Moose Choppin and Backpack Blessing

Hello all,

I think that this is probably a quicker response to the blog maybe even just did my last one in two weeks?  Anyways things are flying by here in alaska, it amazes me to realize that I am almost a quarter of the way through my internship already, which seems unreal.  The last couple weeks, just like every other week here seems to fly right by.

Biggest news here in Alaska is that it is Moose hunting season here, so most people are out doing that.  I however am not an Alaskan resident so attempting to go hunting would cost me quite a bit of money, apart from the fact that I have never shot a gun in my life, I think that probably has a bigger influence on the fact that I am not moose hunting right now.  I have however chopped up some moose here already.

Our church has a food pantry, and we are considered a not for profit organization so we get thrown into a pot of not for profit food pantry's and other organizations in the Anchorage area for highway moose  kills.  A couple of weeks ago we received a call early in the morning that someone had hit a moose on the highway so there was one that was dropped off at our Church back door and we had a moose chopping party (there are picture below, or on my facebook page).  The moose that we got appeared to be massive to myself, but apparently it was a "small kill".  Regardless by the time we cut all the fat, or most of the fat, and ground up all the moose we filled almost 3/4 of a deep freezer full of moose which should keep our food pantry stocked for a bit at least.

We have been gearing up for the year ahead in the last couple of weeks as well.  Its amazing how far ahead I have to plan to make sure that everything stays on task, and that we know what is going on in the future.  I am already looking forward to planning through February if you dont include the national youth gathering, if you count that then I am already planning up to the last week of my internship.  We have rally day coming up on September 9th which is just our big fall kick off sunday informing everyone at church all the different things that they could be involved in at church.

School has started here in Anchorage and we did a "blessing of the backpacks" event at our church.  We had a short prayer in the service and then we had a little cross keychain that the kids could put on their backpacks for school.  The majority of kids brought their backpacks into church that day to kind of add to the Sunday as well.  We ended up handing out around twenty crosses to kids anywhere from preschool to Freshman in college.

I am slowly but surely starting to make friends here, it is a slow and daunting task.   One of my fellow classmates who is also on internship has a friend who teaches in Anchorage who I have met up with a couple of times.  She has been here for a year so she knows the area pretty well.  Due to the fact that she is a female everyone in the church who heard about her thinks I'm dating her, which is fine Im just happy to have someone to hang out with who is actually my age.  I have met a couple other guys who work at a golf course and are right at my age as well their pretty cool, havnt done a whole lot with them yet, but were trying to figure out a time to meet up, should be cool to get in with them now that football season is starting up.  I could use some guys to sit down and watch a few games with.  I also have really connected with one family here who has three kids as well.  Obviously as I said in the last post its hard to meet up with them since they are often busy!

One of the coolest things I have done so far was go kayaking with one of our members.  It was somewhat hard to get used to but overall super cool.  I am thinking that it may be anew hobby for me, and it kinda made me want to go out and get a kayak right after

Apart from all that things in Alaska continue to move on, right now the Alaska state fair is going on, which pales in comparison to the size of the Wisconsin state fair.  The animal barn at the Alaska State Fair had about two hundred animals, the size of maybe half of the Wisconsin cow barn.  Still the food was good, and there are actually a fair amount of bigger bands that actually will come out to Alaska.

That pretty much wraps it all up for as much as I can think of!

Hope all is well back in Illinois and Wisconsin

Alaska Snow Princess Update: None

Combination of rain and a sunset 

Hiking a trail in back of my house with the dogs

Kayaking Eklutna Lake

July

Hello all, sorry this took so long to write this, but the first part of this past month I was very lazy and just didnt post, and then the last two weeks here actually have been pretty busy so that is why I have not been able to post.  This new blog is just going to be a quick overview over the last month or so and what you all have missed out on due to my laziness.

After VBS things really slowed down immensely for me here at Our Redeemer. After VBS was over and the past DCE intern left I had minimal things to work on and I was just really excited to head back home for my week with family and friends at the wedding I attended.  Summers here are extremely slow, and apart from Sunday services there are not too many things that have immediate attention needed.  The majority of the time that I spent in the office was spent planning ahead to events in August and really just getting into the daily grind of what a church worker is all about.

Going home was so much fun, I was able to see many people from both the Speckman and Strehlow side of the family which was really cool because I dont know when I will be able to see them all next.  Also it was Kari's 21st birthday so I was able to take her out a couple of nights and help her to celebrate that event the right way!  One of the best part of the trip home though was going to the wedding Kevin Thomson and Jordan Scifers!  It was so great to be a part of their wedding and to see all of my friends there too. This was the first wedding that I have ever stood in so that was a new experience for me as well.  Im sure many of you saw the pictures on Facebook of my date, Michelle, no she is not my girlfriend we have been really good friends ever since early in grade school so she came along as a friend.  I wasnt able to see her at all when I was in Milwaukee so she drove down for the wedding and we had a blast together, and all my friends liked her alot too! Overall the wedding was a blast and seeing people my own age was refreshing to say the least.

Since I have come back from Milwaukee things have actually picked up quite a bit.  I have had my first youth event, and we are in full fledged planning for the next year ahead with Sunday school, youth events, and everything else.  My official title here is director of family ministry so I am doing everything under the sun at Our Redeemer, not just youth ministry, which is actually what I would prefer so it is a good fit.  It still amazes me how much I feel as though I fit into this church and community so quickly.  The work that I am doing I love, and I feel as though God has placed me here for great reasons, many of which I have not seen yet.

I have been looking forward to the National Youth Gathering since I left New Orleans last year and now we are getting to the point where I can actually start to look forward to it for real.  Planning for the National Youth Gathering (NYG) has really started to take off for me this week, and information for our group already starts to be due early September so I need to be getting everything ready for that.  Im really looking forward to the group that we have going and being in the role that I will be in for that event.  All of the Alaska churches some what plan to stick together at NYG which simplifies planning, and is really helpful to myself in my first year on internship, and this being the first group that I have ever taken to a NYG by myself as well.

Apart from that life is good here in Alaska, I continue to build relationships with people here, and meet new people.  I actually met one of my classmates good friends from grade school who teaches at the local Lutheran grade school which was alot of fun.  I have been golfing a ton, and I am meeting quite a few people through that, as well as opening ministry opportunities with many of the people that I meet out on the course as well.  My goal is to get down to a single digit handicap by the end of the summer, currently I am resting at a 12.5 handicap thanks to my trusty app that I have on my Ipad.  I am golfing well, and continue to run alot and actually feel like I am getting back in shape from the end of senior year/my lost battle with 14 steps.

I hope all is well with everyone at home in Illinois and Wisconsin!

Alaskan Snow Princess update: None

Adam and Kyla on the right, are two of my best friends in the DCE program (engaged to be married), and two of my best friends in general, and my date Michelle in the yellow

The groom, and his groomspeople at the reception