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Thank you all for your continued prayers. We are seeing so much growth and change in everyone, it's great to see. Many milestones spiritually speaking, from my perspective.
We finished up with all of the service projects today. Whew... lots of work but with great impact. We helped the pastor with his home and we were really able to bless them. We spent a day at a widow's home and helped her get things in order after two years of neglect. She has a son-in-law that comes over from the main land but can only do two weeks out of the year, and can only do so much. She was very grateful. We also helped another couple in the church here that have been going through difficult work years and blessed them with working around their yard and house. This has been a great witness to the community and wonderful blessing to the church. The students have been spectacular.
Attitudes in the team are extremely positive. We are all in different ways being challenged and stretched. It is so encouraging, and very exciting at the same time, to see the students on our team handle this growth with such maturity, grace, and humility. I'm truly blessed to be apart of this team. Truly are a fantastic group of individuals.
Tomorrow we head for a little rest and relaxation again up at a group of lakes. This will be a great time to take in more of the Alaska country side. This is a real majestic part of the world. Interesting to note that most of the people we talk to are transplants. Many of which are from Washington state. Oddly enough, many of them are from either Sequim, Belfair, or Shelton... even Port Orchard I think... crazy.
The beach outreaches are going well. We didn't quite know what to expect with these times in the evening. Overall we have been a force of encouragement for the Christian kids in the community. Many of those that we have talked to around town, shop owners, individuals on the street, teachers, and others have been very positive and encouraging in their response when we talk about what we are doing. We don't know as of yet if we've seen any salvation come to anyone at this point, but either way we feel as if the Lord has been present and very much at work.
We have one more time at the park today (Friday... writing this kind of late). Please pray for the Lord to grip some hearts and to continue to encourage the believing kids that are attending. We are seeing new kids every night and are encouraged by the responses we are getting from them.
Thank you again for the prayers... here is a short list for the next 48 hours or so...
1. Salvation for those that the Lord would lead to the outreach
2. Continued encouragement for the kids that are believers showing up
3. That our team would finish strong and be able to take the things they are doing here into their daily life at home, school, amongst friends and coworkers
4. A fun and safe trip up to the lakes tomorrow... we only have Moose (or Meese, plural Moose's) left to see before seeing the gamut!!
5. And a safe trip home as we take off on Saturday afternoon
Thank you again for laboring with us in prayer. There is truly a great need in Petersburg. We have been blessed and humbled by the saints here and encouraged by their hospitality and generosity. Blessings,
Pete
So the day started off shoveling some gravel in the church parking lot... the rains erode about a couple inches a month or so. We built it back up and got it where it needed to be.
We ended up taking the afternoon off and went to the river. We saw three bears! It was pretty killer. The salmon were hoppin'! Literally flopping on top of themselves. Garrett was able to catch one with his bare hands... it was pretty epic! The closest bear was about 50yds away. Just close enough 
!
Pastor Don has been super encouraging with how he feels the outreach is going. We are drawing a lot of kids that seem to know the Lord, but Pastor Don is seeing a lot of growth and encouraging signs that are a result of our team. We are pleased to fill the role that the Lord is laying out for us. We go into town again looking to meet people, pass out flyers and get into the park in the evening.
Please keep us in prayer that we would continue to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, looking to finish strong. Please pray for us that we keep our eyes on the goal and not on the surrounding distractions.
Thank you all for praying and being apart of what is happening here. Much love,
Pete
Today was our second day of beach outreach. More kids showed up and overall it was a great time. Two of our team members (Mika and Deric) gave their testimonies and did awesome!! Allie and Brandon gave theirs yesterday and did just as well! We are very stoked on our team this year. Each 'family time', the end of the day reflection as a team, has been filled with laughter, challenges, encouragements, and much prayer. It's been most excellent.
We were able to finish work on two houses today, one that we took on today and one that we had started two days ago. We are spent, but this is good! We want to depend on the Lord and depend on each other as we go through out the day. Having begun in the Spirit, we want to continue and finish in the Spirit.
Please pray for the kids of First Baptist here in Petersburg for a deeper and maturing faith in Christ. Also for the kids that don't know the Lord in the community that we are trying to reach. The pastor of the church, Don Higgins, is a man with vision and desire to reach his community for Jesus. It's truly a blessing to come alongside and join him in what God is directing him to do.
Thank you for reading, praying, and keeping up with us on our adventure. Tomorrow is a less intense day and a little relaxing in the afternoon before the beach outreach. Blessings,
Pete
This post will be quick...
It's 1AM and we are finally winding down and getting to sleep. The crew was awesome today. We are all digging the team dynamic right now. The LORD is doing a great work in us and I'm seeing Him change us daily for His glory. Attitudes, outlook, mission, vision, goals, others, their view is constantly being renewed in all of these areas... it's sweet.
We will post pics a bit later, but the outreach tonight was fantastic. We felt a bit apprehensive at first but it was a great time as things got rolling. A few hic-ups as we went but overall we thought it was a success. Our students are learning our job is to be faithful to communicate the message while it's on God to bring the fruit. It's a joy to see them step up and declare what God has done, is doing, and will do in and through them. We hope to be continually relying on God throughout these times, and looking forward to being more comfortable with our surroundings and able to use them to our benefit.
Lot of firsts for our team. Students have prayed aloud for the first time, given their testimony in front of a group for the first time, and many social barriers are being overcome as we see tangibly, their heart grow towards the people of Petersburg, AK (especially the lost).
Tomorrow (well really today) we are working on a house of a widow in the church, gutters, tree falling, and yard work. Then the students want to go into town and pass out flyers, come back to the church, rest, then outreach after dinner at Sandy Beach again.
Thank you for praying, please keep us covered. Blessings,
Pete
Good evening...
I'm sitting in the church of our hosts, First Baptist Church, here in Petersburg, AK. They have graciously opened up their whole church to us for our team gathering place. They feed us in abundance and we have yet to walk away feeling 10lbs heavier with all the food they have provided. That's saying something when your feeding 13+ teenagers! Our hosts embody hospitality and graciousness.
We've had another fruitful day of service and outreach. It continues to humble and bless me as I see God using what it is we can offer. He takes the "loaves and fishes" and seemingly multiplies them before our eyes to reach and touch so many.
We've just about finished painting and helping Pastor Don with the house where they are living. It's wonderful to bless a family that blesses so many in the community. We've painted, scraped, weeded, painted some more, installed lighting, and have had a wonderful opportunity to get to know Pastor Don and his family.
Youth Group was last night and so we had the opportunity to sit in with them and get to know the kids of the church a bit more. It was a delight for them as much as it was for us. Being on a small island there is not always the encouragement amongst students their age to live out their faith from day to day, through trial and difficulty, encouraged and reminded of the grace of God, to live for the glory of God. We had a time of introduction, great time of prayer together, a bit of ultimate frisbee (in the rain!! It was a blast), and then some homemade cookie goodness!! The fellowship was sweet and we see relationships bonding already.
Tomorrow is church with potluck to follow! Man, they are good at feeding us!! Tomorrow night starts the community outreach at the park near town. Please pray for a fruitful time. Brandon, Mika, and Garrett when out today to pass out flyers when the work was winding down towards the end of the day. Great conversations with kids in town and we hope to see them tomorrow.
We are encouraged by the work that God is doing in Petersburg. We are so appreciative and grateful for the opportunity to come alongside Pastor Don and First Baptist, and the work they are doing here.
We are growing as a team and as individuals. Our desire is to leave everything out on the 'field'. From a pastors perspective (mine), I'm very proud of our kids!! God is doing a great work in them and through them. Please keep them lifted and before the LORD. Their hearts are truly wonderful and God is going to use them in great ways this week.
Our desire is also that this week is the 'kick-off' for the next 51-weeks of the year. We don't want this to be the 'mountain top' and hope this experience lasts till winter camp where they get 'filled up' again. But our desire is that they take what they learn, experience, and see here into their homes, schools, friends, and clubs. Allowing God to use them in bringing the gospel to those they love and interact with everyday. Please pray along these lines for them.
Father, You are so good! Would you bless us according to the grace that you have shown us? I love you and thank you for the opportunity to be apart of the lives of these students and the ministry you have brought us too here in Petersburg, AK. Would you please pour out your Spirit up on us and the believers here, empowering us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those that you have been preparing as they come across our paths? Please establish within us a pattern and a hunger to see those who are blind and lost, to see and be found... by Your grace, and for Your glory. Amen.
Thank you for praying for us. We will continue to update as the days go on... blessings,
Pete
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for following our blog -this is it! We have arrived! Today we flew out of Seatac Airport at 7am after most of the team stayed up all night. We had two layovers on our way to Petersburg. When we finally arrived at Petersburg everyone was really exhausted and hungry. Don and his family prepared a delicious bbq for the team. And then it was off to bed for an extended nap. Before hitting the sack, the team spent some time in worship for our first "family time" of the week. It was great to talk about the people that we have already shared with along the way. While on the plane, Karen was able to talk to a man named Eric who was reading a book on New Age stuff. She was able to share her testimony and plant seeds in his life. The team has already begun to lift up Eric in prayer hoping the ideas that were discussed on the plane might move Eric to a relationship with Christ. God is good and we are super excited for all that he has planned for us this week!
Brandon
ps More updates to follow!!
SO this is it... we are few hours away from meeting up and going over our bags and making sure we have everything.
Thank you to all of those who have been laboring in prayer with us through the whole thing. We are excited to get up to Petersburg and serve Pastor Don, the church, and Jesus up there! We have a great group of students and leaders going so we are excited to see what is going to happen.
We will fly out at 7am from SeaTac and be in Petersburg at 10:45am or so. Not a long flight by any means but excited to be up there and see their beautiful area. Pastor Don and the church are going to be throwing us a little welcome BBQ to get things rolling. We are very excited for the opportunity to meet them and get to know them all.
Please pray for the following:
-Safe Travel
-Nerves would turn into excitement and anticipation for our students
-Jesus to be lifted up and magnified
-A pouring out of the Holy Spirit and of grace for our time there.
We look forward to updating as the days go on. Please feel free to comment on each of the posts. That always encourages us and lets us know people are there (though we already know in faith you are 
)! Blessings,
Pete
Our team is as follows:
Pete
Brandon
Karen
Micah
Allie
Sarah
Jasmine
Quincy
Sally
Garrett
Mika
Deric
Kyle
Thank you prayer warriors for lifting us up!!
So we have a little under two weeks before we fly out of here and up to Petersburg, AK. We are very excited and relieved to see how things are coming together. The Lord continues to show Himself faithful as we put our trust in Him!
We have a theme for our outreach time!! As we have been piecing this together with Pastor Don up in Alaska, we have divided our time together each day. In the morning we are going to be doing service projects for the church and members of the community. In the afternoon and evening we will be reaching out to the community through games and music in the park. Weather permitting of course, we will be going to the park and playing games to get to know the people in Petersburg.
Our theme for the game time is going to be WAR OF THE SOCIAL NETWORKS! Goofy theme of course, however we think it will be good to divide kids up and get to know them as we are on a team together. The thought of having teams and competition has its draw backs (not to many people like to lose), but our goal is to get small groups going to develop friendships and hopefully share the gospel from there. We created t-shirts for our outreach time so we could identify teams! We had to get creative to get around the copyrights to the logos... see if you can identify the teams!! 
We are excited and continue to pray for our time up there.
Please pray for:
1. Continued preparation
2. Students who are still lacking funds to reach their individual goals
3. For the people in Petersburg, AK that we will meet and come across
4. For the church and Pastor Don that we will be assisting.
5. Currently First Baptist Church (who we are partnering with) is having a VBS outreach this week. Please pray for them and that 'fruit' would abound!
6. For a great harvest of souls!!
We now have 13 people that will be on the trip... please pray for all of us and that the LORD would be glorified through our words and actions, benefiting His work in Alaska! Thanks!!!
God is faithful and we must be flexible!! We were finally put in touch with our host church up in Alaska. Pastor Don shot me an email yesterday! I'm very excited for our opportunity to be up there with them and their community!
Pastor Don, Brandon, and myself are talking about what exactly we will be doing when we get there. It will include some service projects, discipleship, community outreach, and the likes! More to come soon!
Please be praying about our time there, the church in Petersberg, the community in Petersburg, and that the LORD would take this trip shaping it to His plan and will.
Mission Team: Keep up on your book! Do your chapters and P.O.D.'s. I'll let you know where we will be meeting as soon as we get that squared away.
Blessings,
Pastor Pete
p.s. We want to welcome Deric on to the team!!! Woohoo! Great to have you buddy!