Learning from the Sermon on the Mount

Our smallest attendance at Institute was last evening.  And we had three attend that we hadn't seen before.  This is very typical here in Juneau.  We had 12 YSA and a married couple, two members of the branch presidency and their wives and even a high school senior that wanted to come.

We were able to discuss the tremendous call of an Apostle, a priesthood holder, with a sure testimony of Jesus Christ, who is asked to witness that knowledge to the world.  I still recall being in the Tabernacle, in the choir seats, the day Elder Bruce R. McKonkie bore his final testimony in conference.  He passed away a few months later.  He said that though he would kneel at the feet of the Savior, and wash his feet with his tears of gratitude, yet he would still know no more surely then, than he does now, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the World.  His testimony has filled my soul with strength and courage, and it still does as I continue to build and strengthen my testimony. 

It is always a treat to discuss the pattern for how we should live our lives.  It is a wonderful pattern for working toward perfection...The Sermon on the Mount. 

As we discussed the portion of the Beatitudes where Jesus says, If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out,  or if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, there was a little confusion.   They weren't sure if this was literal or if it was an anology of something else.  Those with not as much understanding came to understand the application of this gospel principle when I was moved to talk about my childhood friend.  I spent my entire youth with him in all of our activities; church, school, scouting, sports and just hanging out.  But when we became seniors, this wonderful friend started making choices with some other friends. Their behaviors were those that I had been taught my entire life were to be avoided.  I made the choice to 'sever' most of my association with him.  In other words, my best friend, my right hand man, had to be cut off.  I told of meeting this friend 35 years later.  And of the wonderful hug of friendship we shared.  And I found myself weeping like a rusty pump.  I have discovered this loss in my youth still rests heavy on my heart.

I've actually, for the most part, been able to speak of tender things without getting weepy.  I'm getting better.

Diane spent the afternoon fixing chocolate chip cookies.  She also mixed up a chicken salad filler for wonderful flakey crescent rolls.  Our daughter Tiffany gave her the recipe.  There was cut up fruit as well. The kids loved it.  The adults did as well.

Today is Diane's birthday.  She has hung a Happy Birthday banner in the kitchen.  I have vacumed up the confetti that fell out of the package that Tiff sent with along with a puzzle. 

Sushi

This Monday has been a bit more than the usual Monday.  As usual we were up at 5:00 a.m. and over to greet the seminary teachers as they entered with their smiles and happy attitudes.  They are wonderful.  We had a brief prayer meeting and spent a few minutes memorizing together Luke 24:36-39. 

After our breakfast we took a brief nap and then went to the gym.  We are finding the exercise is very good for us in many ways.  It helps our attitudes as well as our physical fitness.  Diane spent the time driving back home telling me the many bacterial hazards of participating in a gym.  She read a bit while I was in the hot tub and the sauna.  Well....you give and take I guess.

The rest of the day was spent studying for the next Institute lesson.  And then we went to our YSA Branch Family Home Evening group.  We had a great turn out.  I didn't count but there must have been 20 there.  I showed a followup to last week's Institute lesson.  The lesson had been on the miracles of healing.  The video I showed was made by the church and is called, "Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole."  It showed a family reeling from bad choices and not working together in Christ.  When they decided to allow the Savior to put his hands on the family, things became better.  They healed, and love began to again be in the home. 

And then we had Sushi.  The kids wanted a Hawaiian sushi called Musubi.  It was rice and spam and seaweed.  They sliced up the spam and cooked it in a sweet soy sauce.  The rice was packed into the bottom of the empty spam can, which was used like a mold.  Then they put a slice of spam onto rice shaped like the spam can about 1/2 inch thick and wrapped it in a commercial seaweed.  Most of us were skeptical of it.  But almost all tried it and liked it.  I gave up on the seaweed after about half of it.  I guess I have just spent too much of my life "Pulling" weeds to give in and eat any.  Wouldn't that mean you would have to grow it?   (That would be like changing political parties.)

Monthly In-Service

We didn't have most of our seminary teachers for last evening's in-service.  Friday evenings just aren't a good night.  And 6:00 p.m. is too early.  Most of those in attendance said they would like to see us use Thursday evening.  In-service is held once a month.  I feel badly for our Sitka teacher who is so committed and sweet.  She often does video shoots for a local TV station on Thursdays.  She is the 76 year old we visited last month.  She said she would try.  A few of those not in attendance wanted Thursday as well.  So it appears we will do our In-service meetings on the 3rd Thursday of the months to come. 

We discussed the prologue and the first chapter of the new manual "Gospel Teaching and Learning."  It is a wonderful manual that was given to us while we were in the MTC.  They weren't available yet, even for back orders, when we tried a couple of weeks ago.  But they did post it on the Seminary and Institute site for teachers.  So the teachers did have access to the manual. 

I hooked up the stake's polycom system and we each phoned in for a conference call. It started off a bit uncomfortably as that was my first experience with polycom. But in short order the teachers were contributing and offering insights and testimony. I felt good about it.

 Diane caught me looking at mountain goats across the canyon from the peak we were on.  That peak is called Juneau peak.  I did manage to find 5 different mountain goats.  But they were so far away, unless they actually moved, it was tough to tell.

 Part way up the hiking trail was a beautiful scenic rest stop. 

 A bit later we got another amazing view of the channel going to the northwest.  Juneau peak is on the right.  Three quarters of the way up the peak is an open spot of brown area.  If you zoom in enough, you can see the two mountain goats we saw frolicking in there before they laid down to rest.

The ferns on the mountain are plentiful and thick.  I took this shot into the sun and the next one looking away from the sun. 

There are lots of beautiful plants on the mountain.  Wild raspberries are plentiful.  There are both red and golden yellow raspberries.  And the bears love 'em.

 This is another view of Juneau peak.  The goats show up on this picture a bit better than the other one.  And if you know where they are, you can see 5.  You really have to zoom in a lot and the imagery gets hazy, but they are there.

 Often the trunks of the trees take on some weird configurations. 

Diane and I ran into some fun people to talk to on the trail.  They were from Manitoba, Ukraine, England and S. Carolina.  The cute Englishwoman said she sees young men from our church all the time.  She called them"door knockers."  She mentioned they receive a lot of abuse but that she is always kind to them even though she is a Baptist.

Coming back down the tram we could see two large cruise ships docked in the harbor.  The cruise ship on the right was taking advantage of free time to run some life boat drills.  Zoom in just a bit and you can see their life boats on the left of the ship. 

 The tram ascends 1800 feet from the base, which is at sea level.  It is very interesting to watch the tide affect the channel.  When the tide is out, the channel on the north which is more shallow, looks like a mud lake.  When the tide is in, the water rises nearly 15 feet.  In traveling on the ferries through the channels, the rising and falling tide makes the sea between the islands seem like you are actually on a river.  It even creates rapids.

 Descending Robert's Peak.

 This is Juneau itself.  We don't actually live in Juneau but about 5 miles to the NW in a little place called Mud Creek area.  I think the locals refer to it as the other side of town. 

Our return to terra firma.

Mt. Roberts

We have been going to a little gym up in the valley after breakfast this week.  They have a very nice facility and even a swimming tank where you swim against the flow of the water.  That's a bit tough to get used to, but very effective.  I enjoy the hot tub and the steam room after a good workout. 

[This is the Gastineau Channel.  Many ships come up the inside passage on this route into Juneau.  The island on the right is Douglas Island.  About 1/10 of the population around here is on Douglas.]

Today as we were leaving the gym, one of the managers stopped us as we were backing out.  He asked what we were going to do with our sunny day.  The sun was shinning like we have only seen one other time.  We told him we were waiting for this sunny day to go up the tram onto Mt. Roberts. 

"Would you like a pass?" he asks.

[This is another view of Douglas Island across Gastineau Channel from Juneau.]  

He gave us a pass that saved us each $29.  We will return his corporate pass to him tomorrow with a big plage of cookies. 

[At the top of the tram the views were wonderful.  The tram and development at the top was developed by the Tlingit Indian Tribe at a cost of $17 million.  The film on the Tlingits inside the theater at the top was very informative.]

[As you look at Diane you are looking North West.  Douglas Island is 17 miles long.  It is one of the 1000 or so Islands along the Inland Passage.] 

I give an assignment sheet to the Institute students each Wednesday.  It usually challenges them to answer the questions I ponder long and hard to come up with.  I also allow them a place at the bottom of the page they can ask me a question about the gospel.  They are very insightful in asking their questions.  One wanted to know the difference between the two genealogies of Jesus in the Gospels.  The first week I tried to write an answer on the papers and give them back.  But I have found it is easier, and I can type a more meaningful answer, if I just answer the quesiton on word perfect, run it off on the printer and give it to them.  I am enjoying the challenge. 

I have been studying very hard to prepare for tonight's first in-service lesson.  All of the seminary teachers in the stake will call in for a polycom conference.  We will be discussing the first part of the new manual "Gospel Teaching and Learning."  I can see Friday's are not going to work.  We will be at half strength.  We have to move it to another time if expect any greater participation.

Getting Into Christ's Gospel

We went on a walk Tuesday.  We had the camera and took lots of shots of the beauty of the area.  I am going to just stick them in here so you can enjoy that beauty a little bit. 

Sixteen attended Institute last evening.  Dexter Wilkes was very complimentary and said that he always feels so well spiritually fed.  He really is an amazing guy.  He's 23-25 yrs. old and joined the church earlier this year.  He is as stalwart as they come.   He often gives insightful answers to the questions that are discussed.  He sang in the choir on Sunday and brought his Mother, who is not a menber of the church, to hear him in the choir. 

The lesson was centered around the Savior choosing His disciples and then the miracles the He performed.  They seemed to understand the reasons the Savior performed miracles; 1) He had compassion, 2) to show the faith those who were healed had, 3) these healings fulfilled Messianic prophecies 4) and they showed proof of His divinity, that being He was the Son of God.  We also talked about when miracles cease to occur.  What would be the reasons that would happen? 

When it came to discussing "New Wine in Old Bottles" they seemed to be stumped.  So I referred to my first mission with the Navajo Indians.  I told them how steeped they can be in the ancient traditions of their 'Fathers".  Some when joining the church grasp it and hold strongly to it.  However, some will join the church but still be attached to the older ways and customs of the tribe.  They will go to church but attend sings, or rituals.  They just won't let go of the old ways.  We talked about that and compared it to the Laws of the Old Testament being replaced with the New and Everlasting Covenant.  That it is important that once having accepted the gospel, to fully accept the gospel.  There is a difference between having a testimony and being converted.  Those who are converted keep the commandments and the covenants that they have made.  Conversion is displayed and evidenced when we go forward, never looking back on old habits and behaviors.

It is beginning to look like the Missionary Preparation Class will begin this week.  Pres. Olsen is getting committments from several of the YSA kids to attend.  Nia Ma'ake is going to be turning in her papers soon, so we really want to get going for her.  She is absolutely ready and on fire, but this class will further help her I believe.  Nia's older brother left a couple of weeks ago for BYU Idaho.  He was a missionary in Guatamala. 

A young man named Sean came for the first time last night.  He has expressed a desire to get going again and even take the Missionary Prep class.  He has a personality of gold.  He very easily liked.  He is the one who wanted to play dodge-ball at home evening on Monday.

Diane cooked up some chicken meatballs and salad and finger foods.  The kids scarfed it all down in a hurry. 

I scampered yesterday to make arrangements to go to Whitehorse in the Yukon.  We have a new seminary teacher we need to do some in-service with.  In the end, it works out that he cannot meet with us this weekend but is going to be available next weekend.  So we'll make it work then.  It will be cheaper to go by then because Diane will finally be 65 and the ferry rates are lower once you reach 65. 

We joined a health club yesterday.  We just have to do something or we're going to turn into jelly.  They have a pool that you swim against a current.  It is short.  But it works just fine.  There is lots of cardio equipment and weights and spinning bikes.  The manager was telling me to pick up a heavy handgun if I plan on doing any fishing.  Hmmm. 

The Malins will need a substitute on Oct. 1 for their Sophomore class in seminary.  I feel bad that we will not be able to do that for them.  We will be returning from Whitehorse, Canada, and will be on the ferry from Skagway to Juneau. 

A New Walk

We found a new place to go for a walk yesterday.  It was beautiful and we just couldn't resist taking pictures of it all.  We certainly want to have these photos to remember it all when we return home.

Erik Skyped us last night to tell about the successful elk hunt in the Bookcliffs.  It must have been exciting. 

We both spent most of the day studying, planning, and preparing for upcoming lessons.  I haven't studied and prepared like this since my Masters program at BYU.  But I am learning so much.  It is true; in preparing for a lesson, one learns more than the students will. 

Diane and I set the primary room up for tonight's Institute class this morning.  I am always anxious to see what our numbers will be. 

Dodge Ball?

Monday was a heavy lesson preparation day.  Institute is Wednesday evening and these students are quite sharp.  Many are returned missionaries and others are preparing for missions.  I am learning how to build a lesson better with each week.

Diane did some shopping to prepare for after lessons treats.  We had our YSA home evening last evening as we do on each Monday.  Kaylene gave the lesson and Amanda brought some cupcakes.  They had a wonderful raspberry frosting on top of yellow cake.  Sean had our activity.  He wanted to play Dodge Ball.  With 5 balls it becomes quite hectic.  I played but was usually one of the first ones out.  I just don't have much hop left in me anymore.  It was one of our better turnouts. 

Sean is expressing some interest in going on a mission.  He picked up a New Testament manual for himself and Kaylene and promised he would be at Institute on Wednesday.  That will be great.  We have 7-8 who are potential Missionary Prep candidates.  The branch president wants to get that going shortly. 

Here are some pictures we took while visiting the Juneau Salmon fish hatchery.

This is Sammy Salmon.  Actually the tourist bus drivers will drop off their tourists and change into this get up for a photo opportunity.  This particular Sammy was Kurt.  He attends our YSA Branch.

This fish ladder is the longest in Alaska.  It is around 450 long.  There are about 30 steps in it for the fish to climb.  Some will take as much as a week for them to enter the ladder and reach the top.  It was fascinating to see just how exhausted they would become.  If they missed the jump to the next step they would simply float as if they were dead.  Eventually they would get their equalibrium and rest at the bottom of the pool for another try latter on.  Most are faster than that.  It is built to simulate conditions they would face in a wild stream. 

Fishermen will get as close to the ladder as they can legally and cast for Coho.  They were catching them quite frequently.  This is only 1 mile away from Juneau and just off of the main highway between our apartment and Juneau.

This window allowed us to see the Coho as they entered a step of the ladder and then went on to the next step.  Every now and then we would see a Dolly Varden (Arctic Char) enter the ladder.  These are eventually returned to the sea.

At the top of the ladder is the holding pen.  These fish are near the end of their lives.  When the pen is full enough, they enter a conveyor where they have their eggs removed and the sperm removed.  The eggs are put in 5 gallon buckets and the sperm is stirred into the mix.  The mix of fertilized eggs are then put in trays containg 150,000 eggs apiece.  These hatch in 3-4 months.  The hatchery puts 150 million fry into the Pacific Ocean each year.

When the fry reach fingerling length, they are placed in these blue cages for a period of time.  While there they become accustomed to the smells of the water they are raised in.  That is so they will recognize this water inlet when it is time for them to return and spawn, completing the life cycle.  Only 2 out of 2500 actually make it back.  In the meantime they swim in the Pacific as far away as Japan and California.  They face preditors such as seals, whales, Eagles and fishermen.  When salmon spawn their life cycle is over and they die.  These hatchery fish are ground up and sent to be made into pet food and fertilizer.  I might mention that this is not a fish farm.  I'm learning that "Fish Farm" is two four letter words around here. 

 

 

 

The cement arm on the right is the entrance to the fish ladder.  The black head on the left is a harbor seal lurking for an easy meal.  There were actually four hanging out there for an easy meal.  Every once in a while you would see a chase when they went after a Coho still having some energy.  But mostly they had easy pickings. 

 

Searching For Our Own Opportunities

Our Sunday was a wonderful day here in Juneau.  Believe it or not, we had some sunshine along with lots of partly cloudy skies.  This shot to the right is at about 7:00 p.m. just north of Juneau proper.

There was the 8:00 a.m. branch council meeting.  As the interviews and discussion proegressed I got a few ideas to help us spread our wings a bit.  We had been sent a paper from the CES area office asking us to locate a recently returned missionary.  In the branch council we found out the name of his parents in Yakutat.  I came home and called his grandfather.  The grandfather confirmed his son was in Laie, Hawaii attending BYU Hawaii.  And then things got interesting.  He asked when the stake was going to send the missionaries to teach his 16 year old granddaughter and her 10 year old brother the missionary discussions.  He said they were ready to be baptized.  I got the name of his son and gave him a call.  He too is in Yakutat.  We talked about his children and they are attending the block schedule on Sunday.  The granddaughter is not attending seminary for some family reasons that I will keep to myself.  We discussed their brother's return at Christmas time as a good time to have them baptized by him.  That left the issue of getting them the missionary discussions so they were sure to have some good understanding of the church before going through with the covenant of baptism. 

This picture is from Douglas Island looking back to the east and the Juneau side.  There is so much rainfall that all the crevaces and gullies are turning into beautiful rivers cascading from the peaks of the mountains and running into the bay.

There are no missionaries close to Yakutat.  So I asked if they would be up to Sister Waldron and me coming and spending a week and working with the kids like an early morning seminary, or even after school seminary if the school extra curricular activities prevented early morning.  We talked about staying in a bed and breakfast during that time.  We are making the trip anyway to visit with the Seminary teacher.  It was just an idea to see if we could plant two rows at the same time.  Well the parents are excited about the opportunity.  I called President Huntsman, the 1st councilor in the Stake Presidency over S & I, and he liked the idea a lot.  I asked if he could fly us up, drop us off, and return to pick us up in a week.  Now that may be risky because of the amount of rain we have been having.  There are two ferries out of Yakutat going to Juneau in October.  Both leave on Thursday.  So that is an option for us to get out of Yakutat.  However going into Yakutat on the ferry would require a two week stay.  We just can't do that.  So we have to make the flight in work.  November is out of the question because Sister Waldron is teaching seminary most of that month. 

I called the mission President, President Beesley.  We discussed the situation at some length.  At the end he said he would be alright with us flying into Yakutat.  He would take care of the interview and the recommends after the lessons and prior to the baptism. 

I stayed awake in bed most of the night trying to go over all the scenarios so that we can make this happen.  President Huntsman and I had an original plan of flying in and out on the same day when weather permits.  So we will see how this comes about.

In ward council there was mention that one of our YSA members had a brother who had been on a mission but was going through some depression since coming home.  He hasn't been going to church.  I sat down with his sister at church yesterday and just visited with her about home.  I asked if we could come visit the family and get acquainted.  We worked out a time of 6:00 p.m.  We did visit them and had a wonderful, but short visit.  We became acquainted with the returned missionary and invited him to come back to church.  We told him he was loved and wanted by many to be associated with him again.  I asked him if he would come back.  He didn't exactly commit, but he didn't exactly reject the possibility either.  He did say he would consider it.  We only visited about 30 minutes.  We left them with a prayer and a plate of Diane's pumpkin muffins.

You'll notice I haven't mentioned any names.  I have noticed that many Alaskans are following this blog and I don't want to embarass or compromise anyone that we are coming to know and love. 

Our branch choir sang in Sacrament meeting as well. 

We did a lot of sight seeing yesterday on Douglas Island.  It is part of our stake but we haven't visited it until yesterday.  It was a rainy day, but the rain was very light throughout most of the day. 

I did watch the BYU vs Utah football game.  The ending was very bizarre but it did make it interesting.

In our travels around Juneau Diane will just have to now and then stop and take a picture of a home or building.  This home and the Montessori School appealed to her.

And I ran across the Perseverance Theater.  I wasn't expecting it to be on Douglas Island.  For some reason I thought it was in Juneau.  It was important to me because one of my past students, Allison Holtkamp is a member of the Thespian Troop that works here.  She will return from Skagway in a week or two.  I'm looking forward to seeing her.

 

Our final day of seminary for the week was spent with a little review for the kids, some scripture mastery time and each of the teachers brought a treat for their students. 

We saw this porcupine quite high in a hemlock tree eating the leaves.  I've been told that most of the trees here are Spruce and Hemlock. 

After a short nap and some study time and lunch we decided to go up to Mendenhall Glacier and walk around a bit.  The rain was pouring most of the time, as usual.  We did see some beautiful things we hadn't noticed in other times that we have walked around.  There are daisy like flowers all over the mountain sides. 

The foliage is beginning to turn now.  It is making for some beautiful scenery.  There are huge blocks of ice floating in the lake below Mendenhall Glacier.  

We did see a few salmon still in the river but the main portion of the run is over.  The bears come to the river less often.  We did see some mink though.  They were darting in and out of the cover so fast that by the time you saw them you couldn't get your camera on them.  They are a beautiful animal.  And they chirp loudly while they are playing, or fighting.  I couldn't tell which. 

Some of the blocks of ice are house size and even the size of a barn.

I had a wonderful visit on the phone with Travis.  He has a tremendous amount of skill in human relations. 

We tried a place call Booyahs for dinner on our date night last night.  I don't think we'll be going back often. 

The Glacier is more than 35 miles long.  The time lapse photography I saw in the visitor center shows that it is building and receding each year with the winter season.  It is also receding quite a few feet each year in it's total length.

There is a lot of time for study and preparation.  I give the students a chance to ask questions on an assignment sheet each week.  They ask very insightful questions.  It is good that I have time to look the answers.  I have such poor penmanship that I am answering their questions as a message on their facebook page. 

We have had a lot rainfall each day for most of the month of September.  It totals around 7 inches now I think.  There are water falls all along this mountain side and they collect at the bottom and culminate in this beautiful water fall flowing into the lake.

We attended a Thunder Mountain girls volleyball game last night.  One of our seminary girls, Makayla, was on the team.  She and her team mates played their hearts out but lost in three straight.  

A Thursday

We were going to celebrate a successful Institute experience on Thursday.  We didn't know exactly what we were going to do, but we were going to go play.  But, Alas...another rainy, rainy day.  So I started preparing for my next Institute lesson, and Diane prepared for her Seminary class.  Sister Kirkpatrick works for the Alaskan Airlines and can't always be there.  So Diane and Sister Schlecter are doing the substitute teaching for her.  Sister Schlecter is going to Hawaii for 6 weeks in November and that will leave it on Diane. 

The rain continues to pour.  Those who live here tell us this is more than usual. 

Michael Schlecter came over to help me get my DVD player working.  Now we can pre-view our DVDs on the TV instead of the computer.  Sister Schlecter was here with him and she and Diane worked on today's lesson together.

I received another phone in the mail today from the church.  Since Lazarus seems to be doing fine, I guess we'll just send it back.

Jerrilynn Olsen, the wife of our Branch President, David Olsen


And this is her daughter Jaimie, who was just married to Sister Kirkpatrick's son in April.

After the Lesson

There are lots of communications between us and the outlying seminary teachers.  Diane is involved heavily in records keeping.  And I spent the day wrapping up for last evening's Institute lesson.

I wish I could say the cold was on the mend, but it is a good ol' Alaskan dripper.  What is that you ask?  The best way I can think to describe it is this, it is much like a Utah dripper.  In fact they are identical. 

This is our Branch President, David Olsen.

 

 

Here is Ingrid Hansen, Elizabeth Munoz and Lizzie Enjoying Diane's after Institute treats.

Jeri Lynn Olsen and Diane provide the treats for our Institute students after the lesson.  

Kind of a P Day

This cold had my goat for another day.  I was able to do some administrative things but I hung out around the apartment all day.

We got a real surprise from Whitehorse, Canada.  I e-mailed all of our seminary teachers to notify them of an upcoming in-service schedule.  I received back a notice from Whitehorse they had a new teacher.  Those of us in Juneau had not been notified.  If that is the case, then Diane and I will be making a trip to Whitehorse as soon as possible to help the new teacher man the ship.

Diane did the wash...again.  She got a massage to help out her ailing back and she got her hair cut.  She does look nice.  She then prepared a nice chicken dinner for our Spanish Speaking Elders here in the stake.  Elder Smith is from Minnesota and Elder Wirig is from San Diego.  After dinner I had Elder Smith give us a spiritual message.  We knealt on the floor and had a prayer and they were on their way.  I kind of initiate that eat, spiritual message, prayer then hit the door attitude so they aren't inclined to hang around and waste their time or ours.  We enjoy them but want them doing their work.

There was a wonderful movie on BYU-TV about horses running up a ramp, being mounted by a girl at the top, and then diving 35 feet into a pool of water.  We watched it. 

This day found me trying to deal with an Alaskan cold.  I was able to get half of my Institute lesson prepared, but it was between two naps.  Diane went to YSA Family Home Evening without me.  She made a beautiful platter of triple fudge brownies.  The YSA kids had done a great job of planning the evening and nearly the entire plate of brownies came home with her.

The highlight of the day was Skyping with Tiffany and Jonas.  We've now done that with Erik, Amy, and Tiffany. 

I had a wonderful chat with my grandson Tate, who turned 9.  He even told me what his mother fixed him for his birthday breakfast.

Another Sunday

Sundays are so full.

8:00  a.m.  Branch Council
9:10  a.m.  Priesthood
10:10 a.m. Sunday School
11:10 a.m. Sacrament Meeting
12:30 p.m. meet with those going to San Diego for their Temple Excursion
12:45 p.m. Choir Practice
1:30 p.m.   Lunch
3:30 p.m.   Check to make sure I know how to record a CES Broadcast
4:00 p.m.   Record Elder Holland's Address (It was wonderful.)
5:00 p.m.   Baptism (Supporting our Zone Leaders in a Baptism)
6:00 p.m.   Show the CES Fireside to any in our YSA Branch and the two wards that come.
7:00 p.m.   Clean up the equipment
8:00 p.m.   Finally time for Dinner

The highlight of the day was a Skype with Erik, Andrea and the kids.  Just to see their faces after a month is a wonderful thing.  Absolutely nothing is more important to us than our children and grandchildren. 

We have a young man in the YSA Branch, Dexter, who is about 24.  After meeting with the missionaries he was baptized last February.  He has come very far since then.  He is almost always with us at the Sunday meetings and Institute and Choir practice.  He taught his first Elders Quorum lesson yesterday.  He was very well prepared and his presentation was superb.  He works at a mine here in Juneau.  He is a college graduate.  It is wonderful to watch these things happen. 

Talking In Sacrament Meeting

I needed practice on making a DVD recording from a broadcast.  At 4:00 p.m. I went to the church to see if I had learned the process well enough that I could be successful at it.  I seem to have it down.

Upon leaving the audio and video room I noticed the Spanish Missionaries were preparing for a baptism.  I rushed home and Diane and I changed into appropriate clothes for a baptism and joined them.  A sweet little gal, age 11, joined the church.  The service was in both English and Spanish.  There was a wonderful spirit there as all watched a couple of videos by the church after the baptism. 

 Diane and I went out into the rain and found a place to eat dinner.  We really haven't eaten out since we arrived.  We found a place called "Donna's."

I knew we had to talk in church today and while Diane was preparing diligently I was having a hard time doing anything.  In my mind I was going to dissect Section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  And that is the way I left it as I went to bed.  This morning I woke up with an entirely different subject.  I seem to be feeling the need to speak on the Holy Ghost and so that is what I did. 

Diane did a wonderful job with her talk.  She used Julie Beck's inspiring talk from a while back.  She is getting more comfortable behind the podium all the time. 

We had choir practice and a short meeting for those who are going to San Diego next month to attend the temple and visit with the Schindlers, (the couple who preceeded us.)  I think some will be staying with them in San Diego.