KAKO! The First Men’s Ministry Mission Trip To Bush Alaska

Men’s 2006 Adventure/Mission Trip to Kako Retreat Center

Bugs, Boats, Birch Trees & Blessings

www.truenorthexpeditions.org

True North Expedition’s final multi-day trip for the summer ’06 season ended with success…mission accomplished with regards to men exploring God’s creation and enjoying and finding Him through it and serving the needs of the Kako Retreat Center by cutting wood for them for their impending winter months that lie ahead.

The Kako Crew, consisting of five men from two different churches in Anchorage (including myself, Michael Crotteau), was delayed in our arrival by one day due to classic fall-time weather. However, that delay, along with the flexibility of the crew, allowed for us to spend an extra day at Kako.

For those of you who don’t know about the Kako Retreat Center (KRC), it is Christian retreat center located 380 miles west of Anchorage on the Yukon-Kuskokwim River deltas. The center serves many purposes, though its main function is to outreach to the Central Yupik and Athabascan Alaska natives throughout the region - a culture that has been ravaged by alcoholism and the atrocities that come along with it – physical and sexual abuse, suicide, and a people loosing sight of who they are as a culture and as humans created in God’s image.

The KRC (http://www.kako-retreat.org/) provides Christ-centered youth camps, retreats, seminars, and counseling to encourage and help people living in the rural villages and is committed to rising up and training native leaders/couples to minister in those villages. Dave Penz, the director of KRC, has been coming to Kako since he developed the old gold mining area into a camp the late 1970’s. He and his wife Vera have been serving the Lord at Kako for over twenty-five years and God has been using this ministry to shape people’s hearts and changing lives. The word Kako is Yupik for “clay.” And if we let Him,
God will shape all of us into what He intends for us all – into the likeness of His Son…for His glory and give us freedom from things that keep us from enjoying LIFE TO THE FULL!

The day we arrived, September 8, was Dave’s birthday. What a blessing it was to share this special day with him and enjoying akutaq (sounds like “a-goo-duck,”) or “Eskimo ice cream,” consisting of Crisco, blue berries, salmon berried, sugar, and northern pike meat! Yummmmm!

The days prior to our arrival saw periods of intense rainfall, which brought streams around Kako to flood level. One of the culverts flowing under the five-mile long road from KRC to the Yukon River became plugged with debris during the storm event and caused the road prism to fail. This is a major issue as fuel needs to be brought from the Yukon up to Kako to operate the camp generator, four-wheelers, and airplane used to fly folks to and from the Center. While we were there, we helped manufacture a make-shift bridge adequate enough for four-wheelers. They will need to wait until freeze-up in order to fix this section of road and fuel will need to be hauled by four-wheeler the five miles in five-gallon buckets until repairs are made. The effort one must go to and expense of doing ministry in this part of the world is mind-boggling!

Our first day cutting wood was fruitful, yet quite challenging! The bugs, mostly small gnats called “white socks,” were so thick that it made breathing a challenge. They would find every area of exposed skin and take a bite, then leave you something to itch for the two days. One member of our team, who was without a head-net, got bitten so many times that he began to have an allergic reaction causing swelling in his face and arms. By God’s grace we caught it, then gave him some Benadryl, which seemed to do the trick to stop the reaction. Head-nets were standard fare after that!

Sunday was a day of rest; attend the church service and to spend time with the families at KRC. The sun was shining brightly by day and the moon by night! Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of your creation!

On Monday, the Kako Crew and one of the men (Sheldon Sharp), who he and his wife and children are serving at KRC for a year, packed gear up, and headed for Kako Creek for a day of hiking, packrafting, fishing, fellowship, and enjoying God and His glory! The fall colors found in the birch, aspen, willows, and other vegetation was outstanding. Dave Penz tells us that it is rare that the colors are this intense and that one rarely gets to enjoy them for so long as the winds typically blow them off as quick as they turn. We count it as a blessing!

The water was still high in the creek and the silver salmon had already been through, so fishing was not HOT! All-in-all, one arctic grayling was caught, but the fabulous day was accented by a moose swimming across the creek, incredible foliage display and great company and conversation among the men.

The next day and a half were spent donning head-nets, firing up (and keeping running) chain saws, replacing pull-cords, sharpening chains, and felling lots of birch, spruce and aspen. We estimated by trip’s end our group had cut and stacked approximately twelve cords of wood (a cord is 4 feet x 4 feet x 8 feet) and had built a trail ten feet wide and 400 feet long with turn-arounds for the snowmobiles with sleds for winter pickup.

God surely watched over our work as no one received any major injury! And it was a pleasure serving Him in this way. Each log brought down was seen as a certain number of hours that the families would stay warm through the frigid nights, sometimes dipping down to -40F. And He taught us many things in this first trip out to make subsequent years safer and more efficient and effective in the work we do.

After looking back on the week and really feeling the Lord’s hand and blessings was over this trip, I do feel this was Him using True North Expeditions, partnering with Arctic Barnabas Ministries (http://www.arcticbarnabas.org/) to put together and lead this trip to Kako. The concept of combination wilderness adventure/mission trips are an expression of loving and worshipping God and loving people…in essence, receiving strength, renewal and love from God, then passing that love onto others.

Please pray for the continued outreach of KRC to the surrounding villages, the financial support of KRC and its couples/missionaries who serve there, safety in the flying Dave Penz does throughout southwestern Alaska, Arctic Barnabas Ministries and its continued support of missionaries in the villages, the Missionary Aviaton Repair Center who supports missionaries and flies all over western AK.

May this day be a blessing to you all!

Because God is the Creator,

Michael Crotteau

True North Expeditions

www.truenorthexpeditions.org