We have had a very mild winter in Kodiak, but just this weekend the temperatures dropped and the ground has started to freeze. It is a nice relief from the mud, which has taken up residence on all our shoes and decorated the children’s clothing for the last couple months. In the midst of this cool down I couldn’t help but think of the cold winters of early years in Kodiak.
Did you know that Woody Island, where Kodiak Baptist Mission was established used to be home to one of the biggest, most bustling ice industries? Woody Island was known for its hard, clear ice. Much of the ice was shipped to San Francisco, some to Seattle and it even found its way all the way to Mexico, Central American and clear down to South America before the 1850s! That had to be some good ice.
The first iron rail in Alaska was laid on Woody Island for the ice industry, the first horses were brought to Woody Island to haul ice and run the horse-powered saw, which cut the ice into blocks. It gets better, the first road in Alaska was built around Woody Island so the horses could get exercise in the off season. All this on an island off an island in Alaska.
A Great Reminder
What a great reminder of how much God can accomplish through a simple man. His plans are perfect and his will is made complete through using us. He has chosen to use US to work out his great plans! Now that’s amazing! Not too many years later the first missionaries would travel to that island and start Kodiak Baptist Mission. One impossibility after the other would come in their way. Yet, God, using mere man, would see them through the other side, making a way to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ then and still today.
This is Important Please know in everything we do at Kodiak Baptist Mission sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our highest priority. Whether we are teaching a horse lesson, building a camp fire, writing letters, or playing at the beach it is why we are here.
I am so encourage knowing that if our little island can get ice all the way across the country and beyond before the 1850s, how much further can the gospel, being taught here, spread across the country and around the world! God can and does do the impossible! He uses you, me and all these little children to spread the message of eternal life!
-Kelli Foreman, Kodiak Baptist Mission
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