Greetings Folks!

I'm sorry! I know it has been far too long since I last wrote to you. I'm not going to make a bunch of lame excuses-- well, maybe just a couple-- we've been really, really busy, and the dog ate my previous attempts to communicate with you. (I said they were lame). The good news is that from now on, you should be receiving our letters on a very regular basis. On January 1st, I officially resigned my office as pastor of First Baptist Church of Newfield, which leaves me with only ONE full-time job-- getting to Alaska.

So much has happened since our last letter that I'm not sure where to begin. I guess I'll start with yet another example of evidence of the Lord's leading in this ministry. I say "yet another example" because of the truly amazing way that God has demonstrated that He is directing us in this. It's one thing to believe that the Lord is leading in your life; it's quite another thing to see that the Lord is leading. Up to this point, the Lord has been incredibly gracious to us in showing us over and over again that He is in control.

Last August, Heidi, Andrew and I went to Oregon to attend a Comprehensive Wilderness Survival training course in the Mt. Hood wilderness area (Rachael and Stephen were too young to go). Anyway, I was not especially thrilled about taking the course. I knew that I would enjoy it, but it was very expensive and I was pretty sure that what we would learn could be learned some other way (some other CHEAPER way-- I can read, after all!). The folks at EBM, however, thought it best for us to attend the class, so we swallowed hard, coughed up the $8,000 and settled into our coach seats on Northwest airlines for the five hour flight to Portland.

The course was interesting, and we picked up some survival techniques that we probably wouldn't have gotten from reading a book. For instance, Heidi learned that a debris shelter really doesn't need to be twelve feet long, and really should be more than two feet wide if she intends to spend a night in it with another lady survivalist during a thunderstorm. The most important thing about the trip, however, had nothing to do with the material that was taught. It had everything to do with someone else who was taking the course. We met Wes. Wes is a field operations leader in the U. S. military. He has an office in the Pentagon, works for a department that tracks down bio-terrorists, and is built like the new governor of California.

One evening, Wes and I were sitting by the campfire telling big-foot stories (more on that in a minute) when Wes suddenly asked me why, at this point in my life, was I "leaving everything" to go to the bush in Alaska. What an opportunity to share the gospel! We had a good talk, during which Wes told me that he had at one time been stationed in Alaska. He told me that the military was always "looking for things to do" up there-- projects that would serve as good training for the troops. He assured me that building a runway out in the middle of nowhere would really "trip the trigger" of those in charge of the Alaska bases. He said that what they would probably do is drop the necessary equipment onto the site by parachute (tractors, etc.). The equipment would most likely be left at the camp after completing the runway. The military upgrades and replaces equipment on a fairly regular basis; consequently, they often have surplus equipment that they don't mind abandoning. The bottom line is this-- Wes said that if I am unable to get the military to build us a runway after we get to Alaska to give him a call, and that he is sure that he can get it done for us.
Was it just a coincidence that we ran into Wes on the other side of the continent in Portland, Oregon? No way! God's "fingerprints" are all over the whole situation. God was directing EBM's board members in requiring us to attend a survival course. God was directing me as I searched for a survival school. God caused the class that I wanted to attend to be full so that I would have to go a different week. God even directed Wes, an unsaved man, to choose the same school, and the same week for his refresher course. Praise the Lord that He is in complete control of every detail of our lives! How about that $8,000? It looks like that money bought a whole lot more than a survival course!

I mentioned the big-foot stories. As you probably are aware, the Mount Hood Wilderness area is in the heart of Sasquatch territory. One evening, as the shadows lengthened beyond the flickering circle of light cast by our campfire, our conversation turned to the possibility of the existence of an as yet undiscovered race of gorilla-like creatures-- a race of creatures that wander the lonely places at the edge of our vision, sometimes piercing the night with their lonesome, eerie cries. You haven't lived until you've sat around a fire in the middle of the wilderness telling spooky stories. Anyway, the fire had died down to a glowing heap of embers, and we all rather nervously felt our way through the darkness toward our tents. As Heidi and I neared the entrance of our tent, we heard a muffled shout maybe fifty yards to our left, and the sounds of something heavy crashing through the undergrowth. The sounds had come from the direction of Wes's tent. Knowing that his advanced military training had taught him twenty-three ways to kill a man with a cotton ball, I figured it was unlikely that he needed my assistance, and that I would check on him the following morning.

It may have been my imagination, but the next morning, Wes seemed a little agitated. He had developed a twitch at the corner of his left eye, and I noticed a couple of distinct gray streaks in his hair that I didn't remember seeing the day before. I casually mentioned that I thought I had heard a disturbance the previous evening that seemed to come from the direction of his tent. Strangely, Wes seemed reluctant to share his story with me. All he would say was, "If I'd have had my weapon with me, we'd be eating venison this morning."

 
Before this becomes too lengthy, I guess I should bring you up to date on our progress. As I said, I have resigned from First Baptist, so we are officially working on our pre-field ministry full-time now. For a number of reasons besides the obvious one of moving only once, we have decided to move our belongings straight to Fairbanks. We are planning to move March 16th., or I guess I should say we are planning on beginning the move on that date-- a 4600 mile drive takes some time to complete! We will return to the lower forty-eight the last part of April for a missions conference in Casper, Wyoming; then we'll head back to the Midwest where we will concentrate on raising the remainder of our support.

Prayer Requests:

1) We are looking for a house or cabin to rent in Fairbanks or North Pole, Alaska. Please pray that the Lord will enable us to find something at a reasonable rate.

2) We are also looking for a Missionary house somewhere in the Midwest where we can set up "home base" while we raise our support.

3) Please pray for us as we work at getting rid of most of our belongings. It's a little difficult to decide what we should keep, and what we should sell.

4) Please pray that we will be able to keep a full schedule of meetings. Our support level is still around 35%, but we expect things to really take off now that we can devote our full effort to the ministry.

5) We're still waiting for the Lord to provide an airplane.

6) We're praying for a video/DVD projector to use to help us present our ministry to churches.

7) Keep praying for team members. Perhaps the Lord is calling YOU to join us!
I realize that this issue was a little long on stories, and a little short in information, but I promise to fill you in on more details next month.

Until then,

The Craigs in Alaska