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.