Fish Heads.

So true to Alaskan standard, our plans didn't go...well... as planned. It turns out that when David George said that we were going to Kenai on Monday he actually meant Thursday. Seems logical to me...
Anyway, so instead of Gary Bearce saying, "Take these next couple of days off. You guys deserve it after I took away your only other days off this summer without asking you," he spent all morning looking for some work for us to do. We were put on a construction crew working on Bodenburg Butte Baptist Church. They are totally remodeling. We scrapped popcorn off ceilings, caulked between siding (I was an expert and this), and painted. Overall it was a good experience and the building looks great.
So Thursday finally arrived and we took off for Kenai. Allow me to fill you in on the sitch.
The last three weeks in July Alaskans (residents only) are allowed to dip net for salmon in the ocean. This involves a huge net, standing out in the ocean, and waiting for a fish to swim into your net. Once this occurs, you then drag it on shore and beat it with a stick to kill it, cook and enjoy. Each head of household is allowed to catch 25 fish, and and additional 10 for each family member there with them. Most people reley on fishing to last them through the winter, so naturally everyone brings mama, kids, baby, grandma, you name it. There are literally 10-15 thousand people on a small beach over the course of the weekend. So many that people are standing shoulder to shoulder in the water. They call it combat fishing because you have to fend off other people just to get your fish. I am helping to run a massive outreach that simply shares the love of Christ by serving the fishermen. No bible pushing, just service. We give out free hotdogs/drinks. Provide a kids club for children who would otherwise be running around the beach. First Aid station, and my favorite...we give people hand sanitizer at the port-a-potties. Awesome. This service obviously leade people to ask questions and then we may have the opportunity to share. I told one guy that we were sanitizing for Jesus. It has really been an great experiece. I saw one guy catch a 56 lb. king salmon. It was huge.
We are working with two groups of college students (one from TX, and one from LA) who are here as staff working this project for both weeks. (other mission teams from all over the U.S. are coming one of the two weeks to work with us as workers. We are here both weeks as supervisors and behind the scenes peeps) They are all just incredible people and I have loved working with them.
Yesterday we had a free day and we decided to go to Seward. It was an amazing little town. So pictuaresque with mountains and the bay. Awesome. We went to some shops and the Sea Life center, which was awesome. We had some good seafood and headed out. We then drove up to Exit Glacier and hiked in the rain to see it. It was cool, but everyone got soaked. Overall a fun day.
Today we spent preparing for the next set of teams to work the second half of our outreach. We cleaned the church we are staying at and go all of the beds situated for the teams. It was a busy day.
I will be here through the weekend, the Gentry and I go back to Talkeenta for VBS, then Jam Camp, Mountainview Camp, and then I come home!!! I honestly have mixed feelings. I LOVE Alaska and don't think that I could ever spend enough time here, but part of me misses home and is ready to go back to school. Oh well.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers and support.
Kev

INTERNET!!!

Well. I finally have internet access for the first time in 2 weeks. Please check facebook for new pictures. These past two weeks since we left Anchorage have been busy and incredibly fun.

Two weeks ago we worked with Cross Country Church in Wasilla. They meet in the only movie theater in the Mat-Su Valley and the owner of the theater is a member there, Ms. Sandy. We stayed in her house and really formed a bond with her. She is also one of Sarah Palin's close personal friends. I was super excited about this and Ms. Sandy was going to invite Sarah to church, but then the announcement came out about Sarah resigning, so we didn't call her. Sad. I did get to see her house though. I was stoked beyond belief. We did some odd jobs around the church/theater and got to see a couple of movies for free... We also put on a steller block party as a service for the community. We got to be in the 4th of July parade which was fun. There was a youth choir of about 80 kids from Atlanta, Texas. I was not aware that such a place existed, but let me assure you that the real ATL is safe in the good ol' GA. We helped serve them food throught out the week and guided them as they worked on the church and helped at the carnival as well. It was a really fun week.

Last Monday night we packed everything up and headed with the choir to Talkeetna, AK. They gave their last concert and headed back to Fakelanta. Talkeetna is a quaint little town that is actually quite nice. We stayed and worked at Montana Creek Baptist Church last week and really enjoyed our time there. On Tuesday we were able to take some time off and head up to Denali National Park. Mt. McKinley (which everyone up here calls simply Denali) was pretty visible (see pics) which was very cool. Once we got to the actualy park we decided not to spend any money, but just do some hiking. Consequently we didn't see much wildlife, but saw some incredible views. We climbed a pretty substantial mountian which was alot of fun. The rest of the week we helped Pastor Harold working at the church. He was great, and we really enjoyed getting to know him and his wife. He allowed us to run the service today. Gentry preached, Mason lead music, the girls shared their testimonies and I helped sing and run power point. It was a smashing success.
Saturday and the second half of today was devoted to an outreach at the Moose Dropping Festival. You might be asking yourself what exactly this festival celebrates, but I can assure you ladies and gentlemen that is in fact ALL about Moose Poop. They make things out of it, sell it by the bag, spray paint it, and my personal favorite, scent it and market it as Poop-pouri. That is enough to make me vomit. It was pretty disgusting. They actually sell thousands of them with little numbers on them, and then drop another turd with the same number out of a bag in the sky onto a target. Whoever's turd gets closest to the target wins the money. The best part is that this celebration of defecation draws THOUSANDS of people every year. I mean thousands. It just blows my mind. I guarentee if i tried to sell my feces as earrings people would run. So it goes.
Though it will take awhile to recover from all the poop... I only have 5 weeks left in Alaska. This saddens me, and yet I am very excited about this coming school year. I will be in Kenai for two weeks working an outreach to fishermen and their families. I hope everyone is well and enjoying the weather. People were passing out today from the 80 degree "heat." Unbelievable.
Kev

Pics:Denali, Me infront of Sarah Palin's house, thousands of moose turds falling from the sky.

Hardly Working.

This week has been such a blessing. They guys got some much needed rest after being at camp last week. Allow me to fill you in.
Sunday: My Sunday school class went really well. I had four middle school kids who were all well behaved and ready to listen and learn. I enjoyed getting to know them and sharing God's word. Church was different in that it was a sort of VBS follow up and the kids did all of their songs. I was SUPER excited (not) to hear all of those songs again. I did however have to restrain myself from doing the motions in my seat. We (the boys) dropped off the girls at camp for the week and enjoyed a relaxing evening filled with laundry and food.
Monday: We (still the boys) got up sort of early and made the arduous journey back to Anchorage. We met the pastor of Muldoon Road Baptist Church (where we have been working) and got to fellowship with him for a while. He told us that we really did not have much work to do here, which was great to hear. We helped him empty and clean out a shed on the chruch property later that afternoon. It was filled with old furniture and stuff that was beyond using. We took it to the dump and had a good time throwing it around.
Tuesday: One of the best days of my entire life. The pastor drove us down to the Kenai river to go salmon fishing. Please look at facebook pictures for visual detail. It was nothing short of incredible. We had waders on and stood out about thigh deep in the river to fish. I actually caught on pretty quickly. We were each allowed to catch 6 fish and all limited out. We then gutted and cleaned all of the fish by the river and filleted them back at the church. I was pretty proud of myself.
Wednesday: We finished up our work for Pastor Fred around the church. Mason and Gentry did some minimal painting and I typed up a list of contact information from the kids that attended VBS.
Thursday: Pastor Fred had to deal with some family stuff (I don't really want to say, but please pray for his family) so we had the day completely free. It was so wonderful not to have to set an alarm and just to be able to relax. We cooked some of our salmon and it was delicious.
Friday: We (the boys) drove back up to Wasilla and picked up the girls from camp. We were once again excited to all be back together. We then had a game night for the youth at FBC Palmer (where the girls and Gentry had done VBS the week before). It went quite well and I enjoyed it a lot.
Saturday: We got up and put on a block party for FBC Wasilla out at their new property. It was sort of frustrating because everyone thought they new how things were supposed to be run and had no problem telling us so. As the trailer experts with countless trials and errors, we are kind of experts in all things block party trailer. Regardless, it was a smashing success and we gave away about 400 snow cones. We (all 5 of us) then drove back to Anchorage that night
Sunday: Today we got up and went to church here at Muldoon Road BC where we are staying. I really enjoyed the service even though Mason, Gentry, and I butcher the doxology on stage. Oh well. It was a joyful noise. Not much more than a noise, but joyfull nonetheless. We had a nice lunch and are now just chilling waiting for evening service tonight.

Alltogether it was a great week. Next week we were supposed to have 3 day off, but those were taken away from us without our consent. This is ok, becuase we are working with Mike Blakeney, but at the same time they were really our only free time for the rest of the summer. Oh well. Hopefully things will work out. On Wednesday, we are traveling back to the Valley to work with a church this weekend which should be good.
On a happier note, our week in Talkeetna got cancelled. While this may seem sad at first (and is to everyone on our team but me) it means that we will possibly be in Anchorage/Kenai while the Kolb's are here!! I am super excited and am praying that we are able to get together.

I hope that everyone is doing well. I changed a couple of setting on here that should allow it to be easier to comment, so please keep trying. I love feedback.

Kev

Midnight Sun.

Here I sit back in the Welcome Center of the First Baptist Church Palmer after an exhausting week followed by and even more exhausting past 24 hours.
Camp ended up being awesome, but really challenging. There was some drama with some of the other people that were there working and some of the speaking and gospel presentation was pretty sensationalized, but I feel that God, in all sovereignty, used it for good. We had a total of 8 boys who came to know Christ one of whom was in my cabin! It was super exciting.
So we finished up on Friday, Gentry had come and spent Thursday night with us, and headed out after lunch. We immediately went and picked up the girls and then headed to Anchorage. We met Meghan and Charlie at Brenda's house and then left for Keni and College Heights Baptist Church. We spent the night at the church (they had a Wii and projection system. Mario Cart. It happened.) Then we got up early this morning and helped them with an intrachurch king salmon derby. We moved their trucks and boat traliers to the end of the river at the pull out point and also provided lunch about half way down the river. It was pretty cool. I also did really well driving the trailer and even backed it up pretty successfully. I was proud.
Then we packed everything up, drove back to Anchorage, picked up our truck, and drove out to the valley. We had a small sushi dinner (followed by DQ) and are now at 1st Baptist Palmer for church tomorrow. Gentry and I are each teaching a sunday school class in the morning ( him high school me middle school) and then staying here tomorrow night. We are leaving for Anchorage on Monday morning and will spend the next two weeks there. I am not sure what we are doing.
The mountains seem to gain beauty every time I look at them. As Meghan said today, there is just something Godly about this place that just screams His presence, majesty, and soverignty. I still haven't gotten used to it being completely light at midnight, but at the same time, there isn't anything quite like it.

Red.

Camp. which I guess for me was always Kamp. But regardless I can remember what and impact it had on me and my walk with God. I pray that I will be able to show these boys what it means to walk with Christ and what an impact it can have on their lives.
Tonight is the first night of boys camp at LaVerne Griffin Youth Recreation Camp out here in beautiful Wasilla Alaska. The theme of the week is bible boot camp so everyone is wearing camo and yelling alot. It is pretty awesome. I have four boys in my cabin who are all from Grandview Baptist Chruch in Anchorage which is where we did our first VBS. My assistant counselor is Mike who is their youth minister and who i stayed with for the week i was at Grandview. Awesome how God works things out like that. We are Moses's Warriors in the Red Platoon Squad 2. I ask that you would be in prayer for these boys and ask that God would open their hearts to receive his word. The camp is beautiful and has really nice facilities.
There are two teams here that are working with us. One from Georgia and one from Tennessee. The Georgia people are from Tocoa. The camp managers here are also originally from Georgia. I swear it is like I never left the South.
In addition to being a cabin counselor I am teaching a class in the morning, leading a free time activity, leading another activity with compasses and maps, and helping with worship/tech. It is really awesome that I have been given some actual responsibility, but at the same time sleep seems to be a thing of the past. Speaking of sleep, the days continue to get longer and longer.
I really miss the other guys on our team that are working VBS at First Baptist Chruch Palmer. It is just me and Mason here at camp and Gentry and the girls are at the church. We have only known each other for 2 weeks and yet we are already a family. Praise God!!
I would also ask for prayer for our friend Chris (11 years old). We stayed with his family last week and really bonded with him. He comes from a not great situation and is at camp this week. I pray that it would really solidify his faith. Hope every one is well and enjoying the darkness.
Much love,
Kev

Here and Now

This weekend we are staying at the First Baptist Church Palmer. The pastor is from south Georgia and pastored in Gainsville for many years. Kinda neat.

Gentry, Elizabeth, and Jessica will be working their VBS this week while Mason and I go out to Laverne Griffin Youth Camp next week to help with Boys Camp (elementary boys)

Today we were in the local "Colony Days" Parade and then set up our bounce houses at the festival afterwords to advertise for VBS. It was actually quite fun.
It has been really nice staying at the church. We have the van to drive and actually feel independent for once.
I am really looking forward to boys camp and pray that God would really use me.
Mason, Gentry and I are singing in church tomorrow (Pioneer Baptist where we worked last week) so hopefully that will go well. I am also teaching a Sunday School class next week possibly. Awesome.
Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad tomorrow. Sorry I can't be there.
May I just beg everyone not to take darkness for granted. Last night we got home at about 12:45 and could still see plenty well to rehook the trailer to the van. It was barely what I would consider dusk. Incredible.

2 Checks...

I have accomplished two more big things on my to-do list of Alaska.
Yesterday we woke up fairly early and went to organize the block party trailer. We finished rather quickly and Gary and Shirley decided to take us sight seeing. We drove north from Wasilla towards Willow.
The first thing was that were able to see Mt. McKinley. (Everyone here calls it Denali because President McKinley never even set foot in Alaska. We came up over this hill and there it was towering over the horizon. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We couldn't really take pictures because there were cars and it was too hazy to see it very clearly. It was amazing nonetheless.
We continued and went to an area called Nancy Lake. We drove around for a while and got out to walk down to one of the lakes. If you have never experienced the ferocity of Alaskan mosquitoes then praise be to God. They are crazy huge and nearly invincible. Everyone was quite perturbed. Then we were driving out and on the side of the road was a Mama black bear with three cubs. It was amazing. We just sat there and took tons of pictures. Please see facebook for more.
So I have now see and bear and seen Denali.
Other things to do in Alaska
1. See the Northern lights. (I won't get to. They are only visible in the winter)
2. Go snow machining. (also not possible)
3. Go to the Arctic
4. see a grizzly bear
5. experience sub zero temperatures.

Clearly i just need to come back during the winter...

Whirlwind.

It seems that there is just so much to update. I may tackle this in a few chunks...

So VBS at Grandview Baptist Church last week went quite well I think. We were mostly just helpers, but were really able to spend some time with the kids. We also really got acquainted with the Boomerang Express theme and materials that we will be working with the rest of the summer. I particularly enjoyed doing the motions to the songs, but whatever. I really connected with a little boy named Simon who apparently misbehaves quite a bit. Hopefully I was able to impact him. Please keep him in your prayers. After VBS in the evenings we just hung out. The guy I was staying with took us around Anchorage which was cool and we also got to go to a cook out and eat some Halibut. It was amazing. Jessica and I also hung out with our Kodiak friends and they cooked us our halibut that we caught, which was also pretty cool.

Throughout the week the rest of our team arrived in Anchorage. Mason, Gentry, and Elizabeth. We have all hit it off quite well and are already becoming a family. God has truly answered a prayer.
Unfortunately the couple who were supposed to be our coordinators this summer had to return to Florida, but I think that situation has now been resolved.

Anyway, after VBS on friday Brenda and David took us on the most beautiful and epic hike of our lives. It is a trail called Crow Pass in Girdwood about 30 miles south of Anchorage. It is a 26 mile trail that goes all through the mountians, but we did the first 3.5 miles up to a ranger cabin. This part is the climb into the mountains and it is pretty flat from where we stopped. It climbs about 3000 feet in elevation and was incredibly steep!! It was also the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Please check out facebook for pictures. We saw mountian sheep and amazing mountain scenery. When we finally made it to the top, the guys decided to free climb this small peak next to the trail. It was terrifying, but awsome. The slope was all loose shale that slid everywhere and then grass on the steep hillside. The view from the top was incredible. SO basically the coolest hike ever.

This past weekend we did two block parties. The first only had like 6 kids, but since it was our first time setting everything up, it was good practice. The second one was at Fairview Loop BC on Sunday. We went to church that morning where a missionary couple from Georgia spoke!! I got to visit with them after church. (Side note, the pastor at Fairview loops's dental hygenist is Sarah Palin's sister...) Then the block party was a smashing success! We are also pros at getting everything set up and broken down. We are working VBS at the site of the first block party, Pioneer Baptist Church in Wasilla, this week.
So far this VBS has been pretty good. The church is small so we only have about 15 kids, but it has been good. I am leading the music, teaching the kids motions and just making a fool out of myself.
On Monday (yesterday) we hiked another small mountain/hill called Bodenburg Butte. Only about 875 feet tall, it still provides a great view of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. You could see the Matanuska Glacier as well.
Today was pretty chill, we did some VBS prep and devotionals, but then Mr. Jim (one of they guys we are staying with) took us shooting. This has been something I have wanted to so since coming to Alaska and it did not disappoint. We did 3 different pistols. Some magnum something, my favorite. A PPK James Bond handgun, and an old western 6 shooter. He also had the twelve gauge shotgun. It was awesome.

I promise to try and update more often... things have just been super busy. Please continue to pray for the kids that are attending our VBS as well as that God would continue to work in our hearts to accomplish His will.

Kev

Today.

Today we went "hiking." It was beautiful. The quotation marks refer to the leisurely stroll through the woods on the wide well kept path that constituted hiking to the people I was with. But it was ok. We went up to an old gold mine that was active during the gold rush. It was super cool. The best part was that it was snowing like crazy the entire time. It was the hardest snow fall I have ever seen, which really does not say much. We also went to a waterfall and gorge that was pretty cool. Then we went to the Iditarod Museum. We got to see some dogs and learned some history about the race. The woman who coordinated the Kodiak trip actually runs a huge outreach ministry during the race and has earned the trust of the coordinators and now takes control of the race at night. I think that is pretty cool. I am now back in Anchorage and begin my first bible school on Monday morning. Yay!!
Kev

What an Adventure...

I am currently in Palmer, Alaska and will be here for the next few days before going back to Anchorage for our first VBS. The past few days have been crazy, stressful, and amazing all at the same time. The week in Kodiak was incredible. I will begin on Sunday afternoon. We went to church at Frontier Baptist which was really awesome. After church David told us that some ladies from another booth had moved into our spot at the festival and were refusing to leave. This was quite odd considering we had helped these ladies save their merchandice just the previous evening during the bad weather. This was quite frustrating to everyone. So we graciously tried to find another spot, and did so in the midst of the carnival going on at the festival. It turned out to be a much better spot, and we ended up bringing two people to Christ. Praise the Lord!!! It just shows you that God works in all things. There were hardly any people at the festival on Monday, so we decided to close down and go sight seeing. We ended up driving for hours on the island out to a missle launch facility built during the cold war it was awesome. It was by far the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen and I took tons of pictures. The day began to go downhill quickly. I first accidently went wading in the ocean (which was freezing) soaking my feet, socks, shoes, and the bottom of my jeans. Not fun. Then at another stop, I somehow steped in feces. We believe that it was human. Gross attack. We then headed back to the house, packed everything up and headed for the ferry. While the ferry at least left on time, I ended up getting an air mattress, but no sleeping bag. I then noticed that my camera was missing. I (and everyone else) searched everywere (including the trash can) to no avail. It was probably stolen. Awesome. At least I had had an opportunity to take off all of my amazing pictures. On top of this there was this family with like 6 little little girls who were out of control. They were screaming all night. I finally got to sleep only to wake up a little while later to find my self on the floor with a completely deflated air mattress and freezing. I reinflated the airmattress manually and coverd myself with another air mattress. We finally got to Homer and I was tired, cranky and had not showered in 48 hours. I then found out that we had misplaced the keys to our van and would not be making it back to Anchorage for quite a while. Awesome. End bad part of the day. It was pretty low and frustrating but was totally worth it. Brenda decided to pay for us all to go fishing for halibut. It was one of the most fun I have every had. We took a boat out into the middle of the inlet and fished for hours. It was an amazing day, clear as can be, and you could see Mount Redoubt on the horizon puffing a way. I caught 5 halibut and some other smaller fish. (I also caught two at once) We were only allowed to keep two of them. I can't wait to eat them!! We finally started to head back to Anchorage around 6 and in Cooper Landing we saw this Suburban on the side of the road with a blown out tire. It was a little lady with 4 kids so we stopped and helped her. She would never have been able to change that tire by herself. So once again God took what seemed bad to everyone and worked it for good. How cool. Today Jessica and I had David's truck to do stuff around Anchorage we spent most of the day looking for a camera for me... I ended up getting an nice Canon, the same as Granddad, from Fred Meyer (yes Dad!!). We then drove out the Bearce's home in Palmer where we have planning meeting for the next few days until VBS in Anchorage. I hope you are all doing well.
Still Freezing,
Kevin

Today I ate crab legs. It was awesome.

Just a few pictures. Top: Me in front of the boats at the harbor. Middle: The other summer missionaries with me this week. (Not all of us will be together the whole summer.)
Bottom: more scenery. This particular received the stamp of approval from Josh Harwell. yay me!! I will soon be removing the pic on here that I got off the internet and putting on one of my own!! Mom should be so proud.

The Deadliest Catch...

Kodiak, Alaska is unlike any place in the world. A close knit community of fishermen with the laid back Alaskan spirit has just been a pleasure. The weather was really nice for the past few days, and today it rained as if there was no tomorrow. I have also been extremely cold. We have a booth set up at the annual Crabfest passing out free hot dogs and hot drinks sharing the love of God in a practical way. It has been really great just to give back to the community and build relationships with some of the locals. We had some conflict with the Boy Scouts here (which made me really sad) because they were trying to raise money by selling hot dogs and we were giving them away. Already we have seen God working by opening up contacts in the area for future projects as well as contacts around the state in which we are already trying to establish ministry. I was quite excited to go to the coast guard base where "The Guardian" took place as well as see big crab boats like the Deadliest Catch. The Corneila Marie docks here in Kodiak, but it has not been in port since we have been here. The members of the host church here (Frontier Southern Baptist Church) have just been incredible and are truly a gift from God. We haven't seen any bears yet (sadly) the locals say that it is a little bit early in the season and they are still up in the mountains. God has been so good in bringing our team together on this trip. I have only known these people for a few days, but we already feel like a family. I feel so blessed to have gotten to know them. We are praying for better weather and for more lives to be touched. Be thankful for warmth in the summer and for darkness. Neither exist here. It is 11:00pm and still quite light outside. Hoping all is well,
Kevin

Incredible...

So here I am sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. It is amazing. The weather feels pretty chilly to me, but they assure me this is quite warm for this time of year. The flight from Seattle to Anchorage last night was amazing. First I had an entire row to myself which made everything much more comfortable. Second it was rainy and dark in Seattle, but we went above the clouds and the sky was absolutely gorgeous. We sort of caught up with the sun on the way to Alaska which was a very weird feeling. It was dark in Seattle, but the sun was still setting when I got to Anchorage. Two sunsets in one day. Pretty cool.
I stayed with the music minister from 1st baptist Anchorage last night, and they were really nice. Today I am going to some sort of pastor's lunch thing before getting on the ferry to Kodiak. Yay!
I am not sure as to my phone/internet status for the next couple of weeks, but I hope everyone is well. I love and miss you all.
Kevin

Long day...

I am currently sitting at gate T01 of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport waiting to board my flight to Anchorage, Alaska. I am much more apprehensive than I expected, but I am sure that once I actually get there everything will be fine. I am really not looking forward to the 9.5 hour ferry ride tomorrow, but apparently the scenery along the way is to die for. I hope that everyone is doing well at home and enjoying the cool weather while it lasts.
Kevin

Finished!!!

My freshman year of college is finally over. I was quite ready for the mountains of work to be done, but not ready in the slightest to leave everyone and to leave Emory. I am beginning the long and arduous process of packing for Alaska. I found out tonight that we lost one girl from our trip and we now only have 5 people on the missions team. I find this to be quite sad, but am trusting that God knows what he is doing. The anticipation grows every day. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Kev

Initial Prayer Requests

So instead of doing homework the week before exams...I am thinking about Alaska. Go figure.

Anyway. I thought I would list a few prayer requests that I have been thinking about.

1.) Heart Preparation: This applies to everyone involved with this whole project. Me, my team members, our leaders, the people we will be ministering to. Everyone.
2.) Logistics: Safety in travel, lodging, food, timings, stuff of that nature
3.) Team unity: Currently there a 6 of us assigned to this project (3 guys 3 girls). Two of the guys are already best friends, but other than that we have never met each other. I'm praying that we really click and are able to invest in each other while serving the Lord.
4.) Clear direction from God/Promptings of the Holy Spirit: in the day to day i just want to be in tune with the promptings on my heart...
5.) Being able to sleep when there is 20 hours of daylight per day.

I think that will do it for right now. More to come.

32 Days!!

I leave for Alaska one month from Saturday. I can't even begin to express how excited I am.