JULY 2006

Thanks goes to Upper Crossroads Baptist Church and an individual who so timely responded to our need for a satellite phone and a contour mapping GPS system for the plane. These two items create a new measure of safety and money-saving convenience.

Thanks for your faithful support in prayer and finances. We can’t be here without you.

Les with 33 and 30 pound king salmon catch

Les and Jane Zerbe
Missionaries in Alaska

In the Heart of Alaska for the Hearts of Alaskans

JULY 2006

July, 2006

Dear Friends,

Today started at 4:30 a.m. My grandpa and uncle used to get us up that early to bind oats and combine wheat. Those early bird, hardworking days in Montana years ago have prepared me not to
mind getting up early to fly Eskimo teens to camp. This is a different kind of harvest--one of young people. Thirty campers have been saved so far, and there are two weeks of camp to go. Thanks to each one of you who sent funds for camper fees for these precious remote village young people.

Today fourteen Eskimo teens will come from one Eskimo village of 500 people. The missionary there says there are 8 reported rapes each month as an average and probably 70% of the town people have
felony convictions.

I’ve been flying quite a number of 14 hour days this summer.

Yesterday, I went to Point Hope for five more campers and arrived on a rare day with the sun shining brightly everywhere. I was so tired of being in the plane and decided to take a break at the missionaries’
house for some strong coffee before my return five-hour flight. In those 45 minutes, fog from the sea had rolled in seemingly from nowhere. I made it out of the Eskimo village, but not without a close call.

Just last week, I was getting campers in Eskimo land and the ocean was solid ice yet. And yesterday a polar bear mauled a man near there. Well, it rains on the just and unjust alike, so pray for wisdom
to fly in sorry weather. Pray for continued growth in these young new converts. (Note: 36 campers in all were saved in the camps)

Even though I had to kill a charging moose in my yard recently, I couldn’t keep the meat, and I didn’t get a moose last fall either. So I decided I had better do some dip net fishing. It’s more work than
fun, but I’m sure I’ll have a hard time convincing some of you that’s true.

I took a day and went to “Chit-na, where the Chitina River is so fearsome and swift that I dare not fall in. I took a 3 ft wide bag-shaped net, supported by a rigid frame, with a 10-foot handle on it and fished where the river was all white water, running 20 mph. But first, because a large king salmon can weigh 95 lbs, I tied myself to the bank with a mountain climbing rope, so the fish and current
wouldn’t pull me into the river.

This fish story gets better! In five hours, I caught 92 salmon in this
hand-held net! The largest was a 33 pound king, the second a 30
pound king.   All the rest were perhaps in the 10 pound range.

Sometimes two, three, or four salmon would be caught in the net at
one time.

This kind of fishing is just hard work. First, you have to prepare and
go there, wear rubber boots and full rain gear, and with farmhand
strength bring the netted fish out of the water while tied about the
waist with a rope. There were so many fish in the river that my buddy
could not keep up with the job of knocking them on the head and
putting them on a stringer. Then we had to gut ’em, fin ’em, take
heads off, filet or steak fish, wrap and put on freezer, swat
mosquitoes, watch for bears, cook fish on open fire, do dishes in the
creek, chop glacier ice for the cool boxes, drive home, get up at 4:30
AM to fly campers.

When people want to have some of my fish, I’m telling the story of the 10 virgins and the 5 unwise who wanted to borrow oil. They were told to go to the market and get their own oil.” I say, go to the river and catch or dip net your own fish!

That way you get to go fishing and have some “fun” too!   And don’t forget your rope!

Tidbits:

• The Manley church was full on July 2nd.

• We believe Jane’s foot is healing now, since the bone graft from
her hip, but she still has to wear her boot splint.

• We have sixteen guests at the guest house now—13 campers and
adults and a family going to help their missionary in Ft. Yukon.

• When flying campers home to Selawik, I carried special cargo – a
surprise for the missionary daughter. See picture at left.

• We’re scheduled for a missions conference in Florida in August.
Can you imagine Jane and me showing up in Florida in the hottest
time of the year?

Manley Hot Springs is a small village on the Tanana River which has seen much tragedy over the years that I have been flying in there to preach. If you remember, we had our Manley Massacre in 1984, when nine people were killed—four from our church. Now Manley is in the news again.

• On July 13th, the headline reads: “Manley pilot killed in crash.” This week the lodge owner’s adult son in Manley Hot Springs was killed in a plane wreck in bad weather. The whole family is unsaved.

http://newsminer.com/2006/07/13/manley-pilot-killed-in-crash

• July 14th headline: “Man killed in shooting near Manley Hot Springs.” The mentally ill man had grabbed his gun as if he meant to shoot an Alaska State Trooper and a fisherman who had come to talk to him. The fisherman drew his weapon and shot and killed him in defense of life.

http://www.newsminer.com/2006/07/14/man-killed-in-shooting-near-manley

Thanks also goes to Upper Crossroads Baptist Church and an individual who so timely responded to our need for a satellite phone and a contour mapping GPS system for the plane. The satellite phone is here and the GPS is on the way. Many, many thanks! These two items create a new measure of safety and money-saving convenience.
Thanks for your faithful support in prayer and finances. We can’t be here without you.

Your representative in the North,
Les Paul Zerbe

Les Zerbe
Les and Jane Zerbe