Alaska

I haven't posted in a while, sorry, I really didn't even get the Zimbabwe experience finished up for you and here we are in Alaska on vacation. We are having a wonderful time, good weather and I am enjoying good fresh salmon (the "others" don't like salmon!). We started out in Anchorage on Friday, drove up to Denali on Saturday, took an all day bus tour through the park on Sunday into the interior to Kintishna Roadhouse and back. Today we left Denali and headed to Fairbanks and a gold mine demonstration and then North Pole, the city of North Pole, AK that is.
Here are a few photos of the wildlife we have been blessed to see. A black bear along the road trip into Denali with triplets! A rare occurrence according to a park ranger who stopped along side the road with the rest of us. I was able to get a photo of all 3 cubs in one shot!!! On the park tour we say the moose and a grizzly and her cub. Such a beautiful part of the country!

Video Summary

Tom produced this video as a summary of our ministry time in Zimbabwe. It's just under 9 minutes. All the songs they are singing are praises to God.

Thursday

Another full day again today. Again we do our planned intro at this school. This photo is our group singing for the kids.

This is one of many huge termite mounds/hills that we saw all over the countryside. This one is near the school yard. Tom is 6' 3" or better and as you can see that is a mighty termite hill!!!

Marilyn and I again have the youngest kids. Today she is teaching the teacher how to make balloon animals. We, along with two teachers and Pastor Jeffrey made a balloon animal for each of the kids in the group. The kids loved them of course!

We have also been teaching the kids songs...this is a photo of the kids doing the "ape" motion in the King of the Jungle song. They also loved the "bubble, bubble, bubble" for King of the sea.

While we are with the kids at the school, Tom was asked to speak to a group that had gathered at the church nearby. Public speaking not in Tom's comfort zone he went with Jack and Joshua and introduced himself, shared about what he does for a living, about his faith and answered questions they had regarding us Americans. He said afterward that his "box" (comfort zone) was completely obliterated. A very humbling experience.

This afternoon after lunch Ephesians arranged for us to tour the crocodile farm that is next to the place we are staying. Now looking at a lot of crocs up close and personal, even behind a fence is a bit disconcerting, watching them being tossed food was another thing all together! They move a lot swifter than you would imagine and thank God for the distance we had during that experience! A healthy dose of respect for such an ancient looking beast.

Jesus Film

While in Zimbabwe we partner with Life Ministry Zimbabwe, also referred to as the Harare team. Harare team because that is where their home office is. They receive the shipping containers sent by Gain and oversee the distribution of the aid. While here we also are partnering with the Jesus Film ministry.

3 evenings of our visit the Jesus Film team goes out and shows the film near or at the sites we visited that day. It was estimated that 1500-3000 people attended each showing of the film. It is a wonder to watch the people come and to see their reactions to the different parts of the film. The crowd may be small when the film begins but they still be trickle in as late as the 4th real of the film as they all are on foot and may walk many kilometers to get there. You get a huge turnout as the movie is entertainment and some may have never seen a movie before. The great thing is they all get to see and hear the gospel message. And many step forward to receive Christ or to be prayed for by our team. It is an experience beyond words as we lay hands and pray over hundreds of people; to hear what their concerns are for God and to feel the fever on those suffering from malaria, to see up close the need for clothing and shoes.I have seen the film now in three languages, none of which is my own English. I have seen it in Ukrainian, Shona and now Tonga. The movie still surpasses the need for words when you know the story being told.

Wednesday Ministry Sites

After a full day yesterday and a debrief of what was working and what may need to be tweeked, we slept fast and were up and at 'em early again. We ran our program today about the same as the day before. Today after we are done with the classes though we help with lunch prep and feeding the kids. The feeding program uses food packaged by Feed My Starving Children and partnering with Global Aid Network for distribution in over 40 countries.

We each took a turn at stirring the pots to keep them from burning over the fires as well as a turn dishing up the kids. While we are stirring the ladies who cook for the kids each day are hearing the gospel and recieving an apron from the ministry. These aprons have the same colors as the bead bracelets that we use to tell the gospel message to the kids.

The needs here in Zimbabwe are evident every where you look. The torn and ragged clothing and lack of shoes. The lack of clean water and the many bore holes (wells) that were not functioning. The lack of medical care - there were many children with malaria in all of the schools we were at. No school supplies...how does one learn without anything to take notes on or with? And with no furniture in the classrooms and some without classrooms, just a tree and a chalkboard on the outside of a building. It is a humbling sight to see the need and to hear the children sing and see them dance in their barefeet.