Hi Everyone, Just wanted to give a very quick update (the dinner line has formed behind me).
As the work week draws to an end, it is so exciting to see the various projects coming to completion (or a stage of completeness).
The electrical work on the new generator build is ALL done!!! And the staff cabin now has electricity too! Great work Don and Bob (from Abundant Life Church in Oregon)!!
The foundation, floor and roof trusses are ALL done for the new family cabin!!! Great work Steve, Chris, Mike, Chuck, Tarek (from the Crossings at Birchwood in AK), and Mark!!
The straightening out and compacting of the landing strip extension is nearly complete (weather made completing this task a bit more challenging). Great work Chuck, Robert (from Abundant Life Church in Oregon), Roger and Mark!
The camp ground have been cleared (weed whacked) and trip hazards removed -- it is now safe for the kids to come and experience the Love of Jesus and play as kids play while at camp!! Great work to everyone as this was a total team effort!!!
All in all, we have had a very successful camp and have by God's grace been able to accomplish the task we set out accomplish!
Friday, June 20, 2014
Kokrine Hills Bible Camp turns 50 years old
Happy Anniversary to Kokrine Hills Bible Camp! Wow-- 50 years!!!! God's grace has truly shined on this safe haven for Native Alaskan children from its very humble beings until this very day.
In 1964, Missionaries Russ Arnold and Bass Monnuk had a vision to establish a Bible camp that would serve Native Alaskan children along the Yukon River region. Russ set out from the Village of Ruby (down river) in a small boat and Bass set out from the Village of Tanana (which is up river). They boated on the Yukon and both decided to go around the island that is in front of the camp in a common direction that resulted on them both docking on shore of would become Kokrine Hills Bible Camp. Since those early days, thousands of Native Alaskan children from over a 200 plus mile radius have come to camp to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hundreds of them have accepted His free gift of Salvation and eternal life. While the interior villages of Alaska are very spiritually dark this place remains as a bright light welcoming ALL to come, rest, and find Christ.
Now, the camp is run by Roger Huntington (a Native Alaskan from Galena) and his beautiful bride Carole Huntington (a Native Alaskan from Nome). They are both 70 years old now, but have the energy of someone half their age. Please continue to pray for God's grace to remain on the Bible Camp, Roger & Carole and the thousands of Native Alaskan children who have attended camp and who will be attending in the future -- may they all be reminded of their life changing camp experience. May they know that God's love and forgiveness is REAL.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Trip to Ruby, AK
Wednesday, a couple of our team had the honor of being able to serve in the village of Ruby, AK. A few years ago, CCC along with our church partners at the Crossings of Birchwood and Abundant Life Church established a relationship with the village of Ruby. Unfortunately, due to the floods last summer, we were not able to get to see them. But due to God's grace, Tarek from the Crossings at Birchwood Church was able to fly Chris and Steve up to Ruby. According to Steve, it was truly an "eye-opening experience."Steve went on to comment that the way the people live there is so primitive and there seemed to be such a air of "hopelessness" that is very apparent throughout the entire village. Chris said he had a very similar feeling -- the people he encountered while being there seemed "so sad". This is how I felt the first time I sent to Ruby. And getting this report back from their trip, while initially discouraging, actually, reinforced the great need for continued pray and support for this village.
But there was also some good news in their report -- CCC family you may remember Don Honea from Ruby. He is person who took care of the Ruby Bible Church. You may also recall that one of Don's main prayer request was that God would bring pastor to the village. Well our God is a God who answers prayers. The team also reported that a "part-time" pastor has been delivered to Ruby. He is from Minnesota and has been there for a few months now. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!
Now there is still a lot of work and prayer that is still needed in the village of Ruby. Don genuinely missed not being able to see all of the team. He asked that we continue to pray for him, the new pastor and the Ruby Bible Church. He told Steve and Chris that he still needs help and encouragement. I am asking that all of the people following this blog lift up the entire village of Ruby in prayer. Please pray for a full time pastor. Please pray for God's Holy Spirit to evade the village of Ruby and remove the air of hopelessness that engulfs it. Please pray for a spiritual awakening throughout Ruby that they will come to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Please pray that we will continue our relationship with the village and be able to send missionaries to the village. Please pray that the pastor and Don will BOLDLY go to their neighbor and proclaim salvation that is found in Jesus.
But there was also some good news in their report -- CCC family you may remember Don Honea from Ruby. He is person who took care of the Ruby Bible Church. You may also recall that one of Don's main prayer request was that God would bring pastor to the village. Well our God is a God who answers prayers. The team also reported that a "part-time" pastor has been delivered to Ruby. He is from Minnesota and has been there for a few months now. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!
Now there is still a lot of work and prayer that is still needed in the village of Ruby. Don genuinely missed not being able to see all of the team. He asked that we continue to pray for him, the new pastor and the Ruby Bible Church. He told Steve and Chris that he still needs help and encouragement. I am asking that all of the people following this blog lift up the entire village of Ruby in prayer. Please pray for a full time pastor. Please pray for God's Holy Spirit to evade the village of Ruby and remove the air of hopelessness that engulfs it. Please pray for a spiritual awakening throughout Ruby that they will come to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Please pray that we will continue our relationship with the village and be able to send missionaries to the village. Please pray that the pastor and Don will BOLDLY go to their neighbor and proclaim salvation that is found in Jesus.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Monday KHBC update
The team continued on they started on Sunday. Don continued bringing "ligh" to the generator building. The Family Cabin team prepped the building site with freshly sifted compaction soils screen by Chuck and delivered by me (Mark). It took about 6 dump truck loads to complete. Then Steve and Chris grading the site and getting the foundation railroad tires positioned. Foundation work is tedious. But without a solid foundation the building will not survive the harsh Alaskan environment.
After delivering the soil, Roger pulled me aside and taught me a new skill. He taught me how to drive the excavator - Chuck was jealous. Wow! What a cool rig!! After a few minutes of instructions, Roger told me I was qualified. Which means I was licensed to dig up rocks - what fun! But there was more, after lunch Roger called me aside again and taught me how to operate the bulldozer. I felt like a big kid playing with Tonka Trucks. And Roger being the great encouraging man of God that he is knighted me and said - "don't worry, you can break it". And off I went bulldozing away.
Now some of you are probably wondering what does runnig a front loader, excavator or bulldozer have to do with a mission trip. Well Roger has a vision to use a section of land near the landing strip to build a ball field. He will be able to minister to the kids on this field. We are also extending / straightening so that the pilots who will be bringing the "campers" and fellow missionaries will have a safer area to take off and land. So learned to use these "Tonka Trucks" is essential to the mission of the camp. And as I said - they are really cool rigs!
After delivering the soil, Roger pulled me aside and taught me a new skill. He taught me how to drive the excavator - Chuck was jealous. Wow! What a cool rig!! After a few minutes of instructions, Roger told me I was qualified. Which means I was licensed to dig up rocks - what fun! But there was more, after lunch Roger called me aside again and taught me how to operate the bulldozer. I felt like a big kid playing with Tonka Trucks. And Roger being the great encouraging man of God that he is knighted me and said - "don't worry, you can break it". And off I went bulldozing away.
Now some of you are probably wondering what does runnig a front loader, excavator or bulldozer have to do with a mission trip. Well Roger has a vision to use a section of land near the landing strip to build a ball field. He will be able to minister to the kids on this field. We are also extending / straightening so that the pilots who will be bringing the "campers" and fellow missionaries will have a safer area to take off and land. So learned to use these "Tonka Trucks" is essential to the mission of the camp. And as I said - they are really cool rigs!
Father's Day update
I apologize for not being able to post an update on Father's Day. We have had very spotty connectivity.
We began Father's Day with a great Sunday service. The scripture lesson came Psalms 1 and Psalms 19:7-9. Roger began the lesson with a question - "what kind of camp is this?" And we all said "a Bible camp!". So with that said he lead the lesson and spoke of the perfection and trustworthiness of God's law. And God's law is described as the Bible in its complete entirety. And in Psalm 1:2 we are instructed we are delight in the law of The Lord and we are to meditate on His law day and night. Because His commands are radiant and give light (Ps 19:8).
After service, we all started working on various jobs and tasks to improve the camps infrastructure. Don worked with the electrician to bring light to the generator building. The rest of us worked on preparing the foundation for new family cabin for the expansion of the camp's ministry to not only serve the Native Alaskan children but to serve the Native families too.
We are off to a great camp week.
I will make more updates later. Time to get to work.
We began Father's Day with a great Sunday service. The scripture lesson came Psalms 1 and Psalms 19:7-9. Roger began the lesson with a question - "what kind of camp is this?" And we all said "a Bible camp!". So with that said he lead the lesson and spoke of the perfection and trustworthiness of God's law. And God's law is described as the Bible in its complete entirety. And in Psalm 1:2 we are instructed we are delight in the law of The Lord and we are to meditate on His law day and night. Because His commands are radiant and give light (Ps 19:8).
After service, we all started working on various jobs and tasks to improve the camps infrastructure. Don worked with the electrician to bring light to the generator building. The rest of us worked on preparing the foundation for new family cabin for the expansion of the camp's ministry to not only serve the Native Alaskan children but to serve the Native families too.
We are off to a great camp week.
I will make more updates later. Time to get to work.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Travel day updates part 2
So after over 9 hours on an airplane we arrived in Anchorage around 1:15 am. We were met by our very good friend Greg Wallace. He took us to Ken's house for a quick catnap. And we were out on the first charter flight to came at 8am. The flight was really smooth. So smooth that I fell asleep. Mike got a nice glimpse of the snow covered peaks. However, he couldn't see Mt. McKinley.
We arrived at camp and were greeted by our very good friend Roger Huntington. Hugs all around. And oh so many mosquitoes too. Welcome to Alaska I thought :-). After driving the 6 wheeler down from the landing strip, we saw Carole Huntington - more and bigger hugs. What a blessing it was to be back at camp again.
We arrived at camp and were greeted by our very good friend Roger Huntington. Hugs all around. And oh so many mosquitoes too. Welcome to Alaska I thought :-). After driving the 6 wheeler down from the landing strip, we saw Carole Huntington - more and bigger hugs. What a blessing it was to be back at camp again.
Travel Day
We have all made it to camp! Praise Jesus for His grace!
Friday was such a wonderful blessing to have our church family there to send us off.
We had a great travel experience. Our team shirts raised a lot of curiousity. Which opened the door for us to talk about the camp, make people aware of the plight of the environment of the interior Alaskan villages, and most importantly BOLDLY proclaim Jesus and how He has called us to GO to Alaska.
On the first leg of the flight from Charlotte to Portland I had the opportunity to sit next a successful businesswoman and self proclaimed feminist. We had several interesting conversations over the course of the five and half hour flight. I will share one of the comverstions with you.
She has one of those bi-coastal relationships - her husband is a CEO of a small company in Portland and she is a business owner of an interior decorating company in Charlottesville, VA. They are both in a position to retire and she is wanting to relocate in VA. Unfortunately, her husband is a workaholic and extended his contract another 3 years as CEO. Obviously, she was not happy with his decision. And she had decided to move to VA. So with that as a background, I asked her if I could share "something" with her. She said yes of course. So I opened my Bible to Eps 5:15 - 31. We talked about walking circumspectly as the wise and she agreed with that view. We spoke about Paul's instructions to wives and that they are to submit to their husbands. And her brought a shift in her posture as she got ready to jump on the defensive. Then I continued and gave Paul's instructions for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. And I continued to explain how Christ showed His love to His Bride and how He scaraficed Himself for her. Now this put her at ease a little more. We continued to talk and I explained that we are only made complete in Jesus. No spouse nor career, nor child can complete us. And if we expect completeness to come from another person we will be sadly disappointed. She was admittedly surprised to hear this perspective but acknowledged that it made sense to her. I asked her if she knew Jesus as her Savior. She said she believed in God but didn't really know about Jesus in light of His relationship to he Church and salvation. I asked she wanted to know Jesus. She wasn't sure. I said I understood and asked if I could pray for her and she said yes. Although she didn't accept Jesus, a seed was planted. Praised Jesus for Boldness.
Friday was such a wonderful blessing to have our church family there to send us off.
We had a great travel experience. Our team shirts raised a lot of curiousity. Which opened the door for us to talk about the camp, make people aware of the plight of the environment of the interior Alaskan villages, and most importantly BOLDLY proclaim Jesus and how He has called us to GO to Alaska.
On the first leg of the flight from Charlotte to Portland I had the opportunity to sit next a successful businesswoman and self proclaimed feminist. We had several interesting conversations over the course of the five and half hour flight. I will share one of the comverstions with you.
She has one of those bi-coastal relationships - her husband is a CEO of a small company in Portland and she is a business owner of an interior decorating company in Charlottesville, VA. They are both in a position to retire and she is wanting to relocate in VA. Unfortunately, her husband is a workaholic and extended his contract another 3 years as CEO. Obviously, she was not happy with his decision. And she had decided to move to VA. So with that as a background, I asked her if I could share "something" with her. She said yes of course. So I opened my Bible to Eps 5:15 - 31. We talked about walking circumspectly as the wise and she agreed with that view. We spoke about Paul's instructions to wives and that they are to submit to their husbands. And her brought a shift in her posture as she got ready to jump on the defensive. Then I continued and gave Paul's instructions for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. And I continued to explain how Christ showed His love to His Bride and how He scaraficed Himself for her. Now this put her at ease a little more. We continued to talk and I explained that we are only made complete in Jesus. No spouse nor career, nor child can complete us. And if we expect completeness to come from another person we will be sadly disappointed. She was admittedly surprised to hear this perspective but acknowledged that it made sense to her. I asked her if she knew Jesus as her Savior. She said she believed in God but didn't really know about Jesus in light of His relationship to he Church and salvation. I asked she wanted to know Jesus. She wasn't sure. I said I understood and asked if I could pray for her and she said yes. Although she didn't accept Jesus, a seed was planted. Praised Jesus for Boldness.
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