- June 22, 2017
The Alaska mission team continues to work hard and enjoy good fellowship on their trip!
The teens have been giving out about a thousand tracts a day to cruise ship tourists. They are finding more people will accept the tracts than not, and some fellow believers have recognized their outreach and thanked them for doing so. Ships come into Ketchikan's port every morning, so half the teens offer the Gospel to these visitors while the others work at the church and Gateway Christian School. They have finished painting and organizing several classrooms.
The work team is finishing construction on a new deck despite some rain. During a moment of downtime, they hijacked the boys' air mattresses and tied them to the ceiling of the school gym! This earned them special reserved seating directly under the air mattresses at dinner. Stay tuned to see how the teens will get them back!
The group is also making time for some sightseeing. On Monday, they explored some of the Alaskan Native influence in the area. They learned that totem poles are representations of family history, not deities for worship, and heard several stories behind local totem poles.
At the same park, the teens visited a replica clan hut that several families would have lived in. The hut measured 50 by 50 feet with many huge interlocking beams so it could be moved from place to place. A single doorway was designed with low height but 3 feet in depth for protection, requiring any intruders to crouch down in a vulnerable position in order to enter the hut.
On Tuesday, they took a sea plane tour around the island and enjoyed spectacular views of mountains, lakes, and snow. Wildlife spotted on the trip so far includes bald eagles, seals, deer, and giant slugs.
In the evenings, several members of the Gateway congregation have invited the team into their homes for fellowship and encouragement. On Wednesday night, they were able to worship with the church family again as well as serving through song and childcare.
Please continue to pray!
- Pray for the 3500 souls who have received Gospel literature so far. Pray that 1 person from the local Ketchikan area would be saved and added to Gateway Baptist Church, and that 1 person from the Cleveland area would receive a tract and be saved as a result!
- Pray for traveling safety as the team flies home Friday night and Saturday morning.