Dear Friends and Family,

God is calling the London family to a new chapter in ministry.

We will be continuing our CYAK ministry in Anchorage as we move during Christmas break.

The move is very bittersweet.

I’ve been hesitating to send out this letter to all of our friends and family because in a way, I felt like the move wasn’t real until I sent this out.  I didn’t want it to be real that we are leaving all of our loved ones in Unalakleet. 

​It is only through a great amount of prayers and a great amount of tears that we are moving.  Unalakleet has been our home for the past 6 years and it has always been with great joy that when others ask us where we are from, we could answer, “I’m from Unalakleet!”  We will deeply miss Unalakleet and are eternally grateful for those that have welcomed us in as family.  We have been blessed by seeing great fruit come from the ministry that we have had the privilege to be a part of.  However, we know that we are leaving the Youth ministry in wonderful hands, as Charis, a gifted Native woman has taken over Adam’s old position in the church.  We are holding to the promise of Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will continue to perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

As we are trusting in God in the struggle of leaving, we are also excited about how God will use the London family in Anchorage.  Two of Shirleen’s siblings and their families live in Anchorage, and our children are thrilled to be able to spend regular time with cousins.  Adam is excited about working in the CYAK office with several other team members, whereas he previously worked in an office alone every day in Unalakleet.  We are also eager to help out with CYAK’s young adult ministry, Aarigaa, that we helped start 10 years ago. 

Another transition for Adam is that his job has shifted slightly.  He recently became the Associate Director with responsibilities for Operation and Bible Camp Administration.  Adam will continue to do his current job of overseeing operations, but will now also be overseeing Bible Camp after the Covenant Bible Camp and CYAK merger.  You can read more about this merger at: http://www.cyak.org/cyak_cbc_merger.html.
While it will be hard to leave, we are excited to see what God does next.  And as Adam now works with Bible Camp, we look forward to being able to go back to Unalakleet regularly.  We take comfort knowing that this isn’t a permanent “Good-bye,” but rather a “See you later!”

We appreciate your prayers and support during this transition.

​In Christ,
Adam, Shirleen, Tommy, Talia, Toby, and Thad

​Another school year is upon as as we look back at the last year.  I'm looking forward to starting my blog back up soon!  In the meantime, check out the CYAK Annual Report to see how God worked this past school year.

http://www.cyak.org/2016-annual-report.html

Have you checked out our NewsFlash page lately?  We have a new exciting CYAK update posted there as of today!

My brain is overflowing with Alaska Church history today.  I've been slowly working on the AK Cov History book during my Sabbatical.  I've mostly been doing research up to this point.  I visited the Cov Archives in Chicago and took about 2,000 scans of material.  I also scanned and preserved about 200 pages of old Missionary correspondence that was hidden and tucked away in a church closet.  So many hidden treasures!  I look forward to posting my scans (the ones that aren't copyrighted or I have permission to post) in the next month or two.  For now, here are a few pictures from my research.

Last night I dreamt about fishing.  Actually, I dream about fishing fairly often.  I just love to fish and last year was the best fishing I've ever experienced.  God's abundant provision was a huge blessing to our family and our village.  Now we are getting ready to share some of that abundance with our extended Church family in Colorado.  I'm excited to be sharing some of the salmon in this picture (that Tommy and Talia helped catch!) with Valmont Community Presbyterian Church on February 28th at 10:30am...and I'll be preaching as well!  We have plenty of salmon still, so if you would like the London family to come share salmon and a Mission update, we would love to come to your church as well!  Just shoot me an email - [email protected].  

Fish on!

So I was driving back from Joann's fabrics this evening after buying some Avengers fabric for some new atikluqs (kuspuks) and our awesome red minivan came to rest at a stoplight.  The vehicle in front of us had a bumper sticker on it that simply said, "Jonah 4:9-11."  No picture, no other words, just the verses' address.  How many of you could recite Jonah 4:9-11 from memory?  What's that?  You can't?  That's ok, because I can't either.  (Probably my Hebrew professor could, but not most people).  So I asked Shirleen, who was in the passenger seat, to look it up on her handy dandy smartphone Bible (we like YouVersion: www.bible.com).  She read it and I sure had to think about it for a minute.  For your reference, here is the passage:

Jonah 4:9-11New International Version (NIV)

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”


When I got home I googled "Jonah 4:9-11 bumper sticker" and you know what came up?  Nothing.  My only guess is that the bumper sticker was a custom creation.  I would love to know why they made it.  I can only imagine.  

After hearing those verses, my thoughts were, "Stop complaining about yourself, and start caring for others."  Jonah was so angry about God not being fair and God not taking care of himself that all he could think to do was complain.  But God put Jonah in his place.  God basically was saying, "Stop being so selfish and look at all those people who were on the path to eternal damnation!  Start caring for those who need to know God's love!"  Stop whining and start caring.  I think that is an awesome message for those of us in comfy cozy America.  There are so many people in this world that are lost and hurting that need the love of God.  Why do we complain so much about our own lives?  Let's get out there and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the fatherless and the widow, welcome the refugees, adopt the orphans, and most of all, share the Gospel message of Eternal Life.  

I think I want a Jonah 4:9-11 bumper sticker.

Stop whining and start caring.

Merry Christmas everyone!  Just a quick post this week.  I'll be back after the holidays!

​​It’s hard to think about joy today for those of us in Unalakleet, our small village of about 750.  Yesterday, we found out that we lost another person in our community to a tragic death.  I’ve lost track, but I believe this is the 9th person we have lost just this fall.  Our village is full of the tears of those that grieve.  God gives us tears to bring about healing.  It is good and right to grieve.  And yet, we do not grieve as those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).  We cling to the promise that Jesus gave us, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
 
This advent season, we have taken a look at how we celebrate the love of Christ, the peace of God, and today we look at the joy of the Lord.  Like love and peace, joy is something that may seem fleeting if separated from God.  However, when we have the joy of the Lord, this is something that cannot be taken from us or destroyed.  Christ loves us unconditionally, the peace of God surpasses all understanding, and the joy of the Lord is our eternal strength.  None of these depend on us, but are firmly rooted in who God is, what He does, and the glory of His Kingdom come. 
 
That is why we, as Christians, faced with great grief, can sing songs like the Bible Camp song, “Trading My Sorrows.”  It is a song that is based off of several Scriptures and is an encouragement to me today.  The author, Darrell Evans, says in an interview that he hopes that this song is sung as an intercessory prayer for someone that is experiencing sorrow, pain, sickness, or shame.  http://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/song-story-trading-my-sorrows-by-darrell-evans-1236482.html.
 
I invite you to pray this song with me today.  Maybe you are grieving and you are the one that needs the joy of the Lord to be your strength.  Or maybe God has brought someone to your heart to pray this song for today.  Either way, let us lay down our burdens and take up the joy of the Lord.
 
Trading My Sorrows – Darrell Evans, © 1998 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
 
I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
And we're singing

Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord, Amen

I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
And we're singing

Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord, Amen

I am pressed but not crushed,
Persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I am blessed beyond the curse
For His promise will endure
That His joy is gonna be my strength
Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes in the morning

I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
And we're singing

Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord, Amen

And we're singing
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord, Amen

Yes Lord, Amen
Yes Lord, Amen!
 

​Do you have peace?
 
In a world of war, terror, famine, disease, refugees, widows, orphans, homeless, and great troubles of every kind…how can we, as Christians, claim to have peace?
 
In this second week of Advent; the week of peace, I shared part of these thoughts on KICY radio during the prayer program, Careforce, this morning.
 
Peace: More Than a Feeling –
 
Part of the problem we American Christians have is that we often believe the world when it tells us peace is a temporary, fleeting feeling.  To the world, often, peace is equal to comfort, or safety, or quiet.  This fragile description of peace can shatter at any time.  According to the world, much like losing the feeling of love, we can lose the feeling of peace.  But love is much more than a feeling: it is a sacrificial commitment and a constant conscious decision to put another’s needs first.  Likewise, peace is much more than a feeling: it is the objective state of being in a restored harmonious relationship.  Humans can fail to love, but God never stops loving us.  Human peace can fail, but if we have surrendered our lives to Christ, God will never again war against us.
 
Peace: A Treaty –
 
What the world cannot fathom is that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding is not based on conditions that change.  However, we are not born with God’s peace.  We are born with a sin nature that causes us to be at war with God, at war with others, and even at war within our own souls.  The only way to bring a stop to the hostility is by accepting the peace treaty that was written with the blood of Jesus Christ.  When we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we are accepting a peace treaty with God.  The peace of God only can come through the condition of a surrendered life walking daily with Jesus Christ.  When we do this, no longer will God pour out His wrath upon us.  Though we may sometimes stumble and fall, though the world around us rages on, God will never falter on His end of the peace treaty.
 
Peace: A Restored Relationship –
 
When we have the peace of God, we not only have a restored relationship with God, the Creator of the universe, but through the seal of the Holy Spirit, we have a restored relationship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Not only does the peace treaty of Jesus Christ call for a ceasefire between us and God, but it also calls for an end to hostilities between all Believers.  No matter what great trouble is going on in the world, the Body of Christ remains constant.  We can count on the fellowship of those who have accepted God’s peace treaty.  Though we as individuals may fail, the Holy Spirit within us will not.  Furthermore, the peace of God also restores the relationship we have with our very own souls.  When we accept the peace of God, we accept what our true identity is: a dearly beloved child of God, made in God’s very image. 
 
When we have a restored relationship with God, with others in the Church, and with ourselves, we realize that we have a purpose much great than seeking a feeling of temporary comfort, safety, or quiet.  Peace leads us to our purpose to go into all the world to declare the Good News, preaching, teaching, baptizing, and discipling.  When we cling to the peace treaty of Jesus Christ, we hold to a permanent, unwavering, restored harmonious relationship.  That is how we as Christians can claim to have peace in a world with every kind of great trouble.  And it all started in a humble manager with the birth of the Prince of Peace.
 
Do you have peace?
 
Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
 
Ephesians 2:12-22 – “12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”