Juneau Update #6

Trail #7 Mount Roberts

So this one started as the campus crusade prayer hike which was absolutely amazing. Hiking through the woods surrounded by fellow believers all lifting prayers and praise to our God and Father.. it doesn't get any better then that! We focused on many different aspects of prayer and our Christain walks. On top of that we practiced different styles of prayers sometime praying silently by ourselves, as a group outloud as we hiked, or my personaly favorite Korean style.

Only 5 of us decided to continue on to summit the mountain: Rikki, John, Robin, Jonny, and myself. I could not have asked for a better group of hiking buddies to continue this experience with. They are all so full of passion for missions in the here and now sense meaning wherever they find themselves around the globe. This spoke volumes into my own life thinking about how God can and does use me where I am at and how essential the power of prayer is. Looking around my daily life I constantly come across people who desperately need to be filled with the hope, joy, and peace our Savior offers.. coworkers, store clerks, gas station workers, tourists, my haircutter lady, basically Juneau population as a whole. I am His hands and feet here specifically in Juneau at the moment and it is endless what God is capable of doing. I want to be in constant prayer for the Spirit of God to be moving in these people's lives, readying them to accept His gospel message as well as for the believers here to be emitting the light of Jesus to all the people around them, for their community and fellowship here, for their desire to be used by God and to grow intamtely closer to God because He desires those things.

Random Life: Cole, Lisa, and I are suppose to hit up Toy Story 3 tomorrow now that I have finally seen the first two movies. Biking is becoming a favorite activity of mine and I have Cylce Alaska to thank for that. I finally bought all the baking supplies so now I am going to be making a batch of snicker doodle cookies for a picnic sunday evening and then some caramel apple cinnamen rolls just because I want some and enjoy baking so much.

Juneau Update #5

Trail #5 Peterson Lake

Roundtrip: 8.6 miles

This trail is pretty amazing, it has the sound of a creek in the distance and goes through thick trees. Very very muddy however and many trees have fallen over the path. Right in the middle there is a little meadow/bog area. I actually hiked this on one of my days off by myself. Talk about wonderful alone time it took almost 4 hours so i had a lot of reflection and prayer time. Blessing from God.

Trail #6 Thunder Mountain

The route we took was probably only 3 miles to the top, it was the steeper option but honestly this hike was very enjoyable. Of course it is up a mountain so I can't say it was completely easy but compared to McGinnis and Juneau i thought this one was easier. We got lucky and it cleared up enough to see part of the view from the top! I hiked it with Morgan, her mom Melissa, my coworker Sara and her twin sister Melissa such a great group of ladies!!

Other recent adventures include Kayaking with Debbie Douglas, Megan, two seasoned sisters and their husbands. We went acrossed Mendenhall lake up to the glacier, around icebergs, pretty much under nugget falls! Sooooooo much fun and afterwards we all hit up bullwinkles pizza for some good conversation

Juneau Update #4

Trail #4: Granite Creek

Roundtrip 7 miles

This trails starts with the first half of Perseverance trail then branches off, following along Granite Creek to its basin. It is my new favorite, extremely gorgeous, just the right feel to it. Part of it is through woods, you always get to hear the sound of the creek, mountains are right there surrounding you, the trail is well kept yet still rugged, there is a waterfall towards the end. I did the full trail with Morgan Fisher and Alison joined us just for the first half.

I feel right at home in Juneau, it's rather amazing. I feel as if I have lived here my whole life somehow. It really is my perfect spot on this earth.. perfect weather for me, plently of trails to hike, fish to catch, breath-taking scenery, people to hang with.. I could easily see myself living here for a good chunk of my life.

Thursday night women's Bible study at waffle co. is a highlight of my week. We discussed Romans ch 2 this week. Talk about a convicting chapter in a good sense though. Read it so you can know what i mean :)

Juneau Update #3

Trail #3: West Glacier

Roundtrip: 6.8 miles

This is a fun, quick trail out to the Mendenhall. Brenna and I went out there, hung out for a good hour exploring ice caves. Sadly, the ice caves are not nearly as sweet as they were two years ago.. best part of the trail is scaling a rock cliff, we took a more dangerous route up

Work story of the week: during my Wed morning bike tour, we saw a black bear!!! he walked across the street towards us and then went into the woods

Life Update: thanks to Cole and Lisa, I have officially seen the movie Toy Story.. in the near future I will finally see Toy Story 2. My life is getting closer to complete. Also I am now first aid and CPR certified.

Prayer: Thanks to God for all the amazing people who live up here, for my great coworkers and job, for being surrounded by mountains!! for Crossroads church group and reaching downtown Juneau, for Project Golf and all the work God will do through them, for our Thursday night women's bible study and the book of Romans.. that i would constantly be watching and waiting for the return of my Lord and that my life would reflect Him.

Juneau Update #2

Trail #2: Mount McGinnis

Round trip: 10 miles

Yes that would be a real mountain. Recommended climbing season is not until summer and fall. There is a reason for that, once we got past the treeline it was pure snow to the top. Let me tell you that the added snow resistance makes the hike up a lot harder but once at the top it was the most gorgeous view! Nice sunny day so we hung out at the top for a while and enjoyed it, I even got sunburned. Climbing buddies were two of my coworkers Sara and Kristin.

After the Mountain, Morgan and Nick took Brenna and I out crabbing! We got 10 keepers and I cleaned 2 of them. Its kind of intense, you have to grab and hold back all of the claws then rip of the shell, break the crab into two pieces and then wash out all the guts. Soon we will be having a nice crab dinner

Thursday night we had our first women's bible study at the waffle co. I am looking forward to those every Thursday for the next 3 months. Earlier that day I spent at least 3 hours swimming in Auke Lake!!! It was been that nice out this week to make that experience enjoyable

Now I have to go pack up my tent and gear for an overnight camp trip to Aaron Island. More details on that and more to come!

Juneau Update #1

Summer Goal: complete every trail in the trail book.

One Trail Done: Windfall Lake Trail, 7 miles roundtrip, easy, nice path goes through trees along a river some of the way, across a few bridges and ultimately to the lake. Hiked with Brenna and Mego.

First day on the job: drove a 15 passenger van no problem but still have yet to try it full of people with a trailor full of bikes on the back. Successfully biked one of the routes with tourists, nice route starting at Chapel by the lake, through campus down the back loop first stop at west side of glacier and then back around to east side. met some sweet tourists from England in the process and confident i am going to like my job

First sunday, attended just the sunday school portion of Douglas Island Bible Chapel with Alison and Sandon before rushing off to work. Saturday night attended Cross Roads service where Andrea attends. First night of ultimate frisbee, always a good time! Had a fire down at Auke rec where we saw flourescent algea lighting up by any movement! quite possibly the coolest thing i have ever seen

Roadtrip!!!

Route: across ND to Shelby, MT where we camped one night. I randomly have a friend who lives there and it just so happened to be his birthday that night so that was a nice surprise and addition to the trip. Got up drove right into Canada on Mountainous roads through Banff Canadian National Park and camped in Jasper. One of the cars had alternator problem so we stayed there all morning while the car was in the shop, took off eventually getting on the Alaska Highway and camped in Fort Nelson. Made it to Skagway the next day with extra time to enjoy. The next day spent on a Ferry was excellent, nice hot sunny with a breeze. Sat out on the top deck the whole time staring up at more mountains, arrived at Destination Juneau, Alaska.

Animal sitings: multiple moose, tons of caribou, 4 bears, 3 mountain sheep/rams, a few buffalo, whales, dolphins, sea lions.

Group traveled with: Brenna Malaney (good friend from UM), Mego Pace (new good friend and project Fox-trot Alum), Stephanie Woebbecke (friend from NE, Fox-trot alum and project Golf staff lady), Jacklyn and Armand (newly weds from MO and project Golf staff), and Robert, Steven, and Steele aka Scubes (3 Fox-trot Alum and Golf staff)

Total Miles: 2,835

Praise the Lord for: Safe travel, car problem quickly fixed and no real damage done, wonderful group of people traveled with and great conversations, an upcoming summer full of adventure, growth, and furthering of His Kingdom, the beauty of His creation, how great and awesome our God is and how that is seen all around us.