That's right, four days after we all have to have our taxes in; Amber, the twins, myself and a friend are hopping a plane to Alaska. The tickets are in hand although the bags remain to be packed!
I am writing this blog on a day when Missouri seems to have been suddenly hit by a last minute snow storm. I would estimate we just got about four inches of snow and typical of Missouri it is supposed to be 70 degrees by the end of the week! But snow is something we need to get used to.
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| Echo Ranch Bible Camp at Berners Bay Alaska |
If you haven't heard already Amber, the boys and I will be spending this summer in Alaska at Echo Ranch Bible Camp. Echo Ranch is located on Berners Bay approximately 40 miles north of Juneau in the pan handle of Alaska. As this is the first blog post on this page I would invite you to check out the other pages on the blog for more info. Echo Ranch is operated by Avant Ministries and we are serving as missionaries with them. While at the ranch I will be functioning as the camp pastor, ministering to around 25 staff members and 25-30 counselors. The ranch opens in late April/early May for retreat groups and then hosts various summer camps including a horse camp, soccer camp, and wilderness adventure camp throughout June, July and August. Finally the season closes up in September with more retreat groups and the ranch is then closed down from October to April of next year.
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| campers in chapel |
Amber and I will be spending the summer up there and then returning in late September/early October in order to raise more financial support with the intent of moving up there full-time. Once there full-time I will continue to function as the camp pastor during the summer and then following up with campers and pursuing other ministry opportunities in Southeast Alaska in the winter. We are all getting very excited about this opportunity. Alaska has been described as Americas last frontier, and for good reason. Not only is the landscape beautiful but life can still be very difficult. The challenges that those in Southeast Alaska in particular experience are primarly due to a lack of transportation. Oh, there are ways of getting around, but an expensive plane trip or an 8 hour ferry ride are hardly good bargains. The problem facing people living in this region of the country is that it is largely composed of Islands. This makes travel difficult and expensive and also limits the ability to spread the Gospel. That is where camp is so important for these young people. They get an opportunity to hear the Gospel presented in a non-threating setting, an opportunity they might not have an other time of the year.
That is why Amber and I are so excited to be able to go and support and minister to the staff and counselors as they interact with these kids! Not mention we love mountains (did I mention we honeymooned in Colorado)!
We still need additional financial supporters in order to make this ministry happen full-time. To that end I invite you to check out the Support Us! page or contact us so we can give you more information. We are currently at around 40% of our required monthly support.
Please be in prayer too! Prayer is what enables us to do this work and keeps us going in light of the challenges involved. One item in particular is provision for health insurance, as Amber leaves her job. Avant has a medical plan that we can go on, we can also get on a COBRA plan through Amber's current health insurrance provider that she has at work. While good, both of these options are expensive and we need to see an immediate increase in our support to make either one work effectively. Please pray for God's provision for our health insurance! This is especially important in light of my (Josh) kidney transplant and the ongoing care it requires through the medications I take.
