Beading in the library on Friday afternoon!  What a treat to  see what comes so naturally to some of the students.  I struggled to make a string of beads for a hair piece. The beading is so beautiful as you can see in these photos

We have finished our first week.
Willie has been busy with helping Harvey the maintenance person on campus.
We have been making repairs to machinery and preparing the vehicles for winter.
In Alaska this means putting on winter tires with studs.
I disassembled an engine for a snowblower but am waiting on parts to reassemble it.
There is no problem finding things that need repair, the problem is that there is always a problem of finding funds to actually do the repair.

Von worked in the development department.
-Preparing church packets of student profile Christmas ornaments.
These are photos of each student that tells a little of their lives and where they are from.
They are used to raise funds for student tuition.
-Preparing centerpeices for the annual fundraiser to be held in Anchorage Oct. 26 which we will attend. This ACC banquet raises major funds for the entire school year.

We hope to post videos of  

the dance and music drama that will be performed by the students next weekend.
We hope you will enjoy the native dance and emotional drama that gives testimony to these students past and current victory in their lives.

Willie & Philip

V on & Angel

 We are "home!"
Yesterday we made the journey from Anchorage to Soldotna.
We have made this trip a number of times before but never have seen the beauty that was all around us as we made the 3 hour drive through mountain passes and along rivers surrounded by birch and aspen trees in full color.
It has been raining here a lot and as we began our drive it was as if God was smiling down on us from the mountain tops as the sun broke through the clouds and shown down on the green of the spruce and yellow of the aspen with snow on the mountain peaks.
We arrived at ACC in time to see a number of the staff and greet them with hugs and cookies.
Our appartment is very comfortable and close to the campus.
We made a trip to the local Wal Mart to get some final supplies to make this home.
Meals have been at the dining room with students. They are reletively friendly, respectful and quickly tell wherevthey are from as well as their stories.
It is good to have the weekend to get aquainted with some of them and get settled.

I am pictured with Eugene, one of the students. He is in his second year here and became a Christian while attending last year.
Many of the students give up a lot when they become a Christian. It is a happy and sad time because they have to leave their old life behind.
More later

Oct ACC Newsletter

Alaska Christian College... A Family Tradition  Darren grew up in the small city of Dillingham (known as Curyung in Yup'ik) with a big family. His family was Russian Orthodox and as a young child they attended that church, although he says he remembers only going on holidays. As an elementary school student he went to Sunday school at the Moravian church.  That is where he was introduced to the Tanalian bible camp.  He has been going there from third grade all the way through high school. It was at Tanalian that he came to know God personally, beginning his relationship with Christ in 6th grade.  During that last year of camp he was introduced to Alaska Christian College. "I didn't think about it until a year later. My cousin came to ACC in 2009 and she came back after the first semester and tried to convince me to come. She kept asking me to come over and over, until finally I decided to give it a try. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I ended up loving it here." Darren is now starting his second year at ACC. He has dreams of pursuing a business degree after he graduates from ACC. When asked what he likes most about ACC, Darren pauses to find the right words. "ACC is a close community. It's more than just school- it's family." When a student decides to come to ACC, it can change not only that student, but their whole family, and even their entire village. Your giving enables our ACC to make a difference in villages all over Alaska. Quyana! Darren from Dillingham, Alaska The Fall 2013 Student Body of ACC- Our largest class in history! ACC Vision Dinner   Saturday, October 28  5pm Changepoint Church Anchorage, Alaska   RSVP here! Li With classes well underway, students studying is a common sight around campus Prayer Requests Please continue to pray for retention! Pray for the upcoming Vision Dinner Pray for our students who are beginning to feel the pressure of being away from the village and everything they have ever known Students work in the Northern Light Classroom Stay connected with us!          35109 Royal Place Soldotna, Alaska 99669 907.260.7422

Eskimo Olympics - Natives train for the Olympics. This year it was held on July 18, 2013.

The 52nd World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO) is in the Interior city of Fairbanks, making this a chance to witness spectacular competitions of strength, endurance and agility, as well as traditional Native crafts and dance.
The games feature mostly Alaska Native competitors, although a group from Greenland is returning for the third consecutive year.
Popular events include the blanket toss, where people are flung into the air on blankets made of walrus skin; and the ear pull, a nail-biting event for onlookers where competitors face off in a tug-of-war, using twine looped around one ear.
Fairbanks has hosted WEIO since 1961. In the years since its inception, the games have continued to grow, garnering more participants, onlookers, and media coverage. The website offers a traditional perspective on the games:

To better appreciate the background of these games, envision yourself in a community village hut three hundred years ago with the temperature outside at 60 degrees below zero, and everybody in attendance celebrating a successful seal hunt. While the young men are demonstrating their athletic prowess and strength, the umialiks, or whaling captains, are on the perimeter of the hut looking with great interest at the young adults – one or more of these young men would be incorporated into their whaling and hunting crews – the fastest, the strongest, the one showing great balance and endurance to pain would be the top pick.