Reflecting on our first summer while watching the snow

A special prayer of thanks for you, Lutheran Indian Ministries’ biggest fans! We thank you especially for your prayers and gifts in support of our next stage in Alaska Native ministry through the work of Nathan and Sarah Milan in Fairbanks, Alaska.

We recently received the Milan’s first update from Alaska. Enjoy!

Greetings and Salutations from Alaska!

As our first update from the ministry in the North, words cannot express the gratitude from our family to all the staff at LIM and supporters around the globe who make this ministry possible. It seems funny to reflect on our first summer when the birch trees have long since shed their leaves and snow arrived weeks ago. Fall has come and gone already, here in Fairbanks! 

Sarah and the kids are settling into the Ministry house and the unpacking has almost concluded, solidifying the permanence of our transition to Alaska. Everything has gone smoothly, and all our stuff arrived safely from Louisiana just in time for winter preparations. We have found our church home here at Zion Lutheran Church of Fairbanks and already feel the support from the congregation. 

We have hit the ground running and began getting involved with the church community, local organizations, and ministry partners across the state. Our most notable update is that the partnership made with Lance and Corina Kramer out of Change Point Kotzebue which just celebrated the conclusion of our annual summer high school and middle school camps. This exciting news is what I would like to share with everyone. For being such a large state, Alaska has a small community of partners who come together and make large things possible.

This year, LIM partnered with the Kramers and about 20 other volunteers to facilitate a remote summer camp located an hour and a half up the Noatak river just north of the Kotzebue. Don’t bother with cell phones...they won’t work! Upon arrival at our camp’s location, after the boat trip upriver, we set to work preparing for the nearly 80 teens who were scheduled to arrive over the next two weeks. 

Week one went off flawlessly. Praise and worship led teens from creation, to the fall of man, and concluded with the message of salvation through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection. It was unreal how Lance Kramer and LIM’s Rick McCafferty used their gifts as pastors to bless all in attendance. As Native Inupiaq, they are deeply respected and uniquely qualified to be instantly received by those in attendance. They are Natives called to lead Natives. We feel blessed and excited to work with them! In addition to praise and worship, subsistence living skills were also supported by daily activities such as archery and rifle shooting, traditional net fishing, and fish drying just to name a few. 

Week two brought some selected high schoolers back to be counselors-in-training which greatly enhanced their leadership development while serving the middle schoolers. A similar program format was followed, and the passion from the returning high schoolers carried on the energy of the previous week, propelling the middle schoolers into belting out Cory Asbury’s “Reckless Love” - proclaiming God’s love which echoed into the mountains.

Camp was a fantastic way to kick start our ministry serving Alaska Natives. In the months to come, we will continue to make connections with individuals and organizations and create our plan in Alaska as we strive to proclaim, disciple, and heal our Native brothers and sisters.

Thank you again for your prayers!