You're Going WHERE?!

 

We asked God to narrow down our search for a mission field to one organization and one place.  He narrowed it down to Alaska Village Missions (AVM), and AVM had one village opportunity:  Port Graham, Alaska.  Here are some interesting facts about Port Graham:

Location: Port Graham is located on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, about 35 miles southwest of Homer (as the crow flies).

Population: 150 people, most of whom are Native Alutiiq.

Language:  English and Alutiiq

Access:  Put on your wings--air or water--because there are no access roads to Port Graham. But once you arrive, you will can hop an ATV and zip around the village.

School:  The local K-12 school has two teachers and 28 students.

Businesses:  There is a post office (mail is flown in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), small health clinic, community center, library, K-12 school, Christian Church, Russian Orthodox Church, two small grocery stores, and a fish hatchery.

Living:  The Native culture and subsistence lifestyle of fishing, hunting, and berry picking are still in practice today.

Weather:  29” of rainfall and 56” of snowfall annually; temperatures reach a high of 70° F in the summer, and drop to a low of 0°F in the winter (Ahhhh, that’s perfect! ;-)).

Night and Day: Yes, it has long hours of darkness in the winter (Steve plans to take a happy light and lots of Vitamin D!); and extended hours of light in the summer. In the dead of winter, the amount of light is approximately 6 hours; in the summer, we will see 19 hours of light.

Prices: Gas $5.50/gallon, Milk $12/gallon, Butter $5/pound, Cat Litter $45 (compared to $12 at Costco), a plane ticket for the 15 minute ride to and from Homer is $172.  Yikes!

Church: The church we will be serving has 12 members (including kids!).