Strong Rock Christian School

We had the incredible opportunity to enjoy a sunny, bluebird day in the mountains! The views are unbelievable up here. 

Today we split off into four groups and departed to serve at several different locations. This team helped prepare meals at Kid's Kupboard, a non-profit that is devoted to providing food to hungry children throughout the Mat-su valley. 

Monday part of the team went to Frontline Ministries. They are a multifaceted organization that serves the homeless population in the Wasila and Palmer area. They aim to serve with dignity and respect to everyone. 

One thing Frontline does is host a free Easter dinner and raffle. This is a free event open to the whole community and is always a huge hit! They will serve dinner, then have an auction for Easter baskets and prizes. Everyone is given monopoly money to bid on the basket that they want. 

Today we took time to hang up posters at over 25 different local businesses to help promote the event. All the businesses were very welcoming to us putting up posters and even led to some really encouraging conversations. 

Another part of the group was able to do some projects at Frontline to help them get organized to continue running smoothly. 

Some of the projects involved cleaning out an old van full of old clothing and trash. Other projects were putting new books in their little library, throwing out bags of trash, and sweeping up buckets worth of gravel in the parking lot. Alaska does not salt the roads but uses gravel instead, so as the snow melts it leaves loads of gravel all over. 

Before the Thrifter’s Mission Team set out for an opportunity to serve, we stopped for coffee and smoothies at Band of Brothers. This beautiful coffee shop provides a safe place for men to fellowship and share time together. 

Our team learned a lot about what it means to be un-housed and how food insecurity impacts the men and women we served today. We were most impacted by hearing how mental health can take a toll on people who don’t have a home to return to each night and how that greatly impacts their ability to find a job. We experienced an opportunity to pray for a mom and her daughter who hope to attend the Easter Dinner at Frontline. 

The Frontline Team earned a little downtime at Kaladi Brothers Coffee. It was nice to spend some fellowship time with each other. 

What a beautiful Spring night in Alaska! Mel played her ukulele and Grant his guitar. Just hearing the music outside and enjoying fellowship with each other brings a kind of warmth that only Christ can deliver. Hearing Hallie’s testimony reminded us that He will leave the 99 for the 1 and He never leaves our side. Our God is so good 🙏🏼  We enjoyed S’mores before everyone headed up the hill for a football game. 

Our last night of worship was a testament to the powerful and supernatural way that God moves through people to grow His Kingdom. Once again we stepped into a place of vulnerability and unfamiliarity to talk about how Christ has changed our lives. Hearts were softened, youth expressed a desire to reconnect with their home church youth programs, people who didn’t know they were coming until the last minute changed their attitudes about God after their experiences. And even some talked about finding a home church upon return. 

The Holy Spirit was felt and grace, love, hope, and faith were known to those who looked for the face of Christ. We walked away feeling stronger, strong like Strong Rock.