It put a lump in our throats to say good-bye to our seminary students and their dedicated teachers.
Our first stop was Sitka. We had a 5 hour wait in this port. We read and did jig-saw puzzles.
We are on the ferry now, waiting in Sitka for our departure to the next port. We left Auke Bay in Juneau aboard the Malispina of the Alaska Marine Highway at 12:15 a.m. on the morning of January 21, 2014. My emotions have been close to the surface the past five days. It has been a continual parade of farewells and good-byes. Closure brings to my surface melancholy.
We are on the ferry now, waiting in Sitka for our departure to the next port. We left Auke Bay in Juneau aboard the Malispina of the Alaska Marine Highway at 12:15 a.m. on the morning of January 21, 2014. My emotions have been close to the surface the past five days. It has been a continual parade of farewells and good-byes. Closure brings to my surface melancholy.
It seemed to begin with a final lesson I taught in Sunday school. The lesson was on foreordination. We had a good number in attendance. It was our first Sunday beginning the block
at 11:00 a.m. instead of 9:40 a.m. No one could remember why we started
at 9:40 a.m. And if they did remember
church, and the correct starting time, it was too early to roll out of bed for
many. None of us are sure why we haven’t
done this earlier. But when it was
suggested by our Elder’s quorum president, everyone jumped on the idea and the
Stake approved it.
President Sekona made a great effort to get as many to our final Institute lesson on Wednesday evening as possible. We had 20 attend, plus several adults and the missionaries. The lesson was from Alma chapters 40-51. I spent most of the time explaining the need of an atoning figure and the great blessing of that sacrifice, and applied mercy and grace, having repented and done all we can do for ourselves. The participation was flowing and the spirit was strong. I couldn’t help but think; “They were so sincere in their tribute to us and the mission we have served. Why couldn’t they attend consistently for the concern of their own strength and testimonies?” Diane and I were hugged and kissed and thanked and we shed tears as we realized our time together was drawing to a close. I gave Diane time to bear her testimony and express her feelings. For both of us our words came with effort as our hearts seemed to obscure our abilities to speak.
It was wonderful to have Scott Beames with us. He was there having completed a trip to Craig
and Thorne Bay on the Island of Prince of Wales. What an adventure he had. The rain has been pouring on the inside
passage for days. He rented a car in
Ketchikan, ferried it to Hollis on Prince of Wales and drove the 50 minutes to
Craig. After visiting with Travis and
Erica Tripple on their houseboat, and attending their early morning seminary
class, he proceeded back to Craig. Mud
slides were occurring everywhere. The
ground could hold no more water. He was
told he could not traverse the road back to Hollis to catch the ferry as the
road had been covered with mud many feet deep and many yards long. What was he to do? He had a plane to catch in Ketchikan in order
to preside over our in-service that would be held on Friday morning. He did the only thing possible. He arranged for a private bush pilot to fly
him to Ketchikan. He arranged with the
branch president, Mel Bingham, to drive the rental car into Hollis when the
road was clear and place it on the ferry.
He arranged with the Bishop in Ketchikan to pick that car up from the
ferry and return it to the rental agency when it arrived from Hollis. He did make the flight and arrived in time to
attend seminary with us. I was grateful
that he was able to experience the spirit that fills our room during
Institute. I will miss that spirit in Alaska. I know it can be experienced anywhere, but
that won’t be on a mission and in Juneau with a wonderful group of Young Single
Adults and our wonderful branch presidency.
President Sekona and his 2nd councilor, Bob Francis have been
so good to be in attendance.
Diane and I were in the Relief Society room Thursday morning doing our usual studying and going back and forth between classes to see that all was well. Ten minutes before the time for classes to end we heard quite a rustle in the hallways. My immediate thought was that the teachers had released their students early. All of the students from each of the three seminary classes came into the Relief Society room and presented us with a “Forget Me Not” statue to remember them by. And then they sang “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.” Then Jenny Schlechter asked if I would give the closing prayer. I think that may have been the second hardest prayer I have ever offered to my maker. Usually when my emotions get the best of me my voice locks up. But this time my voice was able to continue but my eyes burst similarly to the Teton dam back in the 70s. And if that wasn’t hard enough, most of our seminary students gave us a hug. I took the time to whisper into each their ears, “Be Great.”
Following that emotional hour. I made final preparations for
our concluding discussion with the adult Institute class. The material was from Moses in the Pearl of
Great Price. Again, there were good-byes
and tears. The hard thing was to notify
them the Stake Presidency had decided not to call a replacement teacher. There are no CES people in Juneau and they
asked me to encourage them to study the gospel from the prepared manuals in
groups if they preferred, or alone. But
the stake has chosen not to call a teacher for the class. They accepted it but were a little sad that
it was over.
Friday morning, the 17th, was our final
In-Service with the seminary teachers of the Juneau stake. Scott employed a new online communication system
the church is using. He finally
abandoned the PCS system that gave me so much grief in setting up and
monitoring in the past.
Scott took us to dinner with Jenny that evening. He had put a lot of thought into some going
away mementos. He gave us a beautiful
picture book of SW Alaska. Also in the
gift sack was a picture frame and in that frame was a picture of the students
from the seminary saying good-bye to us.
Saturday evening Elder and Sister Dan and Ruth Brinkerhoff
took us to dinner at the Valley Restaurant.
I talked them into coming into
our apartment and watching a video I have of a glacier break up that happened
in Nova Scotia. The video showed a
glacier with a portion of it bigger than Manhattan Island completely falling
apart. Sister Brinkerhoff and Diane
chatted at the table for a couple of hours while Elder Brinkerhoff and I watched
BYU beat Santa Clara in basketball.
We enjoyed our final Sunday block with the YSA branch. The 11:00 a.m. start seems to have helped the
attendance a great deal. There were a
few more good-byes. Diane Lohrey gave
Diane a beautiful hand carved and painted bird feather attached to a pin, a
broach. It was hand made by her husband
John. We have great expectations that
John will soon join the church. Along
with that we hope to hear soon that Michael, 16 years old, will also be
baptized. He’s waiting for his father I
think. He is such a tremendous young
man. And he is so faithful in his
attendance at Seminary. *(We learned from Michael's sister, Emilyanne who is on a mission now, that Michael will be baptized this month.)
Yesterday was the final push to get the apartment ready to
turn over to the Sister missionaries.
Diane has been cleaning and organizing for several weeks in preparation
for our departure. That evening we were
invited to have supper with Jenny Schlechter and her brothers who are living
with her for the time being. Her
husband, Michael, who is a ferry captain, is in Seattle for two weeks of
training. We returned to the apartment
and read for a couple of hours until it was time to drive the car onto the
ferry. After being in the apartment for
a bit we were visited by Eric Mullen and Brennan Oakley. Eric seemed to be relieved to see we hadn’t
left. For some reason he had chosen not
to attend the meetings on Sunday and felt badly he had not said good-bye. We had a wonderful visit and laughed together
before we had to push them out the door so we could leave. Eric will be a wonderful missionary. His papers will go in any week now.
I have been blessed with a wonderful companion. Diane has been more than a good sport by
jumping into this desire to serve with me.
She has been a powerful influence for faith and testimony. I love her.
My emotions are ever present right now. Another of my life’s goals has come and passed. I can only hope that we helped build the Lord’s kingdom as expected, and that testimonies have been strengthened. Was it worth it? There is no doubt in my mind. It was. My many hours of preparation from the scriptures has strengthened my testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is the organization as left by the Savior upon completing His Foreordained Mission on the Earth. He is my Brother. He is my Friend. He is my Savior. I know and love Him better now than any other time in my life. He is represented now by a real prophet. Thomas S. Monson exercises all of the keys of power and authority from Jesus Christ here on the earth, and he communicates with God and he speaks in His behalf. And twelve Apostles along with Pres. Monson hold the priesthood keys.
I am so anxious to see my family again. I have missed them. I don’t think I realized how much until now,
as we slowly travel through the waters of the South West Passage in their
direction.
And with that being said, I close the pages of this blog in
the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
