Well, we are almost in June.  And that means…the rest of the family will be coming shortly!  David and I are so excited we can hardly stand it!  Please be in prayer for Kelly, Rachelle, and James as they finish getting all of our household goods stored.  As of right now, they should all be leaving for Akutan the week of June 13th.  An exact date has yet to be confirmed but we are all excited!

There has been much going on here in Akutan.  Recently David and I attended what is called the “Elder’s Dinner” in the village.  It was a wonderful time of meeting more people from the village and enjoying a great meal.  Of course sea-lion stew was on the menu again and smoked salmon was a new addition for us.  There are many more kids in the village now.  Most all of them attend school elsewhere in Alaska and then come home for the summer.  So, David has made a few new friends here.  It is a very different way of life out here in the bush.

The weather continues to be fickle.  It pretty much rains everyday with temperatures staying in the upper 30’s.  Thankfully the snow has begun to melt and the grass is starting to poke through!  David and I had an opportunity to take a hike without snowshoes last week.  It was beautiful!  Once over the ridge behind the church the whole world becomes silent with only the cries of the eagles filling the air.  We took a break and just read through a few Psalms and took in the view.  Magnificent, is the best word I can come up with to describe the experience.  It has appeared that not too many people get out into the mountains to enjoy creation.  Each time we have gone out, we haven’t seen a soul…quite different from Virginia!

The ministry is doing well.  We have had quite a decrease lately in attendance of all activities.  I am told that this is due primarily to the strange fishing season we have had.  There are still crab boats coming in with their catches and most workers have gone home to see their families.  There should be a gradual influx of people over the next month or so, but we will see.  The largest part of our ministry lately has been one-to-one contacts with folks.  At times it is frustrating due to language barriers (Arabic, Russian, Somali, you name it, it’s here!).  But the Lord continues to open doors for us and has given David and I great opportunities to grow spiritually.

Please continue in prayer for us as we serve here.  I won’t sugar-coat it…at times, it is very difficult being away from our family.  Clearly the Lord has sustained us over the last few months (as He has Kelly, Rachelle, and James also).  Pray specifically for James and his transition as well.  We are still exploring curriculum for his schooling.  In fact, anyone who may have any recommendations for a “Home-based” DVD schooling curriculum for children with Autism, we would be very happy to hear it!  Please drop us an e-mail or give us a call.

Until next time…we remain, Faithfully Serving,

The Fox Family

Spring is Coming......hopefully!

Well, it has been a little while since I have posted here.  David and I have been quite busy with the everyday ministry (and of course, he has school).  So, hopefully this will help catch you guys up on what's going on!

Our Friday Movie Nights continue to be a huge hit!  Although a majority of the workers here have gone home to be with family, there remains a brave few who are helping with the remaining crab season here.  Everyone admits that this is just the strangest weather they have ever seen.  Even the State of Alaska has extended the crab season by one month because of all the ice here!  But, the movies are a welcome break for the workers.  They work long hard hours and have little to do with their rare "down-time."

We are in our last session of The Way of the Master evangelism Bible study this Wednesday.  It has been very well received by the few who have been able to attend.  Many have been challenged and are beginning to share their faith more boldly.  I have also been preaching through the book of Galatians on Sundays, and as the Lord would have it, it has blended perfectly with The Way of the Master series!

We have been going through the Gospel tracts that many of you have graciously provided money for, and we thank you.  This place truly is a mission field!  We have found that the tracts find their way into the hands of many who have no intention of setting foot in the church.  We are also purchasing Bibles and various Gospel books in other languages which people are picking up and reading.  It is truly wonderful to see what the Lord is doing!

Please be in prayer for Kelly, Rachelle, and James.  We hope to have them join us around June 16th (our anniversary!).  They have a lot to do before setting out for the bush.  Please pray that the Lord will work out all of the details of the move and storage of our household items.  Of course pray for safe and timely travel for all of them as well.  Travel up here is not like anywhere else on earth.  You could be stranded for days, or even weeks, on some remote island because of weather or aircraft difficulties.

Well, having said all of that, this post wouldn't be complete without a few pictures!  So...

About a week ago, we noticed large patches of "pink" in the ocean, in front of the church.  So David and I went to check out what in the world was going on.  These patches of "pink" were all up and down the shore!

Upon closer inspection  we saw that they were Krill!  Apparently they start coming into the harbor here at the start of Spring.  We have been told by the villagers that the Salmon and Trout should be soon to follow!  I will say this;  when left on the shore at low-tide...they begin to give off quite the aroma!  So David and I have been encouraging the seagulls to eat as many as they can!  ;-)

If you take a really close look at them, they look like tiny shrimp.  The seagulls here  have been having a ball feasting on all of them!

Some people have watch-dogs.  We have a watch-eagle!  Ezekiel has been our constant companion here in the absence of Angel (our family dog).  I took a few shots yesterday of Ezekiel on our porch with our flag in the background.

God is so amazing!  As I was outside talking to Ezekiel, yes I talk to the animals now, he cocked his head to one side and was watching something in the sky.  I looked up and could not see anything.  He looked back at me and then back up to the sky.  It was like he was saying, "Look!  Right there!  Don't you see it?"  Sure enough, waaaaayyyy up in the sky was a tiny black speck barely visible to me.  I used my camera's telephoto lens and sure enough...there was another eagle circling above us!  Ezekiel has become quite protective of our home.  He chases away foxes that come to snoop in our trash, and sometimes people he doesn't like.  When David or I walk outside, he will fly onto the porch and stay there with us.  If someone else comes by and we are not there, he generally will fly off to a safe distance and begin yelling at the person.  It's rather funny.

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support.  We look forward to being able to share more with you as time goes by!

Till His Nets Are Full,

Peter

Movie Night!

Well, we had a very successful Movie Night last night!  There were about 20 people who showed up to see National Treasure.  Every Friday we show a movie here at the Church/Community Center.  Yesterday was the first day most everybody was off work, so we had about 20 people show up!  It was great to see the three Muslim guys I had talked to earlier in the day.  As everyone left they all received tracts (Thank You David!).  We only had two rejections of the Gospel tracts.

Thanks to the Church Board members, the church now has a projector that we can show movies on.  People are very excited way out here to have such a luxury!  Pray that the Lord will continue to use this medium for His Glory and that many will be reached with the Gospel.

The Lord heard some of your prayers yesterday!  We had a beautiful day and the Grumman Goose was able to make 3 trips for mail!  Woooohooooo!  I don't think I have ever seen so many people so excited over a plane!  LOL!  I think everyone who lives in the village was out at the landing sight!  David even ran out and took some cookies to the pilot.  Hopefully the bribe will help him return again soon!  ;-)

Please continue to pray for us, that we will faithfully share the love of Jesus with all we come into contact with.  Kelly has mailed out our Open-Air sketch-board supplies, so hopefully that will be arriving soon.  Pray also for the carpenters working on our sketch-board here.  I just found out that one of the important guys working on the project has left for vacation.

A special thank you to all of you who have made donations to our ministry!  Kelly and I are attempting to figure out a way to track all this stuff, but we haven't yet.  We are still trying to work out some type of an account arrangement.  We will keep you all posted.  Thank you all again for teaming with us!

Peter

Latest Updates

It appears our friend Ezekiel brought his wife (we think).  At least he has been telling his friends this is a cool place to hang out (pun intended).  We are just surrounded by incredible wildlife for such a desolate island.  The foxes were howling the other night and the eagles are always screaming at the ravens!

The other day a man had a heart attack at the plant.  This pic is of the medevac chopper from the Coast Guard.  You will see the only police officer assigned to the island walking in the background.  His name is Nick.  We have had several really good conversations.  It really is a "small town."

This is a pic of what I have been using the dry-erase board for now.  I got this idea from somebody on Facebook.  I basically post a question of a spiritual nature on the board and then allow people to post their opinions in a "voting" format.  This has stirred NUMEROUS conversations leading to the Gospel.  As you can see, there are MANY different religious beliefs represented here on Akutan.  Ironically, no one wanted to admit that they voted for reincarnation LOL!  But I had some great one-to-one conversations with many people.

Just today I had a long conversation with three Muslim guys.  Two of them admitted that they weren't "practicing" Muslims, but they sure tried to defend their faith.  It was very difficult to witness to them, but they heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I pray that the Lord will use the opportunity to convict them of their sin and that they might be saved.

Please continue to pray for David and I.  We are both missing the rest of the family.  We haven't had mail/a plane for over two weeks now.  Nothing but snow, snow, and more snow.  Even the villagers I talk to say they have never seen it this bad here.  Pray that the weather breaks and we get some nice days!

Thank you all very much for your prayers and support!  It means so much to us all!

Peter

Sharing the Gospel

 When we were about to close the gym, we had about 20 people who wanted a ride back to the plant.  I asked each of them to stick around and listen to a brief presentation.  The all heard the Gospel that night in the form of a sketch-board presentation.  Most were very open to hearing me talk.  A few mocked the Gospel, but they can't say on Judgement Day that they didn't hear it!

 Here I am doing the Open-Air Sketch-board presentation.  I will note here, for those who have done this before;  DO NOT do this, as I did... with dry-erase markers!  Painting is the only way to go!  We miss our paint kit!  If anyone wants to help in this area, please get with Kelly, or better yet, drop me an e-mail and let me know you are willing to help.  I will point you in the right direction for what we need.  This is a VERY promising form of sharing the Gospel here!

The end product.

Before everyone left, they all received a Gospel tract, and most all of them thanked me.  We appreciate your prayers.  PLEASE keep praying for witnessing opportunities for us.  I just spoke with our plant P.A. (who attends our services).  He had been asking for prayer regarding him having an opportunity to witness to a Shiite Muslim friend of his here.  He pulled me aside and told me that he had an opportunity to witness to him because of a tract that he had given to him the day before!  His friend had many questions for Bill (the P.A.).  Please be in prayer for this man, and Bill, as well.

Kelly and I are trying to organize a ministry account for others to partner with us by giving financially.  We haven't worked that out yet, but I know many of you have asked.  I will try to let you know through this blog when we have something set up.

Thank you all again for your support and friendship!

Till His Nets Are Full,

Peter

Our friend Ezekiel.  What a majestic bird!  He doesn't seem to have a problem posing for photos!  He comes about once a week or so to our back deck.  Then just waits there for a treat!

Ezekiel posing with our American Flag.  He wasn't too sure about it at first, but he gave in eventually.

David and I had the opportunity to do a booth at the local school on "Safety Day."  We had a booth for emergency first aid/CPR.  It was a great way to meet people from the village.

Some of the folks from our Wednesday night Bible Study.  We are going through the Way of the Master evangelism course.  Everyone is really enjoying it...and being challenged!  We were short a few people because of a bad ice storm (yup, an ice storm in April!  Even the villagers can't believe it!).

Me and Darcy.  He is a great brother in the Lord.  He is one of my constant encouragements here.  He works for Trident on one of their processing ships and goes home to Seattle sometime this week.  I will surely miss him when he is gone!  Last night he walked through the ice storm just to come to Bible study!

David and I had an opportunity to do some snowshoeing the other day.  It was one of those rare days when it was nice out!  We got a few shots of the area above the church.  Creation here is absolutely breath-taking!

My mountain climbing companion!  It was David's first time traversing ice fields.  He had a great time!  The climb was difficult, but the views were worth the pain!

I had to have David get a shot of me playing my flute from the top of the ridge.  It was great!  I got a few funny looks from a fox (no relation) but the eagles enjoyed my playing.

One last shot from further up the mountain.


We look forward to spring, whenever that might be.  Please keep all of the Fox family in your prayers.  It is not easy being separated from each other.  God is certainly providing for each of us, but we all can't wait to be back together again (hopefully come June).

Here are a few pics from a church service a couple of weeks ago.  I have begun preaching through the book of Galatians.  After the service, since all services are done around 7:30pm, we have refreshments and fellowship.

This is me and Conrad.  He is becoming a good friend and he and I have been talking alot about spiritual things.  A great brother in the Lord!

Some of the ladies from the church.  Oh!....and David is in there too!  ;-)   (sorry David!)

A group shot!



It's rough working at the seafood plant.  These guys/gals work hard, and very long hours (like 18 hours a day).  Thankfully most of them stay awake when Peter preaches!  ;-)

Yesterday Peter began volunteering at the plant medical clinic.  He helped in doing physical exams.  Since he spent 5 years as a medic in the Army and another 5 years as a medical officer at the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office...the clinic P.A. is excited to be able to use him!

Please keep Peter and David in your prayers, as its just the two of them in Akutan right now.  They have enjoyed some time snowshoeing on the mountain behind the church, and have been witnessing to all the people coming in to the gym.  We could REALLY use some more tracts!  Especially the style tracts from Living Waters/Way of the Master!  We have found tracts to be excellent tools here at Akutan!  Here is our mailing address if you feel led to support us in this way:

Peter Fox
c/o Safe Harbor Church
P.O. Box 49
Akutan, AK 99553

PLEASE ship PRIORITY MAIL through the United States Postal Service!  Any other mail will take months to get here! (if at all!  We are still waiting to receive some of our ministry resources we mailed to ourselves over a month ago!)  BTW:  The "dominant" languages spoken here are;  English, Spanish, Tagalog, Somali, Vietnamese, and Arabic.  There is some Japanese as well.  So any tracts/Bibles in these languages would be greatly appreciated as well!

More to come so stay tuned!

Our arrival in Akutan in early March.  Our ship was a fishing vessel, the Northern Patriot.  It was quite the ride!  Despite taking motion sickness medication, most everyone on the boat was sick!  The Bering Sea in the winter is a wild place to be!

I hope to be posting more pictures, but our internet is in and out here!  Please stay tuned!

Hello!  And thank you for coming to our humble blog!  Our names are Peter & Kelly Fox.  Peter is the Pastor of Safe Harbor Church in Akutan, Alaska.  Akutan is located on Akutan Island in the eastern Aleutians, one of the Krenitzin Islands in the Fox Islands group.  It is 35 miles east of Unalaska, and 766 miles southwest of Anchorage.  Akutan lies in the maritime climate zone, resulting in mild winters and cool summers.  Temperatures range from 22 to 55 °F, and precipitation averages 28 inches per year. High winds and storms are frequent in the winter, and fog is common in the summer.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.9 square miles, of which, 14.0 square miles of it is land and 4.9 square miles of it (25.69%) is water.

We are here to minister to the people of Akutan village and to the employees of the Trident Seafoods plant.  We hope to keep you updated on our ministry through this blog and share with you what the Lord is doing here in this remote portion of the world!  Hang on!  It will be a wild ride!