Wrangell & Petersburg

On a rainy day, Monday, we boarded a plane for Wrangell.  We were met by Sister Christina Florschutz and her husband.  He was about to board a plane for N. Carolina where he was going to spend three weeks cutting wood for his parents, and so the timing was perfect.  Christina is our seminary teacher in Wrangell. 

After loading our bags into the back of her Dodge Ram pickup, we proceeded to accept the challenge of getting in the thing.  It was three feet from the ground to the step just to get in.  I helped Diane as if she were mounting a horse for the first time.  She then figured out how to use the hand bar.  Then Christina took us on a tour of the city.  The community has a population of about 1200 people.  There are about ten different churches.  Economically the community seems very strapped.  But the scenery is just like every place else we have been in Alaska, stupendous. 

Christina dropped us off at the home of the branch president, Pres. Wilson.  He and his wife were busily preparing a spaghetti dinner for us and the elders that live in the church next door.  That spaghetti sauce was the best I have ever tasted in my life, and it was made from scratch.  The elders left a message with us all after I had finished the dishes.  Sister Wilson and her son Blaine did the drying of the dishes.  Sister Wilson's father has been a Temple Square mission president and served several missions with his wife.  After dinner we played a game of Farkle with them and then went to bed. 

The following morning we dressed and went next door to the seminary.  Sister Florschutz gave a lesson to three valiant high school students who were willing to get up early to better themselves before school.  One of those was her son Ben, who is a sophomore.  Christina has a farm about 12 miles out of town with an array of animals she cares for.  She even orders in the chicken feed and sells it to the locals.  She orders 7 tons at a time.  How many chickens will that feed in a winter?  She would discuss a gospel principle from a scripture and then she challenged them to find another scripture that taught the same principle.  It was effective and the kids loved it.  They were faster at it than I was. 

After inspecting the elders apartment, we returned to the Wilsons home and had breakfast.  Christina joined us.  Sister Wilson was soon off to teach her elementary students at the school, then we were driven to the airport for our flight to Petersburg.

Petersburg is maybe the most economically stable place in appearances that we have visited outside of Anchorage.  The homes are beautiful with lots of Scandinavian influence in them.  The town is clean and has everything you could want.  It has a population of around 2200.  Both Wrangell and Petersburg flourished with the lumber business a few years back.  The environmentalists have pretty much put a stop to a lot of the lumber business in many places here.  I wonder if those environmentalists will enjoy cleaning themselves with plastic better than 'Charmin?' Just askin'. Neither town caters to the tourist industry.  The cruise lines will come into a town and take over a lot of things.  We see that here in Juneau.  Wrangell and Petersburg have voted to keep them out.  Wrangell does a little fishing.  Petersburg does a lot of fishing. 

Sister Donna Marsh met us at the airport and took us to her home.  Her husband is out catching herring with a friend from Juneau, Bud Rosenbruch.  Bud and his wife attend our Thursday seminary.  They are picking kelp from the ocean and stringing it in 20 inch rows in cages approximately 20' x 20' by 20' feet.  Then they net the herring and carefully drag the nets to the cages where the herring are transferred into and among the kelp.  There they will lay their eggs which cling to the kelp.  When all of the egg laying is done, they carefully release the herring back into the sea.  The roe sells for a nice profit in Asia.  Donna's sixteen year old son, Evan, is quite anxious to work with his dad and make his millions rather than go to school.  Donna is seeing to it that he finishes high school and applies to college.  He is a tremendous swimmer and hopes to swim for BYU.  He tells me his time on a hundred is around 55 seconds.  That is a great time.  His older brother, who will be turning in his mission papers shortly, is on scholarship for the swimming team at St. John's University. 

We were able to take a short nap after lunch, study a lesson and then go on a tour of Petersburg with Sister Marsh.  She is really a go getter.  She grew up in Boise, Idaho and graduated from BYU.  She met her husband while there and they quickly moved to Petersburg where President Marsh's parents and some of his siblings live.  They built a beautiful home themselves.  The wood work is wonderful and there is lots of it.  In as much as Pres. Marsh is a professional fisherman and hunting guide, there are animals and birds and fish on many of the walls.  Sister Marsh doesn't spend much time on the boat, but she knows how to use a rifle. 

We had a wonderful meal with she, and her son Evan, and the sister missionaries and Sister Bringhurst.  Sister Bringhurst  is the wife of our 2nd councilor in the Stake Presidency.  Sister Poudrier, who is from Jo City in Arizona, is a convert of 3 years.  Her companion, Sister Rivera, is from Pocatello.  Sister Poudrier told us her conversion story.  She had friends who were LDS.  And the rest is history.  Her family was very supportive of her and have all since joined the church.  She actually attended her mother's baptism and confirmation just over the last Christmas season over Skype.  Her mother was very surprised to see her on the TV screen when she got up to enter the baptismal font.  The Marshes have built an apartment upstairs in their home which they rent to the mission for the missionaries.  As we talked after dinner, Sister Bringhurst and I discovered that we both sang for Dr. William Ramsey at USU in 1968.  We did not remember one another, but we had a good time recalling the names of people we both knew.  She sang in a group called 'the Young Timers' at USU.  They did a lot of the same kinds of things I did with the 'Balladiers.'  Their music was more contemporary with the pop music of the 60s and we sang ballads like the 'New Christy Minstrels' sang.

We then retired for the night into one of their extra bedrooms.  Pres. Marsh had a big box with furs of animals he has trapped from previous winters to the side of our bed.  There was wolf, wolverine, martin, fox, mink and some furs I didn't recognize.  The bed was homemade, beautiful and high off of the floor.  Diane had to use a chair to get into it.  But it was comfortable.  Sister Marsh had little cards taped to the doors, mirrors and walls anywhere that her son, Evan, might pass during his ritual of getting ready for school.  These were wonderful spiritual goals and attitudes. 

We then gathered around a big, beautiful kitchen table made of oak.  In the center was a perfectly sized lazy Susan.  The kids supplies for the lesson, drinks of water, and pencils were there and they would spin the lazy Susan around to get what they needed.  They received a very well prepared lesson from Galatians and she also managed to sneak in there the economic value of BYU as a place to continue their educations.  In attendance was a 16 year old girl, Makaela.  She is a non-member and waiting until she is of age to be baptized.  She won't need her parents permission then.  She is a sharp young woman and played the piano for the devotional.  She has pretty firm in announcing that she will be attending BYU after high school.  There were three students in attendance.  One of those was Evan. 

I love to see the dedication and commitment of those with testimonies strong enough to get up early and learn of the things that will benefit them most on this journey of life.  We fall in love with them because of that virtue they have.

Upon returning home on Wednesday, I spent the afternoon finishing my preparations for the two Institute classes.  We wrapped up Hebrews on Wednesday evening with the YSA.  And we discussed the signs of the times from Matthew 24 in the Thursday gospel discussion group. 

I'm disappointed to say that things aren't progressing well this week with our investigator, Carl Bogren.  He is getting discouraged about not having a job.