MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-20-2008

/in /by

Greetings from Ketchikan! Thanks for praying. Our travels have gone smoothly so far, and everyone's healthy. We had great meetings in Gateway Baptist Church (Pastor John Judson) on Ketchikan, and in New Hope Baptist Church (Pastor Richard Ensley). God has blessed and provided every step of the way up here in Alaska, and we are now preparing to head home.

I'm getting the tire put on the back tomorrow. It finally caught up with us, days before we are set to return home to Missouri. I got in touch with Wings of Alaska, an air courier service in Haines that handles FedEx shipments, and they had my tire shipped from Haines to Ketchikan in two days. We are in Ketchikan until Sunday, when the ferry to Prince Rupert, BC leaves, beginning the first leg of our long return trip. Pray for clear roads and good weather. There is much that can go wrong on the Alcan between Prince Rupert and Seattle this time of year. Pray for the driving as we try to get home in time for Thanksgiving. Anna and I are going to drive in shifts after we stay the night in Seattle until we get home to St. Louis.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-09-2008

/in /by

Greetings from Tok, AK! We drove up from Kenai today, and are staying the night before heading back to Haines tomorrow to catch the ferry to Ketchikan. Our tire failed to arrive in time (no surprise), so I got a non-studded snow tire put on the back so at least we wouldn't have to drive with one all-weather radial all the way to Fairbanks. We drove up to Fairbanks on that, and had a great meeting in Hamilton Acres Baptist Church (Pastor Bruce Hamilton). I spoke in their Christian school chapel, and had the Wednesday night service to present our work and preach. We drove from Fairbanks down to Kenai, and gained 30 degrees of warmth in the process (it was -10 degrees Fahrenheit the morning we left). We made it just in time for the Thursday night service of Immanuel Baptist Church's missions conference (Pastor Ray Boutwell), and finished out the week today. While here, I also got the opportunity to preach in Jubilee Baptist Church in Sterling (Pastor Nick Bickish), a young church newly planted there.

Immanuel Baptist Church has supported us for three years now. The last time I was here, I was still a part-time missionary, and came to Alaska alone. I was glad to get the opportunity to bring my whole family to see the folks at Immanuel.

We took the kids on a hike on Saturday, and afterwards, we got to go shooting. All five kids got to shoot a .22 rifle, even Gaelin. They were so proud of themselves! Anna and I shot a larger caliber, scoped-rifle. You can see all our current pictures in the Gallery.

Pray for us as we finish up the drive to Haines, and as we make our ferry trip to Ketchikan. Pray for the meetings that remain and our long drive home in a few weeks. The kids are suffering from fevers, so pray for their recovery. Pray the tire shows up. I have no great hope that UPS will get it there in time, since they have been very consistent in their inability to make deadlines. We will have to work out some way to get the tire to Ketchikan I think when they once again miss the boat. Pray for us!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-30-2008

/in /by

Greetings from Juneau, AK! The tire saga continues, as UPS FAILED to get me my tire in time on Friday. It arrived on Monday. In Whitehorse, YT. We're in Juneau. Big help, UPS. The good news, though, is that KalTire has a 30-day no-hassle money-back guarantee, so I got a full refund for the Canadian tires I bought. Yet, the tire failed to show up, so I had to get the three good snow tires put back on, and our all-weather radial spare put in the back. We were delayed getting out of Whitehorse due to the whole fiasco with the tire, but we decided to make the drive to Skagway anyway. It was 107 miles over a mountain pass, with one bum tire, and only two hours to make the drive. There was quite a bit of snow as we headed up to the pass, although they had plowed and put down gravel. Nonetheless, it resulted in two hours of white-hot terror as I attempted to get us to Skagway in time and not get us all killed in the process. We made it, with 15 minutes to spare and they let us on the ship. We had just enough time.

I'm very glad I decided to risk the trip through the pass, because we had two great meetings here, with Bethany Baptist Church (Pastor John Bigelow) and Lighthouse Baptist Church (Pastor Joe Michler) respectively. We had great meetings and the LORD blessed. I'm glad people came to Juneau to plant churches, and stay here, even though it's remote.

Juneau is, in fact, a rainforest (yes, a rainforest in Alaska), and lived up to that status most of the time we were here. We got to see the governor's mansion, where Sarah Palin lives when not out campaigning. We visited the Alaska State Museum, where we saw a variety of items of interest from Alaska's long and varied history.

The last day, today, the miraculous happened – the weather cleared up, the clouds departed, and we had one of those rare clear, beautiful days in Juneau. We went out and spent the day at the Mendenhall Glacier, hiking around the trails, taking pictures, and getting ourselves very cold and tired by the time we got done. We got some gorgeous pictures of the breathtaking scenery here, which I'll post in the Gallery when I get a chance.

Tomorrow, we ship out to Haines. We stay the weekend in Haines, while we wait for our tire to catch up with us. They are shipping it on Monday by way of a Canadian shipping company called Purolator, which has a truck that runs out to Haines on Mondays. Pray it actually makes it this time. I'm quite tired of dealing with this whole mess, and would like to have four good snow tires on the car before attempting to drive up to Fairbanks on Tuesday. Pray for that drive, that all would go well and that we would all be safe.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-23-2008

/in /by

Greetings from the Yukon! We’re in Whitehorse, YT, Canada. We had a meeting here last night in Calvary Baptist Church with Pastor Larry Harrison. It went great, and we are presently staying here until Saturday, when we will catch a ferry out of Skagway, AK to Juneau.

Tomorrow, I’m going to attempt to get the tires (the American ones) put back on the car, and the Canadian ones sold back to the company here in Whitehorse. Then, I’m calling up the folks I originally did business with to present them with the bill. Pray it goes well.

Here’s an interesting thing. At the last possible minute, we drove up the road out of town to look for bears one final time before catching our ferry from Kodiak to Homer, and this is what we saw:

Kodiak Bear 01

Kodiak Bear 02

Pretty cool, huh? I had been praying that God would help us see this, the largest bear in the world, from a safe distance, from the road, in the car, where everyone could see, and here the bear was, almost like he was posed just for us. We were all real excited.

We’re enjoying the North Country greatly!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-20-2008

/in /by

Greetings from Kodiak, AK! We have had a great pair of meetings in Kodiak. We were in Lighthouse Baptist Church with Pastor James Cratty from Wednesday through Sunday. I preached in all the services, and the LORD blessed. I got to speak to their Teen Bible Study on Thursday for about 20 minutes. Their high school here lets the students out for lunch, and several come over to LBC for lunch and preaching. I spoke from John 3, and four got saved!

On Sunday afternoon, I got the opportunity to be in Primera Iglesia Bautista, the Spanish church that was started by Lighthouse Baptist. Pastor Israel was gracious enough to let Anna and I present our ministry in their church. They are going to support us. Now I really will have to learn Spanish.

We had a great time on the island, the second largest in America after the Big Island of Hawaii. We took the kids on a hike along the coast, over hill and over dale, along cliffs, and down to a beach with a wrecked ship for them to explore. We got to go out on the bay and see sea lions in the wild, and lots of other aquatic critters.

After driving out of town every day looking, I finally managed to get a look at one of Kodiak's enormous brown bears, from a safe distance.

Kodiak is a beautiful place, with no end of ministry opportunities, and it was a great privilege to be here with Pastor Cratty and Pastor Israel.

We ship out in a few hours to return to the mainland, so pray for the voyage. Anna got violently seasick on the last ferry ride, so we intend to dose her good with Dramamine. Pray it does the trick, and that she and the kids sleep well tonight.

I finally got the tire situation straightened out. The company we purchased from is shipping a Michelin X-Ice from Portland, OR up to Whitehorse, YT at their expense. I'll be selling the Canadian tires back to the guys I bought them from, and getting my American tires put back on before we head down to Juneau on Saturday. This way, I'll have warrantied tires that I can still use down in the lower 48. it's the best possible solution to the problem, so it's good that it worked out this way, and was an answer to prayer.

Pray for us on our continued voyages here in the North country.