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Friends

Has it been a week already? Will Wednesday conclude the end of the first month in Alaska? Whoa. Time needs to calm itself down. And so does this weather! We’ve had 4 days or rain a week since I’ve been here. Thankfully, the rain didn’t cancel one of my friend’s baseball games or the youth raft trip. But the heavens opened wide for the workday in Seward, and the night moose played in our backyard.

The Short

* The youth pastor is out of the office this week. Chaos will ensue.
* VBS is over, but the songs still haven’t left my head
* I’ve nearly complete the youth website (www.chbcyouth.net). Keep in mind, it’s not my job to add the content
* Upcoming youth events
1. Guys night
2. Canoe trip (2 day canoe trip down the Swanson river)
3. Several of our kids will be in Fairbanks for T3 Leadership training

Alaska Facts - Fishermen in Basket

Thanks to VBS, I have learned some dogsledding terms:

* Mush - Go
* Whoa - Stop (very clever)
* Gee - turn right
* Haw - turn left
* Come gee (haw) - 180-degree turn right (left)
* Double Lead- Two dogs who lead the team side-by-side
* Dog in basket - A tired or injured dog

Also, Alaskans count some of the craziest things. Remember moose kills? Well, they also count how many fishhooks land a fisherman in the hospital. Silly Alaskans. Stupid tourists.

VBS
We had 170 kids registered this year, filling a church with only 250-300 members. 27 children made a decision to follow Christ this week. I’m still not sure how to interpret that number, but either way, God is good. I didn’t get to take any pictures because I usually had a kid in each hand. I’m going to miss the kids, but I’m glad that I can return to a normal diet instead of last week’s binge on gummy bears, cookies, and goldfish.

Greetings

It’s another Monday afternoon (morning for me) inbox-surprise to make Monday brighter…. well, at least I hope. If not, may these Halibut Fishing pictures will brighten your day. Make sure and read this week’s Alaska facts. I’m sure it will make you want to move up north forever.

The Short:

• The pastor is back (he’s an Aggie so devout that he painted his office maroon and can be found regularly wear his A&M cap)
• I’m even more at home because the pastor is back… it’s that Aggie bond
• VBS begins this week
• Rafting trip Sunday
• I’m changing houses
• The Mavs must beat the Heat or the youth group will continue to taunt me

The Long
Alaska Facts - How does the moose cross the road?

Two days ago a car hit a moose and died, making the local front page. But this is not uncommon. In fact, every year, around 275 moose die every year from motor vehicle accidents along Highway 1 from Soldotna to Homer (~75 miles). If you are the ‘lucky’ moose killer, then you have earned the right to have your name placed on the Moose Kill list. When you name comes to the top of the list, then the next moose killed by a car is rightfully yours to collect. Fear not, the frigid winter night temperatures, when most moose accidents occur, keeps the meat frozen. As bad as car-to-moose accidents seem, they have nothing on the train-to-moose variety. From Fairbanks to Tallkeetna, a single train can wipe out 20 moose. Since the train just keeps rolling on, the moose lay track-side frozen, waiting for the special Moose Auction. Prior to the auction, a special train rolls through picking up the carcasses before arriving to a crowd of anxious people, who entered a raffle to win moose parts. Disturbing, I know, but what is crazy is that they need a raffle because they don’t have enough moose.

The answer to last week’s question.

Alaska’s 4 seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction. For the less clever, we’re in construction season right now.

Vacation Bible School
VBS begins today, and hopefully over 170 kids will listen to Bible stories, do arts and crafts, sing songs, and a lot of other things I that gave me nightmares as a child. My job is to help wherever help is needed. A little vague, but I’m ok with that. The last job, the milk cartoon igloo, failed miserably. I tried 3 different ‘glues’, and none of them worked. Now I think most people know NOT to give the the craft projects because I’m an engineer, instead of the opposite.

Halibut Fishing
Let me warm you, Halibut fishing is a full body work out. The upper-body work out is phenomenal. Just imagine, you throw a 3 lb weight down 130 feet to the ocean floor and within seconds you have anywhere from 20-60 lbs of angry fish to reel back to the surface. The legs and quads begin to burn as your press a foot against the side of the boat to keep balanced, preventing a man overboard situation. The back… ok, that fish isn’t coming up unless you put your back into. Finally, your eyes work on staying in socket when the fish does appear for several reasons, but hopefully because the fish is so ridiculously large that you mind can’t fathom eating it all.

Finally, my apologies for writing such a morbid e-mail with the moose carcasses and bloodied halibut. But c’mon I’m in Alaska, and I’m just painting the picture I see.

Reese

King Salmon fishing. People will pay over $200 a person to have a guide navigate them down the Kenai and Kasilof rivers in hopes of catching a 50+ lb salmon. The reality is that it takes on average about 28 hours of fishing to catch one. I feel sorry for the 4 people who will have to fish 60 hours to even out the success of our trip.

We were talking, minding our own business, and BAM! My pole jerked down, and I had a fish on the line. Being the first of the day, I didn’t have the advantadge of watching anyone else reel in a King. Instead, I tried to calm the adrennaline while listening to Don’s instructions. Around a minute later, Don netted the 20 lb whopper, and I exhaled. Woah. The excitement didn’t hit me until minutes later. What a rush!

Now, you are only allowed one King a day and 5 per year. So, I was finished for the day, but within 30 minutes, my pole started dancing again. So Kemmer set the hook, and brought in a 18 pounder. We celebrated, but only for a moment. Literally within 90 seconds after hitting the water, my pole literally slammed against the boat, and Joel’s fight begun. Down the river the King fled, hiding under a rock, darting as she pleased, but soon the 30 lb queen raised a white flag. What a beautiful fish she was, too… fresh out of the ocean (great taste) and full of eggs (great bait).Now the pressure was on Don to catch something. Only 10 minutes later, fish struck the line only to get away. 5 minutes later another got off. The trouble was Don had to leap from the oars to the animated pole before setting the hook, as the other person jumped out of the way. No surprise that 3-4 more fish got off, but finally Don landed a 30 pounder, but the fish looked like the 4 of us. Male with poor color. Since the fishing was good, we waited on another female to strike. Maybe 10 mintues passed and a nice 22 lb ‘female’ struck the line, giving Don something keep. When cleaning the fish, we realized this was no female, but a male in disguise. Distrubing, indeed!! Limited out, we all floated down to take out point where our car had been transported and called it a day. What a day it was!!

The spoils of victory

The final tally:

• 6 kings to the boat
• Kept 4 fish with a total weight of 92 lbs
• 1 dolly
• 1 steelhead
• 8-10 more on the line
• 1 trip for the memories

Friends!

Not too much to say, but a lot to show. I went fishing for King Salmon, and I caught a beauty. A story will follow. The youth group went on a hike in the rain, and I’ve been loving every Mavericks victory, especially since two of the youth obsess over the Miami Heat. Later in the week, a father and his two kids are taking me out to the ocean for halibut fishing. It’s not unreasonable to think that we won’t bring back a few 60 pounders.

Alaska Facts - Bears and Construction dominate the news
Recent front page headlines:

• Two hunters shot a charging 12 foot, 700 pound, brown bear. The autopsy showed the bear had consumed a milk cartoon, a trash sack, and a baby moose.
• In the middle of the night, a man woke
  to the sounds of a black bear rummaging through his downstairs. The man killed the bear on sight.
• A concrete truck overturned just before the bridge in Soldotna, blocking off access to the bridge. Traffic had to be diverted to Bridge Access road causing significant delays.
• The bridge will be closed for the next two nights due to construction (this is major news because we had to take an extra 15 minutes to drive back to the house)

By the way, does anyone know the 4 seasons in Alaska? Answer will come in next week’s Alaska Facts. Feel free to post guesses.

The Youth

Lately, I’ve been spending as much time with the youth group. There are about 10-12 regulars with maybe 30 on a roster sheet. I really can’t wait to move past the ‘getting to know you’ phase and to deeper conversation. Beginning next Sunday I’ll be responsible for 90% of the teaching because Jim, the youth pastor, will be gone nearly all of my time in Soldotna with camps/training/vacation. As of now, I plan on teaching different lessons on trusting God’s promises, beginning with 2 Peter 1:3-8. In the meantime, we’ll be BBQ-ing this Wednesday and rafting in two weeks along the Kenai. Later in July, we might ‘Bike the Loop’. Not sure where the loop is, but I imagine it will be fun.

Howdy, howdy

Wow, I have now been here exactly one week! Hard to believe it, but you can see it (pardon the hazy pictures… it’s not pollution, just smoke from forest fires). This promises to be the longest (most important?) e-mail of the summer. But to appease everyone, I’ve separated it into two sections, a short and long.

The Short:

* Orientation is over
* I’m working at College Heights Baptist Church in Soldotna, AK (lots of salmon fishing)
* My job
o Start a college-aged Bible study that will continue to meet through the Fall
o Work with the youth group
o Do other things the church asks (like make an igloo out of milk cartons)
o Help create AlaskaTrek with my supervisor during 1-2 weeks in July

The Long

Fun facts about Alaska

* Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the US, but did you know that it was the easternmost as well? It crosses the International Dateline, making those tiny islands the US’s furthest eastern possession. Hey, it’s also the southernmost state on several maps, too.
* If you cut Alaska in half, it would be the 1st and 2nd largest state
* Alaska is 1/5 the size of the Lower 48
* There are 365 MILLION acres of land… 1 million acres per day
* It has 3 million lakes, 5000 glaciers, and 70 active volcanoes
* Total population: 600,000; about half live in Anchorage
* More planes than cars
* Twice as many bears as people
* 95% of Anchorage is unchurched
* 95% of Alaska is unchurched

The Mission

The church’s goal is for me to:

1. Jump start the college-aged part of their congregation by leading a Bible study Sunday morning that will last through the fall semester.
2. Disciple, encourage, and strengthen the youth group as well as assist the youth minister (Jim Torkelson) as needed, especially during the two weeks that he will be absent
3. Serve the church in whatever way they need me. This week is building an igloo from milk cartoons and later building a glacier from foam. This is what happens when people find out you’re an engineer…. “Oh, you’re an engineer, then you must know how to do….”
4. Help my supervisor (Brenda Crim) to lay the foundation for what will eventually become AlaskaTrek. The vision for AlaskaTrek is to become an adventure leadership experience led by students of University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), where Brenda is the campus minister. The 10-14 day trek could be a mixture of sea kayaking, backpacking along Resurrection Pass, and who knows what else, but we imagine that we’ll mostly be working with college students.

The Difficulties

In Alaska people love to play! Especially in the summer… can you blame them? So people often leave town on the weekends. The other major difficulty is many of the residents, post high school to parent, work in the oil fields up in the Arctic for 1-2 weeks straight. Also, the college-age portion of the church is always in and out of town. Most won’t even be here, except a guy named Micah. He’s my only link to people my age in the Soldotna/Kenai region.

How you can help/pray

* One that God would provide me a cell phone and a bike or car
* He would show me 5 high school guys to begin meeting with on a weekly basis to study the book of James
* For a good relationship with the youth minister, Jim
* That our group of college students would grow to 7-8 people who will still be in Soldotna for the fall

Thanks for skimming/reading this far. There’s a lot more to say, but I think this is essential. I really can say enough about how wonderful each of you are. Have a great rest of your summer!!