‹‹ prev 1 of 2 next ›› GORDON KING A Nile Valley Community Church member made an “Alaskan survival kit” for Lani Norwood, which includes a bug net for the head. GORDON KING Photos by GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Craig Norwood, right, says the blessing just before food is served at an open house at his and his wife’s Union Gap home earlier this month. The Norwoods won’t be there all the time, though: They’ll be heading off to Alaska for several months to minister to rural Alaskans. Norwood’s wife, Lani, is pictured third from right. Links   E-mail                         Print Advertisement

They've been warned. About the mosquitoes, grizzlies and moose. To bring extra gas. Not just one spare tire, but two.

They're headed, as author Jon Krakauer might write, "Into the Wild." And they're as prepared as they're going to be.

Craig and Lani Norwood, semi-retired and ready to hit the road, are driving to the southeastern interior of the final frontier. Their destination: a village called Dot Lake.

And it's just that, a dot on the line that is the Alaska Highway on a map of the United States. The population was 19 at the 2000 U.S. Census.

But a 2006 estimate from the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs puts it at 32. And another 22 or 23 people live in the area, guesses Craig Norwood, who retired March 30. Until then, he had served as the pastor of Nile Valley Community Church for nearly 17 years.

Alaska is his retirement plan.

"The Lord led us up there," he says.

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, about 39 percent of Alaska residents are members of religious congregations. In fact, Alaska -- along with Washington and Oregon -- has been identified as being the least religious in the country.

The Norwoods hope to change that. The missionaries leave Monday for their first Alaskan adventure. If their "pilot project" works out, they plan to return every summer as long as they can.

"We have some plans, a basic outline," Craig Norwood says. "But there's a whole lot of details that will be filled in along the way."

The couple hopes to start a youth ministry, help out in Sunday school, and host family activities. They'll also serve as liaisons for Village Missions, speaking about -- and recruiting for -- the program, which supplies pastors to rural areas in North America.

In addition to missionary work, Craig Norwood also wants to do some fishing. He's bringing "a well-stocked tackle box and four different poles."

The Norwoods, both 65, aren't city folk. They're drawn to rural locations, like the Alaska interior. They had their fill of metropolitan areas, having grown up near Los Angeles. They'll visit cities, but they don't want to live in one.

Their love of the outdoors is one of the things that brought them to the Nile, along with the presence of the interdenominational, theologically conservative Nile Valley Community Church, located 18 miles west of Naches, between mileposts 104 and 105, off State Route 410, at 60 Bedrock Lane.

Craig Norwood had been pastor there since 1991. But he began his ministry with Village Missions in 1974. Before coming to the Nile, he served rural congregations in South Dakota and Colorado through the organization.

Village Missions has been supplying a pastor to the Nile church since 1972. The ministry works in nearly 240 communities throughout the United States and Canada.

"Being a veteran missionary pastor, (Craig Norwood) has the experience and expertise to share. He'll be a tremendous help to them," says Vern Wilkinson, Village Missions district representative for Washington and Alaska. In his role, he visits Alaska two or three times a year.

"Alaska is a different place," he says. "It's not connected to the rest of U.S. society."

That doesn't scare the Norwoods, who won't be paid for their missionary work; it's volunteer. They'll live off savings and gifts from friends and those who believe in what they're doing.

"I'm really excited for them," says Jim Fried, who's been attending the Nile church for more than 20 years. "They really have a heart for people and their spiritual needs. And they're very much desirous of seeing what the Lord will do in that field in a very out-of-the-way place."

Located 50 miles northwest of Tok and 155 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Dot Lake is even more remote than the Nile. It's a 21/2-hour drive to Fairbanks, a six-hour drive to Anchorage.

"It will be rustic," Lani Norwood says.

"Kind of like camping for a long period of time," Craig Norwood says.

The couple is expecting their 2,300-mile journey to take five or six days. They're planning to get as far as Abbotsford, British Columbia, by Monday night.

Meantime, they're unpacking and packing. The couple recently moved from the parsonage in the Nile to a home in Union Gap. They've been loading and unloading, setting up house and getting settled in, while preparing to fly the coop, including finding a housesitter.

The Norwoods say they might try to find time to watch "Men in Trees," the ABC primetime show about a New York native who moves to a small Alaska town where men outnumber women. They've heard of it -- sounds funny, they say -- but they haven't yet seen an episode.

They also haven't seen the 2005 documentary "Grizzly Man" or last year's "Into the Wild," based on Krakauer's book of the same name. But, Craig Norwood says, he's three-quarters of the way through James A. Michener's historical novel "Alaska."

While the Norwoods are heading out, Gary and Vicky Turner are moving in. They've been serving with Village Missions for about 20 years. Gary Turner, who most recently served as pastor at Meadowbrook Community Church in Mulino, Ore., will be the new pastor in the Nile. He's expected to give his first service there Sunday.

And the Norwoods plan to be there, one of their last stops before hitting the road. They expect to come back to Union Gap around the first of October. They want to leave Alaska before the snowy season sets in.

• For more information about Nile Valley Community Church, call 653-2904 or visit www.nilevalleychurch.org. For more information about Village Missions, visit www.village-missions.org.