A Little Break

Dear Friends,

We had a great time with Heart and Soul90 and the JONATHAN PROJECT two weeks ago. We unveiled H&S90 and I will write more about this innovative ministry for the least reached people groups in my next writing.

This note will be of a more personal nature. Judy and I are taking a break from our normal routine. We are in Nome, Alaska, with our son Wesley, his wife Cynthia, and their four children. We planned this trip for a few months and we could not have timed our arrival in this town on Norton Sound any better. The 4,000 residents celebrated the summer solstice this weekend with a parade, a staged bank robbery from the history of a real bank robbery many years ago (with Wyatt Earp an actual participant in that original bank robbery), and we watched about 100 people jump into icy Norton Sound to join the Nome Polar Bear Club. I mean, I was standing there with a vest, a felt jacket and then a winter coat and I was still cold. It "hurt" to watch the "Nomites" jump into the frigid water! Because of the celebration we were able to meet many of Wesley and Cynthia's friends as well as many of the people they work with. As if the celebrations on Saturday were not enough, the locals have an annual float trip on rafts- down the Nome River. These rafts are "rafts" which means they are glorified flat boards- all decked out with signs, etc. The race- if you can call it a race- takes about two hours for the winners, with the slower rafts taking up to four hours to complete the course. Let me say this: These people are way tougher than I am. It was 45 degrees with wind and light rain. But the participants were in and out of the water, spraying each other, and as the the boats went under a major bridge people were dumping large buckets of water on the folk below on the rafts! Everyone was having one grand time...and I was freezing! Our granddaughter Judith, was on one of the rafts! Let's just say we have had a great time here in Nome. Our kids are well and busy and they have many great friends here in the town.

Tomorrow, June 22nd, we head down to Wasilla where Jody, our daughter Carolyn, and their three children live. We will be there for a week spending time with them. We are looking forward to our time there with our kids as well as we'll be seeing other friends while in the area. The timing of this trip was for Judy. She will be celebrating her 50 year High School reunion from Anchorage West HS, when it was the only HS in the town! I know many of her classmates from the 22 years we lived in Anchorage. Judy has been reconnecting with many classmates via emails, etc. She is certainly looking forward to the weekend- and I am also!

We return home June 28th when we will be jumping back into our responsibilities.

One sidenote, while in Anchorage I will be visiting with some folk about JONATHAN and H&S90- connections from the past as well as connections from last fall when I spent time in Alaska visiting many churches and friends about JONATHAN.

Thanks for your friendship, your support and your prayers,

Graydon and Judy Jessup from Nome, Alaska
714.488.7922
graydon.jessup@gmail.com
graydonandjudy.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup

Future speaking dates:
July 11th, Bakersfield, CA, LifeJourney Church
July 18th, Bakersfield, CA, LifeJourney Church
August 21/22, Fullerton, CA, The Rock