Off to Alaska

We leave Wednesday morning for Togiak, Alaska. Many of you know Marian Hartley from Russell. She has been pastoring among the First Nations people up there for about 10 years now. She is truly a remarkable lady and we look forward to the privilege of walking alongside her and the great men and women in the church.

The focus of the trip will be very relational in nature as we look to continue to build a true bond with the people of the village and Praise Fellowship. They have become a sister church of ours. I believe there are some small building projects to work on. Jim and Tim are both contractors by trade. We will be spending much time with the people in the village. Friday night we meet with many young people and then of course, Sunday church and Wednesday fellowship.

One of the things we are really looking forward to is the "up river camp". Some of the people in their church have a vision to begin a camp for the kids in the village. They have been given land to use up river. Togiak is on Togiak Bay. We will cross the bay and head 10 miles up river to some virgin land. We will go there with the people with the vision. In the two days we spend there we will assist them in the beginning stages. Such as how they could use the land, where the camp could be, praying over the land, etc. I'm sure we will do a lot of clearing and probably building an outhouse.

FYI, Togiak is a village of about 800 residents and is located in the southwest part of AK. It's at approx. 59 degrees Latitute and 161 degrees Longitude.

Thanks so much for praying. I will keep you posted as often as I can.