First Work Day in Alaska

Sometimes it sounds as if Alaska is this romantic, fun, faraway place where you can fish for humongous fish all day, see grizzly bears at Denali Park, and enjoy life.

The truth is that Alaska is a lot of work, and this year there has been rain and rain and rain,

and therefore mud and mud and mud on the driveway to the house we were working on. 

And don't forget the constant attacks by mosquitoes every time you go out the door.

I dropped Jonathan at this house and then Danny and I had to go back to get our boots.

Thankfully, we'd thought to bring boots along.

The missionaries had lived in this basement all during last year's long Alaskan winter.

The "roof" of flooring and plastic had leaked, and now there were puddles and ponds of water all over the top of it.

The rest of the crew wasn't going to be arriving till that evening, and Jonathan did not know where to begin.

"I don't know what to do," he said. Most of both missionary families in the area were busy at school, and the father of the family who lived in this house was gone all the way to Fairbanks to get material. 

He'd had trouble with his brake caliper two days earlier, burning it up and nearly burning his truck up in the process. He had to repair that and stay overnight because he hadn't been able to get to Home Depot in time before it closed.

Gingerly, Jonathan started untacking lath strips holding the plastic down. 

Gingerly, Danny and I started shoveling water off the roof.

I also drove back to where we were staying to get a broom to sweep the water off.

 Jonathan unscrewing the lath.

Another way to do it!

Uncertain whether to pull the plastic off yet in case it started to rain, we waited until after lunch when the weather cleared, and Jonathan peeled back half the plastic and began the task of unsrewing all the temporary and borrowed plywood that was too thin for flooring anyway, in preparation for putting down the new, thicker, permanent flooring on top of the basement.

The wall panels lying all over the "roof" of the basement were there, ready to be set up. 

They were called SIPs panels, (Structural Insulated Panels) with 8 inches of insulation between the plywood sides. Each panel was heavy!

Finally we had reinforcements!

Keith Lavery of Society of Indian Missions is the one who called Jonathan about joining a crew he was putting together to help another missionary family in Alaska. 

Sam was flying up from Denver with ten of the crew, with more to arrive on Monday of the next week.

We were so grateful when the rest of the crew showed up that evening!

They didn't even wait for supper. They just fell right to work, determined to get as much done as they could in the week they were there!

Not a lazy bones among them.

That crew was one motivated crew!

And I was so proud of our 13-year-old Danny! He was such a big helper to Jonathan that first day or two. He's helping roll a log underneath the wall panels that had to be taken off the "roof" and stacked ready to set up the next morning.

He also helped with moving the plywood flooring pieces.

And putting beads of glue on the joists before the guys put down the flooring. 

Taking our children with us on these trips is wonderful!

Sam arrived that evening as well.

Back at the house where the crew was staying, I had spent most of the afternoon unloading and organizing groceries that had been bought for the crew, and making pies and jellos ahead.

The crew chose to pay for all their own food except for the meat the missionaries were supplying. 

One of the missionaries had gone hunting for caribou a couple weeks earlier, on purpose to have caribou sausage and roasts for the crew!

Here is a moose stew meat for stew!

Our 26th Anniversary in Alaska

Little did we know until about three weeks ago that we would be spending our 26th anniversary flying to Alaska on a mission trip!

But with God answering prayer about receiving the required negative Covid test results within 3 days of flying, we were freed to go!

And this is what we saw on our way from the airport to our cabin the first night in Alaska!

I couldn't help thinking of the many rainbows the Lord has blessed Jonathan and me with,

from the one that shone in the east as Jonathan packed up to move to New Jersey to help his brother build a house (he was still single then and felt God was saying to him that He had something for Jonathan in the east--which turned out to be me!)

to the rainbow shining in a clear blue sky in Ukraine when we felt we had to leave Ukraine, but were uncertain;

to the rainbows all through the years that we've enjoyed out here on the prairie, reminding us of God's promises.

And then  there was one in Alaska--the evening we arrived!

Here is the Alaskan flag flying at the airport--the Big Dipper and North Star on a dark background.

I thought this heart-shaped garden of some kind, coming into Fairbanks from the airport,

was quite special for our anniversary.

The crew that was coming to help build the missionaries a house would not be flying until Friday, but we got our tickets two days early so that we could spend a day at Denali Park for our anniversary.

And Jonathan, while trying to book a night's stay at the cheapest motel he could find,

accidentally had an ad for this Air BnB pop up, on a sale for cheaper than the hotel room!

So he booked one night, and this is the entrance to the place, just seven miles from Denali Park.

The sign on top of this says, "Husky Homestead."

We found out later that this Air BnB and properties around it were owned by a champion sled dog racer named Jeff King, and his properties were dubbed Jeff's Kingdom!

   

This is the cabin where we stayed.

Another view from the back where we parked.

Pansies even in Alaska!

Here is the book written by Jeff King. I glanced through it, and found that he works with his sled dogs every single day of the year.

Here were more books by other authors on the same subject. Wish we'd had time to read them!

Jonathan looking out the big window of the dining corner of the little cabin, watching Danny (whom we'd brought with us since most of the others have gotten to travel overseas with us or have had other privileges, and it's his turn) who is exploring out by the pond.

And me in the kitchen, of course!

In the basket of goodies placed for guests, there were even two avodados--perfectly ripe!

I cut part of one to eat with our sausages for breakfast, and the rest I sliced for on Jonathan's and my sandwiches the next morning,

which we took for our day trip to Denali Park.

Upstairs in the loft was most delightful, with these lovely banisters showing a moose to the left and a man with sled dogs to the right.

Morning sunrise from one of the many big, bright windows.

The next morning we hurried off to catch our bus to Denali Park.

At Denali Park there was this fire hydrant with a long stick up to show trucks where it was if the snow was deep. 

At Denali Park, we aren't allowed to take our own vehicle, but there is a tour bus we can ride about 30 miles into the park to see Mt. Denali, (used to be called Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America).

There were beautiful views everywhere!

"You're lucky," we were told. There had been rain for weeks, they said, with this day being the first sunny day in a long time. 

Jonathan and I looked at each other, with a silent understanding. 

We didn't feel lucky. We felt blessed. We had put God's kingdom first, and He was blessing us with the first sunny day in weeks!

Still, depending on the clouds, we might not see Mt. Denali. 

And we might not see any wildlife, either. 

You just never know, the driver said.

I hoped and prayed for Danny's sake, whom we'd brought with us, that we'd see a bear at least. 

Hopefully.

If not, there were plenty of beautiful mountain scenes!

BUT, this was one of those good days!

We were so thrilled to get to see grizzly bears both on the way up and the way back.

And a moose.

And Mt. Denali behind the American flag!

And us in front of Mt. Denali, the tallest mountain in America.

And oh, by the way, we also, on the way to Seattle and then Alaska, got to see Mt. St. Helens.

Danny had JUST read a book about it blowing up. We saw the side that blew out.

We also saw Mt. Ranier and other mountains.

And caribou.

You gotta be careful when hunting caribou. Both male and female have antlers.

And we heard about one man who accidentally shot what he thought was a bull caribou

only to discover it was a cow. He had to pay a $325 fine and hand the meat over to the game warden at the check point.

So yeah, even in Alaska there are game wardens and fines if you make a mistake.

Lots of rivers from melting glaciers, with lots of silt.

There is Mt. Denali, the white-capped mountain in the distance.

This grass is called cotton grass, we think. Correct me if that's wrong.

  

At the end of the road, we found lots of blueberries ripening on these dwarf blueberry bushes.

This is what the bears eat, and I guess this is how they pick them,

on all fours!

Some very happy moments!

 Some even happier ones when we ate them!
Some were tart, but some were luscious!

 This is where apparently a bear had dug, trying to reach a ground squirrel.

This sign shows that the sun would not set until 9:29 that day! We had long days in Alaska!

A moose along the road on the way back in the bus. We had to wear a mask the whole time on the bus. Thankfully, the driver said that when you were off the bus, there was "plenty of fresh air for all," and we could take off our masks while out in the fresh air.

Jonathan's sister Barbara lived in Alaska for about seven years before she got married.

This is the church at North Pole, AK, where she attended and also taught school. 

It was great to see it in person. 

This is also where a Paul Finch attends, who worked with my brother Elon and family at the orphanage in Mongolia.

We wished we could have attended evening service, but we had a long drive ahead of us to reach our destination that evening to work on a missionary home

which needed to be under roof before winter.

Winter, they say in Alaska, starts on September 1st.

So we didn't have much time!