Monthly Archives: June 2018

Medieval Mayhem, cupcakes and more!

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Sorry for the delay in getting posts up here for the past few days, we’ve been experiencing technical difficulties… ah, technology. Thanks for your patience!

We’ve had an absolute whirlwind of activities and fun in the past few days. It’s hard for all of us to believe that it’s Friday (night!) already! We’ve even had kids express that they’d like to stay one more week— which is HUGE. It’s awesome that they’ve poured their hearts into serving God and still feel like they’re not done! (Don’t worry, moms and dads. We’re headed home soon!)
First incredible blessing: from day one, when we had seventeen students from the Sutton area come to camp, our numbers have only grown. We counted TWENTY TWO today! Awesome! Amazing! God surely provides!
The Smith Family organized a super fun activity that they called Medieval Mayhem, that spanned parts of two days. The first day, we split into four groups, and designed and built a castle, a flag, a banner, a joust, and an axe out of recyclable materials and old sheets. The next day, there were several games: a jousting game, where two competitors on bikes tried to knock a jug of water off a bench; an “axe toss” (cardboard axes), and a great game of capture the flag using the castles as our strongholds! Everyone loved it!
We enjoyed Alaskan S’mores at the campfire…
We also hiked Hatcher Pass. One group chose to go up to Reflection Lake (which was still frozen over!) and the other group went to Independence Mine. The weather was beautiful! We enjoyed a dinner in Sutton at Subway/ Dairy Queen that night.
Yesterday, we went to the school ground and played games: an obstacle course, Ultimate Rock-Paper-Scissors, and Capture the Flag!
Today we had our final day with our campers, and it was a MARATHON day… we had lots of fun games to start us off, followed by our final two skills clubs: paracord bracelets, and knitting/origami. These were both big hits. After lunch we played a really fun game called 5 minute movies. The kids had to recreate well-loved movies in a 5 minute time limit. We also got to play a different version of Capture the Flag that some of our GO Team members organized. Tonight we are hosting a community potluck, and will get to meet some of the parents and younger siblings of the campers we’ve gotten to know!
Tomorrow, we pack up and head back to Anchorage. This has been an incredible week!

Shout outs!

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For anyone who has either had a loved one be a part of this trip, or has gone on the trip— you have seen shout outs!  The members of the team love touching base with loved ones who have reached out. Here are a few:

Audrey

Hey family I miss you all tons I made a new Alaska friend and Alaska team friends Zoe I hope you are taking good care of mom and dad

Abby- LIVY!!! I miss you so much! I’m so proud that you went on that zipline. Mom, thanks for the tip about the cheese. Also thanks for the gum. Eat a slice of carrot cake for me :). Dad, love you so much. Staying on that green line!

Kaitlyn- Hola family! I love you all so much. Emma, don’t grow up too much without me. Mom, it was weird wearing pants all day. Thank you for your love and prayers.

Addie- Hey hey hey! To all my friends and family… I love you and miss you sooo much!! I can’t wait to see you all… thanks for all the letters too! They put a smile on my face. Edith, Reiner, and Willa… thank you for the picture! It was BUTTEiful!!! Love y’all! See ya

soonish!

Zoie- Thanks for the fun facts mom 😉 it was kinda embarrassing .Love you all see you when I get home!

Sarahi- Hey mom thanks for all the comments, I miss you so much! And I miss Yaritza and Padre too! Also Happy 8th birthday Moi, I hope it was great and you had a good day. I love and miss all of you!!

Emily – shout out to Miss Madison, you’re a rockstar! Miss you and our orange room kiddos! my fellow old people Madmish leaders – Miss leading with you guys and hope your week is going great. KP- Miss you AK buddy! Megan Smith – you are amazing. Love you friend!

Noah- I miss you Mac!!!! Love you all back in Waunakee and miss you dearly! Having fun here and am excited not to leave!!!

🙂

First Day of Camp!

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Tuesday greetings to all our devoted readers!  Thank you so much for coming to this blog and reading, praying, and commenting on our adventures.  We are so grateful, and the kids have already looked forward to the comments that we read at the campfire before we go to bed each night.

Yesterday, we welcomed the week’s first group of local kids to Eaglecrest camp.  In past years, there have been anywhere between 2-9 kids that participate in the camp.  Monday’s group was an astounding SEVENTEEN!  For past GO Team Alaska members, we will pause a moment while you scoop your chin off the floor 🙂 This is a HUGE testament to the power of God working through the Smith family, who run the camp.  The good Word is spreading!

After a delicious breakfast and devotionals, the campers arrived and we played Gaga ball and 9-square with them, and got to know (and in a few cases, reacquaint ourselves with) these incredible kids:

Our activities leaders invited the kids to choose what they’d like to do: there was a “spa” option, with cucumbers and warm towels for facials, and nail polish for manis and pedis! Anthony, Craig, and one of the Smith family, Lucas, even got haircuts!

After the activities, we enjoyed lunch and then headed over to a butte to hike to the top.  Some of us found this much easier than others, but we ALL made it!  The view was astounding.  Here’s our entire group, including the campers, the Smith family, and Blackhawk’s team:

That’s a glacier behind us!

Needless to say, getting to sleep last night was easy for everyone.  We are refreshed and ready for a new day and more fun with the campers.  Today includes wood burning and cupcake decorating, and fun at the local school with human foosball and ultimate frisbee.  More to come!

Day 2!

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Greetings from Eaglecrest Alaska Missions!  Audrey and Kristin D here 🙂 We are wrapping up our first full day here, and what a full day it’s been!  We started the morning early, hearing Emily give her life story:

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We had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage, and then had an hour of devotional time.  It was pretty easy for most of us to feel a close connection to God, surrounded by the incredible beauty of this area!  This is the view of the river behind the camp, taken at the campfire:
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After some free time and a lunch, we went to Thunderbird Falls on a beautiful hike!  This was an amazing spot with amazing views!  Everyone enjoyed this excursion: