Alaska Reflections - Part One

As we flew in toward Anchorage, I could begin to see the snow-covered mountains and glaciers.  I was excited and looking forward to the end of a long plane ride.  Soon, we all would reunite after a long travel day which split our group, sending four of us through Phoenix.  Our layover there had been long enough to leave the airport, feel the 110 degree heat, and see a little bit of Scottsdale.  Now, we were on a ride from Anchorage to Seward.  It was 2:00 a.m. local time, and it was not dark.  By the time we all lay down to sleep, it was after 4:00 a.m.  The next day, we started work late but did hang our first sheets of drywall.

We had a good day Saturday.  Sunday, we had a great service at the Seward City Church, held at the Seward Middle School, the site of our accommodations for the week, as well.  It was great to see the people of this congregation.  We met many of them.  Several of them provided lunches for us throughout the week.  The food we had was plentiful and delicious.  Our host and leader of North of Hope, Rod Koop, prepared some fine meals including a halibut dish I will remember for some time.  Anyway, back to the mission.  We did some work on Sunday afternoon.  Monday, it seemed to take a while to get into a groove, but we continually made good progress.  Tuesday would be our fun day with no work, and it would represent a midpoint of our effort in Seward.

Seward is located in a beautiful spot on the Kenai Peninsula.  At the beginning of Resurrection Bay, Seward is referred to as a gateway to Alaska.  Some mornings, a cruise ship was docked there, and hundreds if not thousands of tourists would wander around town.  We spent time in downtown Seward a few times, being wandering tourists ourselves and looking for the right souvenir.  We learned about Alaskans coming into town to camp on the weekend to fish.  Salmon runs peak in late spring and/or early summer, and many people depend upon this natural resource to make it through the long winter.  Overall, we really enjoyed Seward and met some great people.  We were blessed with amazing weather; it was great enough the locals were talking about it.  It was sunny and warm most of the time.  To me, this could be a metaphor for God's blessing upon our team and our work.