June 2008 Missionary Letter

Greetings from Alaska, the land of the mid-night sun! I can certainly understand why this is said about Alaska. There is about two hours of darkness this time of year. That really isn't dark.

Donna and I arrived in Chickadoon, Alaska on May 13th after nine days of driving 3684 miles over some good road and some not so good but mostly good. The trip was uneventful other than all the wildlife we saw. We encountered deer, antelope, buffalo, moose, bear, mountain goats, and caribou along the way. Much of these animals were on the highway so you had to watch for them.

We knew that fuel cost coming through Canada would be higher than in the states but not quite as high as it was in some places. Twice we paid right at $7.00 per gallon. Also motel prices were higher than expected. In Canada it was difficult to find a motel less than $100.00 per night. Between those two expenses we spent over $1200.00.

We got to work right away on the building of the log cafeteria for the missionary here. They are calling it a cafeteria but it will also be used for classes. Brother DeWayne King, the missionary, among other ministries teaches young missionaries to be bush pilots, so it will be used for the classes as well as a place to feed them.

I've come across some very interesting things in doing the building. (See Photos Below) We are sawing our own logs and lumber so we have to get logs from the forest. Some of them are in difficult areas so we are using a helicopter to get them. Also the ridge pole is a 36 foot log about 20 feet in the air. We don't have access to a crane so we set it with the helicopter. This is all new to me but very interesting.

Donna has jumped right in and helped also. She has helped prepare the meals, do cleaning, and came over to the building one afternoon and helped me put in place a 36 foot log that acts as a tie from one wall to the other. She was the only one around that was free to help so she did just that. She helped guide it into place with a rope as I picked it up with the fork lift.

All of you may not know who Donna is. She and I were married on April 20th in Peoria, Arizona. We are amazed at how God has brought us together. We both attended the same church and high school when we were teenagers and even dated when I was a senior and she was a sophomore. God has been so good to us and we feel truly blessed.

We ask that you pray for us as we start our life together and as we continue serving God where He leads.

Please notify us if there is any change in your mailing address or if there is an error in it, because we want to keep you up to date on the ministry. If you have an email address you want to share with us, please write and give us that, also.

Thank you for your prayers and continued support as we labor for Him.

In His Service,

Harry & Donna Lippert