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