Published: Monday, November 2, 2009
Lake Stevens couple off to Indonesia to teach English
The Lake Stevens native and his wife will teach English and sports at a shelter in Indonesia.
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Lake Stevens native Jeremy Youngquist and his wife, Camille, are headed to Bali, Indonesia, to work at an orphanage.
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Jeremy Youngquist worked for seven years as a helicopter pilot for Columbia River Bar Pilots, an Astoria, Ore.-based organization that flies specialist ship captains to large vessels trying to cross the Columbia River bar.
LAKE STEVENS — Jeremy Youngquist's life has been anything but dull.
At age 19, the Lake Stevens native was nearly expelled from Bible college for streaking.
Later, he flew a Black Hawk helicopter in the Army, participating in operations in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
More recently, for seven years, Youngquist, who now lives in Gearhart, Ore., flew ship captains by helicopter to large vessels waiting to enter the Columbia River. The mouth of the river is especially dangerous for ships, and Youngquist's employer, Columbia River Bar Pilots, supplies the vessels with captains who have expertise in navigating the waterway.
Youngquist, 39, is an avid surfer and has helped his family build houses for the homeless.
Now, he and his wife, Camille, are embarking on a new adventure: volunteering for an orphanage in Bali, Indonesia. They're due to leave their home in Oregon this week.
The couple will teach English and sports to 36 kids at My Father's Home, a Christian shelter. They're not sure how long they'll stay — they'll live off savings and donations.
“We've been pretty much wanting to do something like this for a long time,” Youngquist said.
They're doing it a little sooner than they might have thought. Youngquist had to give up his pilot's license for at least a year after having surgery last spring to replace a defective valve in his heart with an artificial one.
“It's kind of God's way of pushing us away. This just kind of gave us no excuses not to,” he said.
Eight years ago, Youngquist and his first wife had a child, Hannah, who died after only four days because of a complication during delivery.
“I've given God one child and he's given me 36 back,” he said. “That's 3,600 percent. You're not going to get that from the Bank of America.”
More about the Bali orphanage
Jeremy and Camille Youngquist are leaving this week to work at an orphanage in Bali, Indonesia. For more information, visit http://myfathershome.net/view.
At age 19, the Lake Stevens native was nearly expelled from Bible college for streaking.
Later, he flew a Black Hawk helicopter in the Army, participating in operations in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
More recently, for seven years, Youngquist, who now lives in Gearhart, Ore., flew ship captains by helicopter to large vessels waiting to enter the Columbia River. The mouth of the river is especially dangerous for ships, and Youngquist's employer, Columbia River Bar Pilots, supplies the vessels with captains who have expertise in navigating the waterway.
Youngquist, 39, is an avid surfer and has helped his family build houses for the homeless.
Now, he and his wife, Camille, are embarking on a new adventure: volunteering for an orphanage in Bali, Indonesia. They're due to leave their home in Oregon this week.
The couple will teach English and sports to 36 kids at My Father's Home, a Christian shelter. They're not sure how long they'll stay — they'll live off savings and donations.
“We've been pretty much wanting to do something like this for a long time,” Youngquist said.
They're doing it a little sooner than they might have thought. Youngquist had to give up his pilot's license for at least a year after having surgery last spring to replace a defective valve in his heart with an artificial one.
“It's kind of God's way of pushing us away. This just kind of gave us no excuses not to,” he said.
Eight years ago, Youngquist and his first wife had a child, Hannah, who died after only four days because of a complication during delivery.
“I've given God one child and he's given me 36 back,” he said. “That's 3,600 percent. You're not going to get that from the Bank of America.”
More about the Bali orphanage
Jeremy and Camille Youngquist are leaving this week to work at an orphanage in Bali, Indonesia. For more information, visit http://myfathershome.net/view.
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