Archbold Evangelical Church

After months of preparing, we have finally made it to Alaska! Our flight landed early in the morning, so we were blessed to sleep at a hotel for a few hours before our PPM staff picked us up for lunch at Arctic Roadrunner. We had the options of various types of burgers (including halibut and salmon!). It was delicious. After lunch, we visited souvenir shops downtown and then started the journey to Soldotna! 

Today we drove down to our host church in Soldotna! The drive to Peninsula Grace was absolutely breathtaking! We are so in awe of God and His masterpiece! What a way to start the week!

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”                 ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17:7-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In our lives, it’s so easy to become distracted from our purpose. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget who we’re serving. It’s so important to be rooted in the Lord, His Word, and His love so that no matter what happens we can be like a tree planted by the water, unwavering. So to keep our focus on the Lord we choose to spend time alone with Him in His presence. This gives us the strength to boldly live each day for Him!

This week our group is honored to partner with Peninsula Grace Church, a gospel-centered community committed to reproducing disciples of Jesus.

We will be serving on campus, as well as being an extension of Peninsula Grace into the community. We have already enjoyed connecting with a few of the church members, and are so surprised to know of so many small connections we have back home in Archbold!

After church on Sunday, we made our inaugural stop at a coffee hut! Coffee huts are little sheds that line the streets of Alaska, where residents and visitors stop to get their daily brew. Normally these operate as drive-thrus, but our group opted for a walk-up option. It was fun to try different things, especially a plant-based caffeinated drink called lotus. 

Alaskans love their coffee, so our stop was truly a cultural experience! 

Once we were all caffeinated, we drove 1.5 hours south on the Kenai Peninsula to the beautiful town of Homer (the halibut fishing capital of the world!) Homer sits on the Kachemak Bay, where the mountains meet the sea. It was a bit of a hazy day, but we still enjoyed seeing the mountains peek through the clouds.

We spent time eating lunch, going souvenir shopping, and seeing local arts and crafts being sold in the stores. Some of us went down to the beach where we were able to find some sweet looking rocks. All in all, it was a very restful way to start our week!

Alissa, our PPM trip leader, claimed she had a streak going of always seeing moose on the drive from Soldotna to Homer. Well, the moose did not disappoint, and we saw 10! Many of us practiced our moose calls, and some of us questioned what the plural of moose is (mooses? meese?? mice???), but all of us were excited about each moose we saw. 

Current Moose Count: 11

On Monday at Love INC our focus was on organizing two tents worth of items. One of the tents we organized was for household items, and the other was filled with clothing. We definitely came across some interesting items!

The staff at Love INC do a lot to connect churches to needs in their community, so we are happy to be able to prep for the garage sale so they can continue to do their day to day operations. 

We are loving the time we are spending with each other! Whether it’s conversations we are having during our van rides, serving together, or hanging out in our down time and playing games like basketball or Tenzi, we are loving simply being together. We praise God for how He has unified our team! 

“And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”                         ‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭8:10b‬ ‭ESV‬‬‬‬

Today we have chopped so much wood at the food bank! This task is essential to helping Alaskans get through the winter. Sometimes tasks like this can be exhausting and become mundane but with Jesus, we have joy in it! The Lord fills us with strength and joy even in tiresome moments! We love that through Jesus we can laugh and fellowship together through service!

We demolished the deck and stairs in front of the church on Tuesday! Here’s a picture of our MVP Gracie who definitely pulled the majority of the boards off! She had the honor of removing the last board of the day. 

We were back at Love INC on Tuesday to continue with garage sale prep. Our team found some treasures while we were sorting clothing and household goods. 

We were introduced to another ministry on Wednesday! Solid Rock Bible Camp exists to provide the youth of Alaska with outdoor experiences to encourage a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This week the staff is transitioning from their staff training into their first week of camp. We look forward to assisting them with some cleaning and pre-summer organizing!

After we visited Shelter of Hope, Greg (executive director of the food bank) took us to his favorite place in all of Alaska: the beach at Captain Cook State Park. We could have played with rocks for hours! 

A few of us have been looking for an opportunity to jump into a freezing lake while in Alaska, and our wish came true! 

We can’t believe that our week in Alaska is coming to a close! We spent the day on Friday driving back to Anchorage for our flight, stopping at a few spots along the way including this beautiful view! 

AEC Students,

it was an absolute JOY to serve alongside of you this week. Thank you for your dedication to serve the Lord and each other. Our prayer as we send you home to YOUR mission field is that you continue to be rooted in the word of God, in the love of Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Continue to be steadfast in your desire to serve with humility. Don’t stop encouraging each other with kind words and good deeds. Continue to trust in the Lord as Joseph did through the highs and lows of life. Remember how God has been faithful to us, and his faithfulness and love for you will never end! 

We love you! We are so proud of how God worked in and through you this week. 

See you again soon! :) 

- Alissa, Hannah, Debbie (your PPM staff)