Long Update

Long Update!

Well, a lot has been happening since we last checked in! I'm not too sure where to start. I guess we can start with Independence Day.

We were invited to participate in the village celebration of Independence Day on July 4th. Our small part was housing most of the food for the big feast. But we also did a Cake-Walk which Kelly and Rachelle had made cakes to give away. The celebration/picnic was wonderful! I don't think any of us had ever been to a 4th of July picnic where they served fresh King Crab! There wasn't anything more exotic to eat this time, just the usual fare of BBQ chicken, beef and pork (and of course, hot dogs).

The entire village came out to play various games and compete in relay races. The Egg-Toss was a big hit with everyone! James did very well with the crowd and playing in the games. We were all totally exhausted by the time the picnic was over. It started at 1pm and went till 5pm.

Around midnight we all went back to the village to see the fireworks. WOW! We cannot recall having a better time going to 4th of July fireworks in our lives! There was NO traffic, no crowds to fight, and every seat was front row! It was awesome! The village must have spent a small fortune on fireworks. They lasted at least 20-30 minutes. You will never have any other experience like seeing fireworks in Akutan, Alaska! To have a backdrop of Akutan Harbor, snow-peaked mountains, and a full moon... it just doesn't get any better!

The following Friday, David and Peter were invited to go out fishing with one of our friends from Trident on his personal boat. Of course, they could not refuse such an offer! The trip did not go exactly the way we had intended though... We broke down in the middle of Akutan Harbor and drifted for quite some time before Joseph (our friend) could get the motor running again. Needless to say, we did not get much fishing done, but the views and the experience were priceless.

Today we had a completely unexpected pleasure. We had a tour boat pull into the harbor and anchor at the city dock for several hours. We had the opportunity to meet people from all over Europe! There were approximately 100 people who came and toured the village of Akutan and our church! We spoke with people from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and many other places I simply cannot remember now! Each one received one of our ministry cards with all of our contact information and a simple Gospel message on the back. They were all very friendly and asked lot's of great questions (if you are one of those folks we talked to and you are reading this, send us an e-mail!).

We will attempt to put up some pictures of all the happenings here soon. We don't want to crash our ISP with all the uploads in one night! LOL!

This past Sunday we also started offering three church services (8:30am, 10:30am, and 7:30pm). All of them had great attendance except the 8:30am one. We will continue to offer it for the rest of the month, but if no one attends, then we will simply cancel it. I (Peter) have said before though... if even one person shows up...I preach! So we will see what happens.

Our Sunday school for children is at 3:00pm. Kelly and Rachelle have taken that over and are doing a fantastic job! We had 6 children in attendance this last Sunday along with three of the parents (all from the village). The feedback we have heard from the parents is that the kids are truly enjoying themselves and learning a lot about the Bible and Jesus!

I'm sure I may have missed something along the way here, but we are VERY tired! We also received new gym equipment yesterday to replace old broken-down equipment. So Peter spent most of the day assembling all of that! Several of the folks who saw the new equipment were very excited. I'm sure, as the word spreads, we will get more people coming to the gym for work-outs. Now, if we could only discipline ourselves to consistently use the gym.... LOL!

We look forward to sharing more soon (with pics). Thank you again for your prayers and support!

The Fox Family