Monday, January 02, 2012
Monday, September 27, 2010
What in the world have I done?
What in the world have I done? How have I managed to take my wife, who was born and raised in a sub-tropical country in Asia to the sub-arctic tundra of bush Alaska? Who knows how far it is from her grandchildren in Illinois, because Google Maps doesn’t even calculate distances where there are no roads. Oh I forgot, we have fifteen miles of road and then barren tundra and mountain passes for 300 miles to Anchorage. What was I thinking? Bears and foxes take their separate turns cutting through our yard. Tomatoes are $4.79 a pound and gasoline is $4.45 a gallon. Visitors say, “The coldest winter I ever spent was my summer in Naknek.” The closest hospital is an hour away, if you get medevaced out. Rusted vehicles and boats are strewn throughout the town as it is too expensive to ship anything out. Everything you ship in costs about a dollar a pound to ship.
And then I look around the radio station. The clock alarm rings at 5:15 a.m. I get ready, down something to wake up my voice. I must turn on lights that weren’t needed two months ago, when it was light at midnight, but will soon be needed after 9 a.m. as the sun hibernates for the winter. I poke my head out the screen door to the transmitter room, hoping I don’t surprise a passing bear, while I look up 325’ to see whether the blinking red light is on. The FCC requires I do this every 24 hours and record it. Several years ago a plane hit our tower in foggy weather, tumbled over the apartments, and landed in the front yard, killing the pilot.And then there is the “dead-air” alarm that causes us to run for the studio whenever there is more than thirty seconds of dead air (because of a glitch in the programming.) We must also be ready at anytime—like last week, when a short in the outside pole knocked us off the air. Powering down the transmitter and starting the backup generator is the ideal in keeping us on the air, but the ideal didn’t happen this time. Let’s say there was a lot of running around, waving of arms and a steep learning curve. And then, anyone who knows me knows the thought of climbing thirty-stories up a tower to change a light bulb sends panic through me.
Throughout the day we collect and record 14 broadcasts plus download another 272 programs each week. There is always something waiting to be done: programs to download, public service announcements to rip, new music to add, announcements to be made, accounting, billing, FCC requirements, maintenance and housekeeping, emergency alert system to be tested [The President must be able to broadcast within ten minutes if he chooses to.] There are projects waiting in the wings that are awaiting either money or people to do them: weeks of changing out one recorded address for a new one on 100 episodes, a garage to be built, a dishwasher to be purchased, shipped and installed, leaking windows to be replaced; a water filter to stop the massive iron from ruining the pipes and clothes.
Although KAKN is not a church, it does provide the only Christian programming and for some, the only news in this area. I like to think of inviting speakers that the Holy Spirit will use to bring encouragement, comfort, guidance and correction to the 90% who do not attend a church in our community, and the 10% who do. Our own Pastor Jim Johnson of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Camarillo, California, Focus on the Family, Joni Erickson Tada, Ravi Zakarias, Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, Alistair Begg, David Jeremiah, Elizabeth George, and Chuck Swindoll are but a few, as well as mission updates, testimonies, Christian comedy, devotionals, and several children’s programs. Sprinkled throughout each day is Christian music, including Native American worship. Local and visiting Christians have recorded the whole Bible which is played. Natives hear the Word in their own mother-tongue as well. All of this is found 24 hours a day 7 days a week—not only on KAKN in Naknek, but on 104.9 in Dillingham, across the Bay, and 103.9 in Egegik, and on one channel of cable television! No, I’m not pastoring a church but I am facilitating dozens of pastors, teachers and lay people to bring the Good News, the saving news of Jesus Christ into people’s lives each day.
Welcome to the South Naknek International Airport Lounge.
Notice the Women sign? Just a sign…the field is it!
Pulling an 18’ skiff that had flipped over in a storm and was stuck fast in the river, before a 25’ tide returned to swallow it, afforded us the opportunity to serve our neighbor. Visiting with the family of two brothers who were among four missing on a flight that never arrived at nearby King Salmon Airport gave Jeremy and me an opportunity to bring comfort and to pray with them as the search continued for their loved ones. Later, we interviewed the father, giving him opportunity to thank those who helped their family, to give testimony of their faith, and to request prayer for the men, their families and the searchers.
What was I thinking? I might better wonder why God allows us the privilege of being part of His ministry to the people in Bristol Bay. So weak and undeserved, we are humbled to play a small part in bringing glory to Him.
And what about Margaret? God placed her in Naknek at precisely the time that a much-loved kindergarten teacher would become ill, be medevaced out and pass away on the first day of school. He had already arranged for Margaret to be available to take up the teacher’s class. She has the wonderful opportunity to meet with people in the community in a way I would never have.
What was God thinking when He brought us up here? It’s going to be fun to find out!
Saturday, June 05, 2010
100 Things you may not have known about the family
100 Things you may not have known about the family.
We came up with this list some time ago. Who did them? Some may be easy to guess, others not-so-much.
1. Arrested someone
2. Ate frankfurters in Frankfurt, Germany
3. Auditioned for a survivor television show and was invited back
4. Been an Eagle Scout
5. Been attacked by a rabid dog
6. Been in a bus who was racing another bus
7. Been in the crown of the Statue of Liberty
8. Been without toilet paper for MONTHS!!!!
9. Beheaded a chicken as a small child
10. Caught fish in the Norwegian fjords
11. Climbed Mt. Whitney
12. Danced all night under the stars
13. Distributed a film to hundreds of millions of people
14. Driven a California Highway Patrol car
15. Drove down railroad tracks
16. Eaten eel, turtle, mongoose, wildcat, water buffalo, fox and rat
17. Eaten in a Mexican restaurant in Hanoi
18. Eaten intestines
19. Entertained American ambassadors
20. Escaped to the American Embassy
21. Father was a bishop
22. Fired a machine gun
23. Flown around the world
24. Flown first-class
25. Gleaned other's gardens for food to eat
26. Got whiplash
27. Graduated from high school at the Crystal Cathedral
28. Had 200 people at my birthday party
29. Had a 100 people for a sit down Thanksgiving dinner
30. Had a burglar come in while I was sleeping
31. Had a gun pointed at me
32. Had a mouse scamper up my pregnant body on a waterbed
33. Had an elephant relieve itself whole bucketfuls on my porch
34. Had cerebral malaria
35. Had food poisoning
36. Had hepatitis
37. Had krait and cobras in the house
38. Had my knee-cap removed
39. Had rabies shots in the stomach
40. Had servants
41. Has two high school diplomas
42. Helped design a jail
43. Hiked the John Muir Trail
44. Is a great-great aunt
45. Is a great-great uncle
46. Is trilingual
47. Lived by the Ganges river
48. Lived in a mud house
49. Lived through a civil war
50. Lived through a monsoon
51. Lived under martial law
52. Moved 15 times in a year
53. Regularly eaten without silverware
54. Rode a tram in Hong Kong
55. Rode an elephant
56. Rode in a hand-drawn rickshaw
57. Repelled from a helicopter
58. Rode on a firetruck
59. Rode the canals in Amsterdam
60. Rolled a car
61. Saw Big Ben
62. Saw Niagara Falls
63. Saw Siberia
64. Saw the Grand Canyon
65. Saw the Kon-Tiki
66. Seen dead bodies floating in a river
67. Seen Mt. Kanchenjunga (third highest)
68. Seen someone gardening in the nude
69. Seen the Midnight Sun
70. Seen the Northern Lights
71. Served "bed-tea" by a British officer's servant
72. Slept under a mosquito net
73. Smuggled goods into a communist country
74. Studied: Hindi, Santali, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, and English.
75. Stung by a jelly-fish
76. Survived a lethal dose of medicine
77. Swam in the Ganges river
78. Taught in Bible schools
79. Took a week long voyage around the coast of India
80. Used banana leaves as paper plates
81. Visited Buckingham Palace
82. Visited Calcutta
83. Visited Darjeeling
84. Visited the Cambodian Killing Fields
85. Visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
86. Visited the Holy Land
87. Visited the longest beach in the world
88. Visited the pyramids and the sphinx
89. Visited the Roman Catacombs
90. Visited the Taj Mahal
91. Visited the Coliseum
92. Visited with Mother Teresa in her home
93. Walked 1863 miles (as the crow flies) in 4 hours
94. Was an illegal alien (for 15 min)
95. Was carjacked
96. Washed clothes with a ringer washer
97. Went to the Arctic Circle
98. Worn a sari
99. Wrote and read Braille
100. Youngest peace officer in California
Friday, June 04, 2010
We're Moving
Dear family and friends,
After two and a half years of inquiry and much prayer, we have exciting news to share with you. Our passion to continue mission ministry has now led us to the unchurched villages of Alaska, bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to them. Bob has accepted the AFLC Home Missions call to be a missionary pastor and Christian radio station manager for the AFLC Alaska mission outreach in the Bristol Bay area. He anticipates leaving for Alaska in late-June with Margaret following in July, after our oldest daughter, Mary, delivers her fourth child. It is a time of change, leaving the beautiful Monterey Bay area where Bob has been serving, for the coastal town of Naknek (NACK-neck), where fellow pedestrians include bears and foxes, and all the food must be flown or barged in. Yup'ik Eskimos, Alutiiq and Athabascans will become our neighbors.
Rural Alaska is unlike any other part of the United States. Its unique wildlife, rugged terrain, unusual moonlit days in the winter and sunlit nights in the summer, all display God's power and creativity. The mountains, volcanoes, tundra, and glaciers put us in awe of our Creator! But amidst all this beauty is a people in need of the Word of Jesus Christ. So many remote villages, isolated from communication and transportation (except by air), are without any Gospel witness. AFLC Home Missions is blessed to be one ambassador for Jesus Christ into these communities through its three ministries: North and South Naknek chapels, KAKN-FM Christian radio broadcasting, and mission aviation ministry into surrounding, remote villages. We, along with classmate missionary pastor-pilot Jeremy Crowell and his wife, Lacey, will join Pastor Jeff Swanson and his family.
Where in the world is Naknek?
Naknek is located on the north bank of the Naknek River near its mouth on Bristol Bay. Naknek is approximately 300 miles southwest of Anchorage and is only accessible by boat or air. The local economy is almost entirely based on salmon fishing, and has one of the largest commercial salmon fishing areas in the world and draws thousands of seasonal workers each summer, and then drops to several hundred in the winter.
With only 15 miles of paved road, the use of airplanes is very important to the lives of the people who live there, and for the ministry. The airplane provides quick and often the only access to many villages in southwest Alaska. Over 150 villages are reachable by plane from Naknek. Some of these small villages have had no mission presence; others have chapel buildings that sit empty, because there is no missionary/pastor who can get to them.
We praise God for the work He is doing through village ministry, aviation ministry, radio station outreach, and the everyday relationships built around the Naknek community.
Our e-mail is: bobmarglee at gmail.com
Our new address beginning July 1: PO Box 214, Naknek AK 99633-0214.
Friday, September 28, 2007
September 2007
Dear Family, Friends & Fellow workers,
We have so much to be thankful for. This summer we were entertaining and being entertained by our two grandchildren, Lily and Jacob, Mary and Joe's children. Lily and Jake were here while their parents attended the AALC (church) conference. The zoo and museum were favorites, especially the dolphins. Joe will be attending his lastyear of seminary while Mary assists the new AALC president as bookkeeper.
Esther flew out three times: first for her sister Ruth's college graduation, then for her brother's high school graduation, and finally for the family reunion. What a treat it has been to see her. She has just returned from hiking 266 miles on the John Muir Trail and climbing to the 14,505' summit of Mt. Whitney. She is now attending her final semester at Azusa Pacific University.
Ruthie graduated from Northwestern, went on to the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks to complete a second summer at the Summer Institute of Linguistics, and spent several days at the Lutheran Bible Translators' headquarters where she had meetings and training. She will be doing support raising through December before continuing graduate studies at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in Dallas.
John flew to California to attend the Torrey Institute Awards Banquet at Biola University, visited with his family and school buddies, then returned in time to graduate with honors from the high school he hadbeen attending here. He went again to appear for his Boy Scout's Eagle Board of Review and has now been awarded his Eagle. He is attending Bible School (Association Free Lutheran Bible School) this year and loves it so far.
Margaret took classes and a series of exams for her Minnesota teaching license. She is now working in a bookstore and is substitute teaching part time.
Seminary classes have begun. Bob is enrolled in seventeen units, including Greek—please pray for him. He also continues to enjoy working with a wonderful team at the Bible school. This summer he worked with the five summer teams, getting them scheduled, equipped and sent out for ten weeks of ministry in 100 churches and camps throughout the United States. It was a great relief to have all the teams arrive home safely after their 40,000 miles of travel through 25 states, especially as the day before we received a call from our daughter Esther, in northern California, saying, "Dad, pray! The van [of campers] in front of me just rolled three times. I helped triage the passengers and three are being taken by helicopters and four by ambulances." They were returning from a Teen Adventure camp when the accident occurred. Thankfully, all seven people survived, although two had serious injuries.
The new Bible school students arrived September 2nd to join the returning seniors, for a total of 127 students. It is a great blessing to have each student here, and especially to have our son, John, and his cousin, Cheryl, attending this year. There are 25 maternal cousins and we hope that each one will take the opportunity to study at Bible school. The first nine already have!
This summer also brought us the Ottesen family reunion, with 39 of us gathering here in the Twin Cities. It was a wonderful time! Margaret's parents, her six siblings and all their children attended, except for Ben Olson, who was working in Canada, and Mary's family,who was in California to attend her father-in-law's installation as district governor of Lion's Club.
As we do in each letter, we must thank you for your prayers and financial support! This has been the largest leap of faith we have taken in our twenty-eight years together and we are continually amazed at how God supplies for our needs. You have been part of that and weare very very grateful. What added up to impossible on paper has developed into a daily experience of amazement in how God loves to bless, supply and guide us as we take our needs, concerns and struggles before His Throne of Grace.
Please come visit us. There is always room for you and we would loveto see you. Studies may prevent a lot of visiting time during school days, but you can make this your home base during your visit to the Twin Cities. Our home overlooks a beautiful lake and you will feel like you are vacationing in a time-share apartment.
Sent with our love and greetings,
Bob & Margaret
We have so much to be thankful for. This summer we were entertaining and being entertained by our two grandchildren, Lily and Jacob, Mary and Joe's children. Lily and Jake were here while their parents attended the AALC (church) conference. The zoo and museum were favorites, especially the dolphins. Joe will be attending his lastyear of seminary while Mary assists the new AALC president as bookkeeper.
Esther flew out three times: first for her sister Ruth's college graduation, then for her brother's high school graduation, and finally for the family reunion. What a treat it has been to see her. She has just returned from hiking 266 miles on the John Muir Trail and climbing to the 14,505' summit of Mt. Whitney. She is now attending her final semester at Azusa Pacific University.
Ruthie graduated from Northwestern, went on to the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks to complete a second summer at the Summer Institute of Linguistics, and spent several days at the Lutheran Bible Translators' headquarters where she had meetings and training. She will be doing support raising through December before continuing graduate studies at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in Dallas.
John flew to California to attend the Torrey Institute Awards Banquet at Biola University, visited with his family and school buddies, then returned in time to graduate with honors from the high school he hadbeen attending here. He went again to appear for his Boy Scout's Eagle Board of Review and has now been awarded his Eagle. He is attending Bible School (Association Free Lutheran Bible School) this year and loves it so far.
Margaret took classes and a series of exams for her Minnesota teaching license. She is now working in a bookstore and is substitute teaching part time.
Seminary classes have begun. Bob is enrolled in seventeen units, including Greek—please pray for him. He also continues to enjoy working with a wonderful team at the Bible school. This summer he worked with the five summer teams, getting them scheduled, equipped and sent out for ten weeks of ministry in 100 churches and camps throughout the United States. It was a great relief to have all the teams arrive home safely after their 40,000 miles of travel through 25 states, especially as the day before we received a call from our daughter Esther, in northern California, saying, "Dad, pray! The van [of campers] in front of me just rolled three times. I helped triage the passengers and three are being taken by helicopters and four by ambulances." They were returning from a Teen Adventure camp when the accident occurred. Thankfully, all seven people survived, although two had serious injuries.
The new Bible school students arrived September 2nd to join the returning seniors, for a total of 127 students. It is a great blessing to have each student here, and especially to have our son, John, and his cousin, Cheryl, attending this year. There are 25 maternal cousins and we hope that each one will take the opportunity to study at Bible school. The first nine already have!
This summer also brought us the Ottesen family reunion, with 39 of us gathering here in the Twin Cities. It was a wonderful time! Margaret's parents, her six siblings and all their children attended, except for Ben Olson, who was working in Canada, and Mary's family,who was in California to attend her father-in-law's installation as district governor of Lion's Club.
As we do in each letter, we must thank you for your prayers and financial support! This has been the largest leap of faith we have taken in our twenty-eight years together and we are continually amazed at how God supplies for our needs. You have been part of that and weare very very grateful. What added up to impossible on paper has developed into a daily experience of amazement in how God loves to bless, supply and guide us as we take our needs, concerns and struggles before His Throne of Grace.
Please come visit us. There is always room for you and we would loveto see you. Studies may prevent a lot of visiting time during school days, but you can make this your home base during your visit to the Twin Cities. Our home overlooks a beautiful lake and you will feel like you are vacationing in a time-share apartment.
Sent with our love and greetings,
Bob & Margaret
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Holiday Surprise
There is a lot of excitement around our home this week. We can't believe how much God has blessed us in so many ways.
In the midst of finals and scheduling our Bible school gospel teams, Bob took part in the Christmas Concerts and Parents' Weekend.
Margaret fit in attending Christmas programs for niece, nephews and cousins along with the usual Christmas festivities of family, Bible school, seminary and World Mission Prayer League...all the while getting ready for Bob & Ruth's knee surgeries, Christmas shopping and teaching.
December 20th we had our first appreciable snowfall. The lake and ponds are now frozen and Minnesota really does look like a winter wonderland. We didn't have to buy icicles. They arrived all on their own.
December 22nd Margaret & John checked Bob & Ruth into the surgical center and prayed for them. The surgeries were a success and they were able to keep the pain under control this time. Bob was to have had about the same surgery as Ruthie's knee--tightening one side and loosing the other, but when they got inside they broke the bone, moved it over and held it all together with three screws. A bit more major than they had anticipated.
Ruth came home the same day and Bob followed on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day our daughter Esther surprised us by flying in from Los Angeles for a short visit. We had been disappointed that she wouldn't have time to visit us before packing and taking up her new responsibilities of assisting Susan Perlman, first assistant to the executive director of Jews for Jesus in San Francisco. Mary, Joe, Lily and Jacob would be arriving the 27th and it would have been wonderful to have all the kids together but we were happy that she was able to use the time to prepare for this huge new step. Then, there she was! We nearly fell over. Well, it was good that Bob & Ruth were lying down or they would have. So now we have the whole family together. What a blessing.
December 26th, while our neighbors were over for Waffle Night at the Lees, two of our kid's cousins from Canada (Ben and Karen Olson) popped in on their way to the Urbana Missions Conference. There is a special kinship among the cousins.
December 27th, we had Margaret's sister's family, Kathie & Jeff Dahl; and Margaret's cousin's family, Joy & Chris Broderson; and Margaret's aunt and uncle, Marilyn & Max Hellberg over for a time of sledding down the hill, drinking hot cider, and enjoying a late Christmas dinner and smorgasbord of desserts!
Thank you all for your continued prayers for our health, studies and ministry. We are so very grateful for those of you who take our family before His Throne of Grace.
Love,
Bob & Margaret
In the midst of finals and scheduling our Bible school gospel teams, Bob took part in the Christmas Concerts and Parents' Weekend.
Margaret fit in attending Christmas programs for niece, nephews and cousins along with the usual Christmas festivities of family, Bible school, seminary and World Mission Prayer League...all the while getting ready for Bob & Ruth's knee surgeries, Christmas shopping and teaching.
December 20th we had our first appreciable snowfall. The lake and ponds are now frozen and Minnesota really does look like a winter wonderland. We didn't have to buy icicles. They arrived all on their own.
December 22nd Margaret & John checked Bob & Ruth into the surgical center and prayed for them. The surgeries were a success and they were able to keep the pain under control this time. Bob was to have had about the same surgery as Ruthie's knee--tightening one side and loosing the other, but when they got inside they broke the bone, moved it over and held it all together with three screws. A bit more major than they had anticipated.
Ruth came home the same day and Bob followed on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day our daughter Esther surprised us by flying in from Los Angeles for a short visit. We had been disappointed that she wouldn't have time to visit us before packing and taking up her new responsibilities of assisting Susan Perlman, first assistant to the executive director of Jews for Jesus in San Francisco. Mary, Joe, Lily and Jacob would be arriving the 27th and it would have been wonderful to have all the kids together but we were happy that she was able to use the time to prepare for this huge new step. Then, there she was! We nearly fell over. Well, it was good that Bob & Ruth were lying down or they would have. So now we have the whole family together. What a blessing.
December 26th, while our neighbors were over for Waffle Night at the Lees, two of our kid's cousins from Canada (Ben and Karen Olson) popped in on their way to the Urbana Missions Conference. There is a special kinship among the cousins.
December 27th, we had Margaret's sister's family, Kathie & Jeff Dahl; and Margaret's cousin's family, Joy & Chris Broderson; and Margaret's aunt and uncle, Marilyn & Max Hellberg over for a time of sledding down the hill, drinking hot cider, and enjoying a late Christmas dinner and smorgasbord of desserts!
Thank you all for your continued prayers for our health, studies and ministry. We are so very grateful for those of you who take our family before His Throne of Grace.
Love,
Bob & Margaret
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Big Changes
Dear family, friends and fellow workers,
Our last letter told you that we celebrated 25 years of missionary service. This letter will tell you that after nine wonderful years with The JESUS Film Project we have decided to finish theological studies and will therefore not be moving to Orlando as we had originally planned.
We have a three-bedroom seminary apartment overlooking one of the 10,000 (actually 11,842) beautiful lakes of Minnesota. What a blessing it is to have John and our daughter, Ruth, who has been attending Northwestern College in St. Paul, with us.
Will this be easy? Most probably not. We moved with just what fit in our cars. Within a few days, thanks to many kind and generous people, we had a completely furnished apartment! We have moved with only the knowledge that God has faithfully taken care of us all these years and will continue to do so. We are so very thankful for the more than 100 people and churches that have been praying for us over the years and investing financially in our ministry. We would not have been able to play the part we did without you! We hope that you will continue to stand with us both prayerfully and financially during this new training period. One of my classmates is a former Campus Crusade for Christ staff member who also felt the call to become theologically trained. They have reported that their support team has made it possible for them to be there. That was a real encouragement to us!
Margaret is enjoying substitute teaching in several school districts. After passing out one day, and a trip to the emergency room followed up by tests, she was diagnosed healthy. We are relieved nothing serious was found. Bob will have knee surgery on December 22, the same day and with the same doctor as Ruth.
Mary and Joe had our second grandchild, October 6th. Jacob Daniel Dapelo was born a month early, weighing 5 lbs. 1 oz. and is doing great. He is dearly loved by his 20 month old sister, Lily. They have settled into their new home while Joe does his seminary internship in Napoleon, Ohio.
Esther, with two of her friends, moved into our aunt’s house that we were renting in Rosemead. She severely injured her knee in an on-the-job training exercise at Azusa Pacific University. She continues to recover after surgery and with physical therapy.
Ruth is attending Northwestern in nearby St. Paul. She is a nanny for three families and will have surgery on her other knee December 22. She has just become a missionary candidate to do Bible translation and will finish her undergraduate work in May.
John has adapted remarkably well to a new home, giving up his dog, and studying his senior year both on-line with his classmates through Biola University and in a highly-rated public high school (with an enrollment of 2400) around the corner from us.
Saying goodbye to Margaret’s family whom we have been living next door to these nine years was a big change for us all. Living on The Rosemead Compound was a real blessing. We have to console ourselves by making new friends, being nearer to Mary, Ruth, and Margaret’s sisters, Canadian geese honking overhead, squirrels in our yard, deer in the neighborhood and the prospects of a sub-zero winter. We may have escaped the hurricanes of Florida for now, but a tornado damaged 400 homes and killed one child just 16 miles from us.
Bob & Margaret Lee ~ 3140 E Medicine Lake Blvd, Apt. B ~ Minneapolis MN 55441 ~ bobmargleeAT
*The @ sign needs to replace AT
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