Life in Alaska

Hello again from "up north to Alaska". Maybe we are beginning to become accustomed to being four hours later than home in Kansas. I was able to stay up past 9:00 last night and still get up at 5:00 this morning...however, it did take Bill calling me six times to get me awake. We are going to try out a new alarm next week to see if that helps.

It has been interesting working here. We are both pretty exhausted at the end of the work day and do our "senior toddle" back to the cabin. After a hot shower, we feel a little bit better, then a good night's sleep helps, too. For the most part, we are on our feet a good part of the day. A young college girl comes in and helps with dishes, cleaning floors, laundry, etc. around 11:00. We have to do the breakfast dishes, then begin to prepare for lunch. Usually, we try to do some kind of sandwich and soup for lunch. We had tacos and ham & bean soup yesterday; grilled hamburgers and zucchini soup today. As soon as lunch is over, we begin the evening meal which is the main meal of the day. We will take turns working Saturday and Sunday to have a little break.

Yesterday, Susan took me on the four-wheeler for a tour of the area. I was mistaken in my initial understanding of where we would be. The Tanalian Bible Camp is to our north (I think). Samaritan's Purse purchased a hunting/fishing lodge next to the Bible Camp. They are remodeling it and will make it handicap accessible to be used by wounded veterans and their families. The photos I have posted cannot capture the beauty of the area.

It is hard to grasp how people live in this area when you consider that everything arrives by plane. They have to call in or send by e-mail their shopping list and then the plane brings it in. All building supplies, fuel, etc. must come in on a plane. They just brought in some insulated windows today and in order to preserve the seal on the windows, they had to come through the pass - could not go over a certain altitude.

Yesterday, the fuel tanker plane came in and landed about 50 foot from our kitchen. It was a huge plane for the gravel airstrip that SP has built here. Susan and I were about to take cover under the work table because it was so loud and came down so hard when it landed. There is lots of traffic on the inlet cove out the large windows at the end of the dining hall. Both sea planes and boats can be seen throughout the day.

Well, I need to get back to work on another side dish for our evening meal. Pray that our bodies will hold up through the weeks ahead. We have met some neat people, and I am sure there will be others in the next crew that comes in on Monday.