Jason's Ordination and Denali

All eight of the Pastors and Jason

 A group of Strongs

 Dan and Ingrid Pautz - the one's who surprised us

 Jason cutting his cake

My awesome Mt. McKinely pic that Jason's dad took is not uploading.  I will try tomorrow.

July 19, 2011

We spent most of the day working on the house and getting it at least presentable for people to see later on that evening.  Jason’s ordination was to take place at 7:00.  There had been a misprint in the bulletin saying 7:30, so we ended up waiting till then to start.  More of the members arrived after 7:00, so it worked out great!  Four of the six other Alaskan pastors were able to attend; which was incredible!  We are six hours north of the nearest WELS church, so we were very blessed to have them and their families here with us.  We look forward to getting to know them better very soon.

The service was beautiful.  I had never been to an Ordination/Installation service, and thought it was a very meaningful and emotional service.  Jason’s brother wrote the service and was the liturgist; everything in the service went very smoothly.  Jason’s dad preached the sermon (very well done!)  As they spoke to Jason using words like “brother”, and “son”, tears of joy filled my eyes.   What an amazing opportunity to have family be part of his important day!  After the service, Jason and I got to usher everyone out (felt like our wedding day all over again), and greet them.  The congregation is filled with many wonderful people, and we can’t wait to meet the rest on Sunday.  The congregation prepared coffee, cake, and many other goodies for us after the service.  Here we were able to talk a bit more to those members that were able to attend.  Around 10:00, the Alaskan pastors joined us at our home for more treats and conversation.  Boy are we blessed with a good group of people!  We can’t wait to do the Lord’s work right alongside these wonderful people.  At midnight, it was still light, and that’s when everyone cleared out.  They were going to stay till it got dark, but that doesn’t happen till 2ish.  We then stayed up for a little bit longer.  We are finding it very tough to go to bed before 1 or 2 a.m.  It is 1:08 here right now, and the sun went down about a half hour ago, so our bodies just keep on going. 

Just a side note, the laying on the hands was a really neat thing to see.  My uncle who surprised us, Dan Pautz, was even able to be part of this!  I have them all on video!  Eight Pastors participated in the laying on of hands!  Eight!  God is good!

July 20, 2011

TODAY WAS DENALI!  And guess what!  It was visible!  Mt. McKinley is only visible 25% of the time, so we really lucked out today.  I was glad that Jason’s family could see it before they left.   It was a beautiful 75 degrees all day; the best day all week.   We love this summer weather!  We didn’t see too much wildlife, but we did see some birds, gophers, and one caribou.  We were hoping to see bear and moose; next time I guess!  We dropped Aaron off at the airport tonight, and sent him back to Vegas.  It was so nice having him here for Jason’s installation, and really meant a lot.  We are blessed to have Jason’s sister here for a few more days, and his parents here for one more day.  We will continue to soak in every moment we have.  They have truly been a huge help.

Right now, Jason and I are headed to go out and meet with one of the pastors from Eagle River, AK and his wife that are still here in Fairbanks.  They are about our age, and we are very excited to get to know them.  So, off we go!  God bless your Thursday!

Night!