We were excited to put the Lance to work on its first ministry flight! On February 11, James and Shannon (with Timothy) flew to Port Alsworth, AK to attend a “Hearts Going Towards Wellness” conference. HGTW was developed by InterAct missionaries Alan and Linda Ross and is offered by Alaska Freedom Journey as a tool to disciple Alaska’s Native people. The conference was a great opportunity for us to build on some relationships that have already been started and beginning other relationships with some of the Native Alaskan young people who attend the Tanalian Leadership Course held at Tanalian Bible Camp.
One particularly good lesson for us is the value of simply listening to others share their story. Most of us bear wounds of the heart from something or someone, but hearing stories from these young people helped us understand the depth of wounds that come from abuses of all kinds. As children suffer from abuse, there is no one to turn to for help and no one who is there to help bear the burden. These wounds, then, get buried deep in the heart. As we listened to their stories, we learned that we could “bear one another’s burdens” simply by offering a listening ear. We also learned that the benefit to bearing other’s burdens is that we are given a bigger view of God as we see Him working in the lives of His people.
Tanalian Bible Camp
Lake Clark, Tanalian Mountain. Notice the snow machine pulling a toboggan load of kids in the lower left.
Millers in Alaska 
Dear Millers,
Good to hear from you again and see that you have the airplane of the ground and working.
Sorry to learn that Shannon and Timothy had some post partum problems and hope they are both on the mend.
It was good to see the camp grounds from the air and other photos you sent.
My car in the Grand Prix for AWANA was not a winner for speed but it was not entered for competition with the clubbers. The staff makes cars just to see who can make the better car. Quite a few cars were entered and there was a good crowd to watch the races along with parents and grand parents.
As you may know, the Rauchs are retiring so the board is looking into getting another pastor for our church. They are leaving in July and I’m already missing them. They have been here for 25 years and Arlie is of retirement age. There are five churches in town looking for a pastor.
The temperature here warms up to 60 above and now it was down to 4 below 0 this morning. I’m sure it will keep doing this until summer finally gets here.
We think of you all and pray for you and the work in Alaska.
Prayer partners,
Melvina & Bert Sarver