Chicken, Turning 22, and all points in between

This town rocks. I love it more and more every day! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous - sunny, hot and dry. If possible, it is getting even lighter later on in the day -- Thursday is Solstice, when apparently everyone hikes to the top of "The Dome"(a big mountain) to play guitars, drums, and consume drugs and alcohol all "night" long. It is possible that I'll be helping some other people run a youth event at the top of the dome that night -- plans are in the making.

Steph, Kyle and I have just recently joined/formed a young adults' Bible study. We met last Saturday night and it was so awesome to be with "people who love Jesus", as Stephanie would say! We're going to meet every week, and plan activities for the Dawson youth. I went to church for the first time in a month on Sunday, which was awesome. Cindy and Kevin have just recently become the pastors of their church, and though it was a small crowd(about 7 people), we have high hopes for what God can do with the churches this summer. I sang a song in church, one I've performed many times, "If You Want Me To" by Ginny Owens, and it was amazing how well it tied in with Cindy's message, even though we hadn't talked about it at all before. God is cool like that. Cindy talked a lot about waiting on God and her struggles with Kevin's recent diagnosis of Bechet's disease. I don't want to go into too much detail here, but people, if you could say a prayer for Kevin and Cindy, I know they would appreciate it.

After Church, Kevin, Cindy, Becky and I had lunch at a great place called "Sourdough Joe's," which has the best fish and chips EVER. Becky works as a housekeeper and a buser in the restaurant, which is how I met her, and discovered that she is from Blyth, which for you Maritime people is the town right next to mine! Small world! After lunch we decided to go to Chicken, Alaska, which we thought would be an hour and a half drive. We drove on the "Top of the World Highway," and you can understand why it has its name when you're driving on it! The scenery was beautiful -- lots of mountains and rivers and trees. We finally got to the U.S. border after driving for two hours, which is located in a "town" called Poker Creek -- population, 2. No joke. I took a picture. An hour later, we reached Chicken, which consisted of four stores -- a saloon, liquor store, cafe, and gift shop. Oh, and an outhouse. And yes, they had chickens. Two of them. It was a pretty hilarious town. We had dinner there and drove back! It was a good trip.

Work is going really well. I feel like I'm back in the waitressing "groove" now -- and I've remembered why I like it so much. My customers are so great, and I'm making friends with the staff. I always come home with a couple of funny tourist stories -- for example, I served a woman from the states who asked me, "Ma'am, do you think if I gave you two American dollars, you could give me uh - what are they called? - a - too-nee? I just think they're so neat." And then there was the time during a crazy breakfast rush when I sat a couple down in my section and found out they were from Ontario. As we were chatting, another couple came to the table and exclaimed, "Excuse me!" I thought for sure that they were a part of the same tour and were joking around, so I stood beside the table, smiling -- until I realized that they were, in fact, NOT joking, when they said "We were sitting here!" The Canadians immediately got up while I apologized profusely, and to my surprise loudly stated, "Hm! Must be AMERICANS." The Americans, of course, heard this comment and were deeply offended. "Ah! Can you believe that? Lighten up! We're on holiday here!" Lady, you're in a hotel. EVERYONE is on holiday here.

Oh, tourists.

I just realized that my title mentions turning 22, so I better write something about that! My birthday was pretty great. I didn't tell many people at work about it, but everyone seemed to know, and I received many "Happy Birthdays" from staff and even customers -- later I found out that Stephanie had written "Happy Birthday Lindsay" on the whiteboard at the Front Desk! I got a free piece of chocolate cake at work, which was great -- but not NEARLY as great as the cake that we had a dinner. Kyle had made this AMAZING chocolate mint cheesecake with raspberry coulis -- it was without a doubt the best cheesecake I have EVER had! I received about a gazillion facebook messages and a lovely card and present from Stephanie. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! :)

I'm going to sign off now so I can enjoy the sunshine. I'd love to hear from you all!

*God, thank You SOOOO much for bringing me here! Ah, I love it so much! I love the people, the sunshine, the mountains. You are clearly present here. Thank You for church and for the Bible Study. May Your will be done in this town and may Your name be glorified here. In Jesus' name, Amen.*

(Photo info: Me and Cindy on the top of the dome at 11pm)