A Nice Trip to Sitka

We saw the immediate effects in FHE this week having received a new Branch President.  Our numbers were bigger in large part because of an increase in the Tongan YSA members that came.  Carolyn Chenowyth, soon to be married, gave a great lesson.  She played a couple of wonderful clips of Elder Hollands talks and we discussed them.

The clouds don't want to completely leave the top of Mount Edgecombe.  The Volcano is dormant and a very symmetrical cone shape. 

In Institute we discussed the Sacrament and Eternal Life, or Exaltation.  We had some wonderful discussion.  The Thursday Institute session was a discussion on the first 10 chapters of Corinthians. 

Saturday we took the fast ferry to Sitka.  The stake president called Bobbie Daniels to be the seminary instructor there.  We went to meet her and to show her some of the things expected of a seminary teacher.  She is going to be wonderful.  She taught at BYU for 20 years.  She taught Spanish and worked somehow on television media.  She is so enthusiastic and the kids seem to like her a lot.

When we boarded the ferry we noticed a couple of sister missionaries walk on board.  We got very well acquainted and found out they were the Sisters living in Sitka.  One, Sister Frazier from Mapleton, is the sister trainer and had been in Anchorage for leadership conference.  The other is Sister Hadelius from Manti.  As it turned out we gave them a ride from the dock to their apartment.  We also took them to dinner with us.  They are very social and love to visit with anyone. 

Sister Frazier is in the back and Sister Hadelius is in the front. 

They met a couple on the ferry several weeks ago and had hoped to meet them again.  Coincidentally they came into the restaurant where we were eating.  After telling me their story, I decided to act as a catalyst.  I went to this couple and asked if they would mind taking a picture of the two sisters and us together.  They did and that led to the sisters visiting with them about possibly going on a hike with them and the Young Women from the ward. 

On the way out of the restaurant we passed two tourists who passed right by Sister Waldron and me.  But they stopped the sisters and started to bombard them with questions and challenges about the typical LDS misunderstandings and rumors.  When I returned to join them they were handling things just fine.  These are two sharp sisters.  Some of the discussion was the decision of the church to keep the priesthood from being held by all worthy males.  Another part of the discussion was the inability for non-members to witness a son or daughter be married inside the temple.  The sisters were a little stumped on that one so I helped them out.  I told them there was a way around that.  They asked how.  I responded, "You listen to what these sisters have to say.  You gain a testimony of it and join the church.  You live the standards needed to have a temple recommend and then you can witness your member daughter be happily married in the temple for time and all eternity."  We all had a bit of a chuckle and we were able to leave them with good feelings all around. 

The Sitka church house is a wonderful building.  The inside is made of Alaskan Cedar.  It smells wonderful and appears warm and inviting. 

We met Sister Bobbie Daniels at the ward house where we spent two hours orienting her to the skills of being a successful seminary teacher.  Diane went over the administrative tasks that needed to be completed, and I showed her how to build a seminary lesson.  While there I received a text from the Sitka Bishop saying, "I understand you are in town.  We'll plan on you and Sister Waldron speaking in church tomorrow along with the Stake President."  That seems to happen each time we go to an outlying branch or ward.  We actually enjoy it.  And we both enjoy being around President Youngberg from Ketchikan.

This is Sister Bobbie Daniels, our recently called seminary teacher for the youth of the Sitka ward.  She is really going to be a blessing to those that come to her early morning seminary classes.

We spent the night at the home of Gary and Dixie Peterson.  They were wonderful hosts and we enjoyed our visit with them.  They have a beautiful home above the bay.  The scenery when looking out of their front room window is breathtakingly beautiful.  Across the bay is the volcano, Mount Edgecombe.  It has been inactive for some time.   He told us the story of a town member flying old rubber tires up to the volcano one April first and lighting them on fire.  The town was in a panic thinking the volcano had begun to erupt.  It cost him a fine of $1000 for being a public nuisance, but he felt it was worth it. 

As always, I enjoy the ferry rides in between the many islands as we travel the channels from branch to branch.  It is an incredibly beautiful place. 

The Petersons, Dixie and Gary were wonderful hosts.  He loves to sail and told us about some wonderful experiences he had sailing. 

Diane's reputation as a great cook is spreading much faster and with more truth than my reputation as a good teacher.  The Elders tell me their favorite place to go to dinner is with us, because Diane is such a wonderful cook.

She got a bit of a tummy bug yesterday which made our day of travel home a bit miserable for her.  Today she seems to be back to her same happy self.