A quick ministry update

        It has been a while since our last blog post. Hopefully everyone had a blessed holiday season with family and friends! A lot has happened since our last post in November. We are continuing to adjust to life and ministry here, God is continually stretching and growing us. The conference season has been busy with groups coming in almost every weekend, Derek had to go into work the day after Christmas, but it has been such a blessing to serve those who come to this place as this is why we are here! Please pray that everyone who comes up to Victory would grow closer to Christ as a result of their time away from "everyday life" and that they would see Christ living and active in us and the other staff they come in contact with.

       We are now past the darkest time of the winter, the darkness hasn't seemed to affect Derek, it has been tough on me, but God is growing me through this and other tough situations and I am learning to lean on Him in a way I never had before. We were absolutely blessed by all of the many Christmas cards and letters from friends, family, and ministry partners. It's a great feeling to stay connected with the "lower 48" as it can feel pretty lonely up here at times! Thank you also to those of you who sent money for Christmas, We were able to get a few more presents for Taylor and Raeghan than we would have been able to originally, may God bless you all for your giving hearts! Another recent blessing for our family has been that our support has gone up from what our previous goal was set at. When we got here and went grocery shopping for the first time we realized it was going to be tighter than we had anticipated, through seeking the Lord we have seen Him provide amazingly and our support team increased without us having to talk to anyone, we praise God for this! For some reason I thought that when we got here we would be good to go, which is sad because nothing is more awesome than relying on the Lord. I soon realized it we were going to have to live on faith just as much or more than when we were building our support team, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Victory Bible Camp is where God has called us and He has confirmed this over and over, what a privilege it is to serve the King of Kings. He never promised it would be easy, but I know the reward will be well worth it. I am so thankful that I serve God and not men, I tend to be a people pleaser and God has been showing me how very wrong and unsatisfying that is. Please pray for us as we have felt major attacks from Satan since the minute we got here, please pray that we would draw near to God on a moment-by-moment basis.

Prayer Requests

· Please pray for the guest services team, as they serve the guests coming up for conferences. And for the program team as they continue to write curriculum for summer camp and get prepared for that.

·  Please pray that we would have no shortage of counselors and summer staff, and that God would bring the perfect servant hearted, group of people to serve up here this summer.

· Please pray that we would be faithful in what the Lord has called us to

· Please pray that we would not slack in the study of Scripture and prayer

· Please pray that our church Glacier View Bible Church would find just the right man to be their pastor

Thank you to all of our faithful prayer and financial team! We truly cannot express how much you mean to us and how much you impact this ministry! We pray for each one of you, please let us know if there is ever a specific need. In case you didn't get our update with our new address and phone number, here they are:

(907) 746-5336

64741 S. Victory Rd.

Sutton, AK 99674S

Some of the things we've been up to these past two months

Ice Skating behind our house on Shallow Lake

                                             

Getting more confident each time he goes

Taylor's first day of kindergarten at Glacier View

In front of our tree on Christmas day

Raeghan pushing her new stroller

Getting Settled

We are here! Through the support raising process, God proved Himself faithful over and over. There is no doubt in our mind that His timing was perfect for getting us here, and we praise Him for that! We had a very eventful, exciting, exhausting adventure driving from Michigan to Alaska, here is a condensed list of some of the things that happened along the way

 

• Loaded a 14-foot trailer and our vehicle with all our earthly possessions.
• Drove 3,648 Miles, 70+ hours
• Saw a lot of God's glorious creation
• Got to visit with many friends and family
• Had a commissioning service at our home church Calvary Memorial
• Celebrated Raeghan's first birthday
• Raised the rest of the monthly financial support needed
• Saw God's hand of provision many times
• Were very blessed by the kindness and generosity of many individuals

We arrived at Victory October 7th, we were blessed with a warm welcome from the awesome staff who helped us unpack our entire trailer and vehicle, it was a huge blessing! Even in the short time we've been around we have seen such a servant-hearted group of individuals  here at camp. Our prayer is that we'll have the same attitude as we are a part of what God is doing in and through this ministry. It was a harder adjustment than we had anticipated, especially for me but through it all we know this is what God has called us to. Derek has been able to jump right in, he is divided between the guest service department and the program department and is really enjoying both. This weekend will be his first weekend to host a group who is coming up for a retreat. He will be taking care of them while they use our facilities, making sure they have everything they need for their time here. Please pray that the group has a fun, refreshing, and spiritually encouraging time, and for Derek as he serves them. We are learning a lot already but know there will be much more to learn. Please pray that we will be willing to allow God to shape us into who He wants us to be. We can't even begin to express how privileged we feel to be here, thank you to each one who is giving financially and prayerfully we couldn't asked for a better team. Please come visit! We would love for you to be able to come up and see first hand what God is doing through this Christian camping ministry that you are a part of!

Prayer Requests

• Continue to adjust to the new way of life here
• Spend quality time in God's Word and prayer
• For wisdom as we are still praying about schooling for Taylor and what would be best for him
• Health
• That the individuals we come in contact with will be pointed to Christ

Our House

Our commissioning service

At our "going away" party in Nebraska

With her great grandpa

Raeghan on her 1st Birthday

Derek helping my grandpa get his wood pile stocked up for the winter

Raeghan's Birthday

Along the Alaska highway

Hanging out with friends the first night we got here. The kids will have no short supply of friends here :)

One of my favorite views along the highway, not a bad picture from the back seat eh?

Some moose (obviously) in the lake, we took this right from our living room window

They are cute in their own way

On the road again

Our dearest Family, Friends, and Supporters,

We have some very exciting news to share with you about what our God has done! All glory to Him!

• We are now 90% funded!
• Have an enclosed trailer to pull our belongings up to camp
• Have a 99 Chevy Tahoe able to pull the trailer
• We sold our car

It has seriously been so amazing to sit back and watch God work out all of these details in the amazing ways that only He can! As I write this Derek is flying out to Denver and then taking a bus to Scottsbluff, Nebraska to pick up our Tahoe. We have to been so overwhelmingly blessed and humbled to see the generosity of people during this time, the Tahoe is 100% paid for, with new tires, brakes etc.A thank you definitely does not seem like enough, but we do from the bottom of our hearts thank everyone who was involved in helping purchase this vehicle for our family. We were also able to sell our car to someone we knew which was a huge blessing ( I was getting really tired of the interesting craigslist people we had to deal with.) With the money from our car we will be able to offset some of the huge traveling expenses we'll have as we make the move to camp. Thank you to everyone who is financially and prayerfully giving, it is because of you that we are able to go serve the Lord where He has called us. Below are some ways we would love you to pray for us and also a tentative schedule.

Prayer Requests

• Safety for Derek as he travels back to Michigan with the vehicle
• Energy and health for all of us as we get packed and take care of the many details involved with moving
• A safe and enjoyable trip as we go to Nebraska, Montana, and then Alaska.
• That we will be able to get the rest of our monthly support by September 26th

Schedule

• September 8th: Leave Michigan
• September 9th-12th: Visit our sending church and friends in Scottsbluff, Nebraska
• September 12th-25th: Visit family and friends and some churches
• September 26th: Leave for Victory Bible Camp!

Quick update

Answers to prayer since last post

• Great night at Pizza Ranch! We were super encouraged by the amount of people who came out and supported us, and for everyone who helped us bus tables. Thank you!

• More people joined our monthly support team and we are now up to 80% praise God!

• There is a possibility of us being able to borrow someone's enclosed trailer for the move, which would save us a lot of money.

                                         Our awesome help at Pizza Ranch!

We are so excited to see how God is working and raising up the perfect prayer and financial support team. Thank you to all who are giving toward this ministry and what God's doing in Alaska through Victory Bible Camp!

Pizza Ranch Night

We will be doing a fundraiser at Pizza Ranch in Hudsonville on Tuesday the 24th. We're allowed to keep 10% of the profits made between 4:00-9:00 P.M. and any tips received. Come out and eat some pizza for a good cause! The money raised will be put toward moving costs, as we travel up to Alaska to begin our ministry there.

God is continuing to be faithful in raising up churches and individuals to join our monthly support team we are now at 67% and more people are showing an interest in hearing about the way God is working in Alaska through the camp. As we have to be 100% funded before we can begin our trip up to Victory we are now faced with the decision of what to do for school for Taylor as he will be beginning kindergarten this fall. We had originally thought we would put him in the glacier view school in Alaska, but it's looking like we will need to start him here in Hudsonville or home school. So we are praying through some of those decisions including which curriculum to use if we do home school.

Praises

• New monthly supporters
• Being at 67%
• Pizza ranch allowing us to do a fundraiser
• A great summer with family and friends

Prayer Requests

• Finding an SUV and enclosed trailer for a good price
• More monthly supporters
• Wisdom with schooling for Taylor

Summer time: Sunshine, sunscreen, s-mores and support-raising

We are at just over 50% of our monthly goal to get to Alaska and start serving there. We are praising God for the way He is working in our life through this time. Our prayer is that we'll be on our way up by august 1st, we'll see what He has planned! Please pray along with us. We will be having a lunch on the 24th of this month with some of Derek's family to share our ministry and the way God is at work in the state of Alaska, so we are really looking forward to that and excited to share our passion with them.

We are continuing to learn so much as we wait on the Lord and His perfect timing. We know He is preparing us for our future ministry. We are also in the process of getting passports together, and looking for a vehicle and trailer for the drive up, as that is our plan as of now. When we reach 100%  we are planning to drive from Michigan to Nebraska, and visiting our sending church there Calvary Memorial. Then we will drive to Montana and spend a few days with my family and friends hopefully have a bbq (hint, hint). We'll continue the drive north and cross the border into Canada from Montana. We know all of these details will fall into place when the timing is right, as of now we're just trying to be faithful to what God has called us to do on a daily basis.

Staying Connected

John 15:5

" I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."

It's so easy to get discouraged in your Christian walk, especially if you are doing it in your own strength. Trying to memorize Scripture, trying to pray, trying to be in God's Word daily. I heard these verses in John talking about the vine and branches at least once, twice or more a day, for a week straight. Finally, i realized God was using His living Word to get a hold of my heart and remind me that apart from Him I can do nothing! It so easy for me to do things in my own strength completly forgetting that the Holy Spirit wants to produce fruit in me (Gal. 5:22-23) not for my glory, but for God's! And believe me it never works when i plow ahead without Him.

As we are in this support raising process we are constantly reminded that we cannot do this in our own strength, It needs to be through the Vine, and as we stay connected to Him, He will do the rest. That doesn't mean we're just sitting on our hands waiting for Him to bring in all the prayer and financial support that we need, but we realize that He is the one with unlimited resources, who gives freely through His children. We are excited to see God working through this process and after praying we are setting the date of August 1st to be at camp, to join the team in the furtherance of the gospel there.

We want people to understand we are going there as permanent staff, we are supported as missionaries, as the camp is operated on donations from churches and individuals. Victory just recently changed it's name to Victory Bible Camp and Conference center. We will be working hard year round. summer camp, and then conferences the rest of the year. Please pray with us in this, and that we will be patient in waiting as we need to be at 100% of our monthly goal of 2,500. We are currently at 46.2% but that is different than the amount that camp is showing because not all of our supporters have gotten the pledge cards in, we need those in order to reach our goal. So please do that and get in touch with us if you need another one, we understand how things get misplaced! There is also the option of sending an email to our finance lady with your name, address, amount you would like to pledge (you can start sending the money once we actually get to camp) and how often you want to give. Her email is ElaineA@vbcalaska.org. We need a consistent monthly amount, so far most of our supporters are giving on a monthly basis. We obviously won't actually have access to this money until we are our way to Alaska. Thanks for taking the time to read this, remember to stay connected to the Vine!