Last week I (Paul) was able to spend in Nenana, Alaska assisting the White family finish an addition to their home.  Their three girls have been waiting a long time for this and it was a joy to go and complete the installation of the tongue and groove spruce boards onto the walls and ceiling of the girls bedroom as well as build them bed frames. 

Adam uses his airplane to disciple people who live in very remote locations throughout the interior of Alaska.  In addition he assists with Kokrine Hills Bible Camp in getting campers and staff to and from camp.  Also he works with the local mission radio station on remote translators to ensure they are functioning properly.  Below are a few before and after pictures of the project.  For us to come alongside Adam and his family in this work frees him to do other things he is called to do.  Thank you for the support you generously give to us so we can serve others.

Before the tongue and groove installation started

In process

Complete

A short post from Sara:

On Saturday, March 22, Paul and I, along with Jonathan and Becky Peters, Gloria Dilley, and Karen Kaiser, traveled to Anchorage to attend Governor Sean Parnell's annual Prayer Breakfast.  We left the hangar in Kenai in the early a.m. with Paul as our pilot, arriving at the convention center in time for the 8 a.m. breakfast.  The skies were clear, and the flight to and from Anchorage was smooth.  On the way there, we got to view the pink-orange hues of sunrise, and on the return flight, we enjoyed mountain views, including Denali towering in the distance.

The theme of the breakfast this year was "New Beginnings," and the guest speaker, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, delivered a message in which he urged Christians to be intentional about impacting the culture for Christ in their various spheres of influence.  Reverend Keith Lauwers of ChangePoint Church in Anchorage led the attendees in praying for our state and national leaders.  I enjoyed the breakfast, especially the opportunity to hear Dr. Zacharias speak.  It was good to feed on truths from God's word that I can take away and put into practice.  

But aside from the benefits of the event itself, I was blessed to be able to spend the morning with Paul, Jonathan, Becky, Gloria, and Karen.  It was a little Saturday morning adventure with my teammates that will remain in my memory for a long time to come.  The trip to the Governor's Prayer Breakfast gave us an opportunity to have some fun together, which for me was a nice change of pace from the ordinary demands of life and ministry.  I love serving with these guys, but sometimes it is just nice to fellowship together when we aren't "on the job."  I'm so thankful to God for all the good gifts he gives us to enjoy.

All of us in front of the Cessna 206 before returning home to Kenai.

A Busy Start to the New Year

Here is a small snapshot of how our new year has begun, we have hit the ground running. The update below is from Sara who is working tirelessly on many fronts.

We are in the middle of a busy ministry month here in Alaska.  Right after Christmas, our whole family flew with Paul to Port Alsworth, AK where we helped the staff of Tanalian Bible Camp with Sr. High Winter Camp.  Sam and Ben went as campers while Paul, Anna, and I served on the work team; Paul did some construction for the camp, Anna and I worked in the kitchen, and Aaron and Nate played with other staff kids.  We all had a blast!  The whole trip felt like a big vacation even though we were working.  It was just so fun to work with each other and the other staff and develop friendships with people we can't wait to work with again.

Also this month I was able to coordinate  meals for some ministry friends who were in town on a staff retreat, and we have had house guests a few times.  This week I'll be attending a ladies' retreat that ABM is hosting for ladies in village ministry, and at the end of the month, I get to travel to Kodiak Island for a quilting workshop that we are helping a pastor's wife host as an outreach to the women of her village.  Somewhere in there Paul manages to make flights to villages.  These trips are intended to be short day-trips, but frequently they last longer when the weather prevents him from returning home on schedule.  We end up having to make plans loosely and practice a lot of flexibility with such unpredictable weather issues.  It is unusual to have so much going on in one month, but we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with other servants of God in spreading the Good News of Jesus to villages across Alaska, and we are thankful, too, for the ways the Lord shapes and changes us as we exercise dependence on Him.  

We thank you for all your prayers and financial support, without these we would not be able to continue to work with Arctic Barnabas Ministries.  

Prayer/Praise:

• Thank the Lord for an awesome team of prayer and financial supporters, our support was provided for in 2013.
• Praise for safe flying for Paul and Arctic Barnabas as a whole in 2013
• Praise for an amazing online school for the kids Veritas Press Scholars Academy
• Pray for Sara as she faithfully serves at home and with ABM.
• Pray for Paul as he begins to study for his Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) rating
• Pray for Paul as he learns his new role as Aviation Manager.

This is a link to our landing in Port Alsworth, AK on 12-29-13.  Ben videoed this as he was sitting next to me up front in the airplane.  You will notice the extreme beauty of Alaska in the Lake Clarke region as well as the ever present turbulence and a runway that has some frost heaves from some extreme cold temperatures.

An update on the Hadfields as they serve with Arctic Barnabas Ministries.

December 18, 2013 Dear Family and Friends, As I write this letter, it is snowing heavily outside.   An hour or so ago, our power went out, so I canceled my baking plans for the evening, donned a few extra layers, stoked the fire, lit some candles, and went to work on this letter using my computer’s battery back-up.  I was enjoying the coziness of the moment and the satisfaction of being able to carry on with my evening undeterred by the power failure.  A few minutes into it, my faithful, ever-prepared, ready-to-fix-it husband came home and fired up the electrical generator.  The lights and heat are now on, my appliances are operational once again, and my little camping adventure has come to an end.   While I am thankful to have my conveniences back, I am intent on sending this update out before Christmas, so the baking will still wait for tomorrow. In the morning we will wake up to a breath-taking landscape:  spruce boughs laden with snow, diamond-studded birch branches sparkling in the sun, rose-colored alpenglow blanketing the mountains, shades of pink and gray streaking blue skies, and dry, biting air stinging every breath.  What a magnificent creation we enjoy here! The ministry with Arctic Barnabas continues to go well.  We have a new lead mechanic on our team, and Paul has moved to the position of aviation team leader, overseeing all of Arctic Barnabas’ aviation activities.  He is currently revising the aviation Operations Manual to increase the safety and efficiency.  He continues to enjoy time in the cockpit and flew 200 hours this year.  He will be working towards his Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) rating this winter and hopes to add this to his resume by the end of the first quarter.  With his CFI, Paul will be able to fly more proficiently, help other pilots maintain currency, and train missionaries who are working toward their pilot’s license. In October, the Arctic Barnabas staff hosted our yearly Ministry Family Retreat (MFR).  This year we held the retreat in the Mat-Su Valley north of Anchorage rather than in the village of Port Alsworth where we have traditionally gathered.  The rationale for this new venue was the need for a larger facility to accommodate the growing number of ministry families that attend MFR.  We also wanted the attendees to be able to combine their trip to “town” with the opportunity to stock up on groceries and supplies for winter.  Twenty pastor- or missionary families attended MFR, including some new families we are just beginning relationships with.  The new location seemed to work well and provide ample room for the various men’s, women’s, and children’s activities.  As always, we are thankful for the opportunity to strengthen and encourage many faithful servants of the King who minister in villages around the state. We have recently had the pleasure of hosting various missionaries in our home for meals or overnights.  It is a delight to spend time with missionaries who have given their lives to serving their neighbors in the villages, to pray with them, and to learn how we may spur them on in practical ways. Between Christmas and New Years we plan to fly out to Port Alsworth for Tanalian Bible Camp’s Sr. High Winter Camp.  Sam and Ben will attend the camp, Paul will pick up campers around the region and fly them to camp, Anna and I will help out in the kitchen, and Aaron and Nate will play with the other kids.   This trip promises to be one of the highlights of our year.  We cherish sweet times of fellowship with friends old and new in Port Alsworth, and we especially value to chance to support the ministry of TBC.  For some kids, camp is the only Christian influence in their lives. I have two events to look forward to in January:  a ladies’ retreat hosted by our staff and a village trip to Kodiak Island where we will help a pastor’s wife with a quilting workshop for ladies in her village.  It has been a while since I have been able to participate in a ministry trip, so I am excited about this one. Please pray that God would use us to encourage and build up the ministry ladies at these two events. In other news, Sam is in his junior year of high school.  He continues most of his studies at home but takes math this year at our local campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage.   He is starting to think about college and hopes to visit some campuses this spring.  He enjoys working part-time at Papa Murphy’s pizza shop, spending time with friends, playing his guitar, and spoiling his little brothers with outings to the playground, McDonald’s, or bake shop.  Ben is a freshman and also does school at home.  A highlight of his fall was wrestling for one of the high schools.  He learned a lot about the techniques of wrestling but also about discipline, dedication, and sportsmanship.  Ben always has a project going, usually fixing up an ATV or snow machine for his personal recreation or resale.  He is a die-hard snow machine enthusiast and is thrilled not only about the new machine he purchased with earnings from his job at Papa Murphy’s, but also about the fresh snow to go with it. Anna is in 7th grade.  She is taking some of her classes on-line this year and enjoys learning from new teachers and having classmates again.  This Christmas season, our home has been made merrier by lovely melodies coming from Anna’s violin.  She loves to use her time and talents to bless others, whether knitting for new babies at church, creating delicious baked goods for the family, or taking Aaron and Nate outside to play in the snow. Our two little boys are five years old now.  Aaron and Nate have big imaginations and entertain us with stories of adventures that take place inside their world of make-believe.  They also love reading about other people’s adventures in the pages of their story books.  Imagine their excitement over their first public acting engagement this past Sunday when they made their debut as shepherds in our church’s Christmas pageant. We are thankful for your prayer and financial partnership with us as we seek to build Christ's Kingdom by strengthening and encouraging pastor and missionary families in rural Alaska.  If you desire to make a contribution to help us finish the year strong, you may use the link below to donate online securely or you may write a check to Arctic Barnabas with a note indicating it is for the Hadfield family and mail it to Arctic Barnabas Ministries, 135 N. Willow St., Kenai, AK  99611.  We may also receive gifts directly to our home address (shown below), but those gifts are not tax-deductible for the giver. http://arcticbarnabas.org/donate/ We trust that this letter finds you rejoicing in the Good News—that the Messiah has come to save his people from their sins and win them to God.  May every joy and blessing be yours this Christmas season and throughout the New Year. With love, Sara, for all the Hadfields     Ben with a halibut on Kachemak Bay Nate, Anna, and Aaron at Alaska Botanical Gardens Sam doing what he loves best Nate had his tonsils removed in May

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I just wanted to post a link to a YouTube on some recent flying I have done around our great state of Alaska serving the servants of Christ ministering in very remote places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNlTrwoYIo8

I am leaving today with my wife, Sara and several others to serve in the kitchen at the Tanalian Bible Camp for their Spring conference this weekend.  I will also be doing some flying to bring conference attendees to the camp from their respective villages.  After returning home on Sunday I will turn around and leave on Monday for Galena which is on the Yukon river to take an interning couple here from Moody Aviation to serve with the pastor of the Galena Bible Church.  Hopefully I will also be able to stop and visit some other families we serve in that region.

Thank you for your prayers and support of our ministry encouraging pastors and missionaries serving in remote Alaska.

The current project in the hangar is an extensive annual inspection on our Piper Navajo Chieftain.  We do this to make our flying safer to make sure the plane is in airworthy condition.  With this being my primary responsibility I am quite busy keeping up with this inspection, there is a lot to keep track of on a plane of this size.  In addition I will be home with our children for a couple of days next week while Sara serves at one of Arctic Barnabas' ladies retreats as the "chef" along with Natalie.  I will be travelling to Port Alsworth, AK from 1/22-1/27 to assist the Tanalian Leadership Center (TLC) with a conference that deals with abuse and how to Biblically respond to abuse in ones own life as well as how to help others who have experienced abuse.  In rural Alaska abuse is a tremendous problem so this Biblically based program, "Hearts Going Towards Wellness" was developed specifically to help those who live and work here.  Jesus Christ is the only one who can heal the heart and this is what this weekend is geared to do.  Several friends from our community will be flying to Port Alsworth with me to help the kitchen to serve meals to the participants.  Additionally I will be flying to the surrounding communities to pickup conference participants and fly them into Port Alsworth.  I am thoroughly looking forward to coming alongside the staff of TLC during this conference.   You may click this link to view a short video of what TLC is doing to spread the Gospel.

 Exterior of the plane undergoing inspection.

 Interior of plane undergoing inspection

Our Cessna 206 I will be using to go to Port Alsworth

Getting ready to do what we do best, dig out the hangar and get ready for the next storm.