can see them there in the picture on the right, but they are more stealthy than it seems should be possible!).
I also saw a few cool looking trees that I couldn't resist snapping pictures of (if I were still spry enough to climb a tree, I would have loved to sit in their branches!). The twisted one looked to me as though it is slowly trying to escape where it had been rooted.
We then went to Alliance Bible Church, where they are graciously hosting our conference this week. After scoping out the rooms to figure out how best to use the spaces, we got things all set up to start smoothly tomorrow morning. Sometimes it can be tricky to figure out how to best utilize the available space for our purposes, but their facility made it easy to figure out! They have great spaces for us to meet as a group for instruction, a separate spot for meals, multiple well-equipped rooms for the children, and smaller meeting rooms which are perfect for our individual debriefs. We are so grateful for their generosity, and the kindness of their pastor, Jon, who graciously showed us around and is taking great care of us.
God has been bringing Ezekiel chapter 37 to my attention multiple times lately, in various venues: it was in my and Paul's daily reading last week, it came up in the sermon at church this Sunday, and it was brought up at dinner Sunday night. This chapter talks about the Valley of Dry Bones. God shows Ezekiel a valley full of bones, the bones of the slain, and God askes Ezekiel, "can these bones live?" Ezekiel responds, "Sovereign Lord, you alone know." Then God tells him to prophecy about how He is going to breathe life into these dry bones, and put flesh on them, SO THAT the Israelites would know that He is the LORD. He goes on to explain how they represent Israel and their hopelessness, but that God was going to restore them. "Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord." (v. 14b) While the original context of this passage is in reference to Israel, that picture of dry, lifeless bones just keeps sticking in my mind and heart. Where are those dry bones for you? Where do you need God to breathe life back into you?
Prayer Requests:
- For the sessions I am teaching (Self-Care tomorrow, and Spiritual Disciplines on Wednesday), that God would give me wisdom on how best to come alongside this particular group of missionaries
- For my times of debriefing, that God would help me to see their needs and help care for them in ways that are helpful
- For continued health and safety, especially as Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be very full, busy, and long work days
- For my continued preparation for Thailand
- For my fund-raising: I'm currently at 69% of my need, so just under $1100 remaining.
Thank you to all those who have given thus far, and for your prayers! I cannot do any of this under my own power, so I'm grateful for God's Holy Spirit in me, empowering me to do what He's called me to and for your prayers on my behalf.
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