Our Visit to Alaska

Denise and I got to got to Alaska the week of June 14-21. We had a great time visiting our friends and many supporters while we were there.

The week started with a small miracle from God. The night before we left, we found out that our flights had been changed and we were to arrive in Anchorage late Sunday night and would miss the evening service at Chapel of the Cross that we were supposed to speak at. We prayed and the next day, the airline was able to re-route us to arrive on time for church and they didn't even charge us a change fee. PTL.

We spent the next couple of days working and visiting our friends at HDL, taking care of loose ends, and getting our taxes filed. On Wednesday and Thursday, Dennis, Denise, our good friend Bill Tuk, and DJ, invaded the lake house and installed tongue and groove pine on the ceiling. Kimmy and Chad have done a great job turning the lakehouse into a home. It is looking great.

They we went down to Soldotna to spend time with our parents. We stayed with Dennis and Jodie Linnell where we helped install a new window in the living room. We also got to visit with Peter and JoAnn Biegel on the beach as they were doing their annual subsistence set netting for red salmon. In three days, er caught, cleaned, and filleted over 100 fish. Dennis left feeling like a real Alaskan.

We really enjoyed our time celebrating Father's Day with our families, many brothers and sisters, and kids.

Machupichu

We visited the Inca ruins of Machupichu. We traveled by taxi to the train depot. Then we traveled by train to the town of Agua Caliente. We stayed overnight in a very small hotel. At 4:30 in the morning we got up to stand in line to catch the first bus to the mountain. The bus arrived at Machupichu at 9am. We then signed up for a time to climb the mountain behind Machupichu - Wanipichu. Only 400 people per day climb this peak, but it has a marvelous view of the ruins at the top. The ruins were truly incredible. A total of 172 homes, with other buildings besides. Up to 500 families could live in this community. The terraces were built to use for planting food.

Cusco

We stayed in Cusco for a couple of days. We happened to be there when a group from Northwest Nazarene came through. They are in nursing training in college. 20 students came to Peru to run clinics in the jungle. We also met a missionary living in Cusco, Carrie Eckel. We stayed in a home bed and breakfast. Guadalupe made us feel right at home. Dawn said she reminded her of Grandma Jodie! As with all towns, the central square was filled with local children. Dawn did her magic with the kids...

Puerto Maldonado

We visited the town of Puerto Maldonado. The town is located in the "selva" or jungle. This is the next construction site for Extreme. We saw a tributary of the Amazon, attended a church service,... and Dennis started the clearing of land. Dennis has a foreman named Cuarto. Cuarto will hire a crew, clear the land, and put in footings for the building. As of today, Cuarto has started the footings, purchased cement, rebar for the walls, and fill material to raise up the site.

Back from the Beach

We kidnapped Isaiah and Landon for an overnight trip to the beach. Lots of sun and sand with a successful return to Mom and Dad (Sarah and Ryan Foster). We made sand castles, sand angels, flew a kite, dipped in the ocean, and managed to get sunburns (during the Peru winter!). The boys had a fun time and even said that "next time".... Mom and Dad were able to enjoy a day of quiet (hard to believe). We took two new members of the Extreme staff with us, Ryan and Chadwick. They went out into cold water to body surf-for about 5 minutes.

Dawn Arrives!

Mothers Day!  And my Dawn arrived at 10:30 in the morning.   A beautiful start to a beautiful day.  We took a taxi to the airport, picked Dawn up, and took a taxi to church.  We had an action packed service, several songs and dramas by the young children of Alto Libertad.  Then we took another taxi home.  The Alverado family was waiting for us.  A huge meal of salad, potatoes, grilled sausage, grilled steak, and (always) bread.  After dinner, Senor Andres treated us all to his special coffee espresso.  We walked to the Hunt's to give them some items Dawn brought from Idaho.  And finally it was time for a siesta!

Birthday, May 2nd

A wonderful birthday lunch! With our host family and friends from the office, Michelle and Brad Hunt, we celebrated my "29th".... Here they call the ladies birthday age "sin cuenta" (without counting). I had a lovely day sleeping late and watching Dennis cook our meal- chicken cordon blue. We went shopping for all of the ingredients the day before. It is such an adventure to shop when you don't know the spanish words-and then to find out that broccoli is broccoli and paprika is ???? (we still don't know).