A Week in Juneau
This has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Last
Thursday we landed in Juneau, Alaska. After dinner at the Sand Bar Restaurant (Halibut...mmm), we had a get acquainted time with the church worship team in preparation for the weekend worship conference.
Friday we went to the farthest end of Alaska you can reach by road from Juneau...beautiful forests and view of the channel. Friday night I had a concert at the church.
All day Sat. I taught a worship workshop with people from different churches in the area. It was a wonderful time of talking about worship ministry and getting to know some great people. We ended the evening with a rehearsal for Sunday morning. That night we went to the Ore House in Juneau for a salmon bake.
Sunday, I led worship with the team and my brother John preached. Several came forward for prayer. It was a great morning! That afternoon, my nephew, Mark, who lives here, took us on a boat ride way out into the channel where we watched the whales play. There are no words to describe that trip. Snowy mountains all around. Glaciers, forests, ships, glassy water, beautiful blue sky...one of the most amazing places I have ever been. We were out all day and right now in Alaska, that is a long time. It is still light after 10 PM and never really gets dark. We went to Dave and Debbie's house for dinner. She coordinates the worship for the church. It was their boat we used all day.
Monday we went to see the Mendenhall Glacier, a breathtaking sight just a few minutes drive from Mark's house. Then back to Juneau for a day of shopping downtown...wonderful bagels, Russian dumplings, huge cruise ships sit in the harbor emptying their passengers on to busy streets. They all leave around 6PM, that's when we took the tram up the mountain to the restaurant at the top. I am somewhat acrophobic, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. More like a ski lift than an elevator. Bald eagles flew around as we ascended. Cruise ships went from massive to tiny. After a dinner of Dungeness Crab and chowder I even managed to look out the windows on the way down. What a view. Tuesday we went back to the glacier to hike two trails. There is a huge waterfall on the east side of the glacier. We hiked that first. It went for miles through a mossy forest hillside like I have never seen. Periodically there would be places to step out and see the panorama. After we came down from there we hiked to the bottom of the waterfall. Just amazing. The blast of mist coming off the falls was so refreshing after the hike. We were worn out after the day. We probably hiked several miles but what a day!
This morning John and Jane took off for home. After a picnic for lunch on this beautiful sunny day I will be spending the time working on the sermon and worship for next week. Tomorrow we will rehearse with the worship team and see the fireworks. They shoot them off on midnight on the 3rd (actually it will be the beginning of the 4th) . They have to do it then in order for it to be dark enough.