CROSSWALK

Hope everybody is doing well. We have been very busy, but the Lord is really working in our lives. Today, for community outreach, we walked through town carrying a cross. The purpose of the walk was to make us step outside of our comfort zone to evangelize to the community, as well as to intercede for the town of Homer. The person with the cross was about 50-100 ft ahead of everyone else. When we began discussing this, I became very anxious. I didn't want anything to do with this. I was afraid of what people might think or what people might say to me and how I would respond to that. This anxiousness caused me to become easily irritated. The person carrying the cross was in the lead and was following the Holy Spirit as to where to go. Kevin went first. As we were walking, I became irritated because I was usually at the back, pushing two beautiful little girls in a double stroller. Anyway, we were following Christine down a big hill and I told Kevin that I was worried because we had to walk back up the same hill later, since we had already walked several miles. At the bottom of the hill, we stopped. Christine picked me to follow her. As I picked up the cross, God told me to go left, which meant walking back up the hill we had just gone down. I argued with him, but He persisted. As I put the cross up on my shoulder, all the anxiety I felt just melted away. As I began walking, God began to speak to me about doing things through His strength. I knew I couldn't do it on my own, it would take Him to help me walk it out. During the walk, I felt pride that I was able to do this for the Lord and felt no shame or embarassment for carrying the cross. I was able to carry the cross all the way to the top of the hill without any problems. We should all pick up our cross and follow Him, no matter the circumstances or our emotions. All He wants is a relationship with us and obedience when He asks us to do something. Sherri

Hello to you, our friends and family. I hope all are doing well. If you are not aware of the picture, it is the Spit. The spit is a 4 mile piece of land and its a natural land formation. On the spit is the Homer harbor and fishing hole, boardwalks, and different kinds of charter services. Well, we spent the afternoon walking around down there, doing a little shopping. When we were done shopping we stopped in at this little restaraunt and ordered a fish and chip basket and sat on the outside deck and snacked on it. I have to tell you right know that Halibut is one of the finest things I have ever eaten. Well as we were sitting on the the deck overlooking Kachemak Bay and the mountains and St. Augustine(the volacano that smokes, 76 miles out in Cook Inlet)we were just marveling at God's creations. I could have spent the afternoon there and just sat in God's presence. I began to think about something that I heard this last week about that very subject. I wonder how many of you have met someone and said "I can see Jesus in that person"? I believe I may have learned the secret to this. The secret is...It depends on how much time you spend with Him. The more time you spend with Jesus, the more you begin to take on His appearance, you begin to smell like him, act more like Him and sound like Him. My true desire is to spend so much time with Jesus that this begins to happen to me. I hope all of you are well and will keep us in your prayers as you are in ours. Please send us a note letting us know if we can pray specifically for you about something and let us know how things are going. God Bless You Kev

The importance of prayer

I was wondering, tonight, if you realized how important it is for you to hold us up in prayer. We ask for your prayer because of its incredible value. To give an example, look at Exodus 17:8-13. Moses sent Joshua into the valley to fight the Amalikites and Moses stayed on top of the mountain with the staff of God and lifted them up in prayer. As long as Moses held his hands up, Joshua was winning, but when he would drop his hands the Amalikites began to win. So Aaron and Hur moved a rock over for Moses to sit on, and when his arms grew weary, they stood beside him and helped him hold his arms up. Moses held his arms up until sunset, and Joshua was victorious. As long as you hold us up in prayer, we will be victorious for God. We ask you as Joshua in the valley, please be our Moses and hold us up in prayer. Blessing on you, Kevin

At Rest

Well, we have been here for 11 days and it feels like home. We have been made to feel welcome here at YWAM Arctic Mercy. Sherri and I are so excited about the future. We completed our first full week of classroom study. The focus this past week was rest in the Lord. The topics were resting from the past, rest in the present, and rest in the future. We also had great times of prayer and worship with the Lord. God has revealed some things to Sherri and I this week that are really good. This time of training is a time to rest in the Lord and focus on our relationship with Him, not to focus on our ministry. I have begun to learn about something called protocol. This is a powerful tool that is necessary when dealing with first nation people. I really sense the Lord has placed us here to really focus on learning about this thing called Protocol once we have completed our DTS. It is hard to believe that this was only our first full week of teachings and training because we are so comfortable here. We look forward to your emails and calls and pray that God blesses you. Love in the Lord, Kevin

Prayer request

Hey All,

Thanks so much for the love you are showing us. The emails are great. We do need prayer continually for two things specificly. The first is for our house to sell, and the second is for our finances. As most of you know, we do not receive a salary, so it is through the blessings of others that we serve. Please be praying that the Lord will bring us answers to our requests. Thanks and God Bless, Kev

The Vision of YWAM Arctic Mercy

Hello again,

I thought I would take a little time to let you know about YWAM Arctic Mercy here in Homer. This base through much prayer and planning was placed here, by God, to focus on the need of the Alaskan people, primarily the Native people. The native people here in Alaska are dealing with the same issues as the Natives in the lower 48, examples are, alcholism, sexual abuse, drug abuse, AIDS and other health issues. The staff here has an enormous heart for intercession, so another ministry is the prayer room. The vision of several people here at YWAM and in the town of Homer is to see prayer 24/7. Although this ministry, like YWAM Arctic Mercy, is in its infancy, the vision is being cast and blessed by God. The prayer room is open daily, and on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights from 2am to 3am for prayer for the community, the Natives, and the Nations and beyond. Another vision of YWAM Arctic Mercy is exactly what the name says, Mercy. The shoeline of Alaska is eroding away. This means the villiages on the shores of this great state are dissapearing. There is also an enourmous need for housing for the teachers of this state in the small villiages. YWAM Arctic Mercy wants to help build housing to fulfill this need and to help the villiages relocate what is being damages by the erosion. I don't have a real list of needs yet, but I do know that we are praying for a boat that will aid us in assisting the people affected in the Alution Islands and the shoreline. As I said Arctic Mercy is still young and growing, and I can't wait to see what else God has in store. Please continue to pray for us and consider that God may want you to help some how. God Bless You, Kevin

Adjusting!!!!

We have been here for three days and we hit the ground running. Everyone is adjusting well. We have done some hiking in the mountains and went to the beach (see picture). Yesterday, it was cold and rainy here. We weren't completely prepared for such cold weather - but we made it through. We have been getting to know everyone in our class including the staff. They are very welcoming and really include the children in everything. We were able to go to the store and boy was I surprised at the cost of things. We went to a place called Kachemak Wholesale - they go to Anchorage and buy stuff at Costco, ship it here and inflate the price. A box of diapers cost $28.00. Anyway, please pray for continued adjustment to a new surrounding and God's provision for the rest of our tuition money. We love everyone and miss them. Sherri

We're here

Well, we made it to Anchorage safe and sound. We fly into Homer tomorrow. It is amazingly beautiful here. The mountains were breath taking while flying in. It was very interesting traveling with 4 kids. They handled it well for the most part. Check back, Kev

North to Alaska

Well, we are out of our house and staying with Sherri's mom. We had our "going away" party tonight and it was wonderful. It is so nice to see friends and family together. So many people we don't get to see very often. Thanks to all of you for coming and giving. We are so excited to see what God is going to do. Stay tuned. Kevin