Rattle snakes. Grizzly bears. Snow. 52% humidity. Diesel fuel. Loons. Air conditioning. Furnaces. Packing tape. Tears. Laughter. Hugs. Cameras. Sadness. Excitement. County/State Fairs. Quads.
Puzzled yet? Well this has been our context since the first week of August. As you know, we are at a ministry transition. And with it has come a high degree of ambivalence! But, this is just the way we like to transfer from one ministry to another- knowing that we were quite happy and fulfilled, and called, even to the ministry we leave, yet knowing that God is calling us to something new. And we’ve not had a lot of experience with this. We’ve only been involved in three ministries since we launched out in 1981. We were so honored to serve at Timber-Lee Christian Center in Wisconsin, and then God moved us to Victory Bible Camp in Alaska, which thus began our membership with InterAct Ministries. We were happily engaged in ministry there when God moved us to the Tsilhqot’in, where we’ve served with YOU for 20 years.
Now is the new journey, and we are so excited to have you “with” us. In fact, we look forward to new ways that we can partner together to reach Alaska for Christ in a new era and a fresh new way. And we can’t wait to share directly with you about the challenge and how we can work together, learn together, and minister together to reach Alaska!
We have been on the road since the first part of August. We first drove to Alaska to change our residency, and take the first load of items. While there, we were so blessed to see daughter Sarah and her family! We were blessed to go to the Alaska State Fair with them and saw the ribbons on each entry that the grandchildren submitted. We turned around, came back to Chilanko Forks, and spent two nights there. Then we headed south where our first stop was to visit our son, Nathan, and family. Attending the county fair with them was another highlight, and we watched the grandchildren enjoy a unique opportunity to exercise like a gerbil in an unusual ride. Then heading south to daughter Ruth and family, where we met our youngest, new grandson. What an adorable baby! And we enjoyed a Texas ranch, complete with helping Ruth with some of her work, racing through the hay fields on the back of a quad. It has been quite a journey.
What’s next? We are enroute to the Midwest, Illinois and Wisconsin, where we hope to connect with many of you and 5 of our 7 supporting churches. We look forward to sharing what God has done over the past 20 years, and sharing the challenge and vision for reaching the Native population in Alaska. We plan to be in that area until the first part of January, and then head down to Arizona to minister and share with our other 2 supporting churches.
So the puzzle is up to you….which part of our recent journey included grizzly bears, and how did that fit with rattle snakes? What is our challenge and vision for Alaska? We will be in touch with you and hope to set up times when we can share from our context, and hear how God is ministering in your part of the world.
Blessings. We look forward to meeting with you soon.
Steve & Jill
No comments:
Post a Comment