Monday August 16 Marshall Alaska

Today we woke up and was not raining.  Well that changed by 10 am, when it rained briefly.  Then by 4pm it was raining again and still.  Today Dave, Don and Kyle continued working on the smaller details of siding, and the soffit and fascia of the houses.  Tyler and John spent the morning stapling plywood on the bottom of the houses.  This protects the foam insulation from animals, insects, and children.  Kyle Tyler and Hannah (A young woman from Main who came in at the same time as our second team) continued plywood on the bottom of the big house.  Phil, John B, John H., Al, and Hannah finished hanging the last of the Drywall in the morning.  In the afternoon they moved on to putting the sub flooring in the church building.  In spite of the weather and smaller team we made steady progress today.

Because of the evening rain we did not have a chance to do kites or other activities.  We are still trying to figure out how to get adults involved in some evening activities.  We hare hoping to get a family photo event going, but have not worked out the timing or logistics of it.  Most of the village is up very late at night and there is very little activity on the streets before the afternoon.  Part of this is a result of the daylight being around so long.  It is not unusual to hear about moose shot at 10 pm or later, and then it is still light.

The water and sewer lines here are a complicated insulated pipes within an insulated shell.  The water and sewer guys have been working on getting these lines into the houses for about 4 days.  The total run they are working on is about 50 feet, and it is hard to understand how long things are taking.  But the soil they are digging in is a combination of wet clay, stone, and bog material.  There is a whole different system for dealing with the bitter temps of winter here.

We have had several pieces of bad news regarding Pastor George's family today.  Their youngest son Isaiah had been feeling sick.  He developed a fever bad enough to require a trip to the hospital in Bethel.  We have not heard his status this evening.  Then I just heard that Pastor George had a severe allergic reaction after supper and stopped breathing.  They rushed him to the local clinic, I will update his condition as I can.

Please pray for Pastor George and his son.  That they would quickly recover full health.  Continue to pray for good weather, the forecast is for rain, rain, rain.  Pray that we finish strong our mission trip here.  That there would be further outreach opportunities.