Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

When we went on our mission trip to Alaska back in Dec/Jan, my husband (and about 1/2 of the mission team) had the privelege of going to Dee Dee Jonrowe's dog sled kennel! Check out Dee Dee's website, it has some pretty neat information on it!

Now, if you are following the Iditarod, you will notice that Dee Dee is in the LEAD! Did you also know that she is a Christian and a wonderful lady? It was such a privelege for our team to visit her kennel!

I thought I would post pictures from this specific trip to the dog kennel for those interested.

You can follow the Iditarod HERE.

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

I have had so many thoughts swirling around in my head (I know, what is new?) and I haven't quite known how to put some of it into words. But, I want to try. I also want to say from the start that I do hope and pray none of what I'm feeling makes anyone else feel less. It is not my intention to make anyone feel badly...these are just things the Lord is laying on my heart. I have wanted to get these feelings out there because I want to hear from others...am I off base? Do you agree? Disagree?

Over the past year, David and I have both sensed the Lord nudging us to come out of our comfort zones. We have been feeling convicted of living too comfortably, in a lot of ways. I think part of these convictions led us to go on this mission trip to Alaska. We felt like the Lord dropped it into our laps and said...GO.

Now that we are back, the feelings are even stronger...the feelings of having the "easy life" as a Christian. I don't mean that life is easy...you all know how I have struggled over the past 2 years with simply being a mom and wife! But, our lives as Christians here in the Bible belt are significantly "easier" to live. Meaning, we don't have doors shutting in our faces...quite as often anyway! We don't have people rudely answering NO when we mention that we are having VBS at church. In fact, generally speaking, we can speak about Jesus to our friends and neighbors without too much negativity. (Note, this is not to say that they are all Christians by any means! But that "religion" is very accepted and "ok" here.)

On the other hand, in Alaska, 95% of the population is lost. Not only that, but they don't attend church either. In the Bible belt you may have a pretty good percentage of lost people, but I'm willing to bet that of those lost people, at least half of them attend church at some point.

Another aspect to the "easy life" is the amount of people we have. I struggled with feeling guilty and spoiled coming back to my big church in TN. I look across the sanctuary and see ten, twenty if not more men there that could at anytime get up and preach a message or give the gospel presentation from the pulpit. In Alaska the state missionaries have a list of villages with NO CHURCHES...a list of churches with NO STAFF...a list of places that want churches with NO WILLING PEOPLE. And folks, this list is rather long.

I looked around our sanctuary and saw how blessed we are with talent. (I notice the music because that is my gifting.) We have a choir and band made up of instrumentalists, back-up instrumentalists, instrumentalist who don't want to play every week, vocalists, praise band rotations, the list goes on. In Alaska, one of the churches we ministered to had been without anyone to help with music in a year, I think.

These are just 2 examples. The list goes on.

My struggle is this...why are so many of us HERE where it is comfortable, easy and we aren't "needed" when the need around the world is staggering. Why are we sitting on the pew hoping they won't call us for nursery duty, when children around the world don't have anyone to share with them the love of Jesus? Why are we showing up late to church on Sundays hoping they won't ask us to usher when in other parts of the world they are struggling to keep the church doors open? Why are we sitting in our comfortable pews being spoon fed each and every week when fellow brothers and sisters around the world don't even have Bibles to read of their own?

(press pause on the music on the sidebar before you listen to this song.)

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

I wonder...

Do the boys at the orphanage know the love of Jesus?

Do the boys at the orphanage know that we truly love them.?

Will the Lord send someone (soon) to walk alongside these boys and disciple and encourage them?

Were the seeds firmly planted in the children at VBS?

Who will help water them?

Do the pastors of the 2 churches we were at know we are praying for them?

Will God open more hearts in Alaska?

Will He send more of His people into the darkness? Soon?

Will the outermost villages ever see the Light of Christ fill their villages?

Will the suicide rate go down before Jesus comes back?

Will the LIGHT overtake the DARKNESS that is there?

Did those we came into contact with see Jesus in us?

Did Mark, Ricky, and Barry from the food bank hear the love of Jesus in our words?

Who will go?

The Lord is my LIGHT and my SALVATION...whom shall I fear?

Psalm 27:1

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

The city of Whittier is probably one of the most fascinating places I have ever been! It is a tiny little place nestled in the mountains a little past Portage Valley. What makes this place interesting is that the ONLY way to get to Whittier is to go through a 2 mile tunnel THROUGH the entire mountain. This tunnel was made back in the WW2 time period for trains to go through. Well, 1 train at a time, that is. So, it is very  narrow! Only 1 way of cars can go through at a time! And so there is a schedule of when the tunnel is open for going IN or coming OUT. You have to wait on an appointed time each day to go in or out. And at some times the tunnel closes for a train to pass through. And even yet still, if the weather is too bad, the tunnel might close for that as well! Needless to say, it can be very difficult to get in and out of this place!

There are less than 150 people living in Whittier, maybe around 125 or so. Another odd thing about this place...most of the town - including residents AND businesses - reside in 1 tall building! There are apartment type condos in this building, city hall, a small grocery store (SMALL), post office, a laundromat, and their small one room church. When we arrived at the church room on Sunday, there were 4 members of the congregation there. They might have anywhere from 2-10 people there on Sundays. They are a sweet and faithful people. But also discouraged! Pray for the Christians in Whittier if you think of them. They said a lot of the people there just stay in their apartments all the time. They come to Whittier for the seclusion.

There is a school out there...36 students this year! And, there is an underground tunnel or hallway that takes them from the 1 building with most of the housing into the school building! (Did you believe me when I said this place was fascinating?) The tunnel was built so that the kids wouldn't have to get out in treacherous weather to go to school, they could just go underground and get there! And we noticed that Whittier is MUCH windier, more blustery, a LOT more snow than Anchorage, which is around 65 or so miles away.

Please pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that live in Whittier. Theirs is truly a very difficult job! The people may live in one building...but their lives are so very separate and secluded. Many of them do not wish to be told about Christ. Many of them do not wish to be reached out to. Many of them just do not even want to get out of their apartment. But they need the Lord desperately. Please be praying with me for more Christians to rise up from this small place...and that the hearts of those there would be open to Jesus.

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

I had so many pictures of the beautiful area we were in that I thought I would make a slidewow just of the beautiful scenery pictures that I got. Most of them look fake to me...just like a fake background or picture you'd see in a book. It is was hard for me, even as I was standing there, to believe I was standing SO close to such a huge mountain...God's glory was all over that place! So beautiful! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

Yes, you read that correctly! 2 of our very dearest friends and members of our team got MARRIED right beside a glacier bay in Alaska on Saturday! DJ and Rebecca have been waiting on the Lord to tell them when the time was right. They didn't plan to do it this way, but once we were here, it just seemed so right. They told David and I, but to everyone else (including Rebecca's mother who was with us on this trip!) it was a HUGE surprise!

Saturday was our last full day in Alaska with the Arkansas team. Scott had planned for us to go site-seeing and shopping. We went to Portage Valley to a BEAUTIFUL location to take pictures and look around. While there, Scott said, "hey, everyone, come over here!" Next thing you know, he had out his Bible, DJ and Rebecca read their own vows, they exchanged rings (that we had gone to help them buy earlier in the week one evening!) and Scott pronounced them man and wife! It was VERY exciting!

Alaska has become a very special place to DJ and Rebecca...as they are praying about and probably moving to Alaska to be full time missionaries sometime within the next year. With all the beautiful surroundings, and the special place that Alaska has in their hearts, they decided to go for it while we were there! It could not have been more perfect for them!

Congratulations to DJ and Rebecca! We feel blessed to call you FRIENDS.

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

On Saturday we went to the wildlife conservation center in Portage Valley. I will go ahead and say that I think this was one of the top BEST experiences of my entire life. I never thought I would see such beautiful mountains - up close, touch a moose, see bald eagles in the trees and have bears come right up to us all in the same day. I just could not have been more amazed. How can you live in such a beautiful and wondrous place and not believe in the awesome God that created it all?

These pictures tell the story so much better than I could! Can you believe we really touched the moose? I still can't get over it! This guy was so friendly! Even when we walked away he kept following us along the fence! I loved it!

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

During our time in Alaska, one of our main "jobs" was to have a VBS for the children of Muldoon Road Baptist Church and University Baptist Church. We just fell in love with the people of these 2 churches!  Our hearts were also broken for the struggles they are facing. We were blessed to be able to attend services at both churches, and both churches have their own set of struggles. One church has had multiple staffing issues, being without a pastor for long periods of time. One of the churches was the largest growing Baptist church in the NATION at some point in the last 15-20 years, however now they have around 50 people in attendance on Sundays.

Doing a winter VBS was something new for the missions director here, Scott Kirby. So, it was new for the church too. We did not know what to expect! But, we ended up with about 30-40 children coming each day. And we had so much fun with them!

The other church that teamed with us on this trip was from Arkansas. They brought a phenomenol clown ministry with them. Each day the clowns would do fun songs and do skits that had a spiritual point to it somehow. They also did balloon animals for the kids each day after VBS was over. We also had several ladies doing face painting each day. The kids just loved this!

As you may remember, my job was leading music time. You may also remember that I felt like I didn't have time to prepare! God answered my prayers above and beyond what I thought would happen. The Lord provided a little bit of time for me to learn 2 songs from the VBS curriculum that the Arkansas team brought. They also had a dvd that I watched 2 days before VBS started to learn all the motions to the songs. Another blessing was that the clowns were with me during music! So, they were able to do the fun songs at the beginning and that was a huge blessing!

Here are some pictures from our week with VBS.

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

One of the biggest blessings and highlights from our time in Alaska was spending time with the Baptist Boys Home. There are 10 teenage boys in this home right now. They are all there for different reasons. They may have been in trouble for various reasons, but there are others who were taken from their homes due to abuse.

This is the place that broke our hearts the most, gave us the most joy and that gives us so much to be praying about! We just love these boys!

The first day we went to spend time with them, they were very unresponsive. Not many of them talked to us at all. The second day we could tell a big difference. And by the end of the week, the boys were coming up to each of us and asking for hugs. I found myself wondering when they had a hug last. By the end of the week, we had several boys who made decisions for Christ. They all raised their hands (several with tears in their eyes) saying they wanted a change in their lives.

The last night we spent with them, we gave them each a teenage Bible with devotions in it as well as a survival kit from Lifeway. This is a book that goes through the basics of being a Christian. That is one of our biggest prayer concerns - leaving these boys so open to the Lord's work - and hoping, praying that someone will come alongside them and encourage them and disciple them.

The last night we left we also learned that one of the boys would likely be headed to prison in the next few days. These boys need our prayers...please be praying with us!

Posted in Mission Trip to Alaska

2 of the mornings we were in Alaska we spent at the Food Bank of Alaska in Anchorage.

This is a very large warehouse that services lots of food pantries and other organizations all throughout Alaska. We truly enjoyed our time here! We had a wonderful lady, Mariko, who told us all about Alaska hunger problems...how most of them are children and elderly. She gave us a tour of the food warehouse, which again, is huge. Their freezer is bigger than our house I believe!

While we were at the food bank, there were also several other people we got to meet there. Prayerfully, the love of Jesus shone through our actions and words. Most of the other "volunteers" there with us were people who were serving time doing community service and were just out of jail or in a halfway house. We were blessed to work alongside these people!

We sorted food, stacked cans, cleaned up areas, looked through clothing donations and bagged potatoes. But, hopefully, we did more than that! Hopefully we planted seeds, encouraged, and enabled the food bank to get a little more food out to the hungry of Alaska. They have so many wonderful donations! But someone has to be there to go through each piece, can, box or bag of food.