Saturday at Kako

I SURVIVED!!!!!! Actually today was a wonderful day. We got here in Alaska with no problems, and all of us are trying to survive till dinner is over so that way we can go to sleep. I think we all are in zombie mode..Or at least all of us girls are. We all left the church this morning around 5.15 for the airport. We got all checked in, then went through security to get to our gate. Of course Lacey, Sheila, and I had to stop at Starbucks before we sat down to wait for the plane =] so that was eventful! I got called dangerous though as I was looking for our gate because we were having problems finding c11. When I found it I waved to the group behind me and almost ran over someone… He in return remarked to his wife very seriously that I looked like a dangerous person. Granted I hadn’t had my coffee yet..but I don’t think he knew that. (hehe...)
We arrived in Bethel on time and from Bethel had a short plane ride that took about a half hour long to Kako. I have to say I am now hooked on small planes! For the first time in my life I got to fly a small cargo plane! It was very exciting for me and I am really happy the pilot showed me how to fly it. I don’t think I will every forget the experience! Here is a link showing the kind of plane it is and what it looks like. http://www.chooseyouritem.com/airplanes/photos/292500/292768.1980.Cessna.182.RG.Skylane.jpg

Alaska looks like Washington but It has a barrenness to it that’s intriguing. There is water everywhere...Ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. All of those just run through the land. As we flew to the camp we basically went over a huge marsh or bog and then passed over a part of the Yukon river. We were between 1000-2000 feet the entire ride so it was wonderful to see more of a close up of the land which does not happen usually in a huge jet=] The longer I am here the more I am happy that I had no presuppositions about the camp before we got here. They have an abundance of people here so there are not things to do for any of us until tomorrow night or Monday. Granted I don’t think many of us are in a good enough shape to do much work tonight because we all are running on around 3-31/2 hours of sleep.
I do have to admit that the mosquito’s are amazing… I have never seen anything quite like it and after looking at those suckers it makes you want to soak yourself in Deet so they stay away. While we are here we are going to try out as many “old wives tales” as possible for how to keep mosquito's away from you. We have tee tree oil, dryer sheets to stick in our pockets, peppermint oil, and I am sure there will be more things I find out the longer I am here.
I think that is about it but I wanted to say thank you again for all your prayers. Please pray that my team and I would all be able to be at peace with whatever the camp or the Lord wants us to do here. Apparently the average sleep a counselor gets a night is 3-4 hours of sleep so I know I will be only surviving through the Lord’s strength next week if that’s where he places me. I know while I am here I want there to be nothing between the Lord changing me to be more like Him so please pray for me to keep that on my mind as i go throughout my day.

Leaving for Alaska...

As I packed tonight i thought about what would be in store the next two weeks. It seems weird to think that i will be gone the same amount of time i was gone on the Europe trip. I wanted to tell everyone thank you, for your prayers for me and the money many of you provided for my trip. I was given over the amount needed for the trip and it was really wonderful for me to see how the Lord provides. I cant wait to go to the camp and find out how the Lord is going to use me these next two weeks! My missions team will be updating what is going on at the camp at www.aflchurch.org/missionteam Thank you all again for everything you have done to help me go on this trip! I cant wait to write about the whole trip when i come home! =]

With love,
Ariell