A Time to Mourn, and a Time to Dance

The men in our church are studying Ecclesiastes in their Friday night Bible study and I also happened to just read through it in my yearly Bible reading plan, so it's pretty fresh in my mind. The book can be somewhat hard to understand, and almost depressing, at times, to read. But it's one of Colby's favorites and I also felt like God really opened my eyes to some things in my last read through. Chapter 3 is probably the most well known part of the book (Possibly made famous by Peter Seeger who wrote the song "Turn, Turn, Turn"... I only know this because we sang it in my high school chorus, and I just googled the writer so don't be too impressed). The chapter begins "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:" then proceeds to give a list of activities that occur throughout life. Ecclesiastes 3:4 states "a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." Although we would likely all prefer to go through life laughing and dancing and avoid their counter parts, our good and perfect God has appointed times for both. Over these past months we have had many, many reasons for laughing and rejoicing, but there were some tears as well. Very thankful to be able to rest in Gods sovereignty and his love through all of it!

Blue, Black and Red

Once again, one of my favorite things about summer time in Bethel is the chance to pick berries. It is so amazing to me that for many years, before any modern conveniences came this part the world, God provided for the people here. Near the end of July the tundra explodes with patches of bright blue in pretty much every direction. Slowly over the next month the blueberries fade away, but the ground is covered in dark purple black berries. And just as these are passing the deep red cranberries ripen. Cranberries are said to be best after the first frost, so I waited to pick them until near the end of September. I can't even come close to the quantities of berries many ladies around here gather, but we do have at least a small stash of each tucked in our freezer for this winter. 

Grand Opening

An exciting event for the whole community, really the whole YK Delta region, that occurred over this past summer, was the opening of the new Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Hospital Building. This building has been under construction since before our arrival, and it was such a large project that it truly did not seem possible that it would ever be complete. However near the end of this summer, floor 1 (mostly the Outpatient clinics) and floor 3 (Inpatient and Labor/Delivery) opened their doors. Floor no# 2, which happens to be where the Physical Therapy Dept will be located, is set to open sometime next month! It's been a long process with quite a few headaches and bumps for everyone along the way, and I'm sure there will be more to come. But the new building is beautiful and I know our patients appreciate the updated facilities which will hopefully result in better care for them.

You know you live in Alaska when there is designated Snowmachine Parking

An example of why we're having a hard time learning Yupik

Pennsylvania, Oregon and The Great Transformation 

In August I took another continuing education class in Portland Oregon, and was blessed to be able to piggy back this with a short trip back to PA to visit with family and friends. It was so nice to see Pennsylvania in the summer time again! I didn't realize how much I had missed the sound of crickets at night, the glittering of lightening bugs, the taste of fresh sweet corn and carnival fries! All of those great things aside though, God truly blessed me through that time. Typically when I/we get to come home we do our best to maximize the minutes and see everyone we possibly can. However, as I was preparing for this trip I felt God cautioning me to guard my time. As a result I ended up having wonderful, unhurried time with my family and several long mornings and afternoons to just sit on my Dad's front porch, soak in God's word and spend time with the Lord. There's been quite a bit going on in our lives these past months and God knew very well how much I needed to step back and refocus on Him alone. 

Have to admit, while I was recharging, Colby was doing quite the opposite. We've mentioned a number of times that our house is quite the work in progress. Well below you can see what our living room and kitchen looked like the day that I left for my 2 week Pennsylvania/Oregon trip, followed by what it all looked like the day I came back! I'm not sure that he ate or slept while I was away, but I am so very thankful for the work he put in. We're both so much looking forward to having major projects done to allow us to more freely open our home and invest in others. 

By the way...

I suppose this would be a good time to mention, for those who do not yet know, come January there will be (Lord willing) another Spatz living in this house : ) This may be another factor accelerating the major projects. So far all is going very well, healthy baby and healthy mom. Colby and I are both very excited, and somewhat terrified. But we are so thankful for this blessing and trusting in Gods grace through all of the unknowns to come!

Hooper Bay

Late in August I was able to make another trip to see patients in Hooper Bay. This may have been my favorite trip so far. First of all, the weather was beautiful! This is so rare out there on the coast, and apparently I got to experience the first days of sunshine after several weeks of rain and wind. After work on Tuesday my good friend Mary Lola picked me up on her 4 wheeler and we went to Ladies Prayer time. Again, one of my favorite experiences in Hooper. When that was over, we drove down along the beach to pick black berries in an area known as "Old Hooper Bay" where there are the remains of sod huts. And then rode along the water as the sun was setting over the Bering Sea. Time with her was so encouraging, as it always is, and I was so incredibly blessed to be able to take in these beautiful parts of God's creation.

On this trip I also happened to have a roommate from another village who was volunteering to do some counseling/debriefing with community members after another recent suicide. She was a very nice lady, though she had had a very difficult past and was working through many current struggles. On her last day I was able to pray with her and give her a little gospel tract that I had been carrying and Mary Lola sent her bag of black berries as a gift as well. She was so appreciative, and although no decision was made, I'm praying that God will continue to work in her life. 

Please continue to pray for the Hooper Bay community. Just 2 weeks ago they lost another teenage boy, a high school senior, to suicide. Although Hooper is a larger village, nearly every family is touched in some way by these losses. Pray that God would comfort the hearts of the people there and that this trend would be stopped. And Pray that the church would continue to grow and thrive and that believers there would be bold in sharing the Gospel as that is truly the only thing that will bring the hope and healing that is so much needed.

Deep Breath...And Jump Back In

At the end of August, schools opened again, and the summer season came to a close. At the same time the rest period from many of our normal activities came to an end and we dove back into our normal busy schedule. Kings Kids started again the first week of September. The transition hasn't exactly been the smooth one we would have liked. There have been quite a few circumstances that have caused relatively low attendance, and caused us to have to cancel 2 weeks. But the times we've been able to have, with the kids who were able to make it have still been very good. Praying that things will pick back up more consistently as we move forward.

For the past few months the men of our church have been meeting for a Friday night Bible study a few times/month at our home. The ladies of our church had not yet started any kind of a study, so typically I would wander about town, go to the gym or do my grocery shopping on Fridays until the men cleared out. Over the summer, however I was feeling pretty convicted about this routine, and felt God impressing on me the need for us girls to be digging into his word together as well. This month another lady from our church volunteered to host the study, and I am doing my best to lead as we walk through the book of James. So far we have met twice and God has been so good through the time! Very excited about what he has in store for the months to come!

Fall Moose Hunt

For a period of time every fall a hunting season opens in our area for antlered bull moose. This year Colby and Jesse (my coworker) decided that they wanted to get away from populated areas and go on a hunting/camping adventure. After quite a bit of back and forth discussion and a weekend of scouting, they decided on a plan. The idea was to be carried by plane (our friend Isaac Beddingfield owns a small business called "God's Country Aviation" that often drops hunters/supplies for outings like these), to the wilderness nearly 50 air miles from Bethel near the Little Kasigluk river. They hoped to shoot one moose at this location, have it again picked up by plane, and then begin floating (on pack rafts) down the river to another location where Jesse would shoot his moose. They would then pack the second animal onto their rafts and continue floating to a location where a friend from church could pick them up by boat. The plan was to accomplish this all within 1 week, and arrive home the following Saturday on time for a wedding that Colby and I were invited to attend. I'll admit, I was fully planning on going to this wedding solo, as typically when the two of them set out on these adventures they far underestimate the amount of time things will take and get home late...but you will see how this one turned out.

The drop occurred as planned on Saturday September 21st. The two of them set up their camp and then spent some time scouting the area before settling in for the night. I will not steal Colby's joy by sharing the details of the next parts of the story, you'll all just have to ask him, however, by 9 a.m.the next day he had shot his moose! Neither of the guys realized it initially, but this was a pretty big moose! The spread of the antlers was about 69 inches, and just one front quarter weighed 120 lbs. His estimated live weight was over 1500 lbs! In this situation, the real work began after the animal was on the ground. Although they had remained fairly close the the landing strip they still needed to pack the meat about 800 yards up hill on very uneven tundra. They were able to move all of it in 3 trips, and Colby may have mentioned it was probably the hardest physical task he ever completed.

They remained where they were for the next night until Isaac was able to make it back to them to pick up the antlers and meat and transport them back to Bethel. Soon after the plane had left they headed toward the river to begin the float to their next camping spot. They spent the rest of the week camping, hunting and floating. It rained nearly every day, so they were often pretty damp and a little chilly. They saw no other signs of humans, but did see several bears (heard one right outside of their tent one night), tons of bear sign, and a few other moose. It's a little nerve racking being the one back in Bethel, knowing that your husband is floating some pretty sketchy waters in a little pack raft, and spending nights camping in brown bear saturated wilderness. But God really did give me a peace throughout the whole time, and thankfully Colby also borrowed a friends satellite communication device and was able to send me a text or 2 each day to let me know he hadn't been eaten. In the end, they did not get another good shot at a moose, so Jesse came home empty handed. However, without the extra time needed to cut and pack a second one, and thanks to a little adventurous boating by our church friend, the guys actually made it back to Bethel on Friday night! This was earlier than they (and definitely earlier than I) had even anticipated. In the end it was an incredible adventure for both of them and we once again have a great supply of meat of to go into this winter : )

Moose Backstrap

Beginnings and Endings

As I mentioned on the Saturday after Colby got back from his hunt we were able to go to the wedding of two of our close friends here in Bethel. Sadly, as Colby was on his way back from the wilderness, the day before, we also learned that his grandma passed away. That Saturday was a flurry of mixed emotions. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had such a great time celebrating with our friends. Colby was also able to share his exciting hunting story and show his antlers to several people who stopped by the house to have a look. However, hanging over it all was the loss of someone so close and so special, and the longing to be in Pennsylvania supporting family during a difficult time. Thankfully we were able to book plane tickets right away, and Colby was able to leave for Pa early Monday morning and spend a week with his family. Although it was definitely a difficult time, and there are things that we were so much looking forward to sharing with Colby's grandma in the next months that were apparently not part of God's plan, we are so thankful that we don't grieve as the world does, and that this goodbye is not forever. And it's so reassuring to know that Colby's grandma is free from pain and celebrating in heaven with the Lord : )

Final Thoughts

There are many quirky, difficulty things about living in Bethel, Ak. It gets awfully cold and windy here sometimes, and it seems like it's either incredibly dusty or a mud pit. The roads are soooo bumpy that I'm not sure how our car has held together. We have to level our house...it seems like monthly...because it keeps shifting and cracking our drywall. My grocery orders from Target routinely take over 2 weeks to get here, and typically something has exploded or opened by that time, leaving us with a box full of canned goods coated in Mayonnaise or swimming in oatmeal. But truly, all of  those things are just slightly frustrating, and sometimes comical, challenges. The things that are actually difficult about living here are the many things we miss out on being so far from family and so many of our friends. The events of the past month made this much more real, especially for Colby. 

Right now I am reading a book called "Evidence Not Seen" by Darlene Deibler Rose. Darlene and her husband were missionaries to a remote tribe of people in New Guinea, who became prisoners of war when the Japanese occupied the island during World War II. The week when Colby was spending time in PA I happened to be reading a section of the book that occurred just before the island was taken. A ship had been seen anchored on the coast and the government wanted to evacuate all foreigners. They were told a truck would come to pick up anyone willing to leave in 2 days. A group of missionaries gathered to pray and one of the older men spoke these words:

"I want to counsel you not to discuss this decision that must be made with each other--not even husband and wife. Go to your knees and say, 'Lord, what do you want me to do? Shall I go or shall I stay.' This is extremely vital, because then no matter what happens in the months or possibly years that lie ahead, you will know that you are exactly where God wants you to be. If He leads you to leave, you'll never feel that you were a coward and fled. If you are led to stay, no matter what happens you can look up and say, 'Lord, you intended for me to be right here."

In this particular situation, not one of the missionaries chose to leave. In the chapters that follow Darlene's husband passes away in a prison camp far from her, and she faces countless forms of emotional, mental and physical trauma in a concentration camp like setting. She later writes "It's imperative that we know the voice of the Shepherd and learn to follow Him when He speaks." That is what sustained her through nearly 4 years of captivity. She knew that she was where the Lord intended her to be.

Clearly none of our current situations come close to the urgency and intensity of those times. However, that is still our prayer for our lives, and I hope it's yours too. That we would "know the voice of the Shepherd and learn to follow Him when He speaks." As long as we know we are where the Lord intends for us to be, we can face the difficulties and know that even though we may be missing out on some things in this life, we can trust His plan and rest in his purposes.We know that the things we miss here will be far more than made up for in the life to come.

Prayer Requests

• Continue to pray for focus and energy for Colby as he finishes the necessary projects in our home over the  next months.
• Pray for safety and health for me and this tiny person, and for his or her smooth and uncomplicated entrance into this world : )
• As  I mentioned earlier, please be in prayer for our Kings Kids kids, for increased attendance but also for open hearts and minds of the children who do make it out.
• Recently we feel God laid several people on our hearts who very much need to hear the gospel. Pray that He would provide opportunities and give us words to share with them.
• Annd finally, pray that God would give us wisdom as to where to invest most of our time/energy here and what our next steps should look like. 

After a Looong Delay...

Before I get started here, let me just apologize for the length of time since our last update. We like to try to get something out about every 2 months, and if you take time to look back, it's been more than 4! Somehow time just slipped away from us, and before I knew it there was soo much to write about that I was too overwhelmed to figure out where to start! All that to say, I'm going to try to make this a pretty brief overview of this past spring and summer, but quite a bit took place. So you may want to grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and plan to be reading for a bit if you want to get through this whole thing!

It's been hot...

Before I jump into the months we've missed, let me just fill you in on the present. In case you do not regularly check the weather in Bethel, Ak...you may have missed the fact that we just survived an unbelievable heat wave! From July 5th-9th our temperatures were near and sometimes above 90 degrees! That may not seem like a big deal to those of you living in PA who are used to some summer warm stretches, but let me just tell you, it feels hotter here. Houses and businesses in Bethel are not designed to be comfortable in heat...they're made to keep us all from freezing in the dead of winter. There is almost no air conditioning in town (that includes the PT department in the hospital), and in fact the town is also completely sold out of fans! On top of all that we live in a part of Alaska where there are very few trees, so there is very little shade. To make matters slightly worse, prior to the heat wave several thunderstorms hit our area (which is rare) and due to the dry conditions several small tundra fires were started. These will all likely burn themselves out, or be put out by rain, however in the meantime they produced enough low lying smoke to fill Bethel on Monday and prevent planes from flying to the villages due to low visibility.

In the midst of the hottness, we decided to go camping up river with Keira and Jesse and their 2 little kiddos. It seemed that it would be more comfortable sleeping outside than in our hot houses, which eventually was true. But since it is summer and the sun doesn't set until nearly midnight, we roasted for quite some time. In the hottest part of the day Colby and Jesse built us a little shade canopy which we all huddled under until sunset :-P As uncomfortable as it all was at moments, we had a great time of fellowship in the beautiful outdoors, and in the end I'm so thankful we went!

Iditarod Champion!

Now back to march...Most of you have heard of the Iditarod. It's the big, famous dog sled race that happens every March where teams travel between Anchorage and Nome, a distance of over 900 miles. Just finishing the race is a really big deal, but winning is huge. Well, this years Iditarod winner just so happened to be Bethel's own Pete Kaiser! This was a huge bright spot for our little town in the usually long grey final months of winter. When Pete came back to town he got a firetruck escort from the airport to his home and the whole town lined the road to welcome him!

                  

                  

Clinic Travel

Since my last update I was able to make 3 trips to Hooper Bay (March, May and June) and 1 trip to the village of Emmonak. Jesse usually travels to this village, but since Keira had just had a baby, it worked best for him to stay in town a little longer and gave me the opportunity to see another part of this region! I enjoyed the time so much. The clinic staff was so friendly and helpful and I was able to meet a whole new community of people. It's amazing how much easier it is to connect with patients when I'm able to say I've spent at least a little time in their village and have some idea where they are coming from. 

                   

 

Breakup 2019

This years official Breakup occurred at 4:02 p.m. on April 12th. The earliest break up on record! If you remember from last year each spring the town sets up a tripod on the river with a line tied to it which is attached to a clock. When the ice "breaks up" enough for the tripod to travel down river, the string pulls and stops the clock, marking the official moment of breakup. This year Colby and I were able to attend the "Breakup Bash" celebration the day after the river started flowing. The town gathers at the river for some live entertainment and free hot dogs to ring in the start of the summer boating season.

King's Kids

As usual we ended King's Kids for the summer in May when school left out. It was actually pretty sad to see the kids go for the year. We've really started to build relationships with many of them who come almost every week. This year we held a special celebration on our last night where we invited families for an awards ceremony and then had snacks and root beer floats : ) We were able to see most of our usual kiddos again at our churches Bible school in May. Several kids excepted Christ as their savior this year at Bible school, including at least 4 from our King's Kids crew! We plan to start meeting again in September. Be praying especially for these kids, that they would grow in their new relationships with Christ through our time together.

                 

Family Fun

The highlight of these last few months happened in May when Laura and mom flew to meet us in Anchorage. We spent several days exploring around the city and did some hiking and biking. Then Colby returned to Bethel and Laura, Mom and I explored South (Seward) and North (Denali) of Anchorage. As this was mom's very first trip to Alaska Laura and I did our best to show her as much as possible. In the end God blessed us with beautiful weather and we were able to see the ocean, the mountains, glaciers and so much wildlife! We were even able to see Mount Denali clearly every day we were there which is very rare. In fact, only about 1/3 visitors to the park are ever able to see the mountain.

Perspectives

Several years ago, after I returned from my last short term missions trip with SIM, the missions organization suggested that a good next step for me would be to take the class "Perspectives." I convinced a few people (including Colby) that it would be a good idea to take the class online with me. It was a 15 week course and included A LOT of intense reading, but on reaching the other side we all agreed it was one of the most worthwhile thing's we had ever done. Last year as part of his classes through Eternity University, Colby took the class again, this time for college credit. The course is designed to educate students about God's purpose to be glorified among all nations. It's broken up into 4 parts Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic. It begins by explaining how Gods design from the very beginning was to reach all people and gives a Biblical foundation for missions, then talks about the history of missions, the good and bad. The second 2 sections talk about what our roles might be in accomplishing His purpose today and how to approach reaching unreached people groups in ways that are culturally relevant and helpful rather than harmful. All that to say, its just a really really good course. And recently we felt God laying it on our hearts to see if we could get a class started here in Bethel. 

In June I flew down to Boise, Idaho and took a 2 day class to learn the steps involved in actually planning and hosting a live course. It was such an encouraging time with a group of people who so much loved the Lord and desire to see his glory spread to all places. I was able to stay with a host family along with another Alaskan, Holly, who had traveled down from Fairbanks. In the end it seems that for now what will work best is to get a group of people from Bethel to take the class online together (much like we did in PA). We may try to host a live course in the future, but it will be much easier to plan/coordinate with a team of people than it would be for just Colby and I to try to pull this off. At this point we are planning to start the online class in October and several couples have expressed interest in joining. Pray that God would bring the right people to take the class and that he would use this time to open hearts/minds in this area to where He is leading!

                           

Early Summer

Aside from those trips, our summer has mostly been busy at home. Ministry slows down a bit in the summer as families scatter for subsistence activities, so we've taken advantage of the time to do some much needed work on our house. Earlier in the year with the help of a few work friends, Colby lifted our house 24 inches! This very much needed to be done and has allowed for a much better foundation for leveling purposes as well as easier access to plumbing. But let me tell you it's a bit nerve racking to spend a day at work knowing that your husband is slowly raising your entire house :-p

Colby also got to spend some time out on the river early in the summer hunting ducks! His friend Carl from work (on the right above) invited him to go along on evening trips several times. I think he actually enjoyed hunting the ducks as much (or more) than hunting moose and caribou! Though the end result was a lot smaller...and I have to admit didn't taste nearly as good.

4th of July

 As I probably mentioned last year, Independence Day is a big deal here in Bethel. This year was no different, and the weather this year was amazing, which may have made it an even bigger deal! The day starts off with a parade, which everyone in the whole town comes out to watch. This year our church set up a little stand and gave out free hot dogs to spectators before and after the big event.

                     

                     

After the Parade we all migrated to Pinky's Park for carnival style food stands, games, and some live entertainment. It was just a great day of visiting, eating and enjoying the beautiful sunshine :)

Finally....

That should bring us just about full circle, back to about where we are right now. The weather has cooled down just a bit to our normal 50-60 degree temperatures. We're still in need of some rain but we've gotten enough to make the tundra not so crispy feeling. In my opinion one of the most beautiful parts of summer is the Fireweed that lines the roadways here. These are currently in full bloom and make every trip in Bethel just a bit more scenic. The plants are beautiful to look at, but they also serve as a reminder that summer is already slowly winding down. The tall cone shaped flowers begin to bloom at the bottom, then slowly work their way to the top and go to seed. They serve as a sort of hourglass to countdown the days until Autumn. When the blooms hit the top and the plants go to seed, fall weather is said to not be far behind. Because so much needs to be done here in the summer, that just can't be accomplished any other time, there is a sense of urgency to complete tasks before the petals fall, the daylight fades, and the chill sets in. 

I was reminded just today that as Christians we should always have a sense of urgency to complete the work God has called us to. We don't really have a visual reminder (like Fireweed) that time is ticking away and days are numbered. In fact, none of us knows when our last petal will fall (or when Christ will come back). And I think because of that, we are often too easily lulled into a comfortable sense that we can do what needs done tomorrow. I know personally how easy it is to get sucked into the daily routine of life and let days slip away without truly considering if I'm making my time count in light of eternity. When we first moved to Bethel the needs and the sense of lostness that seemed so overwhelming here, gave us a renewed sense of urgency for this area. As we're nearing the end of our second year here though, it seems that some of that has worn off. It's easy to become a little callus to the hurt around us when it seems to be everywhere. And it's easy to be distracted by our own selfish desires and needs and feel that it's ok if we put off reaching out or stepping out as God is calling us to do, especially when we loose sight our true purpose in this life. The bible is full of warnings to "Keep awake" (1 Thessalonians 5:6, Mark 13:32-37), and "Make the best use of the time" (Ephesians 5:15-17), and I feel like sometimes we all need a little shake to make sure we're not dozing. Someone shook me a little today, so I thought I would pass on the encouragement. It's never a bad idea to spend some time in prayer and in God's word and be sure you haven't allowed yourself to drift off to sleep for a minute : )  

Prayer Requests

• We would really like to have most of the major projects in our home finished by fall to allow us to use this space God has blessed us with and begin pouring back into others, rather than spending so much time in here. God has given Colby unbelievable energy so things are moving along quickly despite all of the other areas he needs to spend his time. We would appreciate prayers for continued wisdom and energy to do things well but simply and make this a comfortable, inviting space to bring others into.
• Pray that God would be preparing our hearts and minds for the coming fall as we jump back into our much busier routine of life and ministry. And again be praying that God would be working in the lives of the kids that will be coming out to King's Kids.
• Last but not least, pray that in the midst of all of the tasks, the house, work, church, and relationships we would keep our eyes focused on Christ, be spending time in his Word and in prayer and be sensitive to where He is truly leading us to spend our time and energy.

A Few More Pictures...

Mountain Goat near the glacier on the Kenai Fiijords tour

Orca!

The HUGE King Salmon we caught with Job

Baby Ducks behind our house

The Beaver that lives behind of our house : )