"May Happenings!"

Hello friends and family,
It's been quite a while since we have written to give everyone an update; but I think now it will become more frequent. Check back every once in a while and maybe even add our blog to your "favorites" :)

There has been quite a bit that I (Lacey) have written the past week or so to get everyone caught up...

The most recent thing for those who haven't heard...We're moving to Alaska for 6 months! Jeremy is on his last and final week of seminary next week! Crazy huh? He finished his last homework assignment literally 71/2 hours ago. We had a garage sale last weekend and now that we got rid of the stuff we don't want, we're trying to organize our life and pack the things we do want both for Alaska and "mystery church"!

We'll be headed "home" to Washington approx. May 18th, most likely in a car and a Uhaul to stay with my parents for a little bit until we head up to Alaska June 1st!

We will be going up to the Naknek/ King Salmon area (see star on map for location) for Jeremy's internship year in seminary. He will be working under Pastor Jeff Swanson June 1st-Nov. 31st. It should be a fun, interesting and growing experience for us! There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but we're trying to depend on the Lord in everything as He leads. We're excited to see what happens.

As far as our 2nd half of the internship, that is yet to be decided; so be praying for us as we are trying to patiently wait this next week to find out. We should know soon........ It makes things interesting for packing and such; but it will all work out in the end!

Here's a few more pictures of Naknek just to give you an idea:

Here is a aerial photo looking at Naknek. See the 15 mile highway? Long road huh? Starts at the river and ends at a gravel road that leads to a lake. :)

This is the inside of the Naknek church that we will be working with. There is also a very small church just across the river in South Naknek as well.

Alaska isn't called "Land of the Midnight Sun" for nothing...this picture was taken a little bit after midnight in July. This will be something new to get used to! We will also be experiencing the many, many hours of darkness as well. We won't get a full taste of it as we'll only be up there until November....

Naknek is a HUGE fishing town. There are several canneries and there is constant salmon fishing during the summer. In fact, the town that is normally about 300-500 people swells to over 2,000!

This is Naknek's grocery store. There is also a "Trading co" which is basically a general store. As everything has to be shipped in, barged in, or flown in it costs about twice as much for things. We'll be stopping in Anchorage on the way to go grocery shopping and most likely ship a mass amount of things up there ;)

Naknek post office...funny, all the government office were in great condition.

I don't mind seeing a bear like this, but I will never get this close to a real one! We will have several opportunities to see brown bears and we have a gun "just in case" :-/ As there are several villages in Alaska and a wierd person on this picture, the appropriate quote for this picture is "Your village called; their idiot is missing"