AWAKEN

What do 80 youth, 7 airplanes, two “sleepless” nights, tons of fun and Jesus all have in common? A Youth Retreat! A few weekends back we had an annual retreat called “Awaken”, hosted by two of the local churches here, Naknek Community Bible and the one we attend, Hilltop Christian Fellowship. We had about 10 willing leaders/chaperones who put in several hours beforehand prepping for the retreat. Each of the leaders had a “job” and things went really smoothly in prepping for it. (PTL!) We have learned from previous years what could have been different and it seems to get better and better each year. (Not that previous times have been bad) This year we had it for two overnights for the first time. So, we flew in the kids on Friday afternoon/early evening and then didn’t go home until Sunday afternoon. 

I’m going to break the weekend down a bit, not to bore you, but to give you a little glimpse into the fun we had and hopefully the impact God had on the teens.

First off, we are always praying that the weather will behave to fly the teens in on Friday.  We seem to worry, but year after year, God never seizes to amaze us. The weather was perfect for both the flying, and the bonfire and games on the beach that night. (It started to cloud up and rain right when we were leaving the beach) And the temperature was perfect. Like I said, we had seven planes doing the flights with a couple of them doing two trips! We had 44 youth from the village and 36 locals! I think this was the biggest group yet.

Friday night also included one of two “talks” that Josh Young, a nephew of someone here in Naknek, shared. He flew all the way in from Colorado just for the weekend! God must have had a perfect plan because it happened to be the same weekend as the 1 year Anniversary that his Aunt and Uncle lost their son and daughter-in-law in a tragic situation. Be praying for the Anderson family. There was also time of worship before each “session”, led by Mark McGee of Tanalian Bible Camp. (google it) ;)

On Saturday there were a couple of different activities. In the morning the youth played a very unique version of “softball” using a big rubber exercise ball. (I heard it called “Norwegian Softball” during my youth group days) Later in the afternoon there was the option of either paintball (an Awaken tradition) or “Cupcake Wars” (something new, different and fun) Cupcake Wars is basically a competition on who can bake and decorate a cupcake the most creative way and taste the best. Immediately following that was Swimming at the pool. (I, Lacey, went home and showered! Jeremy was on “Malachi duty” for the weekend most of the time) There was also a morning and an evening session. The kids seemed to respond well. After the evening session everyone watched “God’s Not Dead”. If you have not seen it, you are missing out on something great!

I chaperoned the whole weekend, which meant sleeping overnight for both nights. Of course, being girls, we had a hard time getting them to “BE QUIET!”. But I think by the second night people were pretty exhausted, so we didn’t have to fight them as much that night.

Sunday morning was a blast! Because we had 80 youth and because there wasn’t room at either church for all of them plus normal Sunday morning attendees, we had a Community Wide Worship Service at the school in the auditorium. We had music led by a few from the community and again by Mark McGee. That was an impactful time for me. Pastor Jeff gave the message and touched on how we need an “awakening” in each of our lives. Josh Young gave a testimony. His Aunt was also there and I think the service meant a lot to her. I couldn’t help but tear up a little bit when I saw Josh’s arm around her shoulder. Immediately following the service they started flying the kids back home and, again, the weather was just fine.

The weekend as a whole went really well. We didn’t have any emergencies, misbehaving teens, akward situations, sickness (besides colds that everyone seemed to get afterwards), we had the perfect amount of food, great help from the community, loads of fun, etc.

I’m reminded of the verse in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the Earth.” I am sure Jesus was including our small villages here in Bristol Bay!  Keep praying for the youth who came that they would remember what was shared.

                            Whoops, reverse order on the days, but oh well.... you get the idea.

                                         BEARS IN NAKNEK ON AN EVENING FLIGHT

                                                               MICHIGAN VACATION

I have come to realize that either our lives aren’t exciting enough to update the blog weekly, not enough happens, or I just am not as motivated as some. Haha. I could start writing about poems or song lyrics, solving world problems with a very opinionated forum or taking pictures of our dinner. Oh wait, that’s facebook.  :-D

Anyway…

Our activity has certainly slowed down, but we still had a great rest of the summer. The last time I wrote, all the teams were gone and there were just a few “stragglers” left. We had a wonderful time with Bobbie Overgaard here helping at the radio station after the Net had closed for the summer.

The very end of July we took a much over-due trip to Michigan. I spent a few years growing up there and hadn’t been back since 5^th or 6^th grade. Almost 20 years! Jeremy has never gone. We also hadn’t seen my grandparents since Malachi was 8 months old. It was great catching up with them. We also got to drive by my old house and see a childhood friend who I hadn’t seen in years as well. Malachi had a wonderful time! We were constantly go, go, go with activity. My parents have only been in Bellaire a little over a year and have a house right on a Lake with a pontoon and everything. They are also close to Lake Michigan where we spent a few days throughout our trip on the beach. We also went fishing, went to a fair, ate our years supply of ice cream, spent a lot of time outside, etc. It was fun to watch Malachi explore and discover new things.  We were gone for a tad over three weeks, so we got used to being there and hard to leave. It was nice to come home too.

While we were gone the radio station went “hay-wire” for lack of a better terms (and that I don’t want to go into a huge, technical description). It was actually off the air for about two weeks. Problem solved now though.

Now that we are home, we are back to the usual activities. Jeremy has been busy working on stuff here at the radio station being Mr. Fix It on some things related to being off the air. He has helped a guy here with his Annual on his airplane as well. The weather hasn’t been very cooperative on Sundays for flying, but he still has plenty of things to do.

I have started leading the local Women’s Bible Study again and we had our first week on Thursday with 9 ladies! (average is 5 or 6)

The biggest thing coming up in just two weeks is called AWAKEN. I have mentioned it before, but it is a Youth Retreat that we help out with here once a year. It was started by our good friends and it has been a lot of fun helping out with since living here. It also takes a lot of preparation, helpers, money and good weather too! Half of our attendees and some leaders are from different villages, so there are lots of flights that take place this week. It is Sept. 19^th-21^st if you think of it! ;) I will try to update shortly after that, so stay posted!

Blessings!

Jumpin' June!

                                                       GARAGE APARTMENTS- DONE!

                                          GROUP FROM WILSON, WISCONSIN

                                           SOME OF THE VBS HELPERS (WITH MALACHI)

                                                  THIS KID LOVES RIDING ON A 4-WHEELER

Whoa. HOW in the world has it been two months already???

Seriously, this whole “keeping the blog updated” is hard work! ;)

So, as you can see from the title, June (and July) has been busy! We have had a bunch of visitors, a bunch of activity and a bunch of fun!

Late May brought a team of four up to do Vacation Bible School (VBS) in a couple of the villages in the area. Josiah and Courtney Rolf, Stephanie (Steph) Kantonen and Michelle Alverson. It was/is such a blessing to have them here and we’ve had a good time! They went to Ekwok, Kohkonok, Igiugig, Egegik and South Naknek. Josiah and Courtney went home about two weeks ago, but Steph and Michelle are still here until Monday. Malachi loved having them around! The two girls still here have become two of his most favorite people e.v.e.r.

June brought the salmon coming full force which meant our helpers at the Net came. Bobby (Roberta) Ovegard from Camarillo, CA has committed most of her summer to be here. She has worked SO hard. They have made OVER 300 dozen cookies down at the NET!! She has put in super long hours, but has had some great visits with the hundreds who have walked through the door. Les and Kathy Carlson from Amery, WI came up here for two weeks and worked non-stop all day long baking cookies, visiting with people coming in and much more! They had a wonderful time and didn’t want to leave. (And we didn’t want them to leave, but the radio station was about to burst at the seams…..)  Before I mentioned why the radio stations was going to be full, back up just a hair…

The Net- a place rented out by our church here to use for ministry year long, but particularly in the summer for a place of rest, coffee, cookies, tracts, bibles, fellowship and internet. It is right on the “main strip” of town. There are six (?) Canneries in our small town that hire people from all over the world (literally) to work.  Plus, there are many, many fishing boats who hire people as well from out of town. So, during the “off” time, either waiting for fishing to start or waiting for the canneries to be in full swing, people are constantly walking back and forth. (because most likely they don’t have a car if they’re from out of town) They have had a few days down there where they went through 400 coffee cups in one day!

Another side note- salmon, salmon and more salmon! “Commercial fishermen continue to harvest huge amounts of sockeye as the total run to Bristol Bay has exceeded 30-million. Monday’s sockeye harvest was just over 1-million sockeye. That pushes the season total to over 21.1-million.”

Ok, back to the packed radio station. A few days after the Carlsons left a team of 6 from Amery, WI; plus 2 from Fergus Falls, MN came up to finish up the apartments in the garage! WOW, Were they hard workers! The ladies were cooking meals and painting and the men literally worked  from 6 am-10 pm several of the days! They got so much done! What a blessing to have them! While they were here we were able to have a bonfire on the beach with the nicest weather we could ask for! We also celebrated the 4^th with a big crowd and that day was almost just as warm! And no bugs! The 4^th we also had a garage dedication.

This week has been busy. We are having our Naknek VBS and have some great volunteers. Everyone has stepped up and taken responsibility, so it hasn’t been overwhelming. Malachi has loved this week too, especially the puppets, fun songs, and being a “big kid”. Steph and Michelle are still here and we’ve really enjoying getting to know them and hanging out. This week Jeremy and I also nailed down dates and purchased tickets for a trip to MI to see my parents! I spend a few years of my elementary age years there and haven’t been back for a LONG time, so we’re looking forward to the trip.  Jeremy is flying an airplane back with a guy from here who bought the plane in Pennsylvania, so Mally and I will spend about a week and half more in MI.

I THINK this caught you up on our activity. Whew, that was long! J So, I stuck a few pictures on here, but if you want to see more, check out facebook! Thanks for your prayers! 

Summer is here!

Yes, you read that right: Summer. No, not necessarily because of the weather, although that hasn’t been bad either. We pretty much have three weeks of Spring here and half the time that feels like Winter. This year, we were “lucky”.  

A few weeks ago we started to see signs of summer when new faces would appear in the stores, the library, the local restaurant, at church, but mostly wandering the streets. You can always tell that the canneries are getting ready when there are people walking back and forth into town, or you see those typical “Summer Vehicles” (mainly the “how- are- those- trucks- still- running- trucks”).

It’s always fun to see a few familiar faces who return for the summer year after year.  It seems that most of the time we don’t recognize many with such a huge turn-over of workers, but occasionally there are a few that return year after year. There’s one gentlemen, Fernando, who has been here several years in a row. When he’s not here, he lives in Columbia. He’s a brother in Christ who comes to church whenever he can. They keep him pretty busy at work in the local restaurant. Last weekend Jeremy and I were there eating and he came over with a little bowl of “belated birthday ice cream” for Malachi. I guess he had heard a passing comment in church that it was Malachi’s Birthday that past weekend. What a special treat!

Speaking of Malachi’s Birthday, we really enjoyed it this year! The theme was Disney’s “PLANES” and so there were many “Dusty” decorations, the main character in the movie. (pics on facebook) We were able to have it in the church basement which was wonderful, because we had over 30 people there. It was a special day for the 3 year old. My Birthday, two days later was also a fun day with friends and yummy (sugar-free!) cake and ice cream.

Jeremy has been busy with lots of airplane maintenance and various work projects. He is trying to have all the airplanes up and running, especially the 6 seater. We have our Vacation Bible School team coming in 3 weeks! Which means the first VBS is a month away. The Net should be up and running about that time as well. More on the VBS and The Net ministry to come….

Will you pray with us for all the details of the Summer?

Scroll down.... :)

Time passed. Promises unkept. Apologies abound. We’re sorry! So sorry! :)


That being said, I HOPE, but am not promising to keep this “thing” updated!

A New Years Resolution three months late?

My goal, so as not to overwhelm or bore, is to try to update more frequently with little “blurbs” here and there. I mean, be honest, three-fourths of you are on facebook and would rather browse through cute pictures of Malachi on there. :) But that’s too selfish to just stick to that, because I know that there are also those of you who are not on facebook.

(However, if you are on fb, but we’re not friends, send us a request—but if we don’t know you personally, we might not “accept” you unless you send us a message on fb to say who you are….this is for more of you who are reading our update via the Knee Mail)

All this being said, I’m not going to try to update you on the things that have happened the last year (*blush), but to just start fresh.

So…..

This winter we wondered several times, “Are we really in Alaska?” We have loved this Winter! Granted, we haven’t had a ton of sunny days, but boy has it been warm. It was not unusual to see many days in a row of upper 30’s and higher. I think we traded weather with the rest of the US. There were a fews days where we were warmer here than my parents in Georgia. (Speaking of them, they were up here this Christmas for a month….we love visitors…hint, hint)
Malachi will be three in April and I’m depressed. Ok, not really, but how is he that OLD?! He likes puppies, Planes, Super Why, playing outside (especially slides), noodles, singings, not napping, and is just about potty trained!
Jeremy is busy at this moment working on the Cessna 175’s annual inspection and taking a few online classes to stay current in his ratings. But he’s also been busy with other various and random projects.
I have been doing the “normal” stay at home mom routine with a few other things thrown in there. I teach Sunday School, lead a Ladies Bible Study on Thursdays and am involved with Leaders For Life (basically a small youth group with a couple of the teen girls) I also enjoy experimenting and cooking new meals. My family has benefited from Pinterest!
Stay tuned! :)

Lacey (for Jeremy and Malachi too)