So Far in our Mission

Dear Family and Friends,
For those of you who would like to know more than I am able to fit into the newsletter, I have decided to write a letter to go along with it.
We have been thanking God everyday for sending us here. Sometimes we feel a little overwhelmed by everything that we are doing, and the things that we need to be doing. But, without a doubt, we know that this is the place God wants us. I can see God’s hand on everything that we do. It is amazing!
Let me introduce you to some people, places, and things. Since moving here, we quickly found out that our house would never be empty. Praise God!
The Lord is blessing our ministry. So far, we have had three to make a decision to follow Christ and more with questions about discipleship and baptism. They want to change, they just don’t know how. We really need to be in prayer that the mindsets would change and the enemy will lose his grip on these people.
We have a very full week every week. On Sundays, we start out by running the van to pick people up for church. Then, we may have some stay at our house and eat dinner with us and hang out until time for church again. After church we spend another hour taking everyone home again. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, we have kids knocking on the door as soon as school is out. On Wednesdays, we run our van route again; taking people home after church, and usually one or two will call and come by, or just drop in. On Fridays, we have Lighthouse Youth Group. Another couple leads it. Their names are Paul and Valerie and they have two little boys: Sam (3) and Micah (6months). We help out by cooking, running the van route, and Merrill leads in worship and sometimes teaches 6th grade and under. We usually have 25-30 attend. Saturdays are busy with visiting with our new friends and then Sunday starts again.
The Willow Community Center is ½ mile down the road, and the library is there, along with a playground out back. Once a month, on Saturday night, they show a free movie. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks our first Saturday here! On Tuesdays, there is story hour at the library followed by play group. Each mom brings a picnic lunch and we play on the playground (when warm enough) or inside the auditorium with bounce houses and riding toys. The boys really enjoy it. I am getting to know some other mothers also. They are so interesting. Some are wives of dog mushers. The lady that organized the play days (we meet again on Fridays), is from Switzerland. Her name is Dora and we have a hard time understanding each other because her Swiss accent is so thick and my Southern accent is so thick! As a whole, all of the mothers are very friendly. But, they are lost. I am praying that the Lord will use me to plant some seeds. I hope that they will bring their children to VBS in June. And, from there, get involved in church.
I will begin teaching the children’s Sunday school class May 4th. Please pray for the children I will be teaching. I will have a wide range of ages, so please pray that we will have fun and learn at the same time.
Every 5th Sunday we have a singing. But we do it a little differently up here. Each church takes a turn hosting it. All evangelical denominations. I am looking forward to the next one.
We have started a new program for young people. It is called Club 2911. We meet on Sunday afternoons at 4:30.
We hope to teach the young people up here Jeremiah 29:11: God has a specific purpose for their lives. And then, we will teach them intentional evangelism.
We have a lot going on this summer. Our VBS is scheduled for June 2nd -6th. We will be doing Cactus Canyon. It was made for backyard Bible clubs or mission teams to come in and do VBS. Because our church is limited in the number of teachers, we have decided that this program will be best for us. I really am looking forward to it. My class will be 3years old-kindergarten.
Merrill, myself, and the boys get to go to Anchorage May 1st&2nd for a minister’s retreat.
May 4th is the Associational Evangelism rally at our church. We are praying that a fire gets started in the hearts of all those here.
World Changers will be here June 8th-13th. There will be a total of 150, but our church is sponsoring 35. We will provide their lunches and transportation.
Willow has a big 4th of July parade every year. Merrill and I will be responsible for decorating the float. We are trying to plan some type of candy and tract to hand out to everyone.
We will have two teams of 16 from Tennessee coming up in July. They will be helping with the church plant that our church is sponsoring.
Casting Crowns will be in concert in Anchorage on August 9th. We would like to try to take a group of young people. Some have never been to a concert before.
There will be a youth-led revival August 17th-20th. Merrill will be preaching and we will use our youth to lead it. They will be doing the prayer, special music, taking up offering, etc. We are going to be witnessing in the community the week before and invite everyone to the revival. If anyone would like a short mission trip, this would be a great time. We not only need people that can get out in the community with us, but we need people that can help feed everyone, or anything that you feel God has gifted you to do.
The Alaska state fair is August 21st-September 1st. This is the fair that I am told you get to see the competition for the largest vegetables. Like a cabbage that weighs 50lbs! We are trying to come up with a clever way to do some witnessing at the fair. Please be in prayer about that.
We have so many things going on. Praise God! I’m sure I’ve left some things out, but I just can’t think of anything else. We love you and will look forward to seeing you.
God Bless Alabama & Alaska!