April 2010
NIGHT OF THE ICE CAVE
Prayer Household of the
Month
For the month of April, please
keep the Anchorage Service
Adventure unit in your prayers:
Isaac Blosser
Margo Regier
Nicky Smith
Kelly & Fred Kilheffer
April Birthdays
13 – Elena Entz, MMN Staff
22 – Marcos Wright Kuhns,
Philippi
Leader Orientation
Albany Mennonite Church is
hosting the upcoming Service
Adventure leader’s orientation.
It will be from Sunday, July 25
through Thursday, July 29,
2010.
Applications for
2010-2011
We are pleased that as of April
1, we have received twenty
applications. We are
processing them as quickly as
we can. Please keep getting the
word out that we still have
openings in Service Adventure
for next fall! Thanks for your
help in encouraging people to
apply.
One bitter winter evening in early
February, what started as an
interlude of fun in the snow almost
ended in catastrophe. As dusk drew
near, our band of misfits found
ourselves tunneling slowly, deep into
an enormous mountain of snow.
Following the example and direction
of Fred, our wise and fearless leader, Isaac, Margo, and Nicky took turns
crawling into the dark, mysterious passageway where they labored for what
seemed like hours; creating a small cavern to slumber. When darkness fell,
the tunnel had been completed and the three youngest misfits decided to
make a procession into the chamber to
finish burrowing out the cavern. Fred
and I watched as they disappeared one-
by-one into the passageway laying head
to toe, until no voices could be heard
from the outside. Pile after pile of snow
appeared at the entrance to the tunnel,
and was dispersed by Fred as I anxiously
paced around the mountain, looking for
any signs of personal distress or structural weakness. Suddenly, a terrifying
sound pierced the bleak, still, frozen night as the ice cave collapsed leaving
Margo, Nicky, and Isaac trapped beneath feet of snow! I immediately
leaped into action and began frantically digging into the mountain of snow
with my hands. Fred stood petrified with his shovel mumbling something
about a Level 4 disaster, until I shouted that I could see light dimly shining
through the snow coming from Margo’s headlamp. I dove for the spot of
light and eventually unburied Margo’s head and grabbed her beneath the
shoulders and drug her out of the grave until we tumbled down the mountain
to safety. We immediately returned to search for Nicky, whom we found,
alive and well, completely burrowed in the snow. Thinking the danger had
ended, the four of us began laughing off our stress when we realized Isaac
still had not appeared! Fred dashed over to the opening of the tunnel, where
we last saw Isaac, and we spotted his legs sticking out as he struggled to
break free of the weight upon him. He broke free of the snow pinning him
down and we all cheered and laughed as the adrenaline faded from our
nearly tragic experience.
Based on an actual event, although some poetic
licensing occurred to create a more dramatic
tale.
 Page 2 Service Adventure News

MEET THE ANCHORAGE UNIT!

FRED KILHEFFER
UNIT LEADER: Works full-time for Home
Restorations, an Anchorage-based remodeling and
weatherization company.
INTERESTS: Outdoors, hunting, fishing,
conversing, baking bread, discussions, reading
newspaper
BEST KNOWN FOR: Sounding wise, being a
handyman, his peculiar vocabulary including, but
not limited to: “my boys”, rinze, “my apologies!”

MARGO REGIER
VOLUNTEER Part-Time at Children’s Lunchbox
where she makes lunches for elementary students
in poverty areas
VOLUNTEER Part-Time at Anchorage Waterways
Council where she is the glue and the reason this
non-profit did not close its doors yet.
INTERESTS: Going to the library, running, art,
skiing, clarinet, pets
BEST KNOWN FOR: Chomping ice, hairy legs,
reading thick books, staying up really late,
sleeping through her alarm, taking 2 minute
showers, walking to the van in the snow in her socks…because she’s late!

ISAAC BLOSSER
VOLUNTEER at the BLM (Bureau of Land
Management) grooming trails on snowmobile,
welding, arctic survival, working on Iditarod trail,
biking lots of miles to work
INTERESTS: Reading, going to France, walking,
farming and tractors
BEST KNOWN FOR: Carrying tractor magazines in his
pocket, jumping out of bed in the morning from his
top bunk and waking the entire house, always
answering the phone, working hard, being good with
kids
Service Adventure News Page 3

NICKY SMITH
VOLUNTEER at Challenge Alaska completing office and administrative
activities, teaching classes for adults with mental and physical
disabilities including: book club, jewelry making, tie dye, cooking
INTERESTS: Anything musical! Especially piano and cello, running,
listening to music and books on tape, baking
BEST KNOWN FOR: Mismatching her socks, eating marshmallow goop,
playing piano at church, giggling uncontrollably

KELLY KILHEFFER
UNIT LEADER: Part-time nanny for two different families
INTERESTS: Running a lot, crazy reader, children, piano, leading
worship, working out, injuries, singing in the car, athletics
BEST KNOWN FOR: Giving hair cuts, watching entire seasons of TV
shows, throwing up in the car, conversing to people in her sleep,
being tidy, always carrying 20 inhalers, narcolepsy: falling asleep
anywhere anytime…example: during yoga

ALASKA FUN FACTS FAVORITE MOMENTS

Nickname: “The Last Frontier”
Climbing Flattop

1/5th the size of lower 48
Ice Skating

Highest temp: 100° @ Fort Yukon 1915
Sled Hockey

Lowest temp: -80° @ Prospect Creek 1971
Bouldering

Heaviest Snowfall: 974.5 inches
Dog-Handling @ Iditarod

Largest per capita consumer of ice cream
Sledding

Over 3 million lakes, 3,000 rivers
Hiking to Harding Ice Field

Tallest peak in N. America: Denali 20,320ft
Snowboarding/Skiing

Over ½ Alaska residents live in Anchorage
Butchering our Moose

In Western, Eastern, Northern hemispheres
Eating Vegetarian

Home to over ½ world’s glaciers
Cross Country Skiing

Anchorage alone = Delaware in square miles
Tuesday Night Fun Runs (5Ks)

3rd largest earthquake in world in 1964
Church Retreat

55 miles East of Russia
Camping along a glacier
 Page 4 Service Adventure News

THE TRAGEDY OF O’MALLEY THE MOOSE

Very early one December morning Fred sat reading the
paper as the rest of the house slept while snowflakes and ice
skates danced in their heads. When all of a sudden there rose
such a jangle! Fred rushed to the phone to see what was the
matter! As he glanced at the time; 5:45, he wondered who
could be up? No friend was calling; no emergency; just a
phone call from the state police! Fred hung up the phone and
gathered the troops, for a moose had been hit and she was to be
ours! With only 30 minutes to arrive at the scene, Fred raced
ahead in his truck to claim our meat. The rest of us collected
our tools and warm clothes and stumbled out into the frigid
morning.
When finally we arrived at the scene, our dilemma became
loading the 800 lb. catch into the truck. After a long-suffering hour,
sitting in a fire station parking lot, we had O’Malley’s head and neck
onto the truck using a winch and the van, but the rest of her refused
to cooperate. Luckily, our local fireman noticed our trouble and
gathered his troops to help us lift O’Malley onto the truck. Eight
strong men, a winch, and a van later, O’Malley lay prone in the bed
of Fred’s truck. Off we went to the next phase!
In sympathy of those who are squeamish, I will gloss over
the following details and summarize the next few slimy and messy
hours. It’s all in who you know, and thankfully we know many
helpful people! Our friend Joe helped us hang up our moose to
butcher with his forklift, and also helped us grind up the many pounds of meat. A friendly
photojournalist, Antonio from Italy, photographed our adventure, butchered meat, and entertained us
with stories from his home country. Four days later, our meat had been taken off the bones, sliced into
steaks and roasts, or ground three times, and vacuum sealed into 1 lb. packages to fit into our freezer.
The total meat count amounted to around 300 lbs. of ground, and 100 lbs. of steaks and roasts! We are
truly grateful for the meat, but are equally as glad the experience is over...for
now!