Mission Adventurers Move to Selawik Warren Downs and his family are the first of the new wave of Arctic Mission Adventurers—families dedicating their lives to providing an Adventist presence and help by living and working in the bush villages of Alaska. The Downs family sold their home in Wasilla and literally moved in January to Selawik, a small native village in western Alaska north of the Arctic Circle. Warren recently reported the following: We had our "Snowgo" (snowmobile) come in today, about 1 p.m. I spent the rest of the day trying to get it running and home from the airport. Living here is a challenge. Even basic things like heat cannot be taken for granted when you have to haul the oil yourself. Besides getting fuel, our challenges so far have included: • Stopping a fuel leak in the church, which presented a health and fire hazard. • Working with the vacuum flush system. First we had no flush in the sink, then continual flush. • Trying to thaw a frozen sink drain. • Getting boxes from the mail using a sled. • Trying to get the Snowgo to start. On the spiritual front, we have started our Sabbath School (in addition to church) and have had five kids attend. We hope that number will increase soon. On a positive, yet challenging, note, one of our church members works as a counselor for alcoholics. She called today and said she has been referring people to our church as a help resource. She says there are many people wanting to stop drinking who need help. Maybe we need to start an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter here. We don't feel adequate for the task, but we sense the need and pray that God will give us the wisdom to meet this challenge.
Mission Adventurers Move to Selawik
Warren Downs and his family are the first of the new wave of Arctic Mission Adventurers—families dedicating their lives to providing an Adventist presence and help by living and working in the bush villages of Alaska. The Downs family sold their home in Wasilla and literally moved in January to Selawik, a small native village in western Alaska north of the Arctic Circle. Warren recently reported the following:
We had our "Snowgo" (snowmobile) come in today, about 1 p.m. I spent the rest of the day trying to get it running and home from the airport. Living here is a challenge. Even basic things like heat cannot be taken for granted when you have to haul the oil yourself. Besides getting fuel, our challenges so far have included:
• Stopping a fuel leak in the church, which presented a health and fire hazard.
• Working with the vacuum flush system. First we had no flush in the sink, then continual flush.
• Trying to thaw a frozen sink drain.
• Getting boxes from the mail using a sled.
• Trying to get the Snowgo to start.
On the spiritual front, we have started our Sabbath School (in addition to church) and have had five kids attend. We hope that number will increase soon.
On a positive, yet challenging, note, one of our church members works as a counselor for alcoholics. She called today and said she has been referring people to our church as a help resource. She says there are many people wanting to stop drinking who need help. Maybe we need to start an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter here. We don't feel adequate for the task, but we sense the need and pray that God will give us the wisdom to meet this challenge.
Warren Downs and his family take advantange of the warmer weather (20 degrees) to pose by their Selawik home where they recently moved to work and be missionaries to the people in this native village. (Unknown)
