The Final Post

Thanks so much for all the wonderful prayer support.  I think the adjustment back to Atlanta time was harder than I anticipated.  That, and a few technical difficulties, have kept me from posting more pictures.  Here are a few, what few I could get!

Safely Home!

Thanks so much for your prayer support.  The team arrived safely home in Atlanta and we are now making our way home.  The first flight went smoothly.  In Minneapolis, we ran into some delays with the aircraft.  But after a 40 minute wait, the plane was fixed and it was smooth sailing home.

I'm tired now.  Pictures tomorrow!

A Day at Denali

It was a wonderful day of rest and relaxation as the team went to Denali National Park.  We were up early (4 am) to be on the road by 5 am for a 2 1/2 hour drive to the park.  Once there, we boarded the bus to Eielson Visitor center and enjoyed the views.  The first animal viewed was a moose.  Funny how we never saw one in "Moose" Creek!   After that the sightings came quite quickly.  The bears you see below were wonderful.  We watched the 3 of them pig out as we went towards the Visitor Center.  Then, on the way back, they were sound asleep in nearly the same place.  Unfortunately, Denali wasn't visible to us at any time.  After a wonderful dinner, we came back tired and ready for some sleep.

Jack McCormick will be leaving for the airport soon (his flight leaves at 1:30 or so this morning, which is 5:30 or so Atlanta time).  We will straggle along a little later at 5:00 (9 am Atlanta time).  Keep the team in prayer as we travel home!

It's the Last Piece!

Hip, hip, hurrah!  Gary secured the final piece of drywall today, ensuring that the Child Development Center has walls ready for mudding, sanding, and (at some point) painting.  Of course, we won't be here for all of that, but it felt great to see the last piece come into place.

Now, the guys are putting up the corner bead (the metal strip on outside corners that keeps them from being knicked and dented up) and finishing the clean up.  Looks like we'll be finished early today.  The center looks great.

Last night really rocked, too.  The church youth came over and made a chicken taco dinner for the whole team.  We enjoyed talking and fellowshipping with them.  There must have been at least 20 or so youth present, a good sign always!  The best part was getting to see one of their own be baptized after the meal.  Rick commented that its always a good day when the baptismal waters are stirred.  So, congratulations to Brooklyn, one of the newest members of the family of God.

Cleaning and Working

The ladies of the team were busy today!  Yes, we continue to provide meals for our team, but we took on an extra task today.  The church currently has no one coming in to clean, vacuum and dust; so the ladies took on the challenge.  We were busy vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing and emptying trash for most of the morning and afternoon.  Pastor Bob was so happy (guess who would have had to clean the church if no one else showed up to do it), that he offered to take the ladies over to Eilson to see the park and static display.  We enjoyed seeing the various aircraft used over the last 50 years in Alaska and all over the world.  It was definitely hotter today, maybe around 75, but we were surprised by pea sized hail this afternoon.  It quite coated the ground, but (due to lots of cleaning) I didn't get a picture in.

I won't leave the men out, though.  They were busy drywalling and mudding today, finishing another large chunk.  The center should be fully dry-walled by the time we leave.  Keep up the hard work, team!

Happy Birthday, Charles!

Yes, once again Charles Fowler celebrated his birthday in Alaska.  This is the fourth year in a row that he has celebrated at Moose Creek.  He was a good sport and let us silly string him outrageously.  (Check out what the shirt he is wearing says.)  We enjoyed a fruity cake after he blew out sparkler candles.  His birthday is on July 4th, but due to fatigue from our outreach, I was unable to get this up last night.  Sorry about that!

Answered Prayer!

God is so wonderful!  I asked for prayer last night that God would provide for a way for us to continue to work during the power outage.  Well, here's what God did.  First, Pastor Bob had (or found, I'm not clear which) a generator.  It had some issues, but it was a good possibility.  Then, the power went off at 10 as we were told and came on at 10:40, instead of 2 as previously scheduled.  I'm not sure why the outage was only 40 minutes, but I thank God for it.  So, we were able to continue working, finishing up a lot of sheet rocking.  Now, it's time for the mudding.