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Dale and Lynne Martin have been ministering in Alaska since 2001 when they joined thousands of North Carolinians in the NC/AK partnership of the SBC's state to state partnership program. When the partnership expired in '04, the Martins continued serving as missionaries in Alaska, primarily in Baptist youth camps, doing cleaning, food preparation, maintenance repairs, building new cabins, camp nursing, and more. They began as volunteers at LaVerne Griffin Youth Camp in Wasilla from ‘01-‘02 and then assistant camp directors there from '03-'06. Since ‘07, they have served at Camp Baldwin in Delta Junction, a much smaller and more rural camp, where they will serve as managers again this year. When the camp season closes, they move on to other mission sites where God is already working. They have aided in new church construction in Wasilla, roof replacement and flood control in Salcha, handicap ramp construction in Soldotna, and exterior wall repair and window replacement at FBC, Delta Jct. They are anticipating another fruitful year at Camp Baldwin this summer as they travel the 5,000 plus mile cross country and Alcan journey in their 33 foot RV, home for 6 months each year.
Manteo Baptist Church has not only commissioned and sent the Martins to Alaska each spring, and encouraged them during the time there were away, but the church has sent seven mission teams to work along side them in the camps. An eighth mission team will make the journey in June 2012 to help with VBS at First Baptist Church, Delta Junction.
Two women comprised the first MBC Alaska Mission Team - ‘05 to LaVerne Griffin Youth Camp in the South-central region of the state. They went with the expectation of helping out with food preparation, cabin/bathhouse cleaning, and KP duties - which they did well. They also discovered the meaning of a missionary’s motto: "be flexible." With an exceptionally large turnout of children the week of their mission trip, they were asked to take on the role of cabin counselors at night in addition to their daytime duties! When they returned home, they began organizing the mission team for the next year.
The thirty member OBX Alaska Mission Team -'06 to LaVerne Griffin Youth Camp, including members of other area churches, did a wonderful job of spring cleaning the large camp in Wasilla, including all the buildings, boats, and extensive grounds.
MBC Alaska Mission Team -'07 of 10 men and women, served at Camp Baldwin in Delta Junction in the Interior region of the state. They laid the foundation for a brand new girls' bathhouse and began the renovation of the old bathhouses to create a fresh new boys' bathhouse. Successive mission teams completed both bathhouses by the end of the camp season. The MBC team also leveled, repaired, cleaned, and carpeted an old contractor's trailer and set it up for a recreation building, and they cleared, leveled, and poured the concrete for an adjacent new basketball court. They also converted a multipurpose building into a freshly painted chapel.
The five men that comprised the MBC Alaska Mission Team - 2008 set the stage for the new dining hall/kitchen construction. In just 5 days, they took down 2/3 of the old building, transported it to another location for recycling, dug the new foundation and trenches for power cables, laid the concrete pad, and began a new pump/electrical utility room. They put the project way ahead of schedule; two more mission teams completed the new building just two days before the first camp opened. Indeed, Camp Baldwin is "a little camp with a Big God!" as it has come to be known in the Tanana Association. MBC Alaska Mission Team – 2009 consisted of just one man - on his 3rd trip to Camp Baldwin! - but his skills, efforts, and muscles were invaluable in the construction of the pavilion over the campfile fire pit.
MBC Alaska Mission Team – 2010 consisted of 7 adults and youth. While in Alaska they helped with VBS at First Baptist Church in Delta Junction in the mornings and in the afternoons they helped get Camp Baldwin ready for the campers.
A team of nine men and women made up the MBC Alaska Mission Team – 2011. While Lynne and 8 of the team members spent the mornings helping with Vacation Bible School Dale and Brian stayed behind and started work on building a roof over the back porch of the Recreation room back at Camp. During the afternoons the men all pitched on the roof and the women did some spring cleaning and gardening. Dale and Lynne are excited about what God will do at Camp Baldwin this year. Each year is very different but when God is in control, the results are always exciting. They ask that you would pray with them that children and youth will come to know Jesus as Savior and that many will be renewed in their walk with our Lord. Please lift the camp, volunteers, counselors, pastors, and the Martins up to the Lord often.