On Saturday evening, March 21, 2009 many local Fairbanks ministries came together in the Monroe Catholic High School gym to put on a "Blessing Potlatch" for Athabascan village elders and other leaders in town for an annual business meeting.  Envisioned and spearheaded by Rita Pierce, an Athabascan herself, the idea was to not only provide a great meal, but for each ministry to "adopt" one or more villages  in commitment to pray for the chiefs, elders, and others in leadership.

We, as YWAM had volunteered to make 25 gallons of potato salad for the event!  Below are some of the photos of that "fun" undertaking!

 


Josh Rychener chopping the twenty-five pounds of potatoes into bite-sized pieces!  And still smiling!  What a guy!  Thanks, Josh!  (We DID give him a little help!)

 

 

 

Lois...One of a number of folks recruited to help with the potato salad assembly line!



 

 

 

And Laura--another welcome volunteer!



 

 

Ken covering the potato salad with foil for transport to the potlatch venue.



BLESSING POTLATCH PHOTOS

 

 

 




 

 

Steve Weis, of the local Arctic Fire King's Kids GO Network, and Josh serving moose soup to potlatch guests.

 

 

At potlatches young people traditionally serve all the older folks. Here, Emily Koenig, of Arctic Fire King's Kids, serves Rita Pierce, event organizer.

Potlatch emcee, Pastor Marvin Carroll, (at left) listens as elder, Neal Charlie, of Minto, speaks to the potlatch guests.

 

 

 

 



Left to right: Ida Ross, of Wings of Healing in Ester, AK; Ken Wallace, of YWAM Fairbanks; and another very lovely Athabascan elder.

 
 

Spring Greetings from still snowy Fairbanks!!  It’s time once again to bring you up-to-speed on the events in our lives and the recent “goings-on” here at YWAM Fairbanks.  

Many of you know, from an e-mail sent out in mid-January, that we were praying about a trip to see our son and his family in Montana and also praying about trying to acquire a newer vehicle.  We asked for your feedback about the wisdom of our plans and not only got positive feedback but also some wonderful financial help toward travel expenses and the truck purchase. You and the Lord know who you are, and we have asked for His huge blessings in your lives as you’ve allowed yourselves to be used by Him to provide for those needs! 

Before flying out one-way to Montana on January 26th the Lord brought a certain Scripture to our remembrance: “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 Looking back, we see that the Lord so faithfully fulfilled this promise for every step of what turned out to be a seven-week journey!!  He is SO good!

 

Grandpa Ken and grandson, Jordan, greatly enjoyed each other.  Two-year olds are very "interactive" and entertaining to be around!



 


 





Grandma Barb and grandson Jordan, in front of the 2002 Ford crewcab God enabled the Wallaces to purchase right there in Montana!

 



 



We enjoyed a heartwarming visit with dear YWAM friends and ministry directors from Lutsk, Ukraine where we took our last DTS students for ministry outreach in 2006.  James and Valya just “happened” to be, not only in Montana, but in Missoula--exactly when we were!

 

 

 

 



In the vehicle ahead, friends, Geoff & Milja Clarke of Mackenzie, lead the way on to Ft. St. John, BC where we all spent a very full weekend attending two ministry events and, quite unexpectedly, networking for future ministry together.  It proved to be one of those God-arranged delays in what is normally a very hasty trip back up the Alaska Highway to home!

 

 

 



 


YWAM Borealis, a work being pioneered by Geoff & Milja Clarke, had a display table at the Ft. St. John Missions Fest.

 





Ken enjoying the fellowship of longtime friend, Geoff Clarke, YWAM Borealis director.


Shown below are two photos taken of presenters at the Rising Above Conference we were privileged to attend in Ft. St. John.  Rather than try to describe the impacting experience we had at this gathering, we would strongly encourage you to visit the ministry's website  for yourself at the following URL: http://www.risingabove.ca

 






 




Howard Jolly, of the Cree Nation and a Rising Above board member and pastor, shares on the topic “Embracing Your Identity”.


 

 

 

 



Supported by a friend, Gary, (seen in the background)  Selma Poulin, an Oji-Cree from Ontario and the VP of Rising Above, shares her heart-rending testimony as a survivor of Residential School abuses.

God was good to also give us a few very special but completely unexpected encounters with old friends while in the Ft. St. John vicinity, as you can see from the photos below...

 

 

 


 





One surprise reunion that awaited us at Rising Above was with an old friend and YWAM pal, Alan Apsassin, also of the Cree Nation.  God can be so FUN!!


 



 






Sidney & Linda, our dear friends who hosted us for one month of our first DTS outreach to Israel back in 2004, now live in Tumbler Ridge, BC--only two hours south of Ft. St. John—another unexpected and blessed, though brief, reunion!


As we reflect back on the last several months we marvel at how God saw to it that we were precisely where we needed to be, over and over, during our seven weeks away from home.  Not only did we get a much-desired, LENGTHY (for a change) visit with our loved ones, but we also were blessed by so many opportunities for re-connecting with ministry friends with whom we share a deep-heart connection and similar ministry goals.  We don’t want to fail to mention an overnight stay in Kamiah, Idaho during which our dear friends, Volkhard and Marianne Graf (YWAM Kamiah directors) and their new staff couple, Mark and Michaela Garrison, ministered refreshment to our battle-weary hearts.  Thank you, dear ones!  It meant so much!

Another significant encounter in Ft. St. John was with Errol Martens of Kelowna, BC, who is the YWAM Greenland director.  We have know Errol for many years and even thought, back in the summer of 1996, that God might have us spend some time serving YWAM Greenland.  Though it was not to be, our hearts are knit with Errol’s to see indigenous peoples of the north rise up and find their destiny in God.  So, it was with great joy and interest that we heard from Errol at the Missions Fest about the success of a ministry called “Pain of the Heart”.  With the assistance of Clair and Clara Schnupp, the Mennonite couple who developed this counseling approach, Errol has seen freedom from long-held bondages arise and take hold in the lives of Greenlanders and others.

That brings us to an opportunity immediately on the horizon for us as YWAM leaders who also want to become more equipped and effective in our ministry to hurting people. 

YWAM NALC

Three weeks from now, on April 20-24, in Estes Park, Colorado we will be attending YWAM’s North American Leadership Conference, as well as our once-yearly gathering of NW District leaders.  While the NALC is held every other year, we have not managed to attend one for a long time now (maybe 8 years?).  The challenges presented by geographical distance, costs of going, and local obligations have seemed to always prohibit our participation, even though we recognized it would be of value. These gatherings are so important for helping us to renew our sense of “connection” with the very vast YWAM world out there.  They provide opportunity for increasingly essential networking, refreshing fellowship, and refiring of both local and worldwide ministry vision.  The smaller gathering of our NW district YWAM co-laborers serves much the same purpose.  We have the chance to get to know one another and our various ministries more intimately and, then, to pray for and encourage each other.

We were excited to learn that Clair and Clara Schnupp (though not YWAMers, themselves), along with Errol Martens, will be at the NALC to present a challenge to YWAM North America to adopt the “Pain of the Heart” training as part of our discipleship efforts. In fact, we had already been talking about trying to get this training for ourselves in the near future!  We are sensing there are new things ahead for us as a couple and for YWAM Fairbanks and want to be ready to step into whatever it is that God has for us yet to do!  Please be praying with us for greater clarity to come as we attend this conference and meet the Schnupps!  We'd also appreciate your prayers for God's financial supply for our NALC fees and upcoming travel expenses!

Thanks for plowing through this lengthy report and for just “being there” to enrich our lives with your friendship and love!


 
 

Upon the arrival of our new staff family last July, whom we moved into what was then our office, work began on contruction of a new, "trapper-style", log office.

Former office--now serving its original purpose as a two-bedroom staff house for the Rychener family.

A dear Christian brother, Charlie Bohart, brought his backhoe over and donated his time to dig the foundation!

Mission Builder, Mike Stenberg, from California, spent a month with us and was a big help to Ken in getting the foundation ready for the logs.

In August we had the awesome help of a team of adults and teens from a church in Missouri.  They peeled and toted logs, helped lay them up, and helped us get the roof on--all in one week!

Work had halted for a bit as funds ran dry, but a generous love gift to install a heat source put us back on course to continue the finish work on the interior, even as winter set in in earnest!

Lord willing, we look forward to moving into our new office quarters in the springtime!  A huge thanks to all who have contributed their labors, finances, and prayers to get us this far!

 
 

On December 3rd-5th the Wallaces and the Rycheners traveled to Minto to offer two nights of teaching to the church. Minto, an Athabascan village of several hundred, is located about a three hours drive from Fairbanks. 

YWAM Fairbanks began establishing relationships in Minto as early as 1999, when one of our Norwegian staff members--Arne Jortveit--began living  there part-time.  Arne then spent 4-5 years as a fulltime resident of Minto, occasionally joined for a season by other short-term YWAM staff.  While there Arne's focus was "friendship evangelism" and, in light of such, just served, loved on, prayed with, played with and worked alongside the village residents.  Arne's legacy of love is evident as the Minto folks express how much they miss him and ask when he might return!  (IRS regulations forced Arne to return home to Scandinavia a few years back, where an unexpected blessing awaited...a BRIDE!)

Janelle Rychener poses in front of a pretty sunrise over Minto Flats.

Janelle and Josh Rychener, YWAM Fairbanks staff, teach on godly communication between couples as Minto folks, Josh and Vera Weiser, listen.

 
 

Sensing that the ministry of YWAM Fairbanks is emerging from a long season of transistion, we felt it was important to re-dedicate the property to the Lord.  Therefore, four of us spent an hour this afternoon walking the perimeter of the property, praying and making declarations at the northern, eastern, southern, and western points. "Stakes" attached to trees at each corner offered a summary statement from which our prayers and declarations for the future sprang forth.  How awesome it is to know that our words have spiritual power to positively affect the environment in which we live!  Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..."