Christmas In Valdez

Christmas was a wonderful time in Valdez. We had some much fun at the Christmas Eve service and then following it up with our first present of Christmas in Valdez.



It was so enjoyable to have proper time with my family during the holidays. There is no ministry more important than the one I have to my family and I only get to raise them once.

Of course our family is loving the new member whose name is Titus. I am so happy to have a house big enough that I can not only have an inside dog but a big inside dog. I am looking forward to the walks we will have together and the car rides, etc.

We are really loving living in the Valdez area. The people here are just wonderful. We are now beginning to meet people from other churches and are having times of fellowship with them. I have never enjoyed a place more than I have here. Not that other places of ministry were bad or the people were bad, there is just no other way to describe it but that this place is just different and we love it. I pray that we can make this a place a ministry for 20 or 30 years and build a ministry that will make an impact on this town.

Snowmachining in Alaska

Man I had the time if my life today as I went Snowmachining in the wide open country of Alaska. Unfortunately, I only had my cell phone with me as I needed to have a good camera to take the breathtaking shots. But my camera would have to suffice. Enjoy the views of the wide open.

This was the most beautiful view I have ever seen. We were a good ways up with valley below and mountains behind.

It was fun going wide open up this hill. All of the clear area is where the pipe line runs. It is all underneath in this region which makes good trails for snow machines to go on.

The area below is a river area that we were having to find a good way across without busting through the river ice. You learn to pucker every where you can hoping that you do not hit a thin area.

That was some of the best fun I have had in a long time. Ministry was designed to be a time to spend time with people and ministering to their needs. I can do ministry like this all the time.

Jesus spend his time with people and occasionally withdrew himself to be alone. We have ministry today backwards. Modern day ministry is done in the 4 walls of the church. We spend more time in meetings and planning sessions than doing real ministry. We talk more about what we are going to do rather than doing it. What Jesus say if he were here on earth today about the modern day minister and how he tends to his flock? It is a good question to ask and do some serious reflection on.

Testing From Facebook

Testing to see if the facebook app actually works or not

Fun Day At The Watertower

Saturday, I took Victoria and Brittany to the town Water tower, which is the place most people go to do simple snow boarding and sledding. It was lots of fun spending time with them and sledding down myself.

But I have to say there is nothing worse than a snow wedgie. Boy that is a cold feeling but it sure was fun.

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow

Man how quickly time flies when your having fun. Life in Valdez has been fun. We are enjoying the people here so much and are having a great time serving in the church. We have a lot of work ahead of us but I know that is why God has brought us here.

Here is a picture of half the driveway depth. I had already cleared of half of it and thought it would be neat to show a clean side vs. 1 ft. of snow.

Boy it is fun to use a snow blower. It gives you a sense of power as you attack the mean nasty snow. ARGH ARGH ARGH.

The great thing is that after you are all said and done, it looks like you didn't get anything accomplished. So the next best thing is to do the following.

That's me sliding down the driveway on my backside. Using a disk designed for a child, I'm sure but my rear end fit in it all the same. The first pass is kind of slow but the second pass allowed me to have a packed down track to follow which made it a lot more fun and much more faster.

Anyway. We are really enjoying the beauty of it all and the Lord has been so good to us.

Happy Thanksgiving

"I'm dreaming of a White Thanksgiving" is the song of the day as we have received over 1 foot of snow overnight. When the snow is that heavy and then snow the falls off of your roof it makes for an interesting morning. The great thing is, is how the Lord blessed us this morning to overcome the amount of snow that fell, without killing my back shoveling. This morning we had delivered to us, a snow blower. What a blessing as we were beginning to save for this very item as it is a major NEED in Valdez.
NEED as in milk, eggs, bread, etc. Snow blowers, studded tires, and ice melt are NEEDS here as well. They fit into the same categories as the food items needed to survive. LOL

Above you can see how high the snow can actually get, as this is what has accumulated since we have been here. It is amazing to think that we have been here 3 weeks already. Time just flies by so fast.

I do not believe I have ever had a better Thanksgiving as I have had today. We had the opportunity to celebrate with our church family this wonderful holiday. I have never been to a church that has a true Thanksgiving meal together. Everyone is so busy doing their own thing and I found it to be a better time spending it with my heavenly family. There was less hustle and bustle as everyone pitched in to bring side dishes as the meat was provided by the church. In most families, you have 1 or 2 people doing everything while everyone else sits on their backside. I was blessed more today by celebrating it this than ever before.

I know many of you have been wanting to see some pictures from around town as well as the ones from the family. So here you go:





These are some of the pictures on a sunny day which there is not a lot of.

I cannot wait to experience the many traditions of this town in the coming weeks approaching Christmas.
Until next time.

GETTING BACK TO NORMAL

This past Thursday we finally received our things from Horizon Lines all the way from New Orleans. What a blessing to be able to open up the container to find everything in place except my car (no damage to it). One strap broke on the front end and the front end slid into the side of the container.

What was even better than having my things arrive, was to have the amount of support to help me unload this 40 foot container. We had it lined up to be a 2 hour live unload instead of having them drop it there for 72 hours (lots of money saved). I was a little concerned about getting it unloaded in that amount of time, but with the amount of help we had, we got it unloaded in 1.5 hours. Praise God.

We had to opportunity to experience a town tradition this week on Friday evening called Moonlight Madness sale. Many stores open a little later with various sales to take advantage of. Great way to go into stores that I probably would not have ventured in otherwise unless I needed something specific that they sell. Got to meet a lot of good people and get a few good bargains.

Snow, snow, and more snow is the story of Valdez but it is not even winter yet. On Saturday, we shoveled in the morning time and Dawn shoveled in the evening time and we woek up to find more snow on Sunday morning. But I cannot complain as I love the look of snow and you can not pay for a more beautiful view than what Valdez has to offer.

Looking forward to some of the traditions of this coming week.