I think that we have been able to achieve a work load that is compatible with our age and our abilities. The adult Institute class and the Missionary Preparation class have helped to fill some empty areas of time.
My preparations for the YSA Institute for Wednesday evening were centered on the crucifixion. While the preparations for the adult Institute were centered around the birth of the Savior and the beginning of his ministry. It was interesting to study and present for me. It caused me lots of thought as to just how important this belief is to me in my life. How grateful I am for the Atonement.
The chest colds that you can get while in Alaska are every bit as big as the state of Alaska. I think today I am seeing considerable improvement.
We have had so much snow. Where it hasn't been moved by snow plows you can see over a foot and a half of snow.
As usual there is a great deal of time spent reading scriptures and lessons, making lesson plans and organizing presentations. Sister Waldron and I each taught a seminary class this week.
Mike and Heidi Malin taught a lesson and incorporated the Feast of the Tabernacles. They had candles and nuts and dates and olives for a Tabernacle meal. They let the kids wear their jammies, and set up their blankets over the chairs like tents. It was very effective.
In my reading I came across the verses that tell us Elizabeth and Zacharias are Levites. And in the same preparations I read that Mary was a Jewess highly favored of God. I started wondering how Mary and Elizabeth could then be cousins. I wasn't finding an answer. I went to Jesus the Christ. I went to several other sources and was able to find nothing. So then I googled it. The answer was in the scriptures, I just hadn't picked up on it. It is in the Genealogy. Mary's father was Heli (Eli) and he married a Levite woman, Anna. Anna was Elizabeth's mother's sister. And therefore they are cousins. It is little things like this that are making my mission very valuable for me. It is that, and the people I meet.
Our attendance at YSA Institute was only 4. I expect next week to even be worse. It is finals week. Between that and people going home after the semester it will get lonely around here. We did pick up another sister in our Thursday morning adult class though.
Our second zone conference was held this week. All of the missionaries from Whitehorse, Canada on the North, to Ketchikan on the south flew in to Juneau to get instruction and training from President and Sister Beesely. The zone leaders did a fine job of preparing this conference. They played hard early in the morning at basketball and some sort of floor hockey. They studied hard afterwards and did tracting together. They then returned for wonderful instruction.
I was trusted with teaching them how to incorporate the Book of Mormon more effectively in their teaching. I gave a few examples and then related to them the similarities of the languages of the Athabascans, Tlingits, Navajos and Apaches. I hypothesized that it was possible that the Asian immigrants to Alaska and the Lamanite had settled their lands and moved 10-12 miles at a time until they came into contact with each other. Could it be possible they would inter-marry as they met?
I then told of my experience on the Chinle reservation with a Navajo Singer. I had an opportunity to teach him only one time. (He had told me I had one shot to teach him, and then I was not to bother him again.) So I put away my Elder Brown discussions and told of the history of the Book of Mormon, the coming of a Great White God and his promise of a return, and the Gold Plates. I then taught this Shaman, or Singer, the story of how Joseph Smith received those same Golden Plates. He accused me of having obtained this information from another tribal elder or Singer. There was not other way I could have known of the history of the ancients. I then challenged the missionaries to not ignore the Lamanites in their areas. This same Book of Mormon was written for the Lamanites. They, the Lamanites (Native Americans) would be blessed by this book through the means of the Gentiles. It was fun to be in front of their enthusiastic countenances.
At the conclusion they had a white elephant game. There were a lot of laughs as we unwrapped each present. Each one showed us the fun personalities of those who wrapped the gift, and the fun personality of the missionary that received it.
This morning was our Missionary Preparation class. We had 5 in attendance. I put them outside of their comfort zones by having them actually teach from the "Preach My Gospel" manual. As always, they enjoyed staying after and chatting and eating.
When I stepped outside this morning there were 12 or more Bald Eagles in the trees and flying around the air. At one time I saw 5 in one tree. I ran in to get my camera but only 3 were left when I returned. They seemed to be playing King of the Sitka Spruce. They all wanted to perch on the top.
We purchased tickets to attend an choral presentation called, "King Island Christmas." There was a piano accompanist, a director and a choir. The story tells of the residents living on King Island some time ago. Their priest had been sent to get the yearly supplies and return with them on a freighter. Winter came a bit early and the ice was quickly forming on the sea. The waves were higher than would be safe for the people to transport their year's worth of supplies from the freighter to the shore. By radio they decided to go to the leaward side of the island. There the waves would be smaller and they could meet the freighter there. However they only had 3 hours as the ice was quickly forming. They had to carry their umiak (a large canoe) over the mountain to cross the island and reach the leaward side. Through trials they completed their mission and were able to get their priest off of the freighter along with the crates of supplies that would keep them alive for another year. We enjoyed the show a lot. There were several from our stake singing in the choir. They have plans to take the show to Scotland next summer. By the way, the story is true.
Tuavao, Ky Clark and Gabi Larsen. Ky and Gabi are students at a school down south and are engaged to be married. Ky is the son of Bishop Clark from here in Juneau. Gabi joined the church two years ago here in Juneau.
(This is Brother Pali on the Ukulele. He and some other Polynesians here in Juneau organized a luau meal, along with Polynesian entertainment. It we lots of fun and some of the entertainers were relatives of our YSA members. Two of our YSA men performed a slap dance.) 
We had a wonderful week of seminary. Yesterday we capped it off by serving the seminary students breakfast. While Diane and others were preparing the food, I had the students grab a folding chair and make a circle in the back half of the cultural hall. There were about 38 students present. We then played what I use to call fruit basket. I changed the name to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. When each student had been given one of those names, we removed one chair from the circle. That left one student standing alone in the middle. That student would then holler out one of the gospel names. Any kids with that name, and the student in the middle, would then scramble to find a different chair. There would always be one without a chair. If they hollered gospels then everyone had to find a different chair. The longer the game went on the more aggressive it became. The food was ready just in time, and no one was sent to the hospital. 
The adult Institute class went well on Thursday. We talked about the calling of an Apostle in the time of Christ and the calling and role of Apostles today. We also discussed the Sermon on the Mount. There was enough time to discuss in some depth a couple of the instances of those who are blessed. 
Like you, our hearts have been wrenched as we read of the tragic events from New Haven, Conn. How have we become this kind of a society? The answer to overcoming these types of events lies in the strength of our individual homes. Our society has not placed enough importance on the development of virtues of tolerance, love, and the true meaning of who we are, that being children of a Heavenly Father. 
There is no event that has ever occurred during the history of the earth, that has had the impact on each individual that has lived on the earth, that can equal that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I enjoyed giving this lesson more than any I have ever taught. Unfortunately, we only had two YSA members in attendance. There were a few adults and a married couple that came in toward the end of the lesson. University finals really took a toll on our attendance. Two of our most dedicated were out of town. One was in Hawaii to visit family, and one flew to Anchorage on business. But, the low numbers do not indicate the impact of the lesson. I grew immensely in my understanding of this greatest of all sacrifices. I learned that during Jesus' 40 day tarry after his resurrection, the Apostles were instructed by Jesus to meet him in Jerusalem. (Luke 24:49) (That wasn't new to me.) The fact they were told there they would be endued with power, this time caused me to study deeper. Joseph Smith had been told to go to the Ohio. There he was also to be endued with power. (D & C 38:32) I believe that power was the endowment. 
Peter, James and John may have received their endowment on the Mount of Transfiguration we are taught in our seminary manual. But the other Apostles now received their endowment before being sent to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all in the world. I was thrilled to teach that. 
We now have two new YSA members. Dillon was baptized last evening by his recently returned friend, Justin Brink. Our Young Single Adult Family Home Evening head, Nani, met Dillon 4 years ago. She was a senior in high school. Dillon was a freshman. Dillon's mother asked Nani to take him to a dance as he didn't have a date. Nani did. They have had a close friendship ever since. Dillon expressed some desires to have some questions about religion answered. Nani said she knew some missionaries who could help with those questions. The missionaries tell us that Dillon was the quintessential 'Golden Contact.' 
While driving to Office Max, to get a new cartridge for the printer, I noticed an incredible thing. The sun was shining. The clouds were hanging close to the ground. I know. Most of us call that fog. But it had this Alaskan quality about it that made it so beautiful. Upon returning home, I knew I had to get back out in it and take pictures of the Alaskan sun; with the incredible laces of vapor weaving in and out of the valley and crawling across the mountain sides. I still can not believe I am so blessed to be in this beautiful part of the earth.
Snow! Snow! Snow! My goodness does it snow at times in Juneau. The piles of snow from the snow movers is piling up. The roads are packed in snow. The boughs of the trees are sloping more steeply because of the weight of the snow. The sight of bald eagles that now and then perch at the tops of those trees is fun to see. The crows have a harder time finding something to eat and they get more cheeky by the day. (Reed; I'm so sorry that I will have a wait before I can get a picture of the sunny day you want.)
Today we just finished our missionary preparation class. We actually had a couple of 15 year old boys show up. That's a bit early but we welcomed them. Matt and Heather stayed afterwards and chatted with us while we snacked on Diane's snacks. The 15 year old boys went to clean the church. Matt stayed for a couple of hours just chatting. He expressed the trials of being in the world but not of the world while he is in his freshman year of school. He gets tired of the profanity and the low moral standards of the students in his dorm. It is no wonder he likes to hang around. 
Allison Holtkamp, a student of mine from Brighton, is in a production of "Oklahoma" here in Juneau. She is playing Ado Annie. We went to watch he performance. The production people really did a good job with the small theater. The singing and dancing was very good. The actors were worth the price of the tickets. Allison's parents flew up to Alaska for the weekend but only got as far as Sitka the first day. The Juneau airport was socked in. The finally arrived a day later. We had the three of them over for supper last evening. We had a wonderful visit with three wonderful people. Jim Holtkamp is the bishop of a Hispanic ward in SLC. 