OUTREACH REPORT

Every year Anchorage hosts an opening ceremony for the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race! This race helps preserve dog sledding and commemorates the 1925 run to Nome Alaska to bring medical serum to treat an outbreak of diphtheria. Balto is the famous dog that lead the original run. This was the 50th Year Anniversary.

I invited the street preaching community to join me here in Alaska for this outreach, offering free food, lodging, and transportation, but it appears everyone was too afraid of the cold. It was 16 degrees during our outreach. But one faithful brother, my friend David Grisham, showed up for the preach. He came straight from his Mardi Gras outreach. The two of us hit the streets together before, during, and after the event.

My family and I are staying in Alaska for an extended mission trip and I packed light for myself since we are a family of six and needed the extra space for the kids. I didn’t bring any of my signs and banners so instead, I ordered a new sign online and had it mailed! It was less than $100, printing and shipping.

I made it double sided with two different scriptures. The front was Acts 26:20 “Repent, turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” This was the message God told Paul to preach to the Gentiles. I especially like the emphasis on repenting and then proving your repentance with your works. The back of the sign was 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…” You can’t go wrong with Scripture Signs!

The day before the race we went downtown but surprisingly, there were very few people walking around. David passed out tracts and talked to people while I held my sign and also street preached a little. The people we did encounter were mostly tourists from out of state who came in for the race.

It was a very warm week leading up to the Race and the snow everywhere was melting and disappearing. In order to have snow for the event, for the dog sleds to ride on, the city used dump trucks the night before to fill the streets with snow. However, on the day of the event, it started to snow long and hard. In no time, snow was everywhere. It snowed about 12 inches. And the people came out to watch the ceremony in big crowds despite the cold and snow.

If you stood in the snow for a little while, your head and shoulders would quickly get a pile of snow. Since we were going to be outside for a few hours in the cold we wanted to stay dry as best we could. We found a nice overhang to stand under which was the perfect location. Crowded of people, tourists from all over the world, walked up and down the street.

I held my “Repent, turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” sign. David passed out “Free Iditarod Souvenirs,” a post card with a Dog Sled Team on the front and a Gospel message on the back!

These gospel tracts went like hot cakes! I would estimate a ratio of about 3 to 1 for acceptance and rejection. If one person rejected the tract, three more accepted it. David passed out hundreds and hundreds of these to all the tourists. We talked to people from Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, etc. And at the end of the event, the tracts were not paving the street! We saw people hours later who were still holding on to their “Free Iditarod Souvenir.” People even took extra for their family and friends!

That’s a successful outreach! I was very happy to be apart of the 50th Anniversary of this historic event! What a blessing!

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FAMILY FUN

Alaska is beautiful and I am not getting tired of snow! We still get excited every time it snows outside!

The Missionary Life is full of fun and adventure! We are so blessed to be able to homeschool our family, travel as missionaries to spread the Gospel, and let the kids enjoy themselves along the way!

That my friends is a frozen waterfall! It’s gorgeous. We are grateful to God for His wonderful creation!

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TESTIMONIES

Every month we get messages from people all over the world telling us how our ministry has impacted and changed their lives. Preaching the Gospel is effective! Here are some recent messages:

A big thank you to all of our supporters!

You make these outreaches and testimonies possible!

God is on the move changing lives and you are a part of what He is doing!

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

It was 17 years ago, March 1st 2005, that my wife and I started our courtship relationship! That’s the longest relationship I’ve ever been in. Haha. At 37 years old, we’ve been together almost half of my life! So glad the Lord picked my wife Krista to be my wife and to raise our children together. Her strengths make up for my weaknesses and she is exactly what I was looking for and what I needed. She is a priceless blessing to my family and I.

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