James 1:2-3
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Here in Alaska we are still deeply seated in winter with on only the plans for summer camp giving us a glimmer of spring. We have been wearing hats, mittens, and boots for 7 months now! This year has been a blur of activity so far. Frozen pipes, flooded conference housing, maintenance upkeep at camp, a broken leg, school activities, gymnastics, Awanas, leading worship, snowmachine trips, tubing, ice skating, snow clearing, firewood hauling, etc. have been the normal run of activities this winter.
One way Rachel is finding to connect in ministry in our community is by being a medic on our First Response Ambulance Crew. Some intensive training to complete Rachel’s internship period (78 hrs in 2 weeks via 12-15 hr shifts) prompted her mom to come for an unscheduled last minute visit and to help with childcare over spring break. We had a wonderful time visiting and the kids loved getting reacquainted with Nana. It was fun to introduce her to winter in Alaska. The kids had a great time over spring break with her cooking and doing different projects. What a blessing she was to us!
Update!
In our last newsletter we asked for your help to get new batteries for our alternative power source that our house uses. We also asked for contributions toward getting more efficient lights and bulbs to put in our house to make the power that we have go farther.
Thank you for your prayers and your gifts. We were able to get approval from the camp to get batteries to replace our worn out ones. We also have ordered (with your help) LED lights from Ruud Lighting in Racine, WI which will be a huge improvement on how much power we will need to use for lighting in our house! Thanks so much!
- the Cotes
In March, Ryan had an opportunity to represent VBC in supporting another local ministry. Kingdom Air Corps is a ministry that trains pilots to fly “bush”. In the summertime KAC operates a fly in Bible Camp in the Brooks Range, north of the Arctic Circle. The children that attend are flown in from surrounding remote villages, all of which are inaccessible by any road system. Ryan and a group of other men, including a friend of ours who flew in from Northern Wisconsin, hauled Avgas and building materials up to the camp’s site. Ryan drove the camp’s semi up the Dalton Hwy, north of the Arctic Circle to Prospect Creek. This is the start of a winter road which they took to Bettles. From here they made trips on snowmachines and freight sleds 40 miles to the camp on Crevice Creek. Over the course of a week, they first broke trail, and then they made multiple trips in to the camp site and back out to the semi trailer hauling sleds full of materials and tanks of fuel. The men slept in trailers, converted with bunk beds and a wood stove. The first night there the temperatures were around -40 degrees Fahrenheit. The verse at the top of the letter was the theme of their trip. Amidst various mechanical, physical and temperature related trials, Ryan and the other men felt the Lord’s presence and protection and enjoyed some phenomenal Northern Lights displays.
The kids are keeping busy with school, Awanas and various outdoor activities.
Natalie loves to do gymnastics and has been invited to move up to the next level of training.
Naomi still loves to ride horses and is showing a natural talent for playing the guitar. She is also fearless on the snowmachine and loves to ice skate and play hockey.
Isabella and Natalie take piano lessons and show varying levels of annoyance with practice...”what? We have to practice more than one time??” They also love to ice skate and sled down our steep driveway.
We had some excitement this winter when Jeremiah decided to climb onto the roof of their tree fort. He lost his footing and fell about 20 feet down landing on his feet. He ended up fracturing his tibia on his left leg and had to be in a cast for four weeks. We praise the Lord that he didn’t land on his head or neck and that his injuries were as minimal as they were! He is back to being as active as ever.
With summer being somewhat imminent, and taking into account that we live on the edge of a lake we are looking forward to swimming lessons for all of the kids this May.
