From Winter On

This winter has been a great time to be with kids.  Our weekly club meetings have been growing in energy and caos as kids have had a chance to hear about Jesus.  Our weekly Bible study groups have a solid group of leaders and students meeting together to share breakfast and to look deeper into what the Bible says.  There have been great work parties, trips to basketball games and trips taking kids up snowboarding. 

Outside of Sitka there are some great things happening around the state.   In the town of Galena, there is a state run boarding school and the community of that town is seeking to hire a full-time area director.  Galena Young Life has had wonderful volunteers and seeks to move forward and be able to hire someone full time to devote their time to the 240 students of the boarding school.  There are also two other communities moving forward in bringing Young Life to their community for the first time: Chevak on the west coast of Alaska, and Glennallen- a town eat of Anchorage by 150 miles.  The Kellars of Washington (whose blog entry I included in a previous post) are also seeking God's guidance on how they can play a roll in encouraging Young Life in Chevak.  Ketchikan, a large hub city in SE Alaska is also seeking to hire an area director.

In Young Life there are positions categorized as student staff, and what that means is that a young person is paid a part time wage to work for Young Life.  Our regional director Brent Cunningham has just secured funding for three positions that will be specifically designated for rural Alaska.  In addition, our divisional director is seeking funding for additional positions for communities around the state.  This is really big news because the funding will provide a person to focus on the kids of rural communities around the state.  I will be able to focus some of my time to assist these people in their work. These positions are key to the future of Young Life in rural Alaska and I am so excited about the impact that these people will have on their communities.  I will keep you posted as things develop further.

 
On a personal note- Emily loves teaching, but misses her time with our sweetie pie Ruthann. Ruthann is so much fun... she is so smiley and happy and loves to laugh and is learning new games daily. Our dog Puffin misses the runs she went in her previous non-babied life, and she might even find herself more unhappy when we get our family Easter present, 5 egg laying chicks.  Hopefully we won't find her with a mouthful of feathers!

Our crew up snowboarding

 


Puffin was almost roadkill... escaping by the skin of her teeth!

Winter Blast

Do you remember moments in your life you wish time would just stand still, a time in your life that just seemed so good that you didn't want it do end?  If you were to talk to students in attendance at the 2014, 4th annual Winter Blast, many would fall right into that category!



A fun time a club

Winter Blast is what we in Sitka call our annual winter Young Life camp.  Kids from Mt. Edgecumbe, Sitka High, Pacific High, as well as home schoolers all join forces with their Young Life leaders to share a weekend of fun, laughter, worship, the gospel, and conversations.  This year there were 30 students who participated from MEHS (a record number in any YL camp, summer or winter!) and 34 students from Sitka.  Tom and Jessica Mute from Nome came and led our music; Jim Stuck, from Idaho, was our speaker; and Kent Williams, from Oregon, was in charge of making sure we were all laughing- providing us with hysterical up front skits and leading us in great group games.  The last night of the camp students and leaders stayed up till 2 because they didn't want camp to end.  Patrick, a MEHS leader heard from many kids that they wish the weekend would happen every week.  Elise, our longstanding MEHS girls leader said that girls in her group said that they wished their friends back in their villages had a chance to experience Winter Blast.  





 

Our group photo of MEHS students at Winter Blast

Camp is about breaking down walls and forming bonds, and that is just what happened.  This is the reason why kids wanted to stay.  Kids were hanging out with leaders and with peers from other schools. Camp is a special place where leaders can demonstrate God's love and where adults have an opportunity to share about the difference that God has made in their own lives.  It is a place where kids can ask questions and where people don't feel judged.  One of our MEHS alumni Jennifer Immingan was able to put her feelings into words when she wrote:

YL camp was the first place where I felt like I wasn't a loser. I was astonished every day by how the camp served me and put on surprise events for me. It was the place where I first sat still and reached out to the God I had previously seen as distant. I had never been served before camp, and I didn't know what to do with all the kindness from my leaders and the camp staff. That kind of selflessness and affection did not exist in my life, and it made me yearn even more for the goodness, more curious about the God behind it all.

There was so much laughter and I was able to see high schoolers giggle like little kids on scooter boards in the gym.  I wish you all could have been there to see what you are a part of through your prayers and support.  It was really ... amazing.

 

 a great time in the gym