The phone rang on Wednesday and on the other end was Steve Kammerath. He and Karen were our next door neighbors while we lived in Sandy. He was the bishop for 5 years. They were in town on a cruise ship and wanted to see us. They had just completed a helicopter tour of 5 of the local glaciers. We picked them up at the Juneau dock and quickly got them out of the hustle and bustle of the downtown Juneau tourist atmosphere and into the real life of Juneau. We took them to lunch at the Broiler. We like that as well as any here. After, we drove up to the Mendenhall glacier and walked around the boardwalks and looked at various views of the lake and glacier. A couple from Idaho, also on a cruise, took a picture of the four of us and mentioned their daughter had just received a mission call. Following the glacier we drove out to the St. Therese Sanctuary. Thanks to some help from Paul, my brother, I was able to get a few shots to work that I hadn't been able to my first time there. Too soon the time came when we delivered them to their cruise ship and said good-bye. We cherish our friendship with them.
What a wonderful gift to be able to spend time with our good friends, Steve and Karen Kammerath. They were on a Princess cruise ship and asked if they could spend some time with us.
I did go out fishing again but no salmon still. I still catch the Dolly Varden and when I let my lure get too close to the bottom I pick up double uglies. That's the locals term for rock fish and anything that turns your stomach when you get it on the shore. The chum salmon (dogfish) were gathering several hundred yards from the shore. They were extremely active in jumping. I assumed they were feeding but was told by a local that they were using the jumps to prepare for the spawn. He said they were loosening up the eggs sacks and such, a sort of mating ritual for chum. Hmmm. They weren't close enough to tease onto my lure, but should be by now. I hear the chum run has begun.
Much of St Therese Sanctuary is dedicated to the unborn because of abortion. This was a striking memorial outside of the chapel entrance.
Our Branch President of the YSA branch informed us on Sunday he had accepted a job in Northern California. It happened all so fast. He and his wife were aboard a ferry on Wednesday evening late bound for Bellingham, Washington. It really took us all by surprise. We will miss these two good people, Loren and Jerrilyn Olsen. They loved and looked out for these young adults like jungle cats. After Institute we drove to the ferry terminal to say good-bye as they boarded.
There were about 14 of these memorials called the stations of the cross. They all looked the same except the gold inlay depicted an event from the crucifixion.
We shared a wonderful Sunday afternoon with the second councilor and his wife, Sawa. Bob Francis called after we had finished lunch and asked us to come spend the afternoon with them. We had a wonderful visit. We admired their new home that he mostly built. And then Sawa, a Japanese immigrant, fed us a wonderful Japanese dinner. I won't even attempt to try the name of the dish, but it consisted of cold noodles, shrimp, vegetables, expensive mustards and ginger. There were some liquid condiments we also put on the noodles. I tried to use the chop sticks but am hopelessly hindered in my abilities there.
The Institute lessons I prepared for this week were on Faith, and another was on Repentance. We had many big ships in town late and so our attendance was low. When the ships are in, the YSA kids are working. There were 9 in attendance I think. I love to watch the growth of the locals from week to week. Claressa is making such strides in rebuilding her testimony. Her mother comes to our Thursday group. The missionaries met with Claressa and encouraged her to attend Institute. She turned 19 this week. She claimed to be a non-believer in deity. She has only missed one lesson since and now is a regular at church. She contributes with the discussions and helps me know we are doing some good things. She is instrumental in getting others to attend activities as well.
Our Thursday adult discussion group was centered around 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Our numbers were smaller there as well. We had 6 in attendance. We take what we can get.
We fill up our empty time by doing genealogy and indexing. Diane does the genealogy and I do the indexing. I like to stay with one project so I can get as familiar with it as possible. When I am sure I know what is going on, having indexed several of the batches, then I arbitrate. When I get confused there is a wonderful missionary in SLC who answers my questions when I e-mail him.
June 20 was the longest day of the year. Even being low in the latitudes of Alaska, our hours of darkness are only a bit longer than four hours.
We helped the branch members clean the church last night. They then scattered to various summer solstice activities sponsored around town.
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