October 2006
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October, 2006

 

Hey, Everybody!

We’ve had a wonderful, eventful Summer, and even though we’re only about a third of the way through Autumn (technically speaking), it looks and feels like Winter has settled in and made itself comfortable up here. It’s eighteen degrees outside as I am writing to you; there is a beautiful heavy layer of frost covering the trees and grass; the river is beginning to ice up; our windowpanes are frosted, and snow is in the forecast. It’s really beautiful.

The highlight of our Summer had to be the week that a work crew from a church in Elmer, NJ stayed with us. They completed the list of projects that I had for them the first two days that they were here. I had fully expected the list to be enough work for all of the crews that we had scheduled to visit the entire Summer. It’s amazing what a work crew composed entirely of "work-aholics" can accomplish. As much as we appreciated the physical work, however, the best part was the VBS that they put on for the children. Fifteen kids made professions of faith, including a teenager who brought a couple of kids that she was babysitting. I suppose she was just trying to get a break for a couple of hours, but she stayed and sat in on the Bible stories and realized that she needed to be saved.

Harvey, Nancy and Sarah Mehlos (First Baptist Church of Hartland, WI) spent their vacation working with us again this year, and Rita Walt (formerly of Calvary Baptist Church of Quincy, IL– now living in Elkhart, IN) was a real lifesaver for Heidi. Rita stayed with us during the busiest part of the Summer, and helped Heidi with the cleaning, cooking, etc. We also had a team from Bob Jones University spend a week with us. They did a great job working with the teens in the evenings– kind of a VBS for high school kids.

I saved Mark Moore for last. Mark is the son of Pastor Garry and Christie Moore (Calvary Baptist Church in Dysart, IA). Pastor Moore was my pastor when I was in Jr. High school in Brazil, IN. Mark was born in Brazil while the Moores were there; though he was far too young then to remember me, I remembered one or two embarrassing things about him that I will not go into here. You all know how much I hate to embarrass people. Anyway, Mark came to work with us late in the Spring, just before the mosquitoes began to blossom. Mark completed a number of work projects for us, including digging a hole to bury a septic tank. That may not sound like a big deal until you realize that he had to dig down into the permafrost. He had to build a fire in the hole every day, and then dig down a few more inches the next day. It took him almost the entire time he was here to get it done, but he got it done. Actually, the reason I wanted to draw special attention to Mark was an incident that occurred while he was here that I thought was really funny, but that Mark made me promise not to tell anyone. Because I made the promise, from this point on in the story, I will change the names to protect the innocent.

Late this Spring, we had a young man come to work with us– let’s call him Marcus. Anyway, one afternoon Marcus and I went to the gravel pit to do some shooting while a fire was burning in a hole that he was digging for me. On the way to the gravel pit, we stopped at the little grocery store to pick up some ear plugs– I already had mine, but Marcus needed a pair. The store was out of ear plugs, but I found some Silly Putty. It occurred to me that Silly Putty would probably be an acceptable substitute for ear plugs; Marcus agreed. The Silly Putty worked very well while we were shooting, but we made an important discovery about the chemical properties of the stuff when it came time to return home. You see, even though Silly Putty seems very firm, and will even bounce when rolled into a ball, it becomes, ummm, really soft and mushy when it is confined in a very warm place, like say, oh, I don’t know, let’s say, for example, your auditory canal. It also becomes very sticky when warmed to that state– very chewing gum like in consistency. I guess I’ll close this story by saying that it’s one thing to put Silly Putty into one’s ear, and it’s another thing entirely to get it out. If any of you are making a list of lessons that can be learned only inside of the Arctic Circle, you should include very near the top of the list, "Never, never, under any circumstances should Silly Putty be used as a substitute for ear plugs."

We had another wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel with a large part of the village about a month ago, though the circumstances were sad. Gerald James’s mother, Vera, passed away after a long battle with cancer, and Gerald asked me to have the funeral for her. In all the years that the Starrs were here, Pastor Starr had never conducted a funeral service. He had participated, and helped out many times, but the funerals had always been held by the Episcopal church. This was the first "Baptist" funeral in Fort Yukon history. We held the service in the high school gymnasium because we knew that the church was far too small. The gym was full. The chairs and bleachers were packed, and people were standing in the back. At the end of the service, I had everyone bow their heads for prayer, and I asked if anyone was not sure that they were on their way to heaven, and would like me to pray for them. I saw four men raise their hands, and there may have been others, but the crowd was large, and I could easily have missed some more raised hands. Please pray for these men, and all of the others who heard the Gospel. Several people have stopped me in town to either thank me or curse me, but either way, it’s clear that the Holy Spirit is working in hearts. Even the ones who are unhappy with me can’t seem to forget about it.

I don’t know if you’ve been keeping track, but the Lord has been working in a marvelous way since we have arrived. We’ve seen a total of twenty-two professions of faith, and we’ve seen several raised hands during invitations. It certainly isn’t because of any good in us, or because of anything that we’ve done. It’s totally, 100% the Lord’s work. Please pray that God will see fit to continue and increase the harvest that we’re seeing. Pray that these folks will see the need to really follow the Lord– to become disciples– that seems to be the difficult part up here.

We have completed our incorporation process, and have officially established the Day Star Baptist Youth Camp. That means that you can now send donations to the camp directly to us, and we can issue you a tax receipt at the end of the year. It’s still fine to send gifts through CMC as you’ve been doing, and anything that you send to us as a personal gift has to go through CMC if you want the tax deduction.

The paperwork for the camp property is still working its way through the system, but it is moving. We’re still praying that things will be finalized before next Spring, so we can begin clearing, and getting ready for campers.

Prayer Requests

 

      1. Please pray that the rest of the money for the property will come in quickly. So far, $13,891.50 has been pledged. That leaves a balance of $66,108.50. We don’t feel that it would be right to begin building on the property until we’ve settled the debt with the Starrs. We’re praying that the debt will be paid, and enough extra will come in by next Spring to begin work out there.

      2. Please keep praying for that airplane. The longer we’re here, the more we’re feeling the need for the plane, and once we get the camp up and running, we’re really going to be limited without transportation to other villages.

      3. Please keep praying for Heidi and the kids and their home-schooling efforts.

      4. Please continue to pray that we will be accepted in the community, and that we’ll be able to maintain a good testimony.

      5. Pray for Andrew as he heads off to college. He was going to have to start school at the beginning of the second semester, and decided to just wait until next Fall. That suits us just fine– we weren’t ready to get rid of him yet anyway. Pray for wisdom as he seeks the Lord’s will for his life.

      6. Please pray for Heidi’s health. She has been having more problems related to the surgery that she had last year. She had to make a trip into Fairbanks earlier this month for tests. Basically, she was told that the pain is from a build up of scar tissue, and that she should try to live with it. If surgery becomes necessary, it will be very serious. That’s not exactly the kind of news that you want to hear when you’re as young as she is. (Heidi will love me for that last sentence)

Well, I guess I’ll close for now. Next letter: Shipwrecked! The Craig Family Spends a Night and a Day in the Deep! Grandpa Craig Fights off Grizzly with Torch!

We sincerely love all of you, and, as always, we couldn’t do it without you. This is your ministry. Well, actually it’s the Lord’s ministry, but you know what I mean.

Until next time,

Yours in the Lord,

The Craig Family