Most volunteer teams from North Carolina visit Alaska during its brief summer months when wildflowers bloom in profusion and every hill is green.

Mike Procter, director of missions for Chugach Baptist Association, asks Tar Heel Baptists to remember those volunteers who minister year-round. Chugach Association is centered in Anchorage, but includes churches above the Arctic Circle in communities that are accessible only by air.

John and Kim Piepmeier, for example, are Mission Service Corps Volunteers in Kiana, a Native American village where they work to support one of the three missions sponsored by First Baptist Church of Kotzebue (other works are in the villages of Ambler and in Kobuk).

In a recent newsletter, the Piepmeiers told of 14 youth attending the mission, nine of whom asked for Bibles. Seven of the youth came to know Christ through Native Youth Camp held last summer at Lavern Griffin Youth Camp in Wasilla. N.C. Baptists have helped renovate and improve the camp.

One native youth named Robert, who trusted Christ at camp but fell back into old patterns after his return home, recently attempted suicide and is receiving treatment. The Piepmeiers support him and other youth and adults in the mission. They sponsor a "Good News Club" for children and Bible studies for adults.

Ministry can be challenging in northern Alaska, especially during the winter when the sun never rises and conditions are harsh.

In the newsletter, Kim Piepmeier described the weather: "We are closing out the month (November) with temperatures today of -40 degrees and with frozen water pipes. Praise God we got them thawed out and no pipes were broken. There is ice growing on the walls and windows and coming out of the outlets.

"It's too cold to try to start the Honda (4 wheeler), and to start the snow machine John has to put a heat gun under the hood for about 30 minutes. He has learned the hard way that he needs to use an extension cord that is rated for these temperatures. Then, when he gets it started, you need to let it run for 30 minutes.

"That's why we bought a plastic sled at the store and we drag it to and from the post office. That way we don't burn up our $3.75-a-gallon gas." The sled also allows the couple to take a 1.5-mile stroll in the frozen air to take Christmas packages for mailing or to pick-up mail.

"It is good to get the exercise, and it helps to fight against all the darkness we have right now."

Four members of Crabtree Valley Baptist Church in Raleigh visited Kiana in August. Volunteers built an arctic entrance to the Piepmeiers' home and raised their shed off the ground, rebuilt their snow machine engine, and did other construction work.

The Piepmeiers are among several couples devoting themselves to serving Christ under difficult and trying circumstances, according to an e-mail prayer list of north Alaska ministries distributed by Chugach Baptist Association.

E-mail can be sent to the Piepmeiers at kjpie2@juno.com. Mail should be addressed to them at P. O. Box 145, Kiana, Alaska 99749.