Downs Family Christmas 2010 by Warren Downs on Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 12:30am A Year of Growth This has

been quite a year for us, in a number of ways. It has deepened our commitment to God and His mission of saving people. It has brought us closer to the people we serve here in Selawik, Alaska. We have been blessed to see some fruit and growth in our mission. First Fruit The year of 2009 ended with a suicide, a sad occurrence far too common here. One good thing did come from it however; A church member who had been dealing with an addiction was convicted to recommit his life and be re-baptized. This year has been one of growth for him. Coming Closer In March, Warren was asked to take a part-time job working with a Food Distribution program for lowincome families here in Selawik. This has provided some needed income, but more importantly, has helped us reach into the hearts and homes of an increasing number of people. Ironically, when we came here, Warren planned to never take any local jobs, wanting to leave them available for the local people (who need every job they can get). But we have found that having a job in the community helps them feel that we are doing something for them (even if we get paid in the process). From the contacts we have made from this job, we have been able to encourage one couple struggling with addictions, and see them turn to the Lord, overcome, and even find joy in keeping the Sabbath. A number of people once prejudiced against us are beginning to realize we care for them and are here to help. It is a joy to serve people even if we don't always see immediate results for God's kingdom. However, we have had the joy of sharing the good news of Jesus soon return, and the joy of spending time with him on Sabbath, with several people, a couple of whom have expressed their conviction and desire to keep the Sabbath. Challenges Simply living here can be a challenge at times, but we have learned to see the challenges as adventures. Right now we are living without hot water. Usually that is due to water in the oil line. But this time, it is not "so easy" to fix. Instead of merely a day's work, it appears the igniter in the heater is out, and that may involve some time to repair or replace it. So in the mean time, we are taking baths heating water on the stove, instead of showers. We've had our issues with the vacuum flush system, frozen water, propane cook stove failure, trying to keep a 4-wheeler and snowmobile running, etc. But we won't bore you with repair stories :-) We have had the usual challenges of balancing our time, helping other people and trying to keep our family

in balance too. Verity has been Home Schooling our girls all along, but this year she has been Unschooling to some degree, trying to incorporate more life learning skills. That has helped with the challenge of having enough time to help others as well as our family. We have also had the challenge of dealing with difficult people. We always wonder what we could do differently so that we could please them, but we do realize that we can't please everybody, hard as we may try. Pray that we will learn how to do our best to please others, while pleasing God most of all. Also pray that we will be able to rectify our past mistakes and rebuild relationships, to the glory of God and the growth of His kingdom. Joys of Life Living here in the challenging place we do, it could be easy to get discouraged. But we have found joys of life to keep us focused. First, we enjoy daily time with our family together for morning and evening Bible reading and memorization. Evening also includes a special story time and singing, time permitting. This year, we finished reading the classic Sam Campbell nature series to our girls, one we never tire of hearing again. Sabbath brings a needed refreshment and rest from our labors. This year, we have tried to get out of the village and explore the surrounding tundra a bit. We've driven West from the end of the longest road, as far as we could go without running into lakes. We've driven North along the river quite a ways (though we could have gone farther) and sat under a family-size mosquito net reading stories. The net didn't keep out all the bugs though-- some had been resting on the tundra under the net where we placed it! We've driven South on our side of the river as far as we could go without hitting a lake, and explored some thick brush a bit. Too hard to see though with all that brush and no hills to lift you out of it. We discovered a treasure trove of places to explore on the island. First, we found a beautiful pond just a ways South on the island. Past that, a small lake. We enjoyed camping near that lake one weekend. On the other side of that lake, we found we could drive quite a ways. Also, there were a lot of blueberries there, so we enjoyed picking there several times on Sundays. Speaking of blueberries, we enjoyed picking them every chance we could, and were able to put away enough to hopefully last us the winter in our blueberry pancakes (and maybe save some for Warren's birthday pie!) Our garden was a learning experience. We have been learning that potatoes and lettuce do well. The potatoes were in pots above the ground, planted before the ground thawed (indoors) then moved outdoors. Next year, we may end up simply planting our garden in 5-gallon buckets, so we can start it indoors and move it out when it's warm enough. A greenhouse would be nice too, but the church doesn't own much property around our place, so maybe we'll have to stick with something small. Warren strengthened the fence we made last year, to keep out dogs and small children, but it didn't stop older children from dumping out our potatoes and digging them up. Nevertheless, we were able to get some nice ones. Hopefully we can keep "digging new wells" until the hecklers give up. And if we can

raise our plants above the permafrost and into the sun, maybe we'll do better next year. Verity has been enjoying making things from scratch. She has branched out from just making food from scratch, to trying cleaners, soap, shampoo/conditioner, candles, and anything else that she can get a recipe for. Besides the fun of simplifying our lives, we are doing what we can to avoid extraneous and potentially harmful chemicals often found in commercial products. Vacation In October, we enjoyed a long-awaited visit to Verity's family in Washington state. The first weekend we spent with her mom and one sister's family, at a beach house on the Oregon coast. Later that week, we had a brief reunion with some cousins Warren had not seen for 10 years or so (Deborah and Jeannette) and Warren's aunt Nancy (Deborah's mom). A quick visit to the Redwoods was impressive for all of us, but especially for the girls, who have been used to trees mostly under 20 feet tall. On our return to Tri-Cities, Washington, we stopped at Crater Lake and had another brief visit with Warren's uncle Gary. We enjoyed the next two weeks visiting Verity's family in Tri-cities, Washington. Warren had a presentation at the Walla Walla College Computer Science/Engineering Colloquium, about the Low-power FM Radio Station project for Alaska. Students were interested and had good suggestions in dealing with the challenges going forward. Our final week of vacation, we briefly saw Verity's cousin Andy, flew to St. Louis, Missouri, then drove to 3ABN in southern Illinois, where we were given a grand tour of 3ABN by Warren's Academy roommate, Michael Prewitt. Michael graciously let us stay on his floor for a couple nights while we were there. It was great to finally meet the people Warren has been emailing and talking to on the phone for the last few years. We pray that this contact will help us move forward in bringing not only 3ABN radio, but 3ABN television, to remote villages in the Last Frontier. Following our 3ABN visit, we returned to St. Louis, enjoying the Cahokia Indian mounds on the way. After going up in The Arch, we drove to Oklahoma Academy for Warren's 20-year reunion. The drive there was a harrowing one, what with automated toll-booths that didn't make change for the bills we had, toll-booths to get off the highway (when we tried to go get change), a downpour that looked like tornado weather, and not being able to find our turn off. But we finally made it there about 3 am Friday. We enjoyed a blessed Sabbath reunion and renewed old friendships (though we wish we could have seen more of you!) Returning Sunday via Wichita, Kansas, we saw Verity's cousin Roger and his wife. The next day before our flight in St. Louis, we enjoyed a hurried walk through the zoo, letting the girls see for the first time, animals they had only seen pictures of before. Our flight from St. Louis to Kotzebue kept us in airplanes or airports for 16 hours (plus the small-plane flight from Kotzebue to Selawik). We were thankful to be safely home, especially when we later learned of the bad weather that hit St. Louis the night we left, grounding many flights. Christmas Joy and Sadness

As I write this, Selawik has been going through a bittersweet time. November 9 (my brother's birthday), there was a suicide here. Following that, there was a death due to cancer. Next, an elder we had known and enjoyed singing to on Sabbath afternoons, Mary F. Mitchell, passed away. A week later, there was a shocking call that Donna Mitchell was not breathing. Warren rushed over to do what he could but was only able to assist bringing her to the clinic, where she was pronounced dead (apparently from a heart attack). So, last Friday we had a funeral, and this Friday (Christmas Eve) was the second one for the Mitchell family. Please keep them in your prayers. Verity has had the opportunity to minister to the family by cooking and taking food to them, sharing with them in their grief. Warren has been somewhat at a loss, not knowing what to say or do. But he was able to assist at the graveside burial, shoveling dirt onto the grave. There is some joy to the season though-- this is the first Christmas the village will enjoy celebrating in the rebuilt Friends' Church (after the Christmas 2007 fire). It will also be the first one our family will enjoy in any Friends' church, old or new. (The first year we were here, 2006, we spent Christmas with Warren's family in Dillingham). The church is very nicely decorated, and we look forward to the celebration tomorrow evening. Pictures Here are some pictures from our October vacation in the lower-48 states:

What a big hat you have, Miriam!

Reunion with cousins I had not seen for years. Jeanette, Deborah, Warren, Verity, aunt Nancy

Sara found a tree too big for her to climb!

Crater Lake with family

Three little girls climbed a Sycamore tree (Pioneer Park, Walla Walla)