Sunday in Skagway

Yesterday was more of an "off day" for us. We took it easy and just discussed our strategy for the week coming up.

After a really great brunch, we took a walk out to the pier and thru town. It was a remarkably clear day and the clouds had cleared out and we could see the mountains really well (See Attached)

Later, we received a call that some brothers and sisters would be coming from the Whitehorse, YT congregation to visit Skagway with some other friends from the Alberta area that are working with the RBC. Interestingly, the Whitehorse congregation is the closest congregation north to us by about 2 and a half hours. We have had some correspondence with them and look forward to meeting them.

Thanks for your support and prayers.

We will talk again soon.

M. J. Penfield 

Alaska Fact of the Day: There are more than 3,000 rivers and 3 million lakes in Alaska

Service Experiences in Skagway/Dyea

Let's talk about some of the service we do here in the area. We walked in the rain about 12 miles to an outside part of the town called Dyea (Pronounced as "Die-E")

It's just outside of Skagway and really the closest neighbor to the town. As we walked along we stopped for a moment and a local was kind (life saving really) enough to tell me that there was a Brown Bear about to walk right where we were standing at the moment. We went back to the Bridge that we crossed and waited. Within about 2mins a Large Brown Bear walked in front of us about 50 feet from where we stood. (See Attached)

Brown Bears are a very very rare sighting this close to the town because the Salmon run isn't particularly good this time of year. We were told the day before that they had been sighted miles up further on the Chilkoot trail but not in the residential part of the town. Well we ran into it.

This will be something we will likely deal with as we have to hike and bike (rhyme) into these wooded areas. But again, we are sure Jehovah will give us the strength to deal with these things. (1 Sam 17:37)

We walked along witnessing to townspeople and sharing with them what we are doing here in Skagway. They seemed to be interested in what we are doing. Again, we are learning to feel people out and respond accordingly to them.

We will begin our 1st full week here in the minstry on Monday.

Talk again with you soon,

M. J. Penfield 

Fact of the Day: US Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000. That's only two cents per acre!

Skagway Update II

Alot of this assignment we are seeing is plain perception. So what we do for now is just familiarization. We are trying to walk around town and let people (locals) get used to seeing us in the area. We try to speak to as many as possible and introduce ourselves to those here.

This has proven to be very good in some cases. It obviously opens up alot of questions...people want to know what we are doing in the town and why in the world we would stay thru the winter (we hear that alot) because there is "absolutely nothing here then" according to them. They tell us "they roll the sidewalks up" in winter. What they dont know, is that this seemingly "bad timing" is actually "perfect timing" and really opens up the best of opportunities for us. Why? Because we will have a very, very, very good picture of what the town and people of Skagway are really like, after the tourism and cruise ship season moves out.

On the other hand, I have seen that some of the locals get extremely possessive of "their town" and don't really care for the fact that we have moved into the area. We have come across a few that have been very rude and brushed us off rather nastily when they hear that we are new and are missionaries here in the town. They are used to seeing people of color and seeing many people travel thru, but it presents something totally different when they find out the guy from LA (Phillip) and the guy from Miami (Me) are staying "here in Skagway" past the season and will be living in the town. To them we have no right to live in their town and they get very strange and rude toward us.

This presents a very interesting situation that we are facing. Because if we "wear out our welcome" (from their perspective) it will happen rather quickly and spread thru out the town this winter when the population goes down to about 400 people. The bad words and negative attitude will spread very quickly about us and the fact that they don't like us very much. There are some very influential people who dont seem to like us in the town. We have been instructed to keep the Branch office updated on this delicate situation. We will wait and see what Jehovah's Spirit will direct on this matter. We are sure that he will guide and protect us and we continue to petition Him with this in earnest prayer.

Please also keep us in you and your families prayers regarding this matter. Things could get a very tense and complicated here. Interestingly enough, out of the 5 teams of brothers that are stationed in Alaska we have the smallest of assignments based on population and size. It's a rather unique situation. We have so much Joy and Happiness knowing that we are doing Jehovah's will and carrying His word to these corners of the earth.

Thanks for your love, support and prayers. We will talk again soon.

M. J. Penfield

Here is the Alaska or Skagway fact of the day: People that live and are from Skagway are called "Skagwegian" or "Skagwegians" I guess that puts us in that category now huh? (Unless they run us out of the town or arrest us :) we will see)

Skagway Update

So, we had some things to take care of since it was our official 1st day in Skagway yesterday:

The Branch office asked us to care for finding and securing accommodations for at least 3 months for ourselves as soon as we got in to town. (we have been preaching also. That 130 has to get done lol) Because of the fact that where we are staying now are just temporary accommodations for a week as the place will close next week.

So we started on that right away. This involved getting a bit creative, and talking to some people, telling them who we are, what we are doing, etc...this opens up ALOT of questions. We have found that most people, don't know who Jehovah's Witnesses are actually. To them, the name sounds vaguely familiar but they want to associate us with Mormons or the 7th Day Adventist Church)

So we get a really good opportunity to clear some of this up and answer some questions that we normally wouldn't have to. We tell everyone about the website as well. They seem to respond in a favorable way.

While the town of Skagway is relatively small there are alot of outlying areas and many houses, literally in the mountains that we will hike up into, and bike about 10 miles each way to get to. We will have to do this relatively soon, as winter comes here, in October. So the window for that is closing quickly...I'm really looking forward to that.

After making a few calls, with no success, I stumbled on a place called Mile Zero B&B owned by a husband and wife named Tara and Sam. Keep in mind, that there are only 3 places in all of Skagway that stay open year round. (The town literally shuts down when cruise season is over, which is in 2 weeks) So we made it to our 2nd call. (remember that we also have to negotiate price for the Branch office so that we don't allow a place to charge us an exorbitant amount to stay somewhere. Also it needs to be safe and clean.) I prayed before I made the call and explained to Tara what we were looking for and what the purpose of our stay was. She told us that she was planning on closing for the season but that she would reconsider since we would need a place. She also would be willing to give us a very "competitive rate". We went and walked to the place to see it. It was very nice, clean and suitable for what we would need. So we told her that we would take it. In happened that her husband was moving a new refrigerator into the place and an old one was coming out, so of course we jumped right in and helped him move it for about an hour or so...this proved to be a very god witness for them and they look forward to having us with them.

Beginning today, I will give you an interesting fact on Skagway or Alaska each time I write.

Here is the 1st one: In Skagway, we lose about 10-12 minutes of daylight as each day passes. By the time winter comes, we will only have about 4 hours of light each day.

I hope you all are well. I love everyone and look forward to sharing more with you soon.

M. J. Penfield

Arrival into Skagway

Well...

3 planes and 4 days later. We have finally made it to our assignment here in Skagway, AK and what an adventure it was!

We awoke to rain and very, very dense fog. Apparently, the clouds decided that they were going to sit down on the mountains and valley that surrounded us in the Channel of Juneau and the Chilkoot inlet that will be our home for now. This weather and lack of visibility meant that there was a good chance that there was a rather good chance that we wouldn't be able to head north about 80 miles to Skagway. Smaller planes such as the one we would be taking, don't fly well in limited visibility because they fly in a lower altitude than a commercial plane. However, we packed our things and left the Klepinger home for the airport. We also left certain bags with them for the time being, because on smaller "bush planes" (which we will be using quite a but in this assignment of Alaska) weight is an issue that will factor in how you will be able to fly out to where you need to get to.

After a few last minute stops, we made our way to the airport to see what we would find with regard to the flight. Arriving before 12PM, initially we were told that all flights from Juneau had been grounded and that our flight would not go up. This was a little disappointing as we were anxious to get to our assignment and we were to meet with about 60 friends that had come into town on the NCL Norwegian Jewel. We decided to check or bags and just wait and see what would happen. The clouds continued to remain, and we were told that our plane was going to "give it a try" (not exactly what you want to hear right? Lol) and go up. If it was too much we would "bring it back down." (I think I will have to get used to those rather "common" words here in Alaska) We walked to our plane, a rather normal single engine propeller plane. We got seated (I took the seat directly behind him. I figured let me face this head on lol) and took our instructions from our rather wacky and very "socially awkward" (people are very interesting here) pilot. They do a roll call of all the passengers and tell you what to expect thru the flight. He told us that it would be very rough coming in and that we would need to hold on if we had never been up in that kind of a plane and into Skagway. We were told that because of very, very high winds in the Inlet that the plane would have to overshoot the runway and make a very sharp 40 degree bank turn into the runway to land. (Uhhhh....ok?)

We took off and it was not fun going up at all. The plane shook and rocked like it was a small toy that a child was tossing around. The winds pushed and rocked the plane back and forth thru the air. We all kind of held on for dear life. Lol I said my prayers (obviously) and I would guess my partner did as well. We got up finally and it smoothed out a bit for us. After my stomach and nerves settled a bit the scenery was quite amazing, breathtaking and awe-inspiring. The reality of the fact that we were finally on the last plane into our assignment was in front of us (literally). After about a 35 minute flight we began our unique descent into Skagway. Before doing so, the pilot again turned to us and told us to "hang on" for what we were about to experience. It got bumpy indeed (bit of an understatement) as the Pilot earlier indicated (he wasn't making it up) and he made the sharp turn into Skagway. He put the plane down on the ground and I immediately Thanked Jehovah not only for being back on the ground (Lol) but for the privilege of finally being in my assignment, to serve others and to teach them his Love and the Grand hope that is available to them. I also had to thank the Pilot for a job well done.

We got our bags and were greeted by the friends traveling on the NCL Jewel that was in port that day. They were previously made aware of our coming in. We were very thankful for them and the love they had to come and see us. The 4 of them and us 2 walked about 15 minutes with our bags to the Westmark Inn. This is the place we will be staying temporarily for the time. The Branch has asked us to look for housing in the area. This will be rather difficult here, because Skagway is a very seasonal town that relies on Tourism very heavily. Cruise season is over in another week or two. Sooooooo.....we are coming in at a rather unique time that will test our reliance on Jehovah. We are already prepared by the Branch Office that we will likely receive another assignment to another area to serve from here rather soon.

In any event, after taking our bags and settling in, we walked around for a while. We met about 60 friends from the cruise at the Port where they were docked at. They too were informed of the "2 Special Pioneer Brothers who have been assigned to the remote town of Skagway." They wanted to meet us and take pictures with us. The love and appreciation they showed us was amazing and will stick with us as we go forward to further. They will likely be the last witnesses we see again for a long time...some of them were crying to see us and the fact that we had come from so far to serve. We talked and gave them some details on what we were doing. We thanked them for their love and they boarded the boat to their next destination.

We then walked to a local grocery store and bought a few things to eat. We returned to our very modest and simple accommodations and that was it. Was a little sad but we had joy in knowing that the love of the brothers will be an impelling force for us in the future.

Well....I am in Skagway. (It's real now) It's official, the journey really begins from here. The cell service is a little patchy and not as fast as normal (Actually we are just grateful that we have any kind of signal here) but I will continue to write each day. It may be a bit delayed at times, but please know that I love each of you and am continuing to pray for you all. Thank you again for reading and thank you for your support of my endeavors. What a joy it is to serve the Most High and take the good news to the "most distant parts of the earth" (Acts 1:8)

M. J. Penfield

Day 2 Recap in Juneau and Arrival into Skagway

Day 2 in Juneau was a good one. I think the whole "Assignment in Alaska" is starting to become more of a reality to me and my new partner for the assignment. We are talking alot about what's to come and getting a bit more familiar with the idea of this all. As you can imagine, coming from South Florida I am like a fish out of water. (Pun intended lol for the purpose of Alaska)

We started the day with Breakfast and drove into town. There is a local WalMart in Juneau (Yes!!) that we thought would be a good idea to hit...Brother Klepinger was kind enough to lend us his vehilcle to use. I was the driver for the day. As I pulled in to the parking lot, we were greeted by what we thought and what seemed to be very, very large Crows. Turns out that they were "just Ravens." Yes that's right, Ravens. As in, Edgar Allan Poe, Raven. Or NFL, Baltimore Raven. (My fav word again-Wow. We were pretty wrong about the Crow part)...turns out that they are quite plentiful here and about as common as a Crow to those of us originally from the "lower 48" (I'm picking up the Alaskan lingo rather quickly according to some locals...No, really :) that's what they tell me lol) So that takes some adjusting to. Not exactly every day you see a Raven, unless you live in Alaska. Guess that will be a new reality to adjust to. Along with some of those wild animal sounds I keep hearing.

After a bit of searching and talking to a few people I got some cold weather gear from there. Also, at the same time I am there, asking some of the locals in the store where there is a good place to get a haircut. Of course, they look at me (rather strangely) and can immediately tell I'm not from the area. Ironically, it actually leads into some great opportunities to witness to people thru out the day and let them know that we are missionaries on assignment. After talking to some, we found the Barbershop and I got a trim. (Picture attached) From the looks of things it seems alot of people cut their own hair, so the Barbershops in Alaska as you can no doubt imagine, are few and far in between, as well as people living in the area with "my type" of hair. (I think you know what I mean there lol)

I was actually to speak for a while to the barber, named Gerry who cut my hair. He had alot of questions about what we were doing in the area, and why we are going to Skagway. He asked about it being a requirement to do a "Mission" to be a Witness. He also mentioned to us about the local congregation and some of the brothers there. I spoke to him about the jw.org website and encouraged Him to take a look at it. He gave me his contact info. I'm looking forward to following up with him on the interest.

From there, we went to NAO (or Nugget Alaska Outfitters) again to get some more things and we were able to witness further to people alike that were working in the store and shopping.

Next we took a drive down the Glacier Highway to Downtown Juneau...was pretty interesting. We decided to take a walk thru the town and get a good idea of what Alaska is like. Or the vibe of it all. One thing we notice right away, is that people seem to be in their "own world" here. I can clearly remember people telling me: "Alaska is the US...so don't worry." Sorry to break it to you, but not quite. It's really a foreign place and it is it's "own world". This is what is called a "domestic missionary" assignment.

People stare a lot. And I do mean a lot. Lol honestly, it takes some adjusting to get used to, but they seem to be kind and friendly, helpful and informative. They can sense right away that we aren't from the area. We look forward to heading now into Skagway, AK and seeing what we will actually find as we officially arrive in our new home, our Branch Assignment this AM.

We pray Jehovah's blessing on our travel there today. A very small plane will take us on up about 80 miles further north to "the gateway to the Klondike" as it is called by the locals.

We will talk again very soon...as always, thank you for your prayers and thanks for reading and following my "Klondike adventures"...Love you all.

M. J. Penfield 

Recap of Day 1 and Overview of Day 2 in Juneau

Good morning,

I hope all is well and you enjoyed day 1 of the new 2015 Service Year.

Here is a recap of what yesterday looked like:

After meeting up with the brother that I am working with, we took a 2 hour and 1 minute flight from Seattle to Juneau, AK. We landed in a rainstorm. After landing we were picked up by a local elder- Brother Ken Klepinger. He took us to a few places. An Alaskan Outfitters store, we got to see the Kingdom Hall, had lunch with him, we stopped for a few pictures at the Mendenhall Glacier, we looked for a few bears as well. Then we headed to the Alaska Brewing Co. for a beer tasting and to get some for the evening. From there, we then went to a boatyard to see his boat as well as a few of the local elders boats that they live in year round. We saw a Fish Ladder and got to see a few Bald Eagles flying around in the area.

We then arrived at him His wife Denise's home where we would be staying for the entire next 2 nights. We we warmly welcomed by them and got to know them a little better. We unpacked some of the bags and got ready to eat with some of the local friends who joined us for a dinner of freshly caught grilled Halibut Tacos. We spent time talking with them about the area and got to know them better as well as them getting to know us and our story. After that, it was time to get some rest for the next day. Right now it is just after 6 AM as I write this. We are 4 hours behind Eastern time so that is something that I am adjusting to now.

Overall, it has been a great time thusfar. I find myself using the words: Amazing and Wow alot (if you have been here before you know what I am talking about) The mountains are filled with thousands of green Trees. Interestingly, the clouds sit low on them so it appears as if they are on fire or smoking as the locals tell us. The air here is very clean, crisp and quite pure. I am enjoying the varied and plentiful sights as well. Eagles, Harbor Seals, Orca Whales etc...what a joy it is to Serve a Grand Creator like Jehovah. (Ec 12:1)

I feel that already His blessing is on this assignment from just being able to behold his magnificent creation in action.

Today we will be walking around the area and just getting a few things that we will need up in Skagway. Tomorrow we will take either a plane or a 6 hour ferry up to Skagway (the reason there is a whole different story that I will have to write about - I am sure you will want to hear that one lol) we are scheduled to meet with some friends that will be coming on a Norwegian Cruise to Skagway. Should be a very encouraging experience.

I have attached some pictures from the day yesterday for you to look at. Thank you for reading and I appreciate all of your love, words and prayers. We will talk again soon ;)

M. J. Penfield