DAYS 54-57 JULY 10-13 FORT YUKON FINAL DAYS

Day 54. Today was spend preparing for worship on Sunday. I am preaching on "Who are you Dancing With?" based upon both the Old Testament and Gospel readings. In the afternoon the Deacon of St. Stephens, Theresa Thomas, stopped by for a visit. She has been appreciative of our service at St. Stephens.

Day 55. The skies were filled throughout the day with dark billowing clouds suggesting heavy rain. We could use them. The forest fires are bad throughout Alaska, the worst since 2005. However, it did not rain and the fires continue to spread. Thankfully we are in no danger. Nancy James, lay reader at St. Stephens are Yukon Flats School Board Member, stopped by for a visit. Nancy is a signficant person in the church and the community. We discussed ways that St. Stephens can reinvent itself and be renewed in its mission and ministry in the community. One conclusion: Begin a new emphasis on children's ministry.

Day 56. Worship was very uplifting with a fairly full church. After church we received and invitation to dinner by the administrator of the Fort Yukon Medical Clinic. It was a delicious meal of king salmon cajun style, moose stroganoff, rice, peas, fresh salad, cake and ice cream. It was an answer to one of my prayers, which was to eat salmon and moose before we left. It was a nice conclusion to our service to the church. We spoke will all our kids, made final plans for Monday, and tried to hit the sack early.

Day. 57. Today is day 24 in Fort Yukon and our last full day. Laundry, final blog posting, last minute visits, and photography will be the order of the day. We leave Fort Yukon at 8:50 a.m. tomorrow morning on Warbelow Airlines bound for Fairbanks. We will blog again late tomorrow after we make camp and attend to some chores in Fairbanks. Among other things we need to rotate the tires on our Jeep before the 4,000+ mile trip home.

Concluding Fort Yukon reflections: It has been a very good stay. It has taught us to slow down and enjoy life. We leave with several resolves that we want to implement when we get home. We shall see how successful we will be after returning to the press of duty and the rush of life in Saint Louis.