My experience in Alaska has been incredible so far. I’ve learned so many things and grown in so many ways from being here for little over a month.  It’s amazing how time flies! My schedule is roughly the same from week to week so I’ll describe some of the daily happenings. I work Monday through Thursday from six in the morning until three in the afternoon as the cook in the deli at the grocery store in Juneau. This is a completely new experience for me, and though it may be tough at times, I feel like it is a good experience in life. Working there, I have really learned to rely on God for everything at all times, and that He is my only strength. John 16:33 has helped me to adjust there. Paul states: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” It gives me great joy to know that Jesus Christ has indeed overcome the world and that someday I will be able to spend eternity with him. One of our main focuses at our jobs is to share the gospel with our coworkers, but it has been difficult for me to witness to my coworkers due to some language barriers (their preferred language is Spanish) and I don't really work very close to any of them because I'm always manning the fryers and ovens and they’re busy doing their own work. I've been focusing on showing them how hard I work and living out my faith through my actions. I'm sure I'll get the chance to share my faith with them sometime soon though.

Now I’ll describe what takes place during the evenings. Monday nights are set aside for project meetings where we go over logistics for the week and principles for being men of God. It is also the night that the different teams get together to plan things. I’m on the prayer team but there’s also an evangelism, Native American outreach, and weekly meeting team who plan different events and such. Tuesday nights are manhood development nights where we do different activities and apply them to being Godly men. Wednesday nights are when the weekly meetings are held, and at this time we have worship and a message. Anyone from the community is invited, and we challenge them to take active roles as to prepare them to be leaders once we leave at the end of the summer. Thursday nights are devoted to our “action groups” (the people we live with in our apartments) so we hang out together, talk about life, and do a bible study. We don’t work on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, but there are always things going on then as well. Friday is our service day so we go into the community and help with different projects. This last Friday we helped clear out a burned down house for example. Then we do activities in the afternoon such as hosting a lock-in at a church, a dodge ball tournament, and several camping trips. These events are designed to get the area youth involved in some way, and our hope is that they will continue a movement up here once we leave at the end of the summer. We would like to see all of them come to Christ and grow to become leaders. Saturdays we usually get back from camping or whatever took place Friday and share the gospel downtown in the afternoons. Lastly, we go to a local church and eat dinner with different families every Sunday, and then we have a little free time for the rest of the evening which can be spent any way we would like.

 I’ve learned quite a bit, particularly about being a Godly man: accepting responsibility, rejecting passivity, and leading courageously and have also learned a lot of other very important things that will change the way I live and think. We’ve talked about having an eternal perspective rather than living for earthly things, which will pass away. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  I’ve learned the importance of never walking alone in life, being an effective evangelist, forming authentic relationships, and having a white hot faith. I feel that being surrounded by a brotherhood of solid Christian men has been awesome as well. There is so much to learn from all of them. This summer has already had such a huge effect on me personally, and I hope that with God’s help I can impact the lives of the people who I’m around at work and in the community.
 
In Christ,

Derek Bahr
derek_bahr@hotmail.com