Saturday August 14 Marshall Alaska
Today began with the bittersweet departure of part of our team, the ones who came for only one week. It was hard to loose the hard charging Brice and Jeff, or the bull moose just keep working Cory, or the hearts of our outreach ministry Kim and Brianna, or the steady hands of Jim and Dean. Working hard for a week made me appreciate all the different and wonderful gifts God has given to each of us. Each of us has contributed in different ways to the work being done here. The sweet part of the day was to have Marilyn, John and Tyler arrive. They arrived and the others departed about 11 am. We were hard at it inside the church and working on completing the siding and trim work. It took awhile to get new work teams organized with the change in personel, but things went pretty smooth.
Oh, did I mention it rained today. The good news is that it only rained for a part of the morning. What it was all day was WINDY!!!!. A steady wind of over 20 mph with gusts of 45+ mph. It made just opening doors difficult let alone the siding work Dave, Kyle and Don were trying to do.
Pastor George was around the church today with most of his family. Several of us got a chance to speak with him. He is a native from this area and so is completely in tune with the local culture. He said when he started holding church services four years ago there were only 2 beilevers in town. Now there are over 30. Pastor George hopes that now that they will have a new church building soon they will fill it. I pray that he is right, and feel he may very well be the man to build God’s church in Marshall Alaska.
This evening everyone was taking care of domestic chores, cleaning laundry, organizing. Stuff we did not have time or energy for earlier in the week. Tomorrow we will have a worship service in the new building with Pastor George leading it. Then a day off construction work. Probably a walk aroung the village. Maybe a little fishing . In the evening some planning for the upcoming week on both the construction and outreach ministries.
Thank you Woodlands for sending us here. This village needs to have a place where Christ is proclaimed, and you sent us to help. Thank you for your encouragement, prayer support, financial support, and sending your spouses and children to help build God’s fame in Alaska.
We covet your prayers. It is both physically and mentally and mentally challenging to maintain the pace we have maintained. Please pray that as Jeff said on departure “finish strong”. Please continue to pray for our health and safety. Several of us are suffering with colds, and many sore muscles. Pray that the weather remains good, or maybe even gets sunny again.
We miss our team mates but are glad they will soon be home with their families. We look forward to another productive week on this mission field of Marshall Alaska.
No comments:
Post a Comment