Angela and I are very excited about heading back down to the Seattle area to see our family and friends, but we will definitely miss our friends from Bethel, Alaska.
We arrived in Bethel in March of 2008 and didn't know what to expect. We had faith and hope in Christ that moving here was in His plan for us. We had a rough start as Angela lost her father right before we moved and it was difficult to be away from family during those hard times. But the last 3.25 years has helped Angela and I grow closer together and rely on each other and on God when times are difficult.
We've gained so much by living up here among our new friends, but we have also lost quite a bit. For instance, we lost all of the debt that we came here with. We eliminated over $100,000 in debt in less than 3 years. We also lost some weight. I lost about 80 lbs in the last 6 months and Angela prefers to keep her total weight loss to herself. We've also lost all of our furniture and most of our belongings, however we were paid handsomely for them (they were all sold through the wonderful Bethel Art of Garage-Sale-ing), so we didn't really count it as a loss.
We got the opportunity to get involved with a little church in Bethel as soon as we arrived. I got to lead worship for a great congregation (with Angela usually at my side singing). We were able to be involved with the Youth Group for a couple of the years we were here. We also got to help with some of the missions teams that came to Bethel last year. We will miss the congregation at the church very much and pray that God will bless them.
There are so many things we will miss about Bethel. We will miss the sunrises and sunsets that go on and on forever. Angela will miss the long, long, long days (however, I will be excited to finally get some sleep during the summer months - the eye mask my sister bought me to use after we moved here was a bit too feminine to utilize unfortunately). We will miss boating on the Kuskokwim River and shooting guns (yes, Angela too... we call her eagle eye for her water shooting skills). We will really miss hanging out with our friends, Russell and Brenda Lamont at their fish camp during the summers (we have so many great memories and pictures).
We will miss our fantastic friends who have made our experience in Bethel completely unforgettable and we will miss our co-workers who we have spent countless hours with and created such interesting memories. We have gotten to know so many amazing people and have created many lasting friendships that we know will continue to grow past our time here in Bethel.
We are so excited about our next adventures in the world, but we will always keep Bethel in our hearts.
1 comment:
So glad our names made it into your blog! I feel so famous!!! A few things you forgot to mention regarding Bethel, and things you'll miss- rain, mud, the freezing frigid coldness, freeze fog, the fact that we could talk to each other through our windows, playing Nine and hand & foot with us, Curses, meeting in the community area of our apt building to talk for an hour when we were only supposed to be a minute or two, and last but not least, .............my cookies of course!! Love you guys!!
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