At the end of 2022, we were spending time with Jessica's family in Montana. (We appreciate continued prayers for her dad and mom walking through his diagnosis and everything that comes along with stage 4 cancer.) After visiting ministry partners and churches (with a remote commissioning for our Alaska assignment later in the spring), then...
We came to Alaska- At the end of April, we towed a 30-foot trailer that weighed close to 8,000 lbs. over 3,000 miles on the Alaska Highway from Montana to Alaska. This is some of the most remote section of highway in North America, through utter wilderness and skirting several wildfires. We broke down on the way and used up four spare trailer tires. At one point, Tim was on the side of the road for four hours working on a breakdown when a mechanic could not be found (within 200 miles!). God is faithful and strong, and God brought us through!
Renovated our Cabin- Right around our anniversary, we were blessed to become homeowners! We found a cabin on 5 acres of land in the Matanuska Valley (not far from where the Susitna River meets the sea). It was what many might call a distressed property, but it was in our price range to buy outright. The cabin had been sitting empty with no heat, water ,or power, and it looked bad. A few other people had looked at the cabin and walked away, but Jessica and I knew we needed a base to do ministry from and live. With lots of sweat, power tools, trips to Lowes (hardware), and some advice from builders, we renovated our cabin and got the water (thanks MT family!), power, heat, floors, doors, and windows all back to functioning. By the time snow flew, the cabin (while not fancy, by any means) was warm, dry, and smelled nice. We also cut down our own small spruce tree from an overcrowded grove on the property for this year's Christmas. God is a good and generous father! We have vision in the future of hosting visitors, colleagues as workshop facilitators, and short-term mission teams at this property, flying them into the interior of Alaska or driving to villages to do workshops together with friends and colleagues. (Currently, we have a guest space available for visitors or AirBnB guests, so let us know if you ever think of visiting Alaska!)
This year is the most... A phrase we keep hearing from local friends regarding weather patterns (like the summer rain and gray skies or record snowfall still coming down!) or the plethora of mosquitoes that appeared in the warmer months is, "This is the most ____ we've ever seen!" This gives us hope that we've survived the worst Alaska might have to throw our way regarding our adjustment to the climate! We would appreciate prayers for stamina and creative solutions on a budget for dealing with such daily realities in our environment.
God connections: Many of the open doors for our ministry come through organic connections which the Lord brings about, and we have been thankful for several of those this year in Alaska, Hawaii, and elsewhere! We enjoy the freedom to get to know new friends and hear about previous Wycliffe connections with villages as the Lord brings about opportunities, and as He brings those new contacts to mind to follow up with at the right time. You can pray that more opportunities to collaborate happen as we move forward--we are thrilled to be in a centrally-located position in order to reach both those considered remote and accessible only by aircraft and also those along the road system, whatever background or church they might come from!
Ministry Trips: Chickaloon, Seward, Whittier, Homer, Soldotna, Kenai, Willow, McGrath, Nikolai - As we got our footing in Alaska and started meeting people, we began to survey and explore communities with existing ministries or contacts. One of our favorite places in the summer is the town of Seward, Alaska, in the Kenai Peninsula. Here we started meeting people and mission groups and doing ministry. We picked up our puppy there, and we also started to understand the wonder and challenge that is Alaska. We were invited to attend a marriage conference and gathering of village ministry leaders in the village of McGrath, Alaska. This was about 200 miles by bush airplane from our cabin and was a wonderful time of fellowship and connections. Here we met contacts in remote interior villages and started working to reengage with work previous Wycliffe missionaries had done before us. Some of you were recently involved in sending Christmas gifts (Bibles, hats/gloves) to school children in the village of Nikolai. Thank you!
Alaska Disaster Relief: Leadership-We do not want to reinvent things that already exist and work well in Alaska. One pressing need people have is disaster relief from fire, floods, ice jams, earthquakes, etc. To respond to these needs, there is a network of volunteers across Alaska that work with the Alaska Baptist Resource Network (ABRN). Tim is a blue hat (supervisor) and helps to run responses. Tim and Jessica are both crisis chaplains, and in 2024 will work to train churches around the state to respond with the love of Christ to those in need.
We also got sent to work with the team in Lahaina, Maui, over Thanksgiving; in the aftermath of the fires, we came alongside displaced residents grieving the loss of their home (and sometimes loved ones) and life as they knew it. As you can imagine, the long days (starting around 4 a.m.) were intense yet rewarding, and the island setting and cross-cultural interactions reminded us somewhat of our beloved PNG village!
One of Us: Part of being a missionary is finding ways to become part of the local community, often through creative strategies, but often still using the gifts God created us with a natural desire to use. Jessica joined the Mat-Su Concert Band playing the flute, and Tim took an antique tractor (JD LA) to the state fair tractor pull.
Jessica worked with the village of Indorodoro to enter the first nine chapters of the village team's draft of the book of Acts, which is another step forward for the Blafe/Ranmo Bible translation! We are thrilled to stay in contact with the village team via email and messages on a mobile phone and encourage by their friendship and growth together in the Lord.
The village of Indorodoro is set to open their airstrip in 2024, after several years of backbreaking labor to clear the area, guided by Tim & Jessica's layout and supply of hand tools. Our dear friend, Jonah, who was the village chairman overseeing the project, passed away during the year.