Full Freezers and Warm Hearts

We have Moose!

Well, actually we now have hamburger, breakfast sausage, maple breakfast links, roasts, stew meat, ribs, backstrap, tenderloin, and 25 lbs. of moose andouille sausage. Have I mentioned how BIG a moose is? An average Bull Moose has about 300-400 lbs. of meat.  The church worked together with great effort to make sure that everyone's meat needs were met.  There were more people at church this year that could not hunt than could hunt.  (Law requires you be an AK resident for one year before you can shoot a moose).  So the church family rallied together and organized pairs of hunters with non hunters with the intent of the nonhunters going along to help with the whole process of getting the meat out of the wilderness and into freezers.  Consider it grocery shopping by boat.  When the church operates as a family it is easy to see God being honored. Acts 4:34a comes to mind: "There were no needy persons among them".  I believe part of my 'job' is to help meet the physical needs of the church as well as the spiritual.

Moose Heart...Don't knock it till you've tried it.

Right after my last post, I received a phone call from the chef at GILA, the boarding school.  He was wanting to show appreciation for what the believers have been doing for the community, so he invited us to cut meat that had been donated by guided hunters, most of whom only want the rack  Fifty percent of the cut meat goes to elders and to the GILA cafeteria to feed dorm students.  The other fifty percent we got to keep.  So we invited three other families in the church to help us cut four front quarters, four sets of ribs, and about 200 pounds of neck meat.
I hunted with Keith Ramos the following week from Monday to Friday. We came home with a moose, but not one that we shot. Steve Pavish took a medium sized bull and gave it to us to share. This completed our meat need for the winter. I thank God for the generosity of his people.

I arrived home from hunting on the 23rd and 4 guys from The Gathering Place Church in Alexandria Louisiana arrived on the 24th for a week long mission trip. Job number #1: Cut meat. The above meat pictures are from our 10 hour cutting party. The guys were such a blessing to us and our community. They cut meat for 5 families, gathered, cut and split firewood for a lady at church, leveled a porch, helped clean before winter snow, and worked at the church removing the failed sewer tank and beginning the bathroom remodel. I think the guys attained sainthood for their work removing the tank. Once we got it out, we found 3 quarter sized holes IN THE BOTTOM! 

The way it was.

As always we loved having the guys stay with us. They are already planning on coming again, and bringing their families with them.
Well, I feel that this is an inadiquate post for the business that has been the past month, but the business isn't over. I'm off to go work on the church bathroom some more.

Things you can pray for this week:

• Pray for a young native guy who I got to spend some time with today. He made a profession of faith last year, but has just started college and is struggling. Pray that he will connect with the believers I put him in contact with in Fairbanks.
• Youth Group: The Bible Church is going to be starting a youth group this month. Pray for guidance and leaders as we begin this ministry.
• YoungLife Basketball Clinic: The YoungLife youth ministry will be hosting a basketball clinic in a week and a half. Pray that the last minuet details fall into place and that the Holy Spirit will lead students to attend and hear the Gospel.