Family, friends, and church families,
Thank you so much for your prayers and
support for my time with Kingdom Air Corps (KAC) in Alaska! I apologize that
this letter has taken so long to get to you. My time in Alaska was such a
blessing and a great learning experience as I prepare for full time mission
work with aviation and maintenance. A great deal happened over the month and a
half I was in Alaska. As such, I will try and break my trip up into different
categories.
Flying:
Flying in
Alaska was completely different than anything that I was used to! I had the
chance to fly the following aircraft: Cessna 150, Cessna 152, Cessna 170, Cessna
172, Super Cub, and Champ. I flew for a total of 27.6 hours. I learned a great
deal about how to fly in the mountains, read the wind over the terrain, and how
to fly into and out of challenging runways. The runways were grass, gravel,
narrow, had a slope to them, not straight, and had terrain and animals you had
to watch out for. I was also able to simulate searching for a lost person on a
river by following the river at a low level. I gained firsthand experience of
how to approach different mountain ridges and passes with low visibility and
how to make a safe go no go decision. Overall, I received great bush flying
experience.
Maintenance:
With a fleet of older aircraft comes an
endless list of items which need to be fixed. Since it never really gets dark
in Alaska during the summer, it was not uncommon for us to be working until
10-12 at night. My biggest challenge was learning what was acceptable for wear
and tear of parts. I was able to gain experience working on landing gears,
wheels/bearings, exhaust systems, painting/paint removal, corrosion, sand
blasting parts, compression checks, and servicing batteries and spark plugs on
about 8 different aircraft. I was also able to help out with an annual
inspection on a Cessna 175 and several other hundred hour inspections. I was
able to help supervise and answer questions for the inspection crew that came
from LeTourneau University for a couple weeks. Another interesting project was
helping take the wings and tail off of a storm damaged Cessna 172 in order to
trailer it back to the ranch.
Aircraft maintenance was not the only work
that needed to be done around the ranch. I was able to help burn a ton of wood
in order to clear land for space for campers to stay. I was also able to help
move an entire cabin that someone down the road donated to KAC. I was often
sent into the town of Palmer to pick up aircraft parts or run different
errands.
Brooks Range
Bible Camp:
The Brooks Range is one of the most remote places I have ever
been. Fly north of Fairbanks about 3 hours, or about 230 miles and you will not
see any gas stations, rest stops, restaurants, or buildings. There is only one
road which follows the Alaskan pipe line with absolutely nothing else in sight
for miles and miles of wilderness. I was absolutely amazed that hundreds of
people live in such remote locations inside the United States. If I did not
know I was in Alaska, I would have thought it was another country! The place we
held the Bible camp at was called Paradise Valley and used to be an old gold
mining camp. Our team picked up children from Anaktuvuk Pass (population 300),
Allakaket (population 100), Wiseman (population 21), and Coldfoot (population
13). The first week of camp we had 33 younger kids and the second week we had
25 teens and a total of 30 staff members for both weeks.
I was a counselor
for the first week and had nine kids in my cabin, along with two other
counselors. The kids were quite a handful! Picture the most unruly kids you
have known and you might get close to how these kids were. All the kids barely
listened to us and did pretty much whatever they wanted whenever they wanted
to. There were several underdogs in my cabin who got picked on because they
were from a different village. Fighting, spitting on (gleaking), and name
calling among all the kids was a fairly constant occurrence.
A typical day
started out with chapel right after breakfast which consisted of skits,
puppets, memorizing Ephesians 6:10-18, and a Bible message. After chapel we
would have cabin time where we would discuss what we learned and open it up for
any questions the kids had. After cabin time, we would play anything from
Eskimo kickball, to wreck the castle, basketball, link tag, or swimming. However,
as soon as you put your feet into the water, they were numb! I have no idea how
the kids could survive going into the water which came from glacier runoff.
Another obstacle that we all had to face was the swarms of bugs everywhere!
There was also minimal electricity and running water in the camp. Other
activities included camp fires, songs, obstacle courses, volleyball, and an
ugliest counselor contest.
At the very
start of camp, I was super annoyed at how misbehaved the kids were. I was fed
up with breaking up fights, being spit on, lied to, and yelled at. Often the
kids would yell “I’m bored! I want to go home!” As I thought upon this whole
situation, God taught me a great deal about love. Christ loves the unlovable,
no matter what their attitude is. As a counselor, my goal was to build
relationships with the kids and show Christ’s love through my own actions. By
the end of the week, I was amazed to see how the kid’s attitudes changed. Many
kids even wanted to stay longer and were upset that they had to leave. Although
no new decisions for Christ were made among the kids in our cabin, I was able
to help mentor kids who had already made a decision for Christ during previous
years. Discipleship and a Christian influence is seriously lacking among the
villages which the kids go back to.
During the
second week of camp, I was on the grounds crew. In reality, I should say I was
the ground crew. The rest of the grounds crew left to go on a rafting trip that
was moved up a week to help a guy, John, who was stuck on the river. The
rafting trip was geared towards people who were 21+ from the villages. Each
day, my duties included cleaning the outhouses, collecting fire wood, building
camp fires, and projects for Mick, the owner of Paradise Valley.
God’s
Provision:
What really stood out to me during my time
in Alaska was just how God provided for all of our needs. While at KAC, several
different people gave us the following: 200 pounds of potatoes, a large cabin
which sleeps eight people, 500 gallons of aviation fuel and all the groceries
for the Brooks Range Bible camp. We also received about two or three moose that
people hit on the road; there is nothing like fresh road kill moose for supper!
God also provided safety in flying time after time. I want to share with you a
story of how God watched over me while flying. The following story is taken
from my blog at http://vulken.blogspot.com/
“Another issue of trust that I have been thinking about is
with aviation and flying. Every time I hop into an aircraft I am putting my
life on the line. It is a risk which comes with the territory; both with
terrain and aircraft parts. I trust that the five bolts holding the propeller
on will not break, the couple nuts holding the fuel lines together,
wing attached, and so on and so forth. One little bolt, one little nut,
one little part which comes loose or fails could cause an aircraft to lose
power or control. And yet I fly. I fly off of short grass strips, knowing this
risk. There is very little room for error, mechanically or
with technique exists.
On the
4th of July, I flew into a fairly short, unfamiliar grass strip, trusting my finite
skill as a pilot to land the aircraft. On takeoff out of the same strip, it is
scary to know you are traveling at about 60kts, half way down the runway with
large trees at the far end which you need to clear. Upon liftoff, you hold the
airplane down in ground effect, accelerating to maybe 70-80kts straight at a
line of trees. It takes judgment and skill to know how to takeoff and when to
pull up to clear the obstacles. This takes trust in the aircraft and your
own personal skill. That takeoff was one of the scariest runways I have flown
out of so far. Safe? Yes, as long as the aircraft performs how you want it to.
Upon
landing back at KAC, I had another scary moment for a pilot. Short final, about
to land, just below the tree line a wind gust caught my wing and pushed it
over. Slow and low with a wing banked 45 degrees is not a good place to be. I
quickly added power, reacting on impulse to what happened. The stall warning
was going off, and I was headed at about a 45 degree angle away from the
centerline of the runway. This all happened in a flash, and I reacted with the
training I had received. The thought ran through my mind that I was
not going to make it. There was no instructor on board to help me
out, I was all by myself. Somehow I managed to recover and get the plane on the
ground. I thank God for His protection.
I find
it interesting/ a God thing that later that night, after my gusty landing, I
read my friend Katrina's post about trust. Also, here is an e-mail I received
from my father this morning, not knowing what happened the previous day:
Ken,
You were literally in my dreams last night. I love you. Be
blessed with safe flying.
Love
Dad
Again,
trusting in an aircraft to do what it is supposed to do. Trusting in my skills
to recover. As I was thinking about trust, trusting the small little aspects
that keep an airplane performing, I was thinking about my trust in God. Do I
trust Him as much as an aircraft? Do I trust Him with my entire life? Do you
trust God for your life? I am blessed and thank God for His protection. ”
While flying back from the Brooks Range, we encountered a 40 knot
headwind in Windy pass. A headwind means you are going much slower and are using
more fuel to get to your destination. As I already mentioned, where we were
flying in Alaska was very rural. As such, there are not many airports to land
at if a problem occurs. After finally making it out of Windy pass, we
encountered rain along the route. Normally, light rain is not an issue; however
my carburetor heat cable broke. This means that it was a possibility to get icing
in the throat of the carburetor which would cause a decrease in power if not
complete loss of power. Thankfully I did not ice up! However, upon landing at
the closest airport, I found out that I had about 35 minutes of fuel left on
board when I should have had about an hour and a half. Again, God was providing
for our needs!
I
want to leave you with one more story of how God started this whole journey to
Alaska for me. I feel this is a testimony to how God is active and sovereign in
our lives.
I watched fireproof last Thursday night (Feb 3) with the
guys in my apartment. In the movie, they have something called
a 40 day challenge. I thought the movie was great and I was in
the shower and was thinking about the 40 day challenge. I was also
thinking about what to do this summer. One idea is to stay in Alaska after
our family reunion cruise is done and go to Kingdom Air Corps with Dwayne
King. Anyway, in the shower I was thinking about just the idea of
spending 40 days on something and the significance of the number.
This brought me around to wondering how long it would be from the time our
cruise was over to the end of the Bible camp that Kingdom Air Corps holds. I
thought to myself, man that would be awesome if it was 40 days and
how that would really be a confirmation of what I was supposed to do. So I went
to my room and ran the numbers: we are supposed to leave Alaska on June 14th,
Bible camp is the 2 middle weeks in July. The day Bible camp ends on July 23th,
which is when I would probably be leaving, or the day after. Doing
the math, this is 40 days exactly (17 days in June, 23 days in July).
I had sent an e-mail to Dwayne King several days before asking to get together
and talk with him about Alaska. I also had met with Mr. Poelman to ask his
advice and talk about some concerns I had. One of the things Mr. Poelman said
was that it was ultimately going to be for God to show me one way or the other
what to do this summer. So right after I ran the math, I checked my e-mail and
received an e-mail from Dwayne King. He wanted me to call him sometime and
figure out a time to meet. When I saw that it was 40 days I started
laughing, and then right after that I saw Dwayne's e-mail and laughed even more
and wondered what the odds were of that being a coincidence.
Again, thank
you for your support and prayers! You helped make a difference in the lives of
many kids in Alaska. God is alive and active! Please don’t hesitate to contact
me with any questions. Most of my pictures from Alaska are on Facebook.
Please keep checking my blog to stay in touch with me! I have
been home in Pennsylvania for about a month now and have been working on many
odd jobs around the house and for people I know. I am still searching for a job
and would appreciate your prayers! As soon as I pay off my school loans of
about $25,000, I hope to serve in a closed country where Christians are not
allowed.
Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
all creation”
Peace and love,
Ken Misiak
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