On Monday we did laundry, cleaned and worked in the yard some. In Alaska everyone has to do any home repairs they have during the summer since the winters are so rough. That leaves people very busy with projects each summer. The Baldwins are replacing their deck, which is on stilts. The wood is rotting, so we tore a good bit of it down and will continue working on it.
Then on Tuesday Mr. Dave and Mrs. Nancy took me, my dad and brother to Gwinnie’s for breakfast, which was delicious! They have all of Anchorage’s history on the walls and many moose head. After breakfast I hopped in the Dodge Charger rental car with Michael and Dad and we headed to Eagle River. We made it just in time for the Bell Shoals group’s morning devotional and then drove to the local school, where w.jpg)
e helped with the Sports Camp the church was putting on. I walked around to different stations (baseball, basketball and soccer) and took pictures and interviewed the music minister some. I also got to throw the baseball around with some little kids, including one cute little girl named Callie! (made me think of you, Ms. Graham!) It was really good to have a little break to be with my family and members from my church. They fed us chili for lunch at First Baptist Eagle River and then we headed to Wasilla for the rafting trip! I wasn’t so sure about this trip to begin with because we were told that it was about 4 hours long. We even had to cross a small stream just to get to where we were putting the rafts in then we geared up. They went over all the safety precautions and then prayed for us. Our pastor, Gary Payne and Adam Welch fell in the river within the first 15 minutes of the trip because they were in a very small two-person raft that was difficult to control. I felt so helpless watching them fro.jpg)
m our big raft as they floated down the current and finally were able to grab onto a tree branch and get out of the river. At that time, it was about 3 p.m. and we did not return back to Anchorage until after midnight!! The rafting trip was a beautiful disaster though. We were on the freezing cold river for at least 7 hours. I was dressed warm enough and even wearing these huge waders that did not fit me at all, but when you’re wet and the water is in the 40 degrees, you do whatever you can to stay warm. We didn’t have anything to complain about compared to how wet our pastor and Adam were. There were about 14 of us total on the rafting trip, all men, except for me, Mrs. Wright and her daughter, Gracie. I knew something was 'fishy' when we first started off. The man who guided us, John, was a nice, Christian man, but had no concept of time or when to stop talking. He was also very ill prepared. But, we did have all the equipment we needed, he simply had not been to or rafted the Willow River since last summer, which we found out later. There were two huge blocks in the river that took us hours to cross. Gigantic logs had fallen and barricaded the river, where no rafts could get thru. The beavers had also caused a lot of river damage and we jokingly blamed them for our trouble. So, in the end, the men carried the huge rafts over the rocky terrain and Mrs. Wright and I backpacked all the stuff that was inside the rafts. It was definitely by God’s grace that we made it out of the river because at multiple times I thought we would end up calling someone in to rescue us or end up stuck out there for the night. It was a major blessing to know that it wouldn’t get dark. We finally made it to where our vehicles were at 10:30 p.m. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of a very long adventure for me, my dad and brother! They had a rental car to turn in by midnight and a flight to make at 1 am and we were still 2 hours or more away from the airport. I was a little worried, but I knew that if God could get us out of the river, that he would allow Michael and Dad to make their flight. Dad booked it to the airport and we stopped to get gas and directions. We turned the rental car in around 12:45 a.m. and they made their flight!! I was so exhausted and cold when Mrs. Nancy picked me up from the airport, but I got to see the moon and the sun still up and out at the same time on the way home and that was a really neat blessing!On Wednesday I went into the office at 8 and was still very tired, as you can imagine. I always dress casually when I go into the office and I figured there would be no reason to do any differently today, but they had to take my picture for their paper. It was a long day...I'm starting to get used to the 8-6 hour days. We had moose and Brussels sprouts for dinner and I watched ‘The Boys Next Door’ before I headed to bed. It’s a pretty funny movie, if you haven’t seen it!
On Friday we cleaned and mowed and got ready for Sarah and Luke who stayed in my room while we were gone this weekend. They are headed to North Alaska (Kobuk) to work with a village there. I will interview them tonight or tomorrow when we get back to Anchorage. We went to Sam’s, Costco and Fred Meyer to stock up on groceries for this week. It was such a beautiful day, the sun was out and it was about 80 degrees. Mrs. Nancy said for me to put my ‘skimpies’ on, so I did and we sat outside on the deck and soaked up the sun and drank lemonade. It was wonderful!
We left the house at 5:00 am on Saturday to make the 304 mile journey to Valdez for the weekend. At 2 p.m. we attended a pastor’s retirement picnic and I had the opportunity to meet so many people. At every event we attend, they announce, “We have Mrs. Nancy Baldwin with us today and Jennifer, who is a summer missionary.” I’m starting to get used to it now, but was caught off guard by it at first. After the picnic, we went back to the church to help the ladies prepare for Sunday’s ceremony. I washed more dishes than I have in my entire life and stemmed over 200 strawberries.
On Sunday we went on the Lu Lu Belle for their Chapel at Sea service. It is a free boat trip and worship service sponsored by First Baptist Valdez. We saw otters and had a nice time of music and message while on the boat. As we were exiting, I spoke with Captain Fred, simply asking him a little bit about the boat and how long they had been having the Sunday service and he invited me back as his guest for the 5 hr. boat tour! I saved a lot of money and had a wonderful time on the tour that left at 2 p.m. We saw doll porpoise, puffin, otters, sea lions and even humpback whales!! I had the best time
and sat up in the top of the boat in the captain’s cabin for a good deal of the trip.This entire weekend we stayed at Mrs. Linda’s house and it was so nice. We left there at around 6:30 am this morning to make the long road trip back to Anchorage.
-Please pray for Glenn and Nancy Little (the pastor of First Baptist Valdez who the picnic and ceremony were for this weekend), as they are retiring and moving.
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