So many doors have opened recently that keeping up with this blog has been a blur!It was only two weeks ago that we were serving the villages of Tanacross and Tetlin in Eastern Alaska, and now we are in the village of Fort Yukon. We are about 8 miles above the arctic circle, and it is already snowing here on October 8th! The time we had before coming to this village we spent serving in the town of Soldotna on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. We had a wonderful time meeting family in Christ there and ministering to them. After returning home from Soldotna we had only 2 days to pack, drive to Fairbanks again and board our plane to Fort Yukon. Fort Yukon is a fly in only village except in the Summer when you can take a boat down the river to reach the village. Fort Yukon is an Indian village with anywhere from 500 to 700 people depending on the season. We boarded a little Cessna Grand Caravan plane for an hour flight from Fairbanks, and arrived on a gravel runway which welcomed us to the village. Surprisingly, even though it was a gravel runway the landing
was smoother than most larger commercial flights we had taken! We piled into a pickup truck and headed to our abode for the next coupleof days. We would be staying at a church parsonage in the area. By that time, Tor was in desperate need of a nap. My protocol usually is to first set up his portable crib and lay him down for a nap. I like to keep a stuffed animal of his as a constant and I bring his same blankets from home so he feels comfy in his crib. He quickly fell asleep and we fellowshipped, prayed and ate with the team. It didn't take us long to figure out that there was a wireless internet signal in the parsonage! Okay, so there is no way to make a phone call or text message BUT we can update our Facebooks lol! What an age we live in when we can be in such a village but still access the internet! After the baby woke up, I fed him and we bundled up and headed out to the village hall for the meeting. The musicians on our team sang beautiful hymns and praised. After he was introduced to the village, Rob boldly preached his testimony and we prayed for the people. One young girl had blindness in one eye and she said it was getting better after prayer. A man entered the church drunk and mourning the loss of his wife, son and daughter. By the end of the night he was singing hymns on the altar with the worship team praising God! There was a potlatch (native potluck) where the ladies from the village brought different types of food for the meeting. For the first time we tried moose stew. It tasted good however my stomach took it a little harder. There was no bathroom in the village hall and I forgot to bring toilet paper with me so I could go outside. Instead, I just had to hold it and 
wait to get back to the church house we were staying in so I was thankful to get back. As we were settling down for bed, one of the leaders warned us of the mouse traps he had set so that Tor didn't get a finger snapped by accident. We were thankful that he picked them up while we were here, but as we headed to bed we had a very special surprise in store for us. We lifted up the sheets to find piles of walnuts and mouse poop. The people whose bed it was haven't lived there in months and so there were some other unwelcome occupants taking their place - mice. We cleaned it up the best we could, put a blanket down on top of the sheets and slept on top of the blanket. We thanked God for a place to stay and slept soundly. Things on the mission field are not always what we would prefer or ask for but we are out to serve, and it goes way beyond out comfort... its investing into the eternal! We are excited as we headed with our team to the store to buy the chief of the village a gift. We got this beautiful eagle blanket for him and if he shows to the meeting tonight we will present the gift to him publicly and pray for him! We are very excited! So now we are eating lunch. Tor is  |
| Look at those prices! :O |
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