Our team had the privilege to travel to and encourage/serve the people of Alaska from July 26-August 3rd through the organization Praying Pelicans Missions (PPM). 

We spent a majority of our day Saturday traveling and arrived in Alaska around 9pm, grabbing a meal with our two PPM leaders Aidan and Kirsten, before heading back to our host church and resting after a long day of travel.

Sunday morning we had the opportunity to attend church where we were staying and to get to know some of the members of the congregation. Afterwards we grabbed lunch and got to know our PPM leaders better, before going on a beautiful (and strenuous) hike overlooking the region of Palmer where we were staying. We spent the evening in fellowship and preparing for our first ministry day the next day.

Most of our mornings in ministry looked similar, although we served with a different organization every day preparing or helping with food distribution to the homeless or at risk of homelessness population. Some of the organizations we worked with and how we were able to serve with them include:

• Beans Cafe- a food pantry/distribution organization that offers second chances to convicts by giving them lodging and a place to work, giving them the opportunity to make better everyday choices through responsibility and accountability. We were encouraged to hear several of the staff member’s stories and what the Lord is doing in their lives, and had the privilege to help meal prep meals that would be distributed by them later that day to the people of the community.
• New Hope- this organization was ran by the worship director of our host church for the week, and while they offer a wide range of different ministries on certain days, our team was able to help individuals that were either homeless or low income to go through their pantry almost like you would a grocery store. We were able to push their carts and talk with them/pray with them while they were able to take food and household items that they needed for the week.
• Downtown Hope- this organization served as a food distribution center and a women’s shelter for battered or at risk women. The guys of the team spent the morning prepping food that would be distributed at lunch, while the ladies were able to hang out with the women in the shelter- doing different crafts, making bracelets, giving haircuts, and sharing lots of laughs. The team then came together afterwards to serve the meal that the staff and the guys had prepared to the women of the shelter and to anyone from the community that walked up to the door needing food.
• Frontline Mission- this organization offered many different ministries and ways to serve the community that our team got to partake in, including a clothing drive, food pantry to shop in for those who were in need, serving a hot meal, and offering a place to shower and do laundry. 

Each place was unique and special to serve at, and God was so intricately at work in which organization we would serve at which day, as almost every single day when we went to a new place the staff would be encouraged and grateful to the Lord because of their lack of volunteers and staff for the day before our team had arrived. Our God truly knows what we need and when!

Every afternoon of ministry involved an unstructured park ministry at our host church. The church had the only “all inclusive” (wheelchair and special needs accessible) park in all of Alaska, and kids and their families would be there from sun up to evening every single day. We would spend our time introducing ourselves to and talking with parents, playing with kids, doing crafts, and sharing Bible stories to anyone who wanted to listen. 

Our last day and a half there before heading home was spent exploring more of the beauty of Alaska, being in fellowship with one another and our PPM leaders, driving around searching for moose, encouraging one another, and processing all that the Lord had done that week. The camaraderie of our team and with our leaders was so sweet and special that we became like a family, and we are so thankful that God gave us the opportunity to serve together and be the hands and feet of Jesus in Alaska for the week.