Chapter 2: North to Alaska: One Month Down!!

We have officially survived just over a month in Bethel! Looking back, this has been an incredibly good month, full of God's blessings...but also full of learning, adjusting, and sometimes feeling pretty uncomfortable. I may have mentioned in my last post that even though we are still in the U.S....it really doesn't feel like it sometimes. From the little snap-shot we've gotten so far, Western Alaska is much different from any other part of the country. As strange as it sounds, aside from the climate, we've actually noticed quite a few similarities between Bethel (and especially the surrounding villages) and places we've been in Africa. Time is a bit more relative here, people are often late and things don't always start when they're supposed to. The roads are dusty and bumpy and often there are people walking in the middle of them or small dogs darting across. Because of the remoteness of the area and the lack of resources here, the native people (the Yupik) did not have contact with the western world until much later than other native american people. As a result, the Yupik culture is still very strong, and the Yupik language is still the first language of quite a few people we've come in contact with, especially people from the villages. All that to say, life is different here! But God is so good and for the most part the adjustment has gone smoothly so far!

The Little things...

Because we're pretty separated from the rest of American life, we've found that things we used to take for granted, like getting the mail, have now become very exciting! Especially since we have some great friends and family members at home :)

And things that used to be soo simple, like getting groceries take a bit more planning and thought. This grocery situation was one of my small challenges for the month. After trying Amazon Prime Pantry (which does not deliver to AK fyi) then attempting regular old Amazon Prime (which does work...just usually means you have to order

All items in this picture were completely usable!

in bulk...and it takes 2 weeks instead of the 2 days in the lower 48) I found out that Target also delivers to Bethel for free! My first order was a 3 day process of conversations with 3 different Target Customer Service people discovering what could and couldn't ship here and learning to use my street address and not my P.O. Box. Have to admit I was not very joyful or patient during parts of this process (thankfully I have a husband who lovingly pointed this out to me)...But in the end we received many packages of groceries and paid less than half of the grocery store prices! I also learned to be careful about what items I order together because apparently this is a common occurrence....

One incredibly exciting part of this month was the arrival of the Explorer! We waved goodbye and loaded it on the barge in Seattle on August 23rd, about 1 week later the barge set sail and after stopping in Anchorage and a few other Western Alaska ports, it arrived here on September 26th! Even though Bethel is a very small city, it is actually pretty spread out. I'm an active person, but walking a mile to the grocery store on a rainy day, and then walking back loaded down with groceries is just not exactly fun. We are so incredibly thankful to have a car, and especially all of the home supplies that were inside of it! The barge itself was an amazing site to see docked here in Bethel. I was able to get a few pictures, though they don't really do it justice. Keep in mind this is already partially unloaded...and yes that is really an ambulance and few fuel trucks up there!

We have a home!!

As I mentioned in my last post, one of our prayers for this month was to find a place to rent. We were provided with temporary housing by the hospital for our first 30 days, but after that we were on our own. Rental hunting was not an easy task and ended up being a pretty big exercise in faith for me. I knew God was going to provide a place for us...but after calling nearly 20 landlords and hearing there was nothing available...it was difficult not to become discouraged. Apparently we arrived in Bethel at the absolute worst time possible to be rental searching. Bethel is small as it is, so rentals are limited, but we also came just after all of the teachers had moved back into the area for the year. There is also a huge construction project at the hospital which brought many more people to town, and there was recently a pretty big hire of healthcare workers as well! Thankfully we were able to extend our hospital housing for 1 week (to wait for our car to arrive) and after our initial turn downs, we did end up having several options. Most of these were out of our price range, however we managed to find a cozy little apartment, in a great location and right inside the range of what we were hoping to pay with one week to spare! Slava Domnului! (praise God in Romanian...thought a few people might enjoy that). Here are some views out of our window!

The weird spot in the sky is a reflection of our living room light

This is crazy zoomed...but you can see mountains from here!

The fall colors may not be quite as bright here, but it's still pretty beautiful!

Work Life

Work here is going very well for me so far. In case any of you don't know, I'm working as a physical therapist at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC). Even though I'm working in the same career I was in PA, there are quite a few differences. The hospital in Bethel serves as the only major health care provider for this region of Western Alaska, so not only do I treat patients from Bethel, many of my patients fly in from nearby villages for treatment. As a result, I usually don't see patients 2 or 3 times each week as I would have in PA. It ends up being more like 1-2 times/month. Often there is at least a partial language barrier which makes getting history, determining the best treatment, and educating patients a little more difficult. And because there are no orthopedic specialists in Bethel and patients need to fly to Anchorage for consults with surgeons or to get an MRI, I have to rely a lot more on my clinical skills to diagnose and figure out the best plan for each person. Even though the adjustment is a little challenging, and it's humbling to have to ask questions and feel like I'm learning some things all over again, it's very clear to me that God has placed me in this position, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to learn and grow and serve here. I also have some pretty incredible co-workers which makes a huge difference!

As expected classes have been Colby's number one priority up here so far. The work load is pretty heavy and definitely consumes most of his time. Overall they are going well...buuut spending long periods of time sitting and reading and writing indoors is not exactly something he enjoys. So it has been a huge blessing that he is able to get out and work a few days each week as well. Job Hale (Job like in the bible), who Colby was able to get in touch with while we are still in PA, runs a local contracting business called Job's Done Right (how catchy!...Job pronounced like the occupation here) and has been incredibly flexible in allowing Colby to work 2-3 days each week. He works on a team with 3-4 other guys who are all locals. This not only allows him to do some good solid hard work, it also provides him with a great opportunity to build relationships. Two weeks ago he was able to fly to Newtok, a village about a 55 minute flight from here, to work on some repairs to a school building that was damaged in a fire. The project in Newtok has also opened up the door for Job to begin ministering in the community. Currently the village of about 400 people has only one Catholic Church.

Newtok From the Air!

And from the ground

A few other things...

Outside of work (and Colby's classes) we've spent most of our time here so far making some friends and getting involved with our new church family. We've settled into the Bethel Baptist church and usually go to services there Sunday morning, Sunday night and sometimes Wednesdays. Friday nights we've started to help out with Kings Kids, which is basically like Awana with song time, games, devotion time and verse memorization. So far we've only had about 8-10 kids, but they have been great kids! They are all so eager to learn and it's been so much fun to spend time with them. Colby has also been able to fly with Job to Napakiak, about a 10 minute flight down river, to participate in a bible study there that Job leads every Thursday.

In the midst of some of the uncertainties of this past month, the tension of searching for a rental, waiting for our car, and just learning how to do life in a new place I very much felt God pressing on my heart the importance of seeking Him first in all things, and then trusting Him to provide the rest. When we first arrived here I had a good bit more time than I'm used to to read, so I read "A Retrospect" by Hudson Taylor. Over and over again I was struck by Hudson's accounts of faithfully and persistently seeking God's guidance and his provision in his life. Often he did not mention his needs to anyone except for God, so that when answers came there could be no question as to who was responsible! I realized as I was reading that I wasn't so much surprised at the accounts of answered prayers...I knew that God was more than capable of doing exactly what he had done in Hudson Taylors life and much more. But I did find myself doubting that He would ever do those things in my life.

While I was reading this book, Job lead a Wednesday night service and spoke on Matthew 6:25-34 (especially vs. 33). As we were studying through these verses, which I've read countless times, it hit me all over again that in order to truly see God work I had to stop working, planning, worrying and scheming myself and truly seek and trust Him. Over and over again this month when I was tempted to worry about where we might end up living...or how we were going to get all of the right winter clothes for the coming coldness...or numerous other things, those verses came back to my mind. God kept reminding me that all I really needed to do was seek Him and only Him. Although I definitely slipped into worry more times than I can tell, being stretched a little has helped me to realize in a whole new way that it's when we take the uncomfortable steps and actually have to trust God to come through that we are actually able to see him working! It's not that he isn't working in the other times...I just think we (or at least I) often miss it. There is an amazing peace that comes with taking our eyes off of the little things and focusing on Christ.

Prayer Requests...

Continued focus and wisdom for Colby as he balances the work for his classes with work and ministry opportunities here.
That I would be able to quickly grow and learn in the areas I'm not as strong at work and that I would have opportunities to share Christ's love with my patients.
That we would be able to develop a better understanding of the culture we're surrounded by and be able to build relationships with the people around us.
For God to continue to strengthen our marriage and help us to grow closer as we adapt to life here.

Here are a few pictures from this month to end with....