One of the best parts of being at camp was counseling with my brothers! Dayn and I were twins this day, on accident.

Kids playing in the mud. We didn't have much water in our swimming whole.

This is one of the boats that brought kids from villages down river. We had two boats like this completely full of campers. Then one boat came from up river, and some kids arrived by float plane.

My friend Becca and I, in Anchorage, were pretending to be speed skaters.

Colleen (right) just finished running a marathon, and Jannell (left) and I (behind the camera) cheered her on.

Mt. Hood at sunrise

This is the group of us who attempted to climb Mt. Hood.

It's been a whirlwind of a few weeks. I am in Alaska now, visiting friends and unwinding a bit after my last week at Kokrine Hills Bible Camp. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a little bit. I left for Alaska on June 22nd, but before that I got to have a few adventures. On the night of June 20th I attempted to climb Mt. Hood. Due to some difficulties with weather and the health of my fellow climbers, we were unable to summit. I was disappointed to not go to the top, but also a bit relieved as the conditions were quite miserable. It was windy, I was freezing cold, and we were hiking in the middle of the night in order to avoid the warm part of the afternoon that is more avalanche-prone. Someday I will try again, but for now, I am glad I got to have this opportunity. After the climbing attempt, I got to spend some time with my dear friend Kendra Crosby in Portland. We had a really nice day walking around downtown, visiting Powell's Books and Whole Foods. I also got to spend some time with my sister, Denee, in Portland. We made some delicious food and enjoyed a warm, sunny evening in her backyard. This was quite a contrast to the cold, windy, snowy night I spent climbing the mountain.

I left for Alaska on June 22nd and was met at the airport by my good friend Jannell. And my friend Jessi also came to the airport, which was a complete surprise. I cried when I hugged them. Sometimes life just can't get any better, and this was one of those times. We made all the rounds - lunch at the Moose's Tooth, a trip to Kaladi Brothers Coffee, and plenty of hanging out and telling stories about our year apart. And considering my friends are the most funny, witty people in the world, I had a sore stomach the next day. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not as much as you may think. The next day Jannell and I cheered on her friend, Colleen, as she ran the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon. It was fun to watch, to join with the Anchorage community which I have missed so much. I ran into some friends who I had wanted to see, and I had a wonderful time hanging out with them and, of course, laughing some more.

On Sunday morning, I went to the church I grew up in, Anchorage Evangelical Free Church, which is now called Trailside Community Church. I showed them a short video of my year at West Nairobi School and then told them about my time in Kenya. Some of the people gave me money toward a new laptop, and with all the money people have given towards that, I have a new laptop that didn't cost me anything (for those of you who don't know, my computer was stolen last November in Nairobi). It's pretty humbling when people are that generous, but it's a beautiful picture of how the body of Christ works. I'm so blessed, and blessed doesn't feel like a good enough word to describe this feeling.

I spent a little more time in Anchorage on June 24th and 25th, and then I drove up to Palmer to visit Grandma and Grandpa Arnold. Thanks to a friend, Kevin Martin, I have a car to drive while I'm in Anchorage. I stayed the night with my grandparents, and we left early in the morning so I could drive to Fairbanks and they could get a ride to a town called Nenana, which is a couple hours south of Fairbanks. I was driving to Fairbanks so that I could fly to the village of Tanana, then take a boat to Kokrine Hills Bible Camp. This is the camp my grandpa started for the Native kids in the villages on the Yukon River in interior Alaska. I actually went as the guest speaker/teacher for the younger kids. The only access to the camp is by boat or floatplane, since the river is like a highway between villages. When I flew into Tanana (an Athabascan village), I was met by my cousin, Brian, and my brother, Drew. If you want to know more about the camp, the website is http://www.kokrinehills.org/. There is a blog where you can see updates from each day of camp.

I spent about a week at camp and really enjoyed teaching these kids. There were 57 of them, and many of them had never opened a Bible before. It was so thrilling to make the Word of God come alive for these kids and to teach them how to look things up in their Bibles. God was so faithful in helping them understand Jesus. I think sometimes we worry that kids this age (8-10 year olds) are too young to really understand the gospel. But I think we underestimate the faith of a child. Though they may not understand all the deep theological concepts that many of us are trying to figure out, their simplicity is exactly what God wants from us. They just believe, and they ask the most fabulous questions. In Psalm 8 it says, "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." And this is so beautiful and so true.

I got back from camp yesterday (July 4th) and spent the night with the grandparents again and then with some of my cousins and other family members in Palmer. Now I am in Anchorage again, at my friend Jessi's. If you don't quite understand the chronology of events contained in this blog, I think you are not alone. But know that I am alive and well, enjoying Alaska for a few more days before I got back to Oregon on July 10th.