A Week and a Half of Training...

Hello!

So, now that I have had time to catch up on a little sleep (yeah right!) and have adjusted to Alaska time (an hour behind Pacific) and have figured out how to sleep in the near constant state of sunshine, I am updating my blog! Yay.

This first picture is a map of the route we took while driving up. It was 2,383 miles!!! wow! (from Portland, OR to Sutton, AK). It took almost as long for us to drive to Alaska as it took me to drive to Florida. The Florida trip took one day longer, if that gives you some idea how far our 49th state is from the rest of the Union!

I want to thank you again for your prayers! I know that this last week had the potential to be pretty hard, but it has gone by marvelously. I have spent the past week and a half in training learning about Victory Ministries and Victory Bible Camps and then learning the function of my job. So far, this has been great. I was pretty confused at first but now that I have been "shown the ropes" I feel much more confident.

So, my camp is the S.A.L.T. program (servant and leadership training). My campers are 9th - 12th graders who desire to be in leadership in their churches and communities. I lead them as they do the "menial" tasks (a real test in servant hood) that keep the entire camp running. The campers are here for 2 weeks at a time and will set up the dinning hall for meals, clean up the mess afterwards, clean the camp bathrooms, wash the buses, etc. In between these task times, I will get to share lessons about what it is to be a servant leader. My campers will have opportunities to put these lessons into practice, but they will also have free time to play in the water, go to the camp store, take a hike, or bounce on the inflatables.

I am super excited. Usually I am not a "teaching" type, but I really enjoy mentoring/discipleship and counseling. I was concerned about having to come up with a curriculum for the campers and was re-assured that a curriculum would be provided. Well, as the week wore on, I still hadn't seen a curriculum, but something interesting was happening in me...I was starting to to think of things I was hoping would be in the curriculum that I still hadn't seen yet. Another couple days passed and I found myself wishing that I could just write my own after looking at what was already in place. By yesterday, I thought it would just be nice if I could write my own altogether. HA! So, I started making notes.

Yesterday afternoon I finally had a curriculum meeting where I was told that I could use as little or as much as I wanted from the materials used in the past. They did prefer, however that I make the program my own. HA! Wow. So, here I was hoping to write my own lessons, and here they were giving me complete freedom to do just that! So now I am in the midst of planning 9 lessons to give over the course of two weeks. What a challenge!

I have been staying in the "Ranch Camp" cabins this week and there is the most incredible view out my front door. There are mountains and a "small" glacier. A couple days ago the clouds rolled in and the mountains seemed to disappear, but today the sun was shining again and the mountains returned! :)

Tomorrow I will be moving into my cabin. It will be cool to have my own...building. It is a room about the size of my dorm. This is going to be great for lesson prep and living space. I anticipate having mentor type meetings in there from time to time, so it is the perfect space.

We (counselors and leaders) attended church at Glacier View Bible Church. As the name might suggest, there is a perfect view of the Matanuska Glacier from the church windows. I don't know yet how I feel about being distracted during services by looking at God's creation. :) I suppose He approves.

I have the rest of my pics posted online. Click this link to see them. I will provide another update soon. Thank you for your prayers, please keep them coming. :) I think I wrote before that physical notes and letters make a big difference; it's still true.

If you are interested in supporting this mission trip financially, you can do so by mailing your tax-deductable gift to:

Victory Ministries

64741 S. Victory Rd.

Sutton, AK 99674

Include my name on a separate slip of paper, but do not write my name on the check. Correspondance to me may be sent to this same address: Laura Jean Fesler c/o Victory Ministries.

Thank you and God bless you! Keep checking back for more information.

Laura Jean