Student Missionaries!

For the past two years our church and school have been blessed with some incredible young ladies serving as student missionaries (Christine Cootz 22’-23’ and Hadley Mortenson 23’-24’). We have had some of the best!

This school year we are welcoming two student missionaries. Please give a warm welcoming to Adiv Frazier and Rosie Harding. As they service in our mission let’s give them an unforgettable Alaskan experience in a loving church community. 

Adiv Frazier has worked with Alaska Camps for the past 4 years. He is passionate about training and equipping young people for a life of ministry. He will be working with AGA in a high school chaplain role and will be teaching some physical education classes. His energies will be valuable in building our spiritual, social, and extracurricular programming. Adiv has worked with church health/church growth ministries. We look forward to him bringing some fresh life into the things God is already doing in our church!

As Adiv’s mother pursued her calling to do literature evangelism, Adiv has lived in New Jersey, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Oklahoma. Over the past few years he has come to consider Alaska “home”. He enjoys cooking and riding horses. We are blessed to have Adiv join our mission in Palmer!

Rosie Harding has been known to do cartwheels almost anywhere! That kind of energy will be appreciated as she serves in a teacher’s aide role at AGA. 

Rosie was adopted from Guatemala by a Canadian family who has some connections to Alaska that she would be happy to explain in person. Rosie has worked with Alaska Camps for the past two years. She loves the views, the mountains, the oceans and the people. She also loves taking pictures, sewing, cleaning, organizing, and running a chain saw (which will come in handy whenever the 1 and 2 grade classroom needs to fall a tree. We are blessed to have Rosie join our mission in Palmer!

Whirlwind Transitions: As students return to classes, things change around the church and school. Here are a few fast ways to engage in the mission during this time of transition. Contact Pastor Ryan to follow up on any of these opportunities ([email protected]).

-  Come on the last Summer Break hike! The colorful summer break calendar has been floating around. It is almost over. But we do have one more hike up Pioneer Peak, this Sunday, August 11, 10am at the Pioneer Ridge Trailhead. Come and get to the summit or just do a short hike up the ridge. All are welcome. It has been a full and fantastic summer break!

- Pray with people at the fair booth! The Alaska Conference has a booth at the State Fair (August 16-September 2). At the booth, we will be serving our community by offering “FREE PRAYER”. It will be a powerful time to connect in a spiritual way and to follow up on those connections as the Spirit leads. We need a lot of help. 

-  Become an AGA Chaplain! Amazing Grace is not just education, it is ministry. We want our students to build eternal love relationships with God. That doesn’t just happen without intentionality. School staff have poured extra intentionality into discipleship in preparation for this school year. The school year theme is “Loving God, Loving others”. We want to make this a reality for our students. We have a spiritual curriculum teaching a different spiritual practice each month that will support their love for God and others. We have scheduled worships, chapels, weeks of prayer, weeks of community service, and education Sabbaths. We are also launching something new, and we would love for you to be a part of it. We want each class to have a chaplain (or multiple chaplains) who will partner with the teacher and Pastor Ryan to support the spiritual growth of each student. Chaplains will prioritize monthly connections with each student about their spiritual growth (this could be accomplished in a single 2-hour visit to the classroom each month). They will commit to praying for the class. They will consider additional spiritual support as they sense God’s leading (i.e. organizing class vespers, studying the Bible with school families, organizing group prayer…).  We need chaplains. The requirements for a chaplain are simple, a love relationship with God and current background screening to work with kids. The time commitment of chaplains will vary. You can make a huge difference in the spiritual lives of these students. AGA is “church” for our students. We need additional pastoral support. Our church gives so much time and effort into the ministry of AGA. We are not willing to let it all happen without the intentionality to help our students and their families grow spiritually. 

- Host a small group! As we move into the Fall, we will build on the powerful group ministry that has been strong through the Spring and Summer. If you feel a conviction to have more regular connections with believers, please consider hosting a group. Support is available. Let’s do this together.

- Participate in upcoming weekend seminars! The August seminar with Allan Walshe has been cancelled. Bummer. But there are still powerful weekend seminars on September 19-21 and November 1-2. Put them on your calendar. You will be blessed. 

- Check the calendar- We have an online calendar that we work hard to keep current https://www.palmersda.org/events. You can also expect to see a single-page, printed calendar for Fall highlights in the life of the church.

Events
Access the complete calendar on the Palmer SDA church Website (Events) tab.

Stuff The Bus II

First, United Way of Mat-Su would like to sincerely thank each and every one of you for joining us for Stuff the Bus at Amazing Grace Academy. We were blown away by the success of this event, which cannot be measured in backpacks and school supplies alone.

We received nothing but positive feedback from our fellow agencies and especially from the families who attended. Having a wonderful playground, activities and games, bubbles, awesome swag giveaways, free hot dogs, gently-used clothing, haircuts on-site, and such a great array of local resources from our fellow nonprofits means the world to families. The atmosphere was upbeat and positive and the sun came out!

 STUFF THE BUS 2024 AT A GLANCE: 

• Backpacks/supplies distributed: 1050 (United Way of Mat-Su and St. Bartholomew’s Church are working to distribute more supplies to agencies serving vulnerable populations, and to complete contact with our wait list of those who were unable to attend.)

• Haircuts: 45-Style Starts Here Academy did an INCREDIBLE job! We are so thankful for their hard work and professional touch.

• Networking & Connection: 14 agencies participated in the Vendor Fair this year! It was so great to see everyone, catch up on what’s happening for fellow nonprofits and share information with all the families.

• Overall Attendance: UWMS estimates that over 1500 community members visited the event this year. This combines K-12 students, parents/guardians, younger siblings or accompanying little ones ages 5 and under, volunteers and vendors. There was something for everyone, even if they were not receiving backpacks and supplies: games, hot dogs, resource information, and more.

• Volunteers/ Hours Contributed: This metric is based on volunteers signed up through the United Way of Mat-Su. If your agency also utilized volunteers, we encourage you to calculate based on the actual hours contributed directly to your agency.

50 volunteers on the day of the event
06 planning volunteers (Amazing Grace Academy + St. Bartholomew’s Church)
28 Volunteer hours contributed during the planning
375 Hours contributed during event setup and event day

The fun, joy, and community heart for giving were evident all day. Countless hours went into planning and preparing for this event, and we could not have been happier with how the day went. We hope that you all had just as much fun as we did and were able to make valuable connections with clients and fellow nonprofits.

Thank you in advance for your patience while waiting for these metrics! We invite everyone to share any photos they may have via email! We would love to share pictures on our social media and in our August newsletter, which will be sent soon.

Please feel free to respond to this email and send any feedback. Let us know if there are any questions or additional follow-up we can provide for your agency.

Again, thank you so much for your participation. This year was the best yet, and we can’t wait to see how Stuff the Bus evolves in 2025!

Michele Harmeling
Development & Outreach Coordinator, United Way of Mat-Su

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