Today marked our final day of serving, and it was rewarding to see several of our projects come to completion. One team finished installing gutters on Miss Vera's home, while others continued serving at the tutoring school by repairing the playground. Some of the wooden structures had become unsafe for the children, so we were able to help make the playground a safer place for them to enjoy. We also spent time painting areas of the school that were in need of a fresh coat of paint.
Today was also our last day of tutoring. Throughout the week, the students worked hard on science experiments, presentations, and lessons about different islands. It was especially encouraging to see the friendships and relationships that had formed between our team and the students. What began as introductions on Monday grew into meaningful connections by the end of the week.
After wrapping up our work, we returned to the dorms for lunch before heading to Forest Park. We spent an hour in silent reflection, taking time to think about everything God had done throughout the week and how He had worked in our own hearts. Afterward, we had the opportunity to explore the park and visit the art museum together.
Later in the afternoon, we gathered for a group photo with the Dearborn team. It has been a blessing to serve alongside them this week. Through worship, devotion times, meals, and ministry, we have built friendships and encouraged one another as we served together.
For dinner, we enjoyed a Korean BBQ-inspired meal featuring tacos filled with kimchi rice, your choice of pork or chicken, and a flavorful spicy sauce. We also had the chance to try locally made sodas from St. Louis, which made for a fun and unique dining experience.
The evening concluded with a special worship service led by a ministry team from Grand Rapids. They travel throughout the country sharing the Gospel through street evangelism, and it was an incredible privilege to worship alongside them. Following the service, they offered to pray individually with each student and leader. It was inspiring to see our students respond with openness and vulnerability as they shared prayer requests and allowed others to encourage them in their faith.
As we prepare to spend our last day together, we are grateful for all that God has done this week. Through serving, building relationships, stepping outside of our comfort zones, and growing together in faith, this week has left a lasting impact on our team. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us—we have truly seen God at work in countless ways.

Today, half of our team had the opportunity to join the tutoring school on a field trip to the planetarium. It was a wonderful chance to serve alongside the school and help make the day enjoyable for the students. During the trip, the students completed a scavenger hunt that encouraged them to explore the exhibits, take photos at different locations, and learn outside of the classroom. The tutoring school operates as a summer school in the mornings and transitions into a summer camp each afternoon, providing students with both educational and recreational experiences.
Meanwhile, the rest of our team continued serving through various work projects in the community. One group painted Miss Vera's garage, which has recently been re-sided after extensive rain damage. Other teams continued installing a wheelchair ramp and helped another resident clean out her basement. These projects have been a meaningful way to care for our neighbors through practical service.
This evening, half of our team returned to the park where we have been building relationships throughout the week. We had the opportunity to pray with several parents while their children played, and we also enjoyed playing soccer with many of the kids in the community. It was encouraging to continue connecting with families and sharing God's love in simple, genuine ways.
The other half of the team participated in a cultural walk through the neighborhood. We sampled Ethiopian food and boba tea while intentionally engaging with local business owners. We asked questions about their stories, such as how long they had been in business and where they were originally from. One conversation that stood out was with the owners of a boba tea shop, who shared that they drive nearly 50 minutes to work each day. Their family has faithfully owned and operated the shop for several years, and it was a privilege to hear a small part of their journey.
One of the most encouraging parts of this week has been watching our students step outside of their comfort zones. Whether at the park, in local businesses, or at our worksites, they have been willing to pray for the people they meet and engage others with kindness and compassion. It has been incredible to witness their growth and see God working in and through them in such meaningful ways.

Today was another incredible day of serving, building relationships, and sharing God's love throughout the community.
The morning began with a large group of students serving at the home of a woman named Diana. Together, we helped clean out her basement by sorting through boxes and various items, deciding what could be kept and what could be donated. As we worked alongside her, we had the opportunity to hear about her family, learn about her life experiences, and even receive some local food recommendations. Before leaving, we gathered to pray with Diana in her home, which was a special and meaningful way to encourage her.
Nathan's group spent the morning helping a woman named Debra by doing yard work and cleaning up a fence around her property. During their visit, they learned that Debra is battling both blood and bone cancer. The team was grateful for the opportunity to not only help with physical needs but also to pray with her and encourage her during a difficult season.
Later, Nathan's group traveled to another home where they painted rooms for a woman named AV. She was incredibly thankful for the work being done. Before leaving, the group prayed for her and her family. The moment was deeply moving, and AV was brought to tears by the love, care, and support shown to her. To finish the day, the group visited Target, where they stepped out in faith by praying for strangers and sharing encouragement with people they met.
After lunch, several of us headed to the summer camp and tutoring program. Averie, Lucy, Maci, and I spent the afternoon helping with gym class activities. The students were energetic, full of personality, and so much fun to spend time with. We enjoyed building relationships, encouraging them, and simply sharing in their excitement and enthusiasm throughout the afternoon.
Another group spent the afternoon helping a different Diana with home improvement projects. They worked on painting and installing cabinet doors, helping make improvements to her home while building a relationship with her along the way.
Meanwhile, Shawn's group took on a major construction project at Miss Vera's garage. The team spent the day removing damaged materials, including an old window and sections of rotten wood. Once the demolition was complete, they installed new plywood and home wrap to prepare the structure for repairs. The project made significant progress today, and the group is looking forward to returning tomorrow to install new siding and complete the garage renovation.
As the day came to a close, we gathered together for devotions and reflected on where we saw God at work throughout the day. We shared stories of meaningful conversations, answered prayers, and opportunities to serve others. Hearing each person's "God sightings" was a powerful reminder that God is moving in both big and small ways through this trip. We ended the evening with a time of praise and worship, celebrating all that God has done and preparing our hearts for another day of serving tomorrow.
Today was filled with opportunities to serve, encourage, and connect with others. Whether through construction projects, cleaning and organizing homes, painting, working with children, or praying with those we met, we were reminded that showing God's love often happens through simple acts of service and genuine relationships.

Today was a day full of service and learning. Several of our teams spent the day mowing lawns and pulling weeds for local homeowners. In this community, neglected lawns can result in fines from the city, and those fines can quickly add up. In some cases, if the fines become too large, the city may place a lien on the homeowner’s property. By helping with yard work, we were able to ease that burden and serve our neighbors in a practical way.

One of our groups dedicated the entire day to building a wheelchair ramp, creating safer and more accessible access to a home for someone in need.

Another group spent the morning assisting with summer school classes and returned in the afternoon to help with specialized activities. Students participated in a variety of engaging classes, including building projects, theater games, and Art in Motion, where they practiced balance and coordination on a surfboard-style balance board. It was exciting to see the students learning new skills while having fun.

In addition to our service projects, we also had the opportunity to learn about financial security and gain a better understanding of the different challenges and realities faced by many people in this community. It was a valuable reminder of the importance of compassion, stewardship, and serving others with both our hands and our hearts.
Overall, it was a meaningful day of hard work, relationship-building, and learning as we continued to serve the community.

Today, we had the opportunity to attend church and hear a meaningful sermon about the Prodigal Son. The message focused on the three main people in the story and challenged us to consider how each of them can reflect different aspects of our own lives.
After church, we enjoyed lunch in the cafeteria, where tacos and quesadillas were served. The food was delicious and gave us a chance to relax and connect with one another.
Following lunch, we gathered for devotion time and learned more about the city and the community we are serving. Afterward, half of our group went to Bible Club, a place where children from the community can come to play, build relationships, and learn about God. It also provides an opportunity for us to connect families with helpful resources and support.
Later, we returned for dinner and some much-needed downtime to rest and recharge. We ended the day with another powerful time of praise and worship, reflecting on all that God is doing through this trip and in our hearts.

We made it to St. Louis today at 4:00pm safely. When we arrived, we were able to explore the campus we are staying at. We are so thankful for welcoming staff and AC. Once we settled in, we were able to gather together for an amazing worship service. We are so excited to see how God moves in our group. Not only will we be working as the hands and feet of Jesus, but we will also be deepening our relationship with Him as well. 

Hello Bentheim Family and Friends,
We are only 14 days away from departing on our mission trip, and my heart is filled with excitement and anticipation for all that God is going to do. As I look at the incredible group of students and leaders going this year, I am so thankful for the opportunity we have to serve together and grow in our faith. I cannot wait to see God's hand at work in and through each one of us.
As we prepare to travel to St. Louis, I would like to ask for your prayers. More than anything, please pray that God would begin preparing our hearts now. Pray that we would go with humble and willing spirits, ready to serve wherever He leads us. Ask God to help us set aside our own comforts and expectations so that we can fully focus on loving others and sharing the hope of Christ.
Please pray for the community of St. Louis as well. Pray that God would open doors for meaningful relationships and opportunities to serve. Our desire is not simply to complete projects or participate in activities, but to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus—to show His love, compassion, and grace to everyone we encounter.
I also ask that you pray specifically for our students. My prayer is that this trip would be more than just a week away from home. I pray that God would use this experience to deepen their faith, strengthen their relationship with Him, and help them discover what it means to live a life of service. I pray that they would see God at work in powerful ways and return home with a greater passion for following Jesus.
My hope is that each student comes back with a renewed desire to serve both God and the people around them. I pray they would be challenged, encouraged, and transformed through what they experience. Most of all, I pray they would return home with hearts on fire for Christ—committed to living for Him daily, growing in their faith, and boldly sharing His love with others.
Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support. We are grateful to have a church family that partners with us in ministry. We know that God hears the prayers of His people, and we are excited to see all that He has in store for this mission trip.
Thank You!
Helen Derks

Peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

March has been extremely eventful, so many things have happened in just this past month. Sorry for not posting for the month of February, nothing really happened.

Starting from the top, I turned 22 on March 5th, thank you all for the birthday wishes, I had a great day. The very next day I left for Talkeetna for a mission trip, and stayed there until the 12th. We had a great time up there, it was a lot of work, and it was very cold (-22), but it was fun. I had the opportunity to install flooring as well as paint some ceilings in the church offices. I also got to help out at a food bank, emptying and sorting 2,300lbs of boxes of food, and overall just help the community, and create stronger connections with the church.

We also hosted our 4th annual CFAW (College for a weekend), its an event where senior and junior students from all over the country come to ABI, stay in our dorms with us and get to experience ABI. The student who stayed in my room was from Kodiak, Alaska. I wasn't able to spend much time with him unfortunately, because we had a mountain of homework, I did get to learn a couple really cool things about him. He is planning on coming to ABI this fall after he graduates, he lived with missionaries from Bentheim for over a year on Kodiak, and he is a professional Wiffle ball player. Yes you read that right, he is in the major leagues for Wiffle ball, the game with the plastic ball and bat.

As I mentioned in the newsletter, from the seminarians desk, I am participating in the Homer Winter Kings fishing Tournament, on Saturday April 4th. I am greatly looking forward to this, we probably wont win, or even place, but it's still fun to go out and fish for a day with my friends.

Last but not least, I have been officially accepted as a 3rd year intern. Not entirely sure what that looks like, but I will know soon. My current plan (i'm assuming staff is on board with it), is to teach some of Pentateuch 2 (Exodus-Deuteronomy), and Old Testament 4 (the Prophets), of course I wont be teaching everything, the most I am allowed to teach is up to 40% of a class. And I am greatly looking forward to that.

This school thing has gone by too fast, high school felt like it would never end, and now i'm in my last month of college. THAT IS CRAZY, on one hand I don't want it to end, on the other I can't wait for summer. I'm sad to see it go, but I am eagerly waiting for the future God has for me. 

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you, from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

January has been a long month, not saying it was bad, but just long. I went through our Revelation class, that was insane. I hadn't read through the book before, but it was just incredible, I was blown away at every chapter. I am just finishing up my Church History class, and that has been very fun as well. There was so much that I didn't know about history, and I still feel like I don't know anything.

Work has been pretty good, I'm continuing the process of the kitchen remodeling for my boss. In addition to working, I am also volunteering at Waters Edge Pregnancy Center once a week, I'm helping with organizing, gopher work, and keeping the husbands/fathers occupied while the mother is getting a check-up.

Full classes start in 2 weeks, and I am really looking forward to it. Mondays will be Epistles 2, Wednesdays is Acts, Thursdays is Communicating Biblical Truths, and Fridays is the Prophets class. I am greatly looking forward to the Prophets class, so much so, that I am considering help teach it next year, Lord willing I get accepted for the internship.

Even though January went by so slow, the rest of the year went by incredibly fast. I cant believe I only have 3 months of school left. I applied for the 3rd year internship, and I am still waiting for a response. If I get it, I will be teaching up to 40% of a class, and maybe even working in student life. And if I get it I plan on staying up here for the summer, I found very good and cheap housing (the dorms), and I found a job that will pay more than what I was making this summer.

I also plan on setting up my missionary account through Global Outreach soon. That way donations I receive will be able to my school bill and cost of living.

Please continue to pray for me as well as ABI, pray for unity and peace, there were some unfortunate circumstances that arose this month, and we're still working through the pain of it.
Not many pictures were taken this month, I will make sure to get more for February. 

Anchorage trip to Olive Garden

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you, from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

November and December have been fantastic, the last semester has been the best one so far!

Classes were amazing, I have learned so much so far, both head knowledge and heart knowledge. Poetics was particularly phenomenal, I absolutely loved the Proverbs and Psalms. The final for the Psalms project was to create something inspired by a Psalm or a theme in the Psalms. My creation was a wooden structure with the word "Glory" burned into the pillars, and there is a piece of cedar (spruce) shattered and suspended in the middle. Attached below is a picture of the creation. It demonstrates the power of the voice of the Lord from Psalm 29.

Funny story, one of the missionaries here, Andy, was a missionary in Uganda for 14 years, and in the later years, he needed a plane. So he went searching for a plane, and ended up buying it from Dan Smith from Paradise Bound!!! What a small world we live in! After finding this out, Andy took me out flying the next day, the day before he sold it to someone else.

I did some duck hunting, well sort of, we left at 5:15 am, drove an hour and a half to the river, I got out of the truck into the crisp 15 degree winter air, "slipped on" my 15 degree un-insulated waders, and got in the boat. Immediately I discovered that the waders were not as warm as I thought they would be, and as we are driving to the hunting site, it was so cold that my mustache began to freeze, and my toes couldn't move anymore. I unfortunately relay this to the captain and once we were done dropping the decoys he brought me back to the truck, and I sat there for 5 hours while my friends got ducks. It was still fun though, and I got some super heavy duty snow-pants now for next time.

Christmas break is much quieter this year, there are only two of us staying in the dorms, and I work half the day so we never see each other.

Oh yeah, I got a Job! It's part-time and I am sort of remodeling/building someones house. He moved up here with his wife, six kids and mother-in-law, and couldn't afford to hire a full crew to finish the house, so he is paying me to do it instead. I was skeptical at first, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a go.

I greatly look forward to next semester, looking forward to whatever God has in store for me.

I miss you Bentheim, and I wish I could be there for Jonah and the Whales, as well as to hear Pastor Kris preach, but God has me up here fore a reason this Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and have a happy New Year!!

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

October has been pretty busy, and some of that busyness has spilled over to November.
It has been getting pretty cold lately, and the snow is starting to come down. A lot of students have been praying for snow, and I think its funny that the ones praying for it are the ones who don't drive! But thankfully, we haven't had much yet.

Classes have been going great, I've greatly enjoyed going through the poetic books the past couple months. I learned so much about wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Missions class has also been really great, just spending time learning about different cultures and what missions is.

I've been working some odd jobs lately, shaving spray foam insulation on the walls and ceilings of houses, so it's been nice to get some extra money. And with that extra money, I was able to buy a car!!! It's a 2010 Volkswagen Routan (Minivan), and I've been able to bless the other students by chauffeuring them around.

October 31st we had the annual Harvest Carnival at Christian Community Church, where we served over 600 people in town with games and candy, and spreading the gospel to them. It was a blast being able to serve with running a game for the youth of Homer. The volunteers were allowed to dress up, so naturally I had to be the best dressed there. I dressed up as Pope Leo X, the one who excommunicated Martin Luther, and the whole reason why we have Reformation Day. Attached is a photo of me, a staff member (Luther) and another student (the door with the 95 thesis).

We also had the ABI Youth Night on November 5, over 120 students from Homer came to campus for a night of games, worship, and a lesson. It was great being able to be a light to the youth of Homer, and pray with those who were struggling to submit to God.

Please be praying for the Smith family, Forrest and Esther Smith (teacher and wife) welcomed their baby Jubilee Violet Smith into the world last week, please pray for a smooth recovery of Esther, and a healthy and Godly life for Jubilee.

Thank you all for your prayers, I miss you all, and hope to see yall next year!

Baby Jubilee

My roommate leading the ABI Youth Night

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!

September was fantastic, and I am so blessed to be here.
I've been super busy so far this year, spending a lot of time in nature on hikes, and behind the pulpit at church.

I've been doing a decent amount of hunting, I went moose hunting a couple times, as well as grouse and duck hunting. A couple Saturdays ago I was on a 3 mile hike while grouse hunting, and we decided to make our own trail. Boy was that a bad idea. We didn't bring any water or food, and did not plan the hike out at all. So the 3 mile hike quickly turned into 12. And 8 miles in at 8:30 pm, we stumble across 3 moose, one of them being a legal bull. Once I saw it, I quickly took the birdshot out of my shotgun and replaced it with a slug, and raised my gun to shoot the bull. And right when I got on target I realized I didn't bring my harvest ticket, so it would've been illegal. So, I lowered the gun and let the moose pass. The next day, I was telling my professor about it, and he then took that opportunity and shot the moose that night. I am glad I didn't have my ticket with me, because if I would've shot the moose, we would've had to pack it out in the dark, and it was still 4 miles until we got back to the truck.

Aside from hunting, the local church that I am a part of, offered me the opportunity to teach an adult Sunday school lesson. I eagerly jumped on the opportunity, and it went great, I was then asked to teach the next Sunday, and that one went even better. They were impressed enough that they offered me a spot to become a youth group leader, and help teach the youth group. 
So please be praying for that, as I decide what to do in the church.

Class has also been going great, I have learned so much already. One of the coolest things I've learned so far is about the vision of Isaiah in chapter 63, and how it connects with Revelation 19:13-16. When Jesus comes back, He will be in a white robe, dripped in blood, but that blood will not be His own, but the blood of all unbelieving. He is coming to save all those who are eagerly waiting, and to rule with an iron rod over the nations.

Thank you all for praying for me, and all the donations, I greatly appreciate it. 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

March was truly fantastic, I was able to spread the gospel to some kids on a mission trip, and able to teach my fellow classmates.

Starting off, I want to thank everyone for the birthday cards and wishes, I really appreciated them!
From March 8-15 I was on a mission trip in Talkeetna, we led a VBS from Monday through Thursday, and on Wednesday night I was able preach a sermon to the youth group of Church on the Rock Talkeetna. During the VBS there was a 10 year old that had never heard the gospel before so I got to share it with him, and gave him a bible. While in Talkeetna I was also able to see Denali (Mt. McKinley).

On March 26, as a part of my Old Testament survey 2 final, I taught my class for 45 minutes, it involved a lesson, a skit, and Q&A. And I have to say, I completely knocked it out of the park, I am trying to be humble, but it was just insane, the Lord filled me with His Spirit, and I was just on fire, it was amazing. I believe that this is what the Lord is calling me to do, teach or preach in some way.

Then from March 26-29, we had a youth night and CFAW (College for a weekend), and that was fantastic. 8 kids gave their life to Christ during that time! Praise the Lord!!
CFAW is an event where we invite anyone from across the country, typically juniors and seniors in high school to come to ABI and show them what it's all about.

Now after careful consideration, lots of prayer and meditating, I have decided to come home to Michigan for the summer. As much as I want to stay up in Alaska, I think its the best idea financially and logistically. I think I will have much more opportunities to grow over the summer in Michigan rather than Alaska. So, Lord willing, I will be back on April 27(ish)

Here are some of the pictures I have accumulated over the month.

Quick trip to see Denali

James after trying to teach elementary school kids how to finger paint

Trip across the bay during CFAW (I got to ride on the roof of the boat)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!

February was quite uneventful, but it was still amazing. Only one adventure this month, I got to drive my discipler's boat for a couple hours while him and some friends fished. The ABI fitness center finally opened, and it's been great being able to pump some iron, and who knows, I might graduate looking like the next Arnold.

Besides destroying my quads in the gym, my classes have been going great. We just started learning about Christology in Fundamentals of the Faith, I am writing a 750 word paper on 1 John 3:6 for Greek and Hebrew Study tools. In April I will be teaching a class about Elijah and Mt. Carmel for my OT 2 final. And last but not least, Romans is great, we spent roughly 2 hours the past two weeks discussing repentance, and that biblical repentance is to turn to God, and in that process you are turning away from your sin, rather than the common view that repentance is turning away from sin and then turning to God.

In other news, I am going on a mission trip to Talkeetna, and while I am their I will have the opportunity to preach a message to the youth group. I am greatly looking forward for the trip, it will be nice to just get out of Homer, and get a fresh sight.

In some smaller news, I have the opportunity to go to a mormon church in March, but don't worry, I am not converting. Some friends and I have been talking about mormonism recently and wanted to learn more about it, and we got invited to the church. My goal is to learn more about them, and be a light of the true Gospel to them.

Since the month was uneventful, I didn't get many pictures, but I hope I can get some more in march.
Thank you all for the prayers and support, I truly cannot do it without all of you. 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ!

January was an amazing month, filled with adventures, worship, and the love of Christ!

Classes are going wonderfully, I started the semester with an intensive called "Ministry Roles in the Body of Christ" which consisted of planting a church! We had one week to completely plant a church that included: Doctrine, 1-10 year goals, outreach programs, a leadership structure, and scripture references to go along with why we chose what we chose. It was a very difficult class but it was very fun and I learned a ton from it.

The next class was "Apologetics", which is basically how to defend our faith. It was a very fun class because the homework for every night was to argue with another student on different topics, like the inerrancy of scripture and the trinity. The most interesting parts of those debates was arguing as if we were a muslim, Jehovahs witness, mormon, or an atheist. It was very difficult, but yet eye opening to the way those people think.

Currently we are taking "the Writings of John". This class has been amazing, I have never learned so much in such a short time anywhere else. Going of the gospel of John and picking through it with a fine tooth comb is truly astounding. The teacher is going verse by verse through John, and the 3 letters, and it is just phenomenal.

Next week I will be starting the full 12 week classes, the ones I mentioned in the last blog post. I greatly look forward to those classes, especially Fundamentals of the Faith, since we will be diving deep on different doctrine.

Besides class, I have a ton of fun going on adventures, for instance, the day after Christmas, my discipler, Forrest, took me out to Halibut cove on his boat. I got a ton of cool pictures and got to wander this almost abandoned city for the day. During the summer Halibut cove has 70 residents, in the winter there are only 20 people. We didn't see a single person the whole trip. But there was plenty of wildlife, a dozen or so of sea otters, a couple seals, and on the way out of the city, some orca's swam up next to the boat!

Thank you all for praying for the Jackson family, they have fully recovered, God is so good!
I want to thank you all for also financially supporting me through this adventure. I could not have made it this far without the love and support from this congregation.

I will be home to Bentheim for roughly a week in June, I should be there at least on June 15, and I hope that I could share a sermon then too.

Here are the pictures I have taken so far, the first chunk is from the Halibut cove trip

And these are some moose that I ran into on campus

Merry Christmas and Happy New year Bentheim!

December was chalked full of amazing memories, beginning with my baptism! I was baptized in Kachemak Bay on Dec. 10 in 40 degree ocean water. It was cold going in but I was warm coming out, because I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I was baptized by the president of ABI Eric Rozeboom, along with one of the instructors Joseph Collier. And I wasn't alone that day, because I was baptized with my friends Anna and Sayde.

In other news, I took a rode trip to Anchorage with my friends so that I could say goodbye to my roommate Michael, since he was not returning for a second semester. His flight got messed up so he was stranded in Anchorage with me for another 2 days, and I am very grateful for that. He was a very busy guy on campus and we didn't get to spend much time together, so it was nice to spend the whole day together, frolicking around Anchorage.

I also finished all of my classes. Finals week was stressful but that was my own fault, I didn't start on some of my finals until the week of. But I assure all of you, I will be (Lord willing) changing that behavior for next semester. I will start on the finals weeks before they are due.

This upcoming semester I have 3 intensive classes: Apologetics, The Gospel of John, and Church Leadership. And my extensive classes are: Fundamentals of the Faith, Greek and Hebrew study tools, OT Survey II, and Romans. I greatly look forward to all of those classes, especially Romans, because it is taught by the president Eric Rozeboom, and he's been teaching it for the past 20 years here at ABI.

This new year is going to be amazing, and I am so grateful of my amazing community back home. Thank you all for sending cards, it brightens my day when I see them. 

This is the sunrise view from my room.

This was the baptism. The people in the Picture are: Anna, Eric, Me, Joseph, Sayde, and Andy.

This is the mountain range that I get to see every day.

This was a trip to Olive Garden before saying goodbye to some of the students, and the second picture it when I dropped Micheal off at the airport.

This was the trip down from Anchorage.

Happy Thanksgiving yall!

November has been a great month here in Alaska, filled with snow and a lot of sledding.
Still no hunting or fishing, but I might do a little fishing over Christmas break.

I want to deeply thank all of you who contributed to that HUGE care package, that was amazing. I was reading downstairs one day and my teacher came down and said "Max, theres a giant package for you here" I was bewildered at first but once I opened it I was amazed. Thank you all for that amazing gift.

Classes are going great, I only have two more weeks left of my semester, and next week I will be house sitting at the former president of ABI's house. In the next two weeks for Synoptic Gospels Class, Justin Gibbins from Limitless Outdoors on YouTube, will be teaching those classes, and all of us are looking forward to that.

For Pentateuch 2, I am tasked with writing a 6 page paper over a story from Exodus-Deuteronomy, and I decided to write it on God hardening Pharaoh's heart in Exodus chapters 4-14 and how that ties into Predestination. I really look forward to finishing that soon, it's been fun researching it in Systematic Theology books, along with John Calvin's Institutes of Christian Religion.

The number of students is dropping unfortunately, but don't worry, I do not plan on dropping out any time soon.

Thank you all for your prayers and gifts, I deeply appreciate them. I won't be coming home for Christmas, but you should all expect me sometime in the summer.

Today marks 2 months being in Alaska, and it's been a wild ride. There's been a lot of Moose on campus, a lot of wildlife out and about. Classes have been fun, we just finished going through Exodus in Pentateuch 2 and we are now starting to go through Leviticus.

The rest of the classes have been good, but there is a LOT of homework for Synoptic Gospels which isn't great but one thing I've learned so far is to rejoice in all things, so I am rejoicing in that I have a teacher who cares about my education, and want's me to learn a lot.

I am pleased to announce that I am the new TA for Discipleship Making one, so far that just entails grading everyones homework, but there may be some more things for me to do.

I will be giving a devotion to everyone on November 5, so far my plan is to do some of my testimony, and give a small lesson on what God has been doing in my life recently and how it can help others.

Not everything has been good during my time though, there has been 4 students that have dropped out in the past 2 weeks unfortunately, but I have to remember that it's all a part of God's plan, and "Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end.” Heb. 12:2

On a positive note, I had the opportunity to install some windows on a friends cabin, and some student's and I went in together to buy them the rest of the sheet metal they needed to finish the roof. God is so Good!

Please keep praying for me and ABI as we head into winter this next weekend, pray for us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and to lean on Him when we grow weary.

Please reach out if you'd like to know more!

Greetings from Alaska!

It's been a crazy and wonderful experience so far. Thank you all again for praying for me, your prayers are not unanswered. Please continue to pray for me as I go into this semester.

So far I have gone fishing twice, and moose hunting once; but, we unfortunately didn't see anything. This past Sunday I had the opportunity to hike 6 miles in marshland to pack out a moose that one of the staff members got. It was a really hard hike, but it was worth it.

I finished my Christian Living class, and my Pentateuch 1 class already. Christian living was over the fruits of the Spirit, while Pentateuch 1 was going through all of Genesis.
The classes I just started this week are: Discipleship Making 1, Hermeneutics, Synoptic Gospels, and Pentateuch 2.

Everyday is different and the weekends are very relaxed. I haven't found a new church yet, since none of them have Pastor Kris, but I will have to make a decision soon.

These are some of the pictures I have taken so far:

This is the view from my room ↑