For the time I was in Barrow, the weather was snowy and blowing.  I think the high was about 19 degrees.  I spent about 5 hours walking around, exploring the town (photos below).  Barrow is an Inupiaq community, and my sense is that the native community is the most important element.  I had the profound sense that a number of people I observed were in Barrow to “work” in some field (mainly the petroleum industry, I suspect).  I sensed a real sadness in many of the folks I observed.  I don’t know how accurate my impression of this may be, but it felt like in some cases people spend a significant amount of “time” in Barrow.  Maybe weeks at a time throughout the year.  But they really don’t “live” in Barrow.  That seemed sad to me.  I found myself thinking about what it would be like to live in Barrow, and what would I need to do to truly connect to life in that community.  Mostly my sense is that a strong connection to the Inupiaq community would be crucial.  Here are some Barrow photos I took during my walk-about.

This baleen was being stored (dried?) outside of the Craft Work-room at the Inupiaq Heritage Center.

The Inupiaq Heritage Center- simply an OUTSTANDING establishment.

Barrow neighborhood.

Notice that there are NO TREES at all above the Arctic Circle.

Arctic Ocean and Ice Berg

The Ice Pack wasn't very far off shore.

A flock of ducks flying by.

Arctic Fox- almost in its fully white phase.

Vehicles are kept plugged in to heat the engine oil.

I think this might be a piece of polar bear hide.

Barrow is far away from pretty much everywhere.

Check this out: 1200 miles from the North Pole, 11000 miles from the South Pole.

There is a beautiful Presbyterian Church in Barrow.

I’m very thankful for every opportunity to enjoy something that David and I both like so much– getting out into the beautiful Alaskan wilderness ranks right up there!

Taken from the base of Red Mountain, looking back into the Cirque (a place where an ancient glacier once originated).

Neat waterfall seen in the distance on the hike up Red Mountain.

Once arriving at the top of the mountain (near the old Mine shaft) the terrain was amazing with lots of cracked reddish colored rocks.

Here's David next to the old Mine on top of Red Mountain.

This was such a beautiful view from the head of Jakolof bay.

I’m pretty excited as we head into Fall (our 4th in Alaska).  In December our daughter Sarah, who is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia, is coming home for a visit.  It has already (just) been a year since I’ve seen her, so having her back will be very special.  AND, along with that exciting December experience is the scheduled birth of our first grand-child.  The ultrasounds seem to assure us that the baby will be a boy, but I am kind of holding back on assuming.  In any case, our son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Sherry, are expecting their first.  We all hope to be with them for a visit just after Christmas.  Some fun for one and all!!

This has been a whirlwind of a summer.  Sorry for my lack of blogging, but I have several excuses.  All of these activities have involved extra preparation and coordination time and effort from me and Karen.  The Alaska United Methodist Annual Conference was held at Homer in early June.  We were the host church and it was a VERY busy time leading up to and throughout the Conference activities of that week.  In late June a Volunteers In Mission team from Oklahoma State University (the other “OSU” for my Ohio friends) came to bring a Vacation Bible School to the children of the Homer community.  They were a team from the Wesley Foundation of the university.  Super great people and true servants.  Then in late July, a construction mission team from Pennsylvania came to do some service projects in the Homer community.  They built a storage building and a stairway/deck at two homes in the town of Homer.  This was a small mission team but they accomplished some amazing quality work that will make a difference in two families of the community.

Just as the Pennsylvania team was wrapping up their time with us, Karen and I traveled to North Carolina to speak in several churches about ministry in Alaska.  This was a journey of “thank you” to people from a region of NC who have been coming to Alaska for many years to help with various church/ministry construction projects that are making a huge difference in the communities of Alaska where United Methodist churches are located.  We had a fantastic time and felt very well-received by the churches where we spoke and showed slides of life and ministry in Homer, Alaska.

After 5 days of visiting in the Western NC area, we met up with our Ohio sons and daughters in law at one of the North Carolina beaches for a week of vacation.  It was a wonderful R.E.S.T.  I feel a lot better now!

We are back now and it feels good to have been at worship this morning (August 21) where we have grown to feel so comfortable and certainly well appreciated in ministry.

I’ll try to update this blog a bit more often over the coming weeks.