July 16, 2012

Many people have been contacting us to find out where we are and what is happening. It has been about a month and a half since we landed on USA soil, so we felt our story began in Alaska and we will complete this blog in Alaska where we are currently still in transition.

When we last posted a blog, we were in Lakeland, Florida, visiting with relatives and doing some work on a little house we own there. Returning to the states has taken some adjusting, it seems like everything is so quick, full of endless choices, and lots of events to participate in. Our first night in Lakeland, we went with family to support a local football team in their final game of the year. We were able to have front row seats, as many in the family needed space for wheel chairs.

It was a fun filled evening and a successful win for the home town team. We were also able to spend a couple of Sunday services at the church with family. Colin is pictured below with his cousin Pat, and two of her adopted sons in front of the small church we attend when visiting.

Our time with family was filled with fellowship, food, and a good place to regroup before continuing  forward in faith. Julie continued to apply for jobs and even had an interview with the Anchorage School District while there. The interview went well, and she was placed on a "pre-hire" list. Not wanting to live directly in the city, she had applied for a few jobs in a couple of outlying suburban areas.

After ten days in Lakeland, we flew to Colorado for Julie to take two courses in order to get the six credits needed for re-certification of her teaching credentials. The "Teaching for Excellence" institute was held at a nice hotel in Vail, right in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The resort area mostly caters to skiers in the winter, but also had a lovely atmosphere in the summer. We found everything so manicured and a bit like visiting Disneyland with the area built to look like a village in Switzerland. Below, Julie is sitting by a statue of Mark Twain, one of many statues of famous people placed around the resort.

While Julie was attending her sessions at the institute, Colin explored around the area and was able to relax during the day. In the evening, we would walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery and flowers that surrounded us. Colin is pictured next to just one of the many wagons full of colorful flowers.

 The time at the teaching institute was extremely valuable to Julie. She participated with over 400 people, and spent her days in the large ball room at the hotel.

On Father's Day, Julie had a break in classes so we made plans to go up the mountain by tram and spend the day exploring the mountain top. We were already at 8,000 feet in Vail, and on top it was 11,000 feet. Colin is pictured while we waited for the tram to open, and notice the ski slopes in the background.

The ride up the mountain was gorgeous and gave us more of an aerial view of the area.

On top of the mountain, there were restaurants and information mostly designed to accommodate skiers in the winter. Reservations were in place to conclude the outing at a restaurant with a beautiful view and excellent brunch.

We were surrounded by mountains and had arranged to take a mountain tour in a safari vehicle. Like everything we were seeing, the truck was top quality and flashy. The seats were very cushioned and all the seats had seat belts. Nothing like the safari trucks we rode in while in Botswana.

As mentioned before, we were surrounded by mountains and the scenery was spectacular. Seeing the mountains, was preparing us for the return to Alaska.

The tour was one hour and we traveled over a few ridges overlooking valleys with numerous ski slopes. There was a cold wind on top, and on the midway break we needed heavier clothing.

Not only has it been somewhat difficult culturally for us to return to the states, but additionally to the cooler climate. Though, we were grateful to be in the mountains and not in the lower levels of Colorado. At that time, all over the states there was a major heat wave and many fires burning in other places of Colorado.

Our travels continued on the 25th of June, when we arrived in Anchorage Alaska five and a half hours after leaving Denver. We were met by endless daylight, rain, and some of our closest friends when we arrived. The next 11days were spent living in our friend's basement in Wasilla, looking for a car, and seeing other friends in the area. We even got to see Travis [the young pilot we started off with in Maun], before he left Alaska to start medical school in Iowa. When we were with friends, we were so engaged in visiting, that we never snapped any photos....The only pictures we took were of our friends, Joan and Jerry, in front of a triple Cape Buffalo podium mount when we had dinner with them one night. It was last July when they came to visit Botswana with Joan's sister who we knew from Galena.

On July 6th, we purchased a ten year old Ford Explorer and set off the next day for Tok. While staying with our friends in Wasilla, Julie applied for a position with the Alaska Gateway School District and was hired to work in a small village school in Tetlin.  The village has no running water, or suitable housing, so the teachers commute 22 miles on a dirt road from Tok.

During our time in the southern part of Alaska, it rained all but 2 days. The day of our departure, it was cold and wet. Even so the drive north/east was beautiful through the Matanuska river valleys.

Our new car did well climbing up over the mountains and winding two lane roads.

We even passed the Matanuska Glacier pictured in the distance of the next photo.

As we got closer to Tok, a large bull moose even posed for us near Mentasta Lake

Finding a bed and breakfast on our arrival in Tok, we spent the next three days looking for housing and seeing the school that Julie will be teaching kindergarten through 2nd grade students. Tok is more like a small town with a population of about 1,500 in the area and is on the Alaska Highway bordering Canada. We found people to be friendly and helpful. Our prayer had been to relocate someplace where we could continue to serve, and we already see that we can be used in a number of ways.

Looking for a suitable place to rent in a range we could afford was more difficult that we had expected. Finally, on the last morning in town we found just the right house for us and the owner agreed to lower the rent to what we could afford. We felt blessed and relieved! On our return in about a week, we were told that we could sign a lease.

July 10, we set off on the 4 hour drive to Fairbanks. Again, we had a place to stay and met with long time friends to catch up on the last few years. We were also pleased to find out that our youngest son had married his long time girlfriend! Both being very practical, they had eloped to avoid a fuss. Julie has been telling everyone that, "We have a daughter-in-law!" The following picture is of Clinton and Valerie on the day that they married.

While sorting through our things in storage and making plans to move things to Tok, we realized our car was in need of some repairs. Though more than we had expected, the Lord blessed us with a Christian dealership that gave us with numerous discounts. Everything was completed and a van reserved for our final leg back to Tok on Wednesday, the 18th of July.

 During our time in Fairbanks, we got more excited about the new position and community where Julie had secured a job. There is still a lot of need in Alaska villages and in the area we will be living, there looked to be many ministry possibilities.   

The afternoon of the 17th at 3pm, we picked up a 14 foot U-haul truck and began making rounds to pick up things in storage at 3 different locations. We had purchased a bed, so the first stop was to get it, then to the cold storage unit. By the time we got to our warm storage unit we had help for the majority of stuff we had moved out of Galena 4 years ago. The final loading location was at our friend's house, where we had more boxes stored in a shed. Below is a picture of the loading process at our final stop.

 

By the time we were finished, the inside of the truck was filled solid from top to bottom.

The next morning, we began the 4 hour drive to our new home. Along the way, the woman we had secured the house to rent from called to say there was a buyer for the house and we may only be able to stay there for 1 month. Hearing the news was a big blow, and as we both traveled in separate vehicles there was plenty of time to think. The photo below is of Colin driving the truck about 1 hour from Tok.

 

When we reached Tok, we had both felt that we were going to try to counter offer and buy the house we felt was for us. That day, we started the process with the bank, and by the end of the next day gave an offer that was accepted. As of this posting, we have been in a Motel for 3 days and plan to spend our first night at the house tonight [21st of July].  Internet has been a difficulty through most of our travel so far, and even more so for a while, when we move into the house. Please pray for us, as there are still a number of "hoops" to jump through before closing. If things do not line out just right we will have to move again and in addition, we could lose the earnest money down on the house....Pictured below is the house we feel is perfect for us in this new season and venture in or lives.

We had hoped for this to be the final blog with our Botswana adventure starting and ending in Alaska. It is possible that we will add a posting of the outcome of the house purchase, but we will be extremely busy for the next few months settling in and working at the school in Tetlin. Ourwish is to begin building relationships with families in the village soon and preparing the classroom for the start of the school year. It may be around Christmas before we will completely end this blog...Until we write again; we cherish your prayers while we transition. And may, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’Numbers 6:24-26

May 31, 2012

Currently, we are back in the states and staying in Florida visiting relatives in Lakeland. We tried really hard to get a blog posted on the last day we were in Maun, but just ran out of time before departing for Gaborone. On the 1st of June, we departed for Johannesburg and from there we connected with South African Airlines for our flight to the states. Our last month in Botswana was so full, not only with activity but also much emotion. Even though we are now in the states, we will try to recap some of the highlights from our last weeks in Maun.

After four years of hosting our missionary friend from Rakops when he came to Maun for business, Julie and a friend drove there to see the day care John has been running for orphaned and vulnerable children. The building and equipping of the facility is really an incredible story and too long to write down here, but it is apparent that God had a plan to see the children cared for in the rural community.  Julie is pictured below with her friend, Wendy, and John in front of the day care buildings.

There are 2 buildings with offices and a large meeting room along with four classrooms for children 2 years to 5years. Some of the teachers working there participated in the CEF training a couple of months earlier.

After the morning activities and lessons the children went out to play before having their lunch.

At lunch time, everyone sits outside the classrooms to eat their meal on a plastic plate.

Colin continued to fly a lot, right up until our last week. As always, there were numerous overnight stays at Jack's Camp. On one of those visits, he was fortunate to see lions on the drive from the airport to the camp.

One of the things Colin had been encouraging Patricia to do during the three years she worked for him, was to get her driver's license. We were pleased to see she passed her written exam after a number of tries, so Colin presented her with a special certificate. On our departure, she was practicing for the actual driving test.

Colin also turned over his Maun Base Supervisor duties to Keith on the 1st of May. Part of the turnover was presenting Keith with his own FMS rubber ink stamp. In Botswana, everything official must have a stamp on the documentation. This meant that Keith was "officially" in charge.

As our departure drew closer, our special belongings were gradually all packed and mailed back to Alaska. Colin had a few oversize items, such as the mounted horns that were given to him and that had been on our living room wall.  Those had to be sent by a taxidermist and we were able to finally meet Debbie Peak from Mochaba taxidermy.

Shortly before leaving, we saw more signs that Maun is becoming more modern. Two intersections now have streetlights installed. We did not get any pictures of the three used car lots that also just suddenly opened up in an industrial area.

Eleven days before we left Maun, a number of the young people Julie had been doing a discipleship Bible study with were baptized after church. There were seven teens who have shown a genuine commitment. In addition, Pusetso had been doing the study and wanted to make a statement of re-dedication in her faith. Pictured below is the group at Island Safari Lodge where the ceremony took place.

There was a small gathering of people from the church in attendance, and we joined together in song.

Pastor Alex shared a short message explaining the importance of baptism.

Then Julie and another church leader had the joy of baptizing the eight in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Alex met each one as they left the pool, to pray a special blessing on them.

It is now winter in Botswana, so you can tell that Julie and Graham were a bit chilled when they came out of the cold pool water.

A week before our departure date, Mark Spicer and Melly our scheduler, came up from Gaborone to have a farewell dinner with the Maun staff. FMS had recently hired another pilot and Ralph is in the blue shirt pictured with the Maun team at dinner.

Our last Sunday at church was very special. Julie was able to award the students that had fully completed the discipleship study, with a special certificate of completion sent to Maun from the FM home office in Gaborone.

Julie had started with twenty teens, but only ten stuck with the 18 lesson course. Not everyone was in attendance that day, but the core youth were recognized for their commitment in front of the rest of the church membership.

After church there was a lovely "going away" luncheon.  Julie is pictured below with the woman who will continue overseeing the Sunday school program, and some of the children that attend.

We will miss Lily's first birthday on the 11th of June, but Cheryl dressed her in a special outfit that had been saved for her birthday so that we could see her dressed in it. The flowers on the front are embroidered.

After church, Pusetso spent the afternoon at our house before we all went to another gathering. She has become a part of our dear family in Botswana and has been living back in Maun since January.

At 3pm that same day, our missionary friends that moved to Maun from Mahopa had an afternoon tea as a way to gather others to say goodbye.

It was such an emotional day, as most of our closest friends shared about our time with them in Maun. Then, there was lots of great baked treats to share together.

Below is a "self timed" photo of those that were in attendance and who have become like family to us while living in Maun.

 Our last week in particular was so busy with dinners, group gatherings, and people stopping by to wish us well on our travels. People poured out their love to us and we felt so blessed to have had such caring people to share in our lives while in Botswana. A group of close friends even paid for Julie to be pampered a bit before returning to the states. She was treated to a pedicure and a day at the hair dresser with Cheryl. Below is a picture of Julie with Lily after having her hair done.

We are so thankful for how our time in Botswana came to a close. FMS bought our household belongings and will continue to rent the house and flats on the plot where we lived. After finally getting the parts to fix our car, it sold to good friends that desperately needed a better running vehicle. The sale of our household goods and car will be used to relocate someplace in Alaska, though at this time Julie is still seeking employment as a teacher with hopes of being on the road system. We would appreciate continued prayer for a position where we both can continue to serve and be used of God. As we continue on our journey we will post more about our travels, and update on where we end up in Alaska, once those things become clear.

Though it was extremely hard to say goodbye to so many people who  have grown so dear to us, we felt it was our time to leave and that we had been obedient to the things God had sent us to do. The devotional page to follow, from a booklet on "Experiencing God", pretty much sums up our feelings.Click to enlarge.