Today begins my second full day in Juneau. I feel as though I’ve been here so much longer. It’s been quite a whirlwind, from walking off the plane in Juneau to a group of leaders that lead us to a strange van that’s older than I am, embellished with blue painters tape racing stripes and the number 7. It was 9:30 pm and just getting dark, still the scenery was spectacular. It feels as though this entire city is just surrounded by snow-capped mountains, every direction you turn there’s one in the distance towering over this little city. I am in paradise.
My coolest experience so far occurred before I even stepped off the plane. On my last flight of three from Seattle to Juneau I sat next to a lady that looked to be in her sixties. She had pretty, long grey hair and bright floral tennis shoes. I situated myself next to her and immediately complimented on her shoes, and with that we continued talking for the next two hours. Her name’s Virginia and she lives in Sitka, AK, on her way home from her granddaughters graduation from NYU. She told me her life story of growing up Seattle, falling in love and starting a commercial fishing business with her husband in California, then at a friend’s advice moving to Alaska where she fell in love once again, this time with the mountains and life on a boat. She spoke with passion about the changing landscape she loves so much, how climate change is impacting her home, and we connected over a shared concern for environmental issues. I then got to share with her a little about what I was doing in Juneau, what Cru as an organization was, and how I was looking for a Summer to grow in my faith and share Christ’s love with Juneau. Opening a container of veggies she shared with me, Virginia told me how her husband found a younger woman and left her, how she was afraid she would lose her fishing business, but amazingly he left it to her to manage. She explained how those were the happiest days of her life, when she could run the boat and family business. Amidst the pain of her divorce, she discovered the Eastern philosophy of Sufi, a religion that believes in mystical happenings and promotes an unconditional love of everyone. She explained Sufi beliefs can transcend all religions, and compared the mysteries to the mystery of the holy spirit and Christ’s unconditional love that I experience. Through Sufi she was able to live the life she loved so much today. How cool it was to talk to someone that hours ago was just a stranger so openly about our faith and life experiences. Although we believed different things, I had prayed I would be able to have a spiritual conversation on my journey to Juneau and God definitely provided that with Virginia.
Today we have some downtime and tomorrow we’re camping with the women of the project. Saturday I’ll go into my job at Juneau Trading Company- a gift shop on the docks- and find out more about what I’ll be doing there all Summer. I’m so incredibly excited about all this Summer has in store.
My Summer in Juneau, Alaska 