Catch Up

Hello friends,

My appologies for being MIA the last month or so. I have a good reason though! I have been outside (the Alaskan way of saying that I've been in the lower 48 states) for three weeks, and I am finally getting settled in to being in Alaska again.

My travels were both for personal reasons as well as work, so I had a good variety of experiences. First, I went to Texas to meet up with my family for my bro Brian's graduation from Undergraduate Pilot Training with the Air Force. It was so good to be with family and to see Brian in his element! So proud of him :) Next stop was Colorado for a couple of days (because it's nearly impossibly to go 'outside' and not go to Colorado.)

Stop four was Minnesota. I went to do a CYAK Salmon Dinner at Dawson Covenant Church and to do some recruiting at Northwestern College in St. Paul, both of which went really well. Thanks to some wonderful people in the church, we were able to cook up five 6lb whole salmon, and it even tasted great! I was also able to share with the congregation about CYAK's work with youth in Alaska - a very enjoyable, encouraging, and rewarding trip. A MAJOR plus about being in MN is that some of my closest friends from college at North Park live there, and so I was blessed to be able to see and spend some time with them for the first time since graduation a year and a half ago.

Stop five was Chicago, where I not only was able to visit and stay with my friends Nick and Nikki Bruckner, but where I got to meet with the leaders of the North Park Bible Camp team (every year, NPU sends a group of students to serve on staff at Bible Camp in Unalakleet for the month of June), and attend a recruiting event. Byron flew in a couple days after me, and we were able to meet with a few young people interested in serving youth in Alaska with CYAK - very exciting!

My sixth and final stop was Grand Rapids, where Byron and I were able to be a part of First Covenant's annual missions weekend. We, along with other missionaries from around the world, came together to update the congregation on our ministries, and to spend time together in fellowship. Byron and I also were given the opportunity to lead Sunday School for the Junior and Senior Highers (very fun), as well as host a salmon supper for 180 people on Sunday evening.

On Monday morning, I headed back to Alaska, and was greeted with -15 degree weather! Winter definitely came while I was away, but despite the cold temps, I was and am so happy to be back. There really is no place like Alaska. :) Enjoy a few pictures from my trip!

Lauren

Brian showing me how to operate the simulator. So. Hard. He makes it look easy as pie. :)

Mom, Brian, and Dad, right after pinning his wings.

The family!

Air Show in San Antonio - Blue Angels.

Home sweet Colorado Springs.

Some of my besties - Kate, Cat, and Anna in Minneapolis.

Dawson Covenant Salmon Dinner. Check out that backbone!

Fika with Alaskan friends in Chicago.

Sorry - no pics from Michigan - we were too busy! But if you look on my facebook page, you can see a pic of the grill we used. It was HUGE!

And now you understand why I'm happy to be back in Alaska :) This pic was taken on my drive home  to the Valley.