Ministry In Gelena

Picture of the flood this Spring.

This past summer and fall Victory Bible Camps has been pursuing outreach ministry to a village near the Arctic Circle, Galena. Galena sets near the Yukon River about 300 miles west of Fairbanks. There is no road access here, only boat in the summer or plane. The village existed because of the fishing on the river, hunting and fur trading. Galena’s people are Native Alaskans and early Russian settlers. The village is now a closed down Military base given to the town for the use of the facilities as City Maintenance Buildings and Offices and a Boarding School for kids flown in from all over the state. The people of Galena suffered much devastation this spring with the loss of their homes and earthly possessions due to a massive flood off the Yukon River. The flooding was caused by a massive ice jam in the river for several days. Most everyone was evacuated immediately by plane. Christian aviation ministries from all over the state stepped in and helped with the evacuation. Houses were washed away along with all their firewood for the winter. Vehicles, snow machines and ATV’s were submerged in silt filled water for days destroying everything mechanical about an engine. Septic tanks and personal fuel barrels were torn away from their homes. One home was recorded to have floated down the river for 500 miles.

Mount Mckinley, flying on the why to Gelena

Yukon River

                VBC has been sending teams of 8 to 10 people to Galena to help with the disaster relief. We are there representing the Galena Bible Church working together to rebuild, representing Christ. There is much work to be done. Though the extreme cold weather is nearing, outside work will become near impossible with temperatures plummeting to -50 degrees F before Christmas. Most of October is spent with temps below 32 Degrees. Our goal before winter was to get every house hooked up to water, sewer, and heated for the long dark deep freeze. This has been mostly successful. Many folks have left because they have no house anymore and have lost absolutely everything they have. Whether or not they return and rebuild is up to them. We have often asked ourselves, “Why would any living person want to exist here? The biting bugs and Mosquitos in the hot summer and dark long cold winters.” This is what they know and do. Their families survived off the land for many generations.

Arctic pipe. They use circulator pumps so the water doesn't freeze.

                The houses that have remained are the homes that we have focused our energy on. Galena sits on permafrost. The word permafrost means permanently frozen ground. Because of the permafrost, all the houses and buildings need to be built on pilings or stilts. The underside of the houses needs to be insulated to prevent the ground underneath from thawing out. If the ground thaws under the house, then the house will sink. With the flooding, many of the houses have sunk or become out of level. We have spent hundreds of hours under houses with 20 ton bottle jacks lifting structures back into place. Every home has needed to be completely stripped down to the studs and rebuilt. Insulation, drywall, appliances all needed to be replaced. With time, Galena will get back on its feet.

                While working with the community, new relationships were built. The people were awe struck with all the volunteer work dedicated to build Galena back up. Many ministries from all over the country have traveled for thousands of miles to lend a Christ like hand to the struggling people. All these teams were representing the Galena Bible Church with hopes of connecting the People with the Church. The community cannot ignore the love that is present among the Church. God is glorified through this all.

There is the water level line. If you see next to the tank is a 6ft ladder.

leveling house

House that has water/ice damage.

Working on cars in Gelena.

Making pilings for the house to set on. It had to be above the flood line.

Moving the house in place.

 

Next set of piling ready the house to be put in place.

The whole time.

Watching a flout plane coming.

The flight home from Gelena.

 Packing out the moose meat.

Processing the meat for the freezer.

Pig Roast and Fellowship time

                              

You're invited to a Pig Roast!

Where: Forest Grove Church on the corner of 32nd and Perry 

When: Saturday, October 12th

Time: 4pm-9pm COME HUNGRY!! 

RSVP:  kcwerkema@gmail.com (So we can get a head count)

We will be hosting a dinner to meet and fellowship with our friends, family and church. We will have information about our ministry at Victory Bible Camp. We are very excited to be able to spend time with everyone and share what God is doing in our lives and through us.

Thank you to everyone who has made this possible! God has blessed us with great friends, family and church, who are so willing to help out. We look forward to our night together! :)

No empty plates! Come hungry!

If you can't make it, but would like to hear us, we will be speaking at our church on October 13th at 9:30 am, during the service. Also, we will be speaking at the adult Sunday school following the service. If none of those times work, we would love to sit down and visit over some coffee and share our ministry. Please let us know if you would like hear more. You can email us at kcwerkema@gmail.com or call us at 1-907-982-6168 or our home phone at 1-907-746-7124

What is gone on in the Northern Country.

Summer camp is over…

The summer staff have left the campus and gone home. They were such a big help with all that God had in store for all everyone that have come here this summer. All the activities, events, praise and worship and even with helping set up and take down equipment. We appreciate the summer staff for giving up their summer to come and volunteer their time and make a lasting impression on the kids and full time staff. We can’t wait to see who comes back next summer and see how they have grown spiritually with what God is doing in their lives. August is a busy time for the maintenance staff. Many large guest groups arrive and also there are large work teams to be with side by side serving Christ. It is time to go get fire wood, go berry picking and get ready for the cold. All kinds of work teams are here, and there are some big groups still to come. The list continues on and on.

We have had the wonderful opportunity to visit with the Hudsonville Reformed Church work team for two weeks. We had a great time working with all of them. We went down to the river, played cards, ate a lot of popcorn, and enjoyed fellowshipping together. They helped with remodeling our housing, they filled the camp wood sheds to the top, did a lot of carpentry, cleaning, kitchen work and, of course, bringing glory to God. Jared had a great time with Chuck Steenwyk working in the shop with him. Chuck was able to get all the DOT inspections done for all the camp commercial vehicles. What a blessing. This week we have a work team from Vermont. They are a great group of people. Fred helps Jared in the shop and is such a blessing to the shop. He does a lot of work on the equipment and with such a Christ like attitude. We were able to take them down to the river and have some time to get to know them. So thankful for the time and money that people give to be able to serve here at Victory Bible Camps. So many projects get done. We love getting to know the work teams.

Kenten and Jared on a hike.

Kacie hiking with some of friends.

Here are some of the projects Jared has been working on in the last month.

 Fred from the Vermont team repairing a radiator leak on the Loader.

 Jared doing his research on a vehicle.

Got a few new windows put in. The old windows had moisture in between the panes.

We are preparing for our October visit to Michigan. We will be in Michigan from October 1^st to the 21^st.  On the 12^th, we will be sharing at Forest Grove Reformed church...nervous to death about talking in front of people. We look forward to visiting with everyone. We have many dates open if you would like to get together for a visit. Just connect with us and let us know and we can figure something out. We are so thankful for everyone who prays for us and who financially supports us.  We can’t thank you enough. Glory to God in the highest. We are so blessed.

Hauling logs for firewood.

 

Here's a good hefty load of wood that the ol' Dodge hauled out.

Kids picking blueberries.

The blueberries are big this year.

It is June already.

 Matthew 20: 25-26   But Jesus called them together and said, " You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.

The ice didn’t leave the lakes until June 3 this year. It was thick enough yet to walk on over Memorial Day. It has been a late spring here, but now it’s hot and we are working on our tans. We have so much to be thankful for. We are blessed beyond measures.

At the end of last month Kacie and her friend made a surprise visit to Michigan for 4 days. It was quick and fun. Kacie surprised her older sister for her wedding. There were only a handful of people that knew that Kacie was coming. God used her during that time to talk about camp and what He is doing through us at Victory Bible Camps. It was a good time in Michigan but it was great to get back to Jared, the kids and our home.

After the ice came of the lakes docks went in and the summer staff had their swim test, Brrr. The work teams are starting. This last group was from Pennsylvania. We were able to spend some time with them after work hours. It was a fun way to get to know them personally. Jared is enjoying having guys helping out in the shop. Also to help drink coffee and talk about some spiritual topics. Someone has to solve the world’s problems. They get a lot of work done.  It is amazing to hear everything that they do. So thankful for all the work team members that take time away from their families, work, homes, and lives to come up to serve at Victory Bible Camps.

Here are some of Jared’s latest projects:

Well, believe it or not, there are still some frozen pipe lines and we are coming up on mid-June. We’ll get there eventually. It’s kind of a weird feeling to steam pipes when it’s 80 degrees outside. It makes for a good sun tan though. There is a lot of pipe line work to do this summer before we get back into the deep freeze. All the summer rigs are out and ready to be used. It seems like we always need to replace several batteries each spring. One incredible challenge, at least for me, was patching one of the loader tires. That tire was almost as tall as me. Equipment use was necessary for the removal and installation. I do believe that there was 8 hours invested in just that one tire. We got it all sealed up and squared away though. The excavator seems to be running good after replacing the fuel line and cleaning out the fuel tank. I pulled out the boat and prepped it for summer use. Of course I had to take it for a good test drive. I needed to check for proper performance and safety before anyone else got a hold of it. I always enjoy getting to know work teams. It seems as though God always provides someone for the Auto shop at the perfect time. Just when I am out of time or ideas on what or how to repair a vehicle. How awesome is that. God knows all our needs.

The day has come for the first week of camp. You can feel the excitement in the air from all the summer staff and full time staff.  It is exciting to see what God is going to do this summer. Pray that hearts are willing to listen. Kenten was able to go to camp for the first week. He was excited to go and have fun with all the kids. He will be on his own from Wednesday to Saturday.

Another blessing to praise God for. The Mock family from Iowa has safely arrived at camp. They are here for full time ministry. Chris Mock is going to be working in maintenance. They are excited to be here and to serve. It will be fun getting to know them. God is using us all to bring glory to His name.

Evelynn enjoying the outdoors.

Alison watering her onions that she planted.

Nicholas being a boy. Always on the go.

Kenten at camp. He loved it.

First work team outing.

The mom and baby moose that come around the house. They were so close to the house that we could touch them if there was no screen.

Thank you for all your prayers and financial  support. 

What is going on.

You can feel it in the air. Things gearing up for summer. Everything from the buds starting and some of the migrating birds are back. Camp is going to get busy from here on out. We had our first work team here what a joy to spend a night of fellowship. Also the camp summer staff are starting to come in this weekend.  There is still some needs but God knows how everything is going to play out this summer and how much help will be needed. The summer staff will have orientation and then cabin assignments. Oh and yes there is still ice on the lakes. Jared walked out on it yesterday, May 20, to retrieve a Frisbee. Not deep enough to drive on but I would not want to take a swim test any time soon Brr.  It will be fun to have the summer staff around. They have so much energy!!  Summer is a time of fly by the seat of your pants, not route. It is so much fun to see everyone working together.

To back up a little this past month Jared and Evelynn both had birthdays. Evelynn is growing so fast. Things are coming to an end with Sunday school, Awana, and Homeschool all done. The kids had fun in all their activities this year. To end Awana they had a pine wood derby race. They all loved it. Jared helped cut out the cars but the kids stray painted their own cars. Here are all their cars.

Alison's was a whale with googly eyes.

Nicholas is all boy. That shiner was from running with socks on a slippery floor.

Also for church there was a mission conference. Kacie along with a bunch of ladies made breakfast for the conference.  We discussed local missions and making disciples. It was very renewing.

No one went away hungry.

Well the incoming water to the main lodge froze after a long weekend with no groups. This is a 4 inch line. No big deal, they streamed the line that night. The Lodge was back in business. 2 days later, the Lodge lost water again. So they did some checking and found out there was a break somewhere in the 200 feet section of 4 inch poly. So they started to digging farthest away from the building to avoid power lines and other obstacles. They keep moving towards the building until they found the problem. Yes they found the break. During this time they had groups of guest in. When they were digging they hit a 100 pair phone line. Not just any line it was about 200 wires. This was discouraging. They were able to bring water to the lodge temporarily by using a fire hose over the ground. The maintenance crew are very talented in their quick thinking and ability to manufacture and engineering fittings for the fire hose and different water lines. They are all very hard workers, many long days spent dealing with this problem. Those talents are needed when town is so far away. Now they still have a little part of the line bypassed with 2 inch poly to make it potable, until they can do some precise digging where the break is. They are cutting insulation to hopefully prevent headaches of frozen pipes next year. It is hard with the frost going so deep into the ground.

We want to thank first our Lord and Savior for watching over us. There is so many ways things could have gone wrong. Thank you for all those praying for us during this time. Also some of you have been praying for the Legg family at camp. Jennifer (the mother of 3) found out she had a spot on her brain. Jennifer had the spot removed Praise the Lord it was benign. We have so much to be thankful for. 

The clouds were so low. That is the mountain side next to the road.

God is so Good

Yes! God is so good. This past month has been busy with camp and family. God has blessed our family with a wood stove. The house we live in, up until the past month, was not approved for a wood stove. Thanks be to God, now we were able to put in a wood stove. God lined everything up, and to Him be the Glory. Not only is it a great way to heat the house, but also dry out all those wet winter clothes and wet window ledges. Jared got all the stove pipe on a Saturday and we had a fire lit in the stove by Monday. We still have to figure out what kind of tile we want under it. That will be a good summer project. We currently have cement bored under and behind it right now, not the prettiest but love the heat. It is still getting cold outside at night. Below zero the past few nights. Here are some pictures of the new wonderful addition to the house. It is located in the basement with the intention to heat both levels.

Cutting the holes. Evelynn was watching very carefully.

Finished up stairs

first fire!

We look forward to a lot of wood cutting and working hard to enjoy this gift from God and thank Him for everything He has provided our family with. It will save us a lot of money throughout the year and we are very thankful for this blessing.

Mountain Man

In our last blog we told you about Mountain man. The once a year outing on snowmobiles and winter camping. Here are some pictures of Jared and the boys enjoying there time together. They had to go earlier in the week because there was a big retreat group in camp that weekend. So there was not many people there when they were out camping.

Peaking out of the tent that they stayed in.

Warming up by the stove.

All packed and ready to go back home until next year. Now Nicholas knows what it is like to go to Mountain man and has a lot to talk about until next time. What memories they are making together. Nicholas is already talking about next year.