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Last Sunday I got back from working as "camp nurse" at Tanalian Bible Camp!
This camp is incredible -- it is nestled next to the Samaritan's Purse Lodge (for wounded veterans) on the shores of Lake Clark in Port Alsworth & serves primarly, for fifty years now, the children from the villages of Bristol Bay. The camp is only accessible by plane (like many of the villages it serves). The flight in was stunning, breathtaking -- dozens of glaciers, mountain peaks & belugia whales!
I spent the week organizing an over-abundance of donated medical supplies, working with an Alaskan doc for campers medical needs, and jumping in on lots of camp activities --from "capture the rubber chicken" to canoeing and tire swing spinning! And there were lots of abrasions and blisters and bandaids! By the end of the week there were more sick counselors than campers with the sore throat plague -- after becoming the camp cough-drop dispenser, it was this lovely cold that I ended up taking home with me!
It truly was a blessing to be able to serve with this camp & definitely something I hope to do again!
It was refreshing to see a new fantastic part of Alaska, to hike mountains and jump over waterfalls, to be silly with kids, to make some pretty great new friends. Please pray for this camp and its beautiful ministry to so many broken children. The camp's clelar presentation of the Gospel in daily chapels was encouraging and brought up lots of good questions among campers!
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| The view from TBC! I hiked that mountain with a Biola student! And with a friend of Tim's friend from Maine! |
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Tim finishes welding school this week!
Our decision for Tim to do welding was affirmed over and over and he made strides in his work and excelled in skill. Please pray for Tim now as we pray for job opportunities to fly open! There aren't any feasible options for him in the Copper River Valley -- so we are praying about relocating to the Mat-Su Valley. Last Friday (on Tim's birthday!), Tim was thrown into a last-minute interview at a fabrication shop in Palmer. This would be an incredible situation with a great set-up for gaining lots of experience. Please pray that this company would hire my man on -- and that we won't get our hopes up if we shouldn't...
At the same time, I have been wrestling with trying to transfer my loan-forgiveness contract to an eligible site in the Mat-Su area. Just when I think I have found something that should qualify, the option gets eliminated by the Health Resource and Service Administration analysts in charge of my award. Come September I will have one more year remaining in my contract commitment. Defaulting really isn't an option (it would involve paying the government every dime and then some back), so we are praying that somehow I might be released from my contract or that somehow the feds will approve a site...so that should Tim get a job in the valley, I would be able to go with him. I was excited about the possibility of home-health nursing, but this has now been considered ineligible. Right now, we are praying for a public health nurse position in Wasilla to come through. Please pray for this. The back-and-forth correspondance war with HRSA has been exhausting.
Ultimately Tim & I just want to be able to enjoy living together and to serve Jesus and people through our professions -- that's the goal. It has been a rocky road professionally for both of us the whole past year -- plus the wearing bit of being apart for four months of our first year -- we eager for good change to say the least.
Things sure have been interesting since I moved up to Alaska.... I am so not in control.
I'll definitely be praying! It was so good to meet you at camp and hike with you!
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