In Wrangell, there is one airport and it’s on airport loop. A singular loop of a road that is about 3.5 miles to the side of town. You can park your car there for up to 30 days for FREE (and even then I think 30 days is negotiable….). There are two planes off the island, the am jet and the pm jet. Since living here, I’ve only seen the times of arrival officially change once. Any other shift in schedule is due to inclement weather. Delays are pretty normal.
You can drop your luggage off two hours before you board and then show up 10 minutes before your flight because it’s such a small group of people boarding. You make it through, what I would guesstimate, 30 foot stretch of security and then out onto the tarmac to walk up stairs and hop on a little jet that is in the process of completing what’s known as “The Milk Run”. This is a run that refers to the daily jump from island to island in Southeast Alaska connecting from Seattle or Anchorage. Chances are you’ll see someone you know on your flight, or at least someone you’ve been on a flight with before. Small world, right?
Since I moved here, it’s been a tradition at least with the group of friends here to go grab a cup of coffee at the Stik Cafe (where I now work….well WORKED) and then make our way to the airport. We wait for our friends to board, and as they cross the tarmac up onto the stairs, we wave one another off as a final send off. I’ve never had a flight where this DIDN’T happen, and if I did I’ll pretend like it never happened. It’s one of my most cherished traditions over this last year, so simple but so sweet. We’ve called it a Wrangell Send Off and a Wrangell Goodbye.
I have a lot more to say about this little island but, I’m trying to stay on one topic for now. This time, I’ll have a couple people wave me off, but I had to start my goodbyes early. I’m currently typing this in an avoidance of packing, but more on that in a minute.
I fly off the island on August 3rd on the pm jet which puts me with a two day layover in Seattle and then I’ll head to North Carolina to see some friends before making my way down south to Gainesville, Georgia. Gainesville is the host to the nonprofit Adventures in Missions, who run the World Race. I will be living in Gainesville until January when I head back out overseas! During this time, I hope to connect with the leadership for my upcoming squad, be present for any team training and get to pick the brains of previous Squad Leads around town. I have officially accepted the role of Squad Lead as well, which means I will be gone for 5-6 months once we launch which changed my fundraising amount to $5000.
I only announced recently that I would be heading back on the field, but with a couple faithful friends my fundraising was jump-started before the announcement. I won’t name you because I don’t know how you would feel about it, but you know who you are! Thank you.
Before announcing that I would be fundraising, I prayed that God would give my friends really cool ideas so I didn’t have to spend time thinking about it. Work smarter not harder….right? 🙂 / 🙁
But every suggestion didn’t feel right, I didn’t understand quite what God had up His sleeve but I knew if He really called me to leave this island and go back out onto the field He would provide. Through the incredible generosity of this community, a couple monthly supporters, of course my aforementioned friends, my own tithes and some anonymous donors we completed the goal in a tear-jerking amount of time. I’m happy to announce that the additional funds I needed to stay on the field as a squad lead have also been raised without even announcing the increase in funds. We as a body poured in $5,000 faithfully and I will make sure to steward that money the best I possibly can. Thank you so much for trusting God to use me with this.
To end this update I would like to add a personal section so you know what to pray for and where I am at in my mind:
With all the travel, moving and adventures I have taken, this may seem like a small step in my walk with Christ but it feels like a much bigger leap of faith than you could ever imagine. Today in church our pastor shared a quote from a devotional by Oswald Chambers and it felt pretty close to home:
“If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and send you out to sea.”
I am equally excited and nervous, Wrangell has taken me on a couple roller-coaster rides but it has become my home and I am happy to feel so pained to leave. Thank you wouldn’t do it justice to everyone I’ve met, but it’s all I’ve got right now 🙂
My last endeavor is packing, which as I mentioned, I’m avoiding right now by checking this off my to-do list. But I want to share a quote and a song so that you can be praying for my faith to increase and for my reliance on the physical things in life to continue to grow dimmer and dimmer:
” A Greater Detachment
The critical issue on the journey with God is not “Am I happy?” but “Am I free? Am I growing in the freedom God gave me?” Paul addressed this central issue of detachment in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, calling us to a radical, new understanding of our relationship to the world:
What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
We are to live our lives as the rest of the world – marrying, experiencing sorrow and joy, buying things and using them – but always with awareness that these things in themselves are not our lives. We are to be marked by eternity, free from the dominating power of things….We joyfully detach from certain behaviors and activities, for the purpose of a more intimate, loving attachment to God. We are to enjoy the world, for God’s creation is good…This requires that we simplify our lives, removing distractions. Part of that will mean learning to grieve our losses and embrace the gift of our limits.”
(Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, ‘Journey Through the Wall’ pg. 132-133)
I have a whole blog about this in mind, but I’ll let your own relationship with God take precedence. Pray this over me and anyone you feel may need a *healthy* dose of detachment. (emphasis on healthy.)
My friend Anna played this song the other night and I laughed, but now I’m a little nervous I should listen to it and take heed:
My biggest, most honest and most vulnerable prayer right now is that I just live a life that honors God in the most simple of ways. If you want to join with me in this and pray that I do the work to get there, I would admittedly be embarrassed but extremely thankful.
Thank you for reading and I’ll see y’all soon 🙂
EDIT: I started a t-shirt fundraiser as well, though I’m fully funded, the shirts and sweatshirts are still really cute so here is the link, there are 4 days left to make an order before it closes!
https://www.bonfire.com/just-passing-through-allison-vickers160/
