Our Last Day in Alaska

Dear Friends,

Yesterday in the morning, we went dog sledding. It was fun but short. It was also muddy and cold but we muddled through it. Next, we stopped at Target to get food and supplies for the plane ride home. Most people got Starbucks and pringles. VBS was a lot of fun, all the kids were super energetic, but they were sad it was going to be over. We took pictures of the all the kids groups and played lots of fun games. Everyone sang and danced at the closing service. Our group was presented with a banner that all the kids had signed that said ‘Thanks for helping with VBS!’ Jamie- the DCE there was also given a banner for her 10 years of service and planning there. We were all sad to say goodbye to the kids and workers there, some leaders had been really attached to certain kids it was especially hard to see them go. Later the night all we had planned was packing and cleaning, but Pastor invited us over for a cook out. When we got there Jamie, her husband, and her baby were all there it was cool that they were there. Almost everyone played a game of volleyball; it was so much fun the only problem was that we were eaten alive by mosquito. Pastor grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and two types of fish: Salmon and Halibut. His wife made amazing brownies that the group of girls loved. After the Pastors house we went home took showers, packed bags, and went to bed. This morning John woke us up by saying “Good morning everybody!” Then we packed up Buthera and Priscilla a.k.a. our cars, and headed to the airport. Currently we are sitting and sleeping in the gate waiting to board.

From Lilli and St. Paul’s Youth       

Servanthood and Reindeer

Dear Everyone,

                Sorry for the lack of emails last night. We ran out of wifi at the church, but thankfully we found a library. Two nights ago we went fishing with the pastor. Yesterday morning we slept in then did VBS. The lesson was on Jesus washing his disciples’ feet and how Jesus is our servant so we should be a servant to others. After VBS we went to the reindeer farm in the rain. We saw elk and got to hold bunnies. Then we fed the reindeer. After, we ate pizza and played games with the youth group from Palmer. Today we went to a glass studio and made some coasters. Hopefully we will get them back tomorrow. Now we will be teaching VBS today on the crucifixion. Later today we will do more shopping in Anchorage and eat at one of the local restaurants.

God’s Blessings From Hannah and St. Paul’s Youth Group.

Alaskans Do What?

Dear everybody,

This is Kalli and Tristi. We are emailing you to tell you how busy today has been. To start off, at 8 a.m. Dirk woke us up by turning on lights and yelling good morning as loud as he could. Well no one moved because everyone was extremely tired. So Josh W. came in with a pot and spoon to bang in our ears. Well that woke us up. At 9 a.m. we left for a hike. Everyone was prepared for a small little hike. That did not happen. We walked many paths then climbed over 400 stairs. It was a huge mountain! The people in Alaska took it like champs. We however did not. When we finally reached the top we took about a 20 minute brake so we could prepare ourselves for the climb down. The climb down was just as bad as the climb up. It was a great experience, but it was a rough 2 hours. When we got back we all laid down to try and take a nap before starting VBS. Today more kids came than yesterday. All the kids had fun learning about the Samaritan that Jesus gave living water to. We did lots of singing and dancing and learned lots of new songs. After VBS we played an intense game of monkey in the middle. We did our devotion and ate dinner. Now we are preparing to go fishing from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Apparently that's when the Alaskans go fishing. It will be an exciting trip. Thanks again for supporting us on this amazing trip and we are having lots of fun.

Lepers and Puppies

Dear Friends,

                 Today was our first official day of VBS. There are approximately 100 children enrolled and we are very excited to be working with them all.  Today we taught the story of the ten lepers, and taught the kids that even though sometimes we feel left out, we know that Jesus loves us. After that we sang songs and played many games with them. VBS was a success and I know that the kids we worked with today really had a blast, and so did we. After we finished VBS for the day, we went to the Iditarod Museum in Wasilla. There were four adorable Alaskan Huskie puppies that we got to hold and take pictures with, and I don’t think any of our group wanted to put those puppies down. When we had our fill of playing with the puppies, we went and saw a movie in the museum about the Iditarod dog sled race and how it really affected the history of Alaska. Thank you again for your support and this great opportunity!

                                God’s Blessings,

                                                From Amanda Nielson and St Paul’s Youth

Travel and Touring Alaska

Hello everyone!!!!!!!!!!

We made it to Alaska. Sorry this is a day late but it has been a very busy last two days. We had two amazing plane flights to get up here. The first one was to Phoenix when we landed it was 105 degrees and hot. We only had to feel it when we were going in and out of the plane but for that short time you could tell it was hot!  Then we went from Phoenix to Anchorage. That was a very long flight and our group was split up throughout the plane. It was not a bad thing because it made us find new people to talk to. It was odd to look out the window in the air and have the sun still up at 12:30am. We would have seen the sun if it was not raining in Anchorage when we landed. Then we rented the vans and stuffed them full of the 16 of us and all of our luggage. We arrived at St. Johns at 3:00 am (6:00 am Janesville time). It was a late night, but we made it safely and finally got some rest at the church. That was our crazy travel day!

The next two day just flew by. on Saturday  Went down to the farmers market in Anchorage and saw many different things. We saw a beautiful view of the mounts all around us. We saw a river with fish in it and then we saw some native knives called ULU knives they were very awesome. We made it back to St. Johns Palmer and crashed for the night with the sun still up. This morning we went to church bright and early at 8am. It was nice experience to worship with another congregation. Then we drove to the amazing views. We continued our day with mining for gold. Then we took a cruise of glaciers and mountains. It was a cool opportunity to see everything. Then we came home and crashed. We are having a great time and we cannot wait for the start of VBS tomorrow!