Sunday, October 21, 2012

October Pictures



Rafting on the Copper River

 
Black bear looking for salmon at Valdez

 
The Rolens and the kids in front of the Pinneo cabin

 
Sue and her first fly fishing catch, a 16 inch grayling

 
Ansley and a friend holding a trophy for winning the tournament at Cordova

 
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October 2012

Snow is Back!
 
Alot has happened since our last blog.  We've all been home to Virginia and now Luke is at Liberty University in Lynchburg.  We returned to Alaska in mid-August and plan to stay until next summer.  After we got back, Shahn and Juanita Wilburn, our pastor and his wife, came to visit.  Then we had a visit from Jeff and Susan Rolen from Camp Bethel in Wise, VA.  We had a great time with both sets of visitors.  They were a great encouragement.  It was pretty cool and rainy the whole time, but they made the most of it.  Susan Rolen is the niece of Dr. Pinneo, who was a missionary doctor here for years.  We actually live right across from the cabin that he built to live in here.
 
The kids are back in school, Sue is still teaching them at home.  Bridger is taking a class at the local community college.  Ansley is playing basketball for the local middle school so she is traveling most every weekend.  Last weekend Sue and Ansley took a 2 hour bus ride and then a 5 hour ferry ride to play a game.  Case is playing alot of basketball; he plays for the high school this year and his season starts in November.  Luke seems to be really enjoying his time at Liberty, which is a blessing.  Hopefully he will get his walking cast off next week.  It dropped below zero last night, and we're waiting to get enough snow to go out and play in it.
 
AWANA has started back at church and we're in full swing.  Ansley is helping with Cubbies, Russ is the game leader with Case is his assistant.  Sue and Bridger are working with TNT and both have been teaching in the council times.  Russ has enjoyed being back in AWANA and getting to know the kids.  He has alot of good memories of AWANA back at Riverview and we have seen AWANA make a great impact on many kids, including our own.  Sue and the kids continue to help out with a church in Chistochina, a village about an hour from here.  They go up about once a month to teach Sunday school  for the children, most of whom are natives. 
 
It's been busy in the clinic since we've been back.  Russ has continued to make house calls and we have had quite a few hospice patients lately.  House calls and home visits by the nurses have been a great opportunity for ministry to families in the area.  We've also had a quite a few emergencies since we returned, which can be stressful at times since we are so far away from other medical facilities.  I'm thankful that God is faithful and there to help us in the hard times.  In the past month we have been giving patients cards for them to write their prayer requests.  Russ leads a devotion weekly where we pray for our patients and the nurses get together each morning to pray for these requests.  We are also considering finding a medical missions clinic in another country that we can partner with and potentially send staff to help out short term if needed.  It's been exciting to see the missions focus of the clinic continue to grow as we seek to be a light for Christ in the valley.

Prayer requests-
Pray for the clinic as we continue to seek God's direction for ministry here in the future.  We face many challenges with the continual changes in medicine in our country.

Pray for future direction for our family as we continue to seek God's direction for us over the next year.

Pray for the personnel needs of the clinic, including a doctor, nurses, a physical therapist and a lab technician.  Russ will be traveling to a medical mission conference in Lousiville, KY in November to recruit more help.

Pray for AWANA at Glennallen Community Chapel as we seek to reach children for Christ and teach them His Word.  Also pray for the church at Chistochina and their outreach in that area.

Pray for Luke at Liberty, that he would continue to do well in his new surroundings.

We so much appreciate all of your prayers and support.  Cross Road Medical Center is beginning a newsletter that can be sent by email.  If you are interested, let us know and we will have them send it to you.

The Meltons