Saturday, June 20th - Day 8

So, it has taken me a while to get here (I'll blog about this week's events later) but I've finally gotten to the last day, Saturday we woke up, had another lovely breakfast, loaded up, and headed to Anchorage. Our flight was not until 7:30pm, but another team was flying in by noon so we needed to get the vans to the airport. We got into Anchorage with about 2 hours to spare, so Pastor Henry surprised us by taking us to the zoo! Okay, I know that may sound silly, but it was very fun, and I was thrilled to FINALLY get to see moose. Plus, we got to see baby moose and they were too cute for words. After the zoo, it was to the airport for six hours to await our flight.

With six hours to spare, I had a lot of time to think about the trip. It was unlike any mission trip I've been on before, but it was only my 3rd mission trip (not like I have an abundance of experiences). My first was to Maine in high school to do a backyard Bible club for kids, and my second was in college to a small town in Alabama to re-roof a church that had lost its roof in Hurricane Katrina. I've also done a lot of resort ministry in and out of (after) college. However, again, this trip was very different. The purpose of the trip was to build relationships between the community and Settler's Bay Community Church and to do some service projects. Did we accomplish what we set out to do? Absolutely. That and so much more. A mission trip to Alaska was definitely not like a mission trip to Cambodia, or Haiti, or Mexico... But what an amazing, productive trip. How awesome for Henry to take our team to such a beautiful part of God's creation to put us to work... We heard from Pastor Jim the week we got back, and the majority of the kids that showed up he had never seen before-- How awesome is it that the hours of walking and passing out fliers really made a difference?!

Here are my top 10 highlights in no particular order (because how can you put these in order?)

-First view from the plane of the Alaskan Mountains
-All of the "What happens in Alaska stays in Alaska" moments
-Climbing the rock at Beluga Point
-After hours of yard work, seeing the sweet, grateful expression on Ms. Frances' face
-Visiting Girdwood where friends are moving
-Passing out fliers for VBS and inviting families to come to SBCC
-Mornings with the Schneiders
-Quality time with Kelsey and Camille
-Being in a place where nature draws me into a closer relationship with God
-Building priceless relationships with church/team members from Noonday