Five airplanes took off from King Ranch, Alaska, on August 2nd and headed for Palmer where we found the Summit Pass closed due to weather. After looking at our maps we decided to head east towards Isabella Pass. This route was a little longer, but the weather was good.
After a beautiful flight we arrived in Fairbanks for a wonderful Salmon Casserole made by Cathy Congdon. Jim and Cathy Congdon, along, with Dave and Caroline Chausse’ put us up for the night and helped us in so many other ways.
August 3rd found us in Fairbanks with good enough weather to head north for Brook’s Range Bible Camp. The flying was low and beautiful and it was great to see how God cleared the way for us. We stopped in the Village of Bettles to pick up some Bibles and then made the quick hop up to Paradise Valley, the location of Brook’s Range Bible Camp.
Dwayne King and Jim Congdon took right off to pick up supplies from a nearby village, and then to pick up kids from the villages of Anatuvik Pass, Allakaket, and Bettles. The first camp was for kids 8 to 12 years old and we had about 20 kids show up! After breaking the ice the kids became our best friends!
We spent the day swimming in the cold Flat Creek, playing Eskimo Kickball, and many other various games with the kids. There were Bible lessons two times a day, and the counselors shared their testimonies every night. Three kids from my cabin came to know the Lord on the third night of camp! It was very exciting. When Youth Camp was done, eight kids had chosen a personal relationship with Christ!
On Thursday, August 7th, we had our transition day. The young kids were flown back to their villages and the older kids, from age 12 to 18 years, were flown back to Paradise Valley. By now, most of the counselors were sick with a cold, and I was experiencing the joys of an ear infection from swimming four days in a row. We were tired, and Satan was ready to attack.
The older kids were not open to even being friends with us! They all wanted to go home 5 minutes after they arrived. This was very discouraging. But we hung in there and God gave us the ability to love these kids.
On August 9th my ear was hurting so badly that Autumn, Dwayne, and I flew out to Fairbanks. After getting weathered into Stevens Village on the Yukon for three hours, we managed to hitch a ride on a Piper Navajo flown by Warbelow Airventures based in Fairbanks. My ear managed the flight ok and I got right into the clinic where they gave me some antibiotics. Autumn and I then went to Pizza Hut, where we finally celebrated our 1-year anniversary over a meat lover’s pizza. This was a welcomed break and it was a joy to be able to spend some time with my lovely wife after being ‘apart’ for a week.
We woke up on Sunday to fog in Fairbanks. However, by late afternoon it was clearing up. We grabbed a cup of coffee with the Rycheners who just moved to Fairbanks to serve with YWAM, and then we took off. Jim joined us once again to help fly the kids back to the village.
We arrived into Brook’s Range Bible Camp on Sunday evening just in time to join the kids for a bonfire! We brought a Mexican friend of Jim’s to camp for this last evening. He played his guitar and shared his testimony and it was great to see how the hearts of these hard teens had changed in the past 24 hours!
The next morning it was time to take the kids back to their village and draw Brook’s Range Bible Camp 2008 to a close. The boy’s counselors had great news for us though! They told us that the night before three of the teen boys accepted Christ! God was so faithful to us as we persevered even through the discouraging days where it seemed like nothing was happening.
Our trip home was beautiful. We arrived in Fairbanks too late in the evening to safely continue. Cathy Congdon has prepared a BBQ moose sandwich tailgate party on the ramp of Fairbanks Airport, and then faithful friends in Fairbanks provided us warm beds and showers. The next morning we flew right over the mountains and back to the Ranch. The sky was wide open and we were privileged to see Mount Denali from the air!
We want to thank you all for you constant prayer support. God has heard your prayers and answered them. We had no airplane problems, no injuries, and no real weather problems! Most importantly, God opened the hearts of these Indian and Eskimo children and all of them heard the Gospel while some came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior!
We hope that you continue to pray for these children, and that you keep in touch with us as I finish up school and we discover where God is leading us. We would cherish your prayers and encouraging words.
Thank you,
CJ
It's Friday night, 10:45 pm... We are ready for camp! Autumn and I have spent the week in a frantic race to annual and prepare six airplanes to transport us to the Brook's Range Bible Camp. We have worked very hard to get to this point and we are very excited.
Today, after we got the landing gear back on the Cessna 170, Dwayne and I took it up so I could get some experience in the airplane that Autumn and I will be flying to camp. Tonight we had a salmon fish fry and a blue grass concert in the hangar as a sending off blessing. The relaxed atmosphere was very much welcomed.
We had a pre-trip briefing this evening over milk shakes and it hit me tonight the amount of responsibility Autumn and I have taken on as return counselors and pilots to the Brook's Range Bible Camp. It is funny how God has grown and prepared each of us for this special purpose. We take off tomorrow at 10 am and we plan to be at camp by 7 or 8 pm, WPPW (Weather Permitting, Pilot Willing). Please keep us in your prayers as we take a total of 7 aircraft to camp and one truck that is already on its way.
The logistics are crazy, but God is in control and we are leaning heavily upon Him to pull this off. Pray for great weather for flying and for camp! Right now it is not looking too good, but we serve the Creator of weather and we know He can change it. Please pray for safe travels as we pick up and drop off kids. Keep the kids in your prayers. The first camp is with younger kids from 6 to 12 years old and the second camp is for older kids from 12 to 20 years old. They will both bring their fair share of difficulties, but we are confident that God will soften hearts and grow His Kingdom through our meager efforts to pull off a Bible Camp.
This will probably be out last post until August 12th or 13th if all goes as planned. Please be faithful in your prayers for camp as we are counting on your support. Thank you for taking an interest in what God is doing in the Brooks Range of Alaska!
-CJ and Autumn-
As Autumn said, we had a Quail BBQ this past weekend. It was a lot of fun to host our first ever Miller BBQ! It was also a lot more work than I ever thought it would be! We grilled up all the Quail that I shot over Spring Break and it was a huge success, even with the ‘bird shot’, bones, and random feathers found during consumption. The best part, of course, was the fellowship. We were able to bring together a few friends from school, work, and church, and as they met and got to know each other it was fun to see our different friends become friends with each other! God has certainly created us to be in community.
I am almost done with my Maintenance Summer School Session. That is very exciting for me because it means I only have 1 year of school left! The Summer Session has gone well. I have learned many interesting things and I am even getting the opportunity to learn how to TIG Weld, which is a difficult type of welding that is often used on aircraft. This will come in handy I am sure!
With Summer Session drawing to a close I will be looking to head back to work at JL Aero, the maintenance shop I worked at last semester. If they are not in need of some extra help I will need to look elsewhere to find work for a short period of time because Autumn and I are still planning on going to Alaska for Bible Camp. Please join us in prayer about this trip to Alaska. We desire to make a wise decision and we are not 100% certain we should fly ourselves in the C182, fly commercially, or forego the trip all together. We are patiently waiting for God to gently (or roughly) guide our steps along the path of His will.
Thank you for keeping up with us and for showing your support through prayer and your time.
God bless, -CJ
I have been on Spring Break for the past week or so, and it has been busy. I have put in a couple days of work, and a trip to Dallas to get a physical done. But by far, the best part of my Spring Break was the trip to Albany, GA where I met up with the boys to do some quail hunting!
I flew the C-182 over in just under 4 hours. The weather was beautiful and the flight went so smooth that I almost fell asleep with the autopilot on… just kidding. When I landed at Albany Airport my dad, who also flew a plane down, greeted me. It was great to see him and to watch the other boys trickle in on different flights.
The hunting was great. On Friday morning Dad and I teamed up to take down 36 quail. We spent the morning watching the dogs work and talking about life. There are times in life when God just gives you great opportunities to spend time with the ones you love and learn from the life they have lived. This was one of those times!
As if hunting with Dad wasn’t enough, on Friday afternoon I went out with my Uncle Kelly who is also full of wisdom and laughs. We had a wonderful time and I was amazed when the guide told us we had shot 52 birds when all was said and done. With all the talking we did I was surprised we shot any!
And Saturday morning found me hunting with Jim Carl. Although not blood, he’s still part of the family and it was great to hear his side of Miller Energy and the years he has spent working with Dad. We ended up shooting 41 birds I believe, and Jim was really getting hot when the final whistle blew. If we had kept going Jim might have cleared the whole plantation of birds…
The hunting was great and the dogs were amazing to watch, but those are just two excuses to get together with the boys. Boppa, my grandpa, is in charge of putting this together, and every time we get to soak in his wisdom we are truly blessed. I am eternally grateful to Boppa for all he has done and provided for his family.
On Saturday afternoon I loaded up my birds and my cousin Brett’s birds in the C-182. Brett was accompanying me on my trip home because he lives and Waco, which is only an hour flight southwest of Longview. The winds were not too brutal to us and we made it home in a bumpy 5 hours. After spending the night at our apartment I flew Brett home to Waco and then came back to spend the afternoon with my lovely wife, who I have come to appreciate even more after spending the weekend away from her.
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