.catching up.

So. Journaling is typically something I love to do. It can be relaxing, help you reflect, and is really just something you can do for you. In my mind this blog has the potential to be like a journal, and after my adventure here in Alaska is over I will be able to look back and remember all the amazing experiences I have had. The problem is that in similar fashion to a journal, when I get behind on writing I tend to want to quit or skip over things that have happened so I can catch up to my current life; instead of, racking my brain about events that took place a week ago. So aggravating. So in an attempt to quickly catchup I am going to just run through a few of the highlights from these past ten days or so.

Sunday October 17th

Mom was still in town and we were still getting settled in a bit. We went to church Sunday morning and were invited over to Byron and Sue Bruckner's house for lunch. [By the way, Byron is the founder of CYAK, and his hilarious wife sue works with Lauren and I in the office. She pretty much keeps us laughing non-stop]. After eating tons of chips and salsa and dried fish we were served a delicious lunch with amazing salmon. yum. We decided to go on a hike to make some room for dessert, so we headed down the road a bit to hike the Butte. It was a great hike, and the view is super rewarding.

After snapping a few shots and soaking it all in we made our way back to the Bruckner's. Byron was waiting with ice cream bowls and about every flavor of ice cream you could ever want. Oh and we let him practice his barista skills on us with his new latte maker, they were delicious. So lets see, church, friends, food, hiking, ice cream, and lattes...it was a pretty perfect sunday.

Friday October 29

Our church hosted an event called Singspiration. This is something that takes place in the villages on a regular basis from what I understand. Basically everyone gets together and enjoys a time of eating, fellowship, testimonies, and SINGING! I believe it is very common for this to go on for a number of hours with congregational singing from the hymns as well as individuals singing for the group. I feel like I have heard so much about singspiration in the villages so I was so excited to be a part of it here on the road system. Lauren, Nikki, and I had a pretty full morning going to Costco to buy all the food for the teen youth retreat called Fall Blast that will be coming up pretty soon here. After loading our carts, packing all the food into boxes, and shipping them out to Elim we headed back to the church to start the preparation for Singspiration.

Once we got there we started helping to make the fry bread. This is a very common type of bread, and is probably made a million different ways depending on who you ask to teach you. Every family seems to have their own 'special' way with a pinch of this and a dash of that.

Everything was delicious, and we had way more food then we knew what to do with. Everyone is so generous and spoiled us with tons of fish, moose stew,akutaq, and tons of cranberry pastries. It was a great time of fellowship and singing, I can see why it goes on for hours in the villages, it is such a blessing.

Saturday October 30

Lauren [have I mentioned she's my room-mate?] and I enjoyed a morning to sleep in, finally. We decided to go for a hike but thought it would be best to enjoy the beginning part of the morning in bed. By about 10:30 or so, when we were completely rested, we ate some breakfast and started gearing up for our adventure. Lazy Mountain is in the Palmer area, and is definitely a step up from the Butte, so it was the obvious choice for my second hike. Lauren had already hiked it before, but we made a decision to stay active all winter and to try and hike Lazy every other week. People hike it all year round, and we really need to the practice so we can work our way up to pioneer peak by summer! It was pretty tough, especially for me. Lauren is from Colorado, so hiking is in her DNA, but for me, being from the flat lands of Illinois, had a few struggles here,

and there,

but it sure was rewarding once we made it to the top.

it was a beautiful hike.

One thing that was amazing to me was that from the top you could see the Butte, but barely. It looked like a little hill, but let me tell you, when I was hiking it before it sure seemed steep. Can you see it?

yep, there it is, off in the right hand corner. crazy.

Also,on the way down the mountain you kind of run/slip your entire way down. It is a little tough going down carefully so I think next time we need to just hike up with a sled strapped to our backs!

During this little excursion I also saw my first moose up close. When I was running down I had that feeling, when you think something is looking at you. Out of the corner of my eye I saw it, standing right there behind a tree. So I did what any girl would do, I just keep staring back at it. That is until Lauren told me not to make eye contact with it! oops. Either way, we just kept talking/praying out loud, stayed calm, and walked back to the car. Fheww, we made it out alive, but it sure was an adventure.

Good thing we had osa, our protective guard dog with us.

Here are a few extra shots.

Sunday October 31

Happy Halloween, well actually we didn't really do too much. There was a little harvest party at church so we stuck around there for a bit to eat lunch and watch a few of the kids games, but we were very happy to head home and enjoy the night in.

We did however make delicious turkey pumpkin chili and watched benny and joon. And there you have it, my kind of party. A big bowl of hot chili, a flannel shirt, sweatpants, and a warm quilt. 

..:.mountain village.:..

My first weekend in Alaska I was able to join some of the CYAK team at a youth worker training weekend in Mountain Village. This weekend was put together to let youth workers in the Yukon Delta region get together and talk about what is going on with the youth. This was an amazing opportunity for me for so many reasons.

1. I was able to see what a village is like.

2. I was able to hear first hand what is happening in the different villages.

3. and I was able to meet the youth workers in person.

It was such an amazing experience to be able to sit in room and dialogue with such a diverse group of people. We brought together people from various villages and various ages to come together and openly talk about the struggles, pain, and sadness many of them were enduring. We had a number of people from Scammon Bay, Marshal, Hooper Bay, Soldatna, and Bethel all talking together, both youth and elder, with the common desire to share the love of Christ with those suffering. It was a truly invaluable experience. Even though it was overwhelming at times to hear about the alcoholism, drug use, depression, and suicides happening in rural Alaska, it was encouraging to hear how the Lord is truly at work through the hearts and hands of these youth workers. It was empowering to be reminded that even when things seem hopeless, we know that God is faithful. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Always loving and always with us.

Here is a little run down of a few events from this amazing trip.

We boarded the MARC plane with great anticipation.

and enjoyed the beautiful view

a group shot of the yukon-delta youth workers

after one of our sessions we took a little hike up a hill to stretch our legs a bit

here are a few shots of the village along the way

the top was so beautiful, we tried to soak it all in

and finally made our way back down.

Mountain village is such a beautiful place

filled with beautiful people.

One last passing glance of mountain village as we flew overhead. 

We stopped over in Bethel to fuel up and drop off a few friends.

The two lovely ladies in the front are Mandy and Val both of whom live in Bethel.

Nathan Hanna is the Pastor in Mekoryuk and Matthew is the new youth worker on the island. While we were stopped in the Bethel airport these guys caught a connecting flight.

We made a couple good friends while we were in the airport. This little girl named Brooke (7) and her brother Solomon (9) entertained Isaac and I with magic tricks and candy.

This picture is purely for Hannah, Corrie and Dan Lott.

That's right guys, they were watching The Three Stooges in the airport.

Finally we were on our way home.
We were blessed with amazing pilots from MARC [missionary aviation repair center], who kept us safe and made our flight so fun!

The weekend went by so fast, but you can't help but fall in love with the native people in the villages in Alaska. They have the biggest hearts and seem to just shine with the love of Jesus. I hope I get another chance to get back to mountain village soon!

Welcome to Alaska.

October 14th was a pretty great day. My mom and I had our airline tickets for Alaska in hand, our bags were packed, and we were ready to go. We flew Alaska Airlines nonstop from O'hare to Anchorage departing at 6 pm and arrived in Anchorage at 10:30 [although the flight was a bit longer then that, we gained three hours in the air]. By the time we landed it was too dark to really see that we were completely surrounded by beautiful mountains the entire time we were driving into Wasilla. Even with all the excitement about this new adventure, we tried to get a good night sleep so we could go explore in the morning.

That next morning we headed into the CYAK office to go through a little orientation, and to meet some of my new office mates! We took a little break and headed over to Pandemonium to get some coffee and meet a few of the team members who work out on the road system.

As part of our orientation we got to go on a 'mini fieldtrip' to this place called hatcher's pass. It was beautiful.

Next in our list of must-do's while mom was in town was to go to Anchorage.

                          we saw a few sights.

and even discovered a Wyland mural

all in all a great day in the city.

.:.So it begins.:.

I never know quite how to get going with things, so i suppose I'll just start at the beginning. For quite a few years now I've dreamed about moving out to Alaska. I suppose the idea of mountains, men in flannel shirts, and the prospect of seeing a bear are pretty enticing. Somehow this distant dream turned into a real possibility. While there were many a night spent staying up late with Nat and Ellen Fondell discussing things like airline tickets, insurance, and the summer camp in Unalakleet Alaska, i knew i finally wanted to move out there.

Ellen and Nat told me about this organization called CYAK, which stands for Covenant Youth of Alaska. So after praying about this opportunity, I called the founder to learn a bit more about what they do. That phone conversation turned into me filling out the application, the application turned into a phone interview, and that interview turned into a plane ticket. I felt truly at peace about each step and was amazed at how the Lord just seemed to go in front of me and work everything out.

Once everything was all set up it came down to logistics. Buying a plane ticket...

packing my bags...

 spending time with friends and family.

And there you have it, all the great things that lead up to my new adventure in Alaska.