Greetings from rainy Hollis, Alaska!

We finished up our time in Ketchikan Saturday the
14th, and took the 3 hour ferry ride to Prince of
Wales island. The ferry is called the Alaskan Marine
Highway. Most of the 1,000 islands that make up
southeast Alaska are probably uninhabited, but the
only “highway” to them is either a boat, or float
plane. The mainland as well does not have roads
either. It is mountainous, and much of the ground is
“muskeg”, (soggy wet) from the approximately 200
inches of rain per year.

In Ketchikan I was impressed with the local church. We
were able to attend a prayer meeting with about 30
others representing 6 or so local churches, a
“Gathering” which is a monthly meeting in which the
native “Tlingit” culture is embraced in worship and
testimonies, as well as the weekly prayer meeting at
an AoG church which draws around 40 mostly young
people for rousing worship and prayer for the
community.  These meetings indicated to me that the
church has a good degree of health, and can expect to
be fruitful in the near future. There are corporate
worship services scheduled for next March. Please pray
for a rich harvest.

We also were blessed with a going away party by the
Boys and Girls Club of Ketchikan. We only had about a
month to get to know these children, but they stole
our hearts, and showered us with gifts, and love.

In Hollis we are staying at a CMA (Christian
Missionary Alliance) camp. The camp doubles as the
“Hollis Bible Church”, and some of our team has been
leading the worship in the Pastor’s absence. He and
his family are in Florida right now dealing with some
medical emergencies, his heart, and their son’s recent
seizures. Please pray for the Jeff Jones  family.

While some of the team is in Hollis on Sunday morning,
the rest of us go to Hydaburg for the church service
there. Hydaburg is about 30 miles to the southwest and
takes almost an hour to get there. It was a
reservation for some years, and is now a community of
about 400 people, mostly of Haida descent. The economy
is depressed. There used to be jobs in the logging
industry, and fishing. Now there are fewer jobs.

There is a Presbyterian church there which has not had
a pastor for several years. It has an attendance of
about 30 people. There is also an Assembly which has a
building that is uninhabitable because of water
damage, resulting in much mold. Some of the members
travel to Craig, and some meet with the Presbyterians.
I have been leading the worship at the Presbyterian
church for the past two weeks, and I got to “preach”
the first week. It was more like sharing my story. The
emphasis was on the need for extending forgiveness.

This week we are having meetings each night, Sunday -
Thursday at the Presbyterian church. We are calling
them “meetings of hope.” there is a strong feeling
among the locals that God has forgotten Hydaburg. The
alcoholism rate there is high, and the resulting
damage to families is severe. Pray that the local
church would be encouraged and energized to meet the
needs of the community.

I think that we will be attending services in Craig or
Kowalk on Sunday. Lenard, (our outreach leader) has
friends in those communties as well.

Each day we drive to Hydaburg, sometimes twice.
Because of the frequent rain we saw dozens of
waterfalls along the road. We have also seen many
deer, and bear.  This is a very beautiful land,
sparsely populated, forested, and wet!

Praises!
Good health, fruitful ministry, team unity and
compatibility,

Please pray for:
Our teams effectiveness as we share God’s love.
The hurting people of Hydaburg.
The future plans of our five couples. Our school is
coming to an end in November, and we will be going our
separate ways.