We have completed a wonderful journey to Whitehorse,
Yukon Territory in Canada. Friday
morning we boarded the ferry Malaspina about 6:30 a.m. and departed at 7:00 for
Skagway, Alaska. The scenery, like
everything we have seen so far, was special.
I wanted to take a picture every 100 yards to share with those I
love. 
We arrived in Haines around 11:00 a.m. and waited
while they boarded travelers to complete the trip into Skagway. The Powells are in Haines. I appreciate more what they are experiencing. They are service missionaries and just help
whoever needs help with whatever needs doing.
He taught Automotive Sciences at Ricks.
He helps anyone with their cars and building anything. He is quite the handyman. He even substituted for the Auto Shop teacher
in Haines a bit. They wrote him out a
check for teaching. He asked, “What’s
this?” They told him it was his
pay. 
He said, “I do this because I want to help out my
friend. You can keep the check and use
how you see fit.” They were amazed. 
After a night in the Mile Zero Bed and Breakfast, we
started our drive to Whitehorse, Canada in the Yukon Territory. The weather was cold and windy and it tried
to snow on us but didn’t. We were in the
clouds until the Canadian border and then it started to clear up. The rest of the drive was breathtaking. 
We arrived at the Whitehorse LDS church about 35 minutes
late. We didn’t realize they were on
Pacific time or the same as Washington and Oregon. But Vic Lecheminant was patient and all set
up and waiting for us. He is the newly
set apart seminary teacher. There are 5
students in his class. We spent until
12:30 a.m. showing him the Seminary Teacher Web Site the church has. We walked him through the teacher resources
and also the teacher helps. Diane walked
him through the CSTAR program where he will keep his rolls. I then did an in-service with him that he
missed last week from the Juneau Relief Society room on the Polycom.
After driving around town trying to find a place to
eat lunch, we decided on the KFC. Oh it
was bad.
We returned to the church where the Elders had been
spending the morning getting ready for a baptism. A Sister Nunn in the Branch had invited her
hairdresser to her home to hear the missionary discussions. The hairdresser is named Luz Garcia, a Filipino
woman who has gone through Breast Cancer treatment and was wondering where she
stood with God. The Plan of Salvation
registered familiar with her. Her
husband also was attending the lessons.
The branch president cleared him for baptism early Saturday
morning. The Elders had been teaching
them a month.
The branch combined a Relief Society meal with this
baptism celebration meal. Afterwards
Sister Waldron joined the Sisters in the Chapel for the broadcast of Women’s
Conference. I sat in the seminary room
chatting with the 4 elders in Whitehorse and talking about various gospel
subjects. I did my very best to guide
them scripturally through some things. I
really liked these Elders and we had a good time together. I felt like I was with my own sons a
bit.
Diane let the cat out of the bag that I had sung in
the Tabernacle Choir. Immediately they
wanted me to sing in Sacrament meeting the next day. I just don’t have a voice anymore. I was able to defer to singing in a
quintet. We went to the Little’s home to
practice. Bro. Little has recently been
released as the Branch President. What a
wonderful home they have. He is a
developer and made excellent use of his talents when building on his land in
the beautiful Spruce forest. A brother
McDonald joined us on tenor. He used to
be in a Rock Band. He now works for the
Fisheries Agencies regulating fishing.
Little’s 18 year old son played piano for us. Diane sang too, as did Sister Little. 
After running through Come Follow Me a few times
Bro. McDonald led us to the Hirsch’s home.
They put us up for the night. We
had a most wonderful visit. They are
from Alamosa, Colorado but have been in Whitehorse for years now. He was a contractor. They lived in a log cabin until about
2005. He built a wonderful three story
white home with a porch landing around most of it. They heat with a soap stone Franklin style
stove and have piles of wood they have been preparing for the upcoming
winter. The Elders have helped them
some. 
Tom Hirsch loved to talk politics. Diane warned me that missionaries do not talk
politics so I backed off and let Tom talk away about the fears he has for the
US. He maintains his US citizenship and
he and Patti vote in the elections when they occur. They are big time Glen Beck followers. We enjoyed visiting with them so much but I
finally had to cry “Uncle” and we headed to bed.
The next morning we talked a lot of hunting and
fishing and the regulations on them and needed on them. We also talked about the Indian situation
and the troubles the Canadian treaties with the Indians have caused. They are immense and I won’t go into them
here.
We attended the Whitehorse Branch Sacrament
meeting. They asked Diane and I to
speak. Fortunately they also asked the
four missionaries to each bare their testimonies. They were so appreciative afterwards. We truly felt like we had done some good this
weekend.
After the meeting, we looked at our watches and felt
like we could make the Sunday ferry out of Skagway if we left right then. We quickly said our good-byes and drove back
through 120 miles of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. We are now on the ferry and about 5 hours
away from our beds in Juneau.
Oh! We did
see an exciting thing on our Ferry ride into Skagway. Just before pulling into Haines, we saw a pod
of 4 killer whales swimming the opposite direction bent on getting
somewhere. It was beautiful to watch
them rising in and out of the water just like dolphins do. In fact, at first I thought they were dolphins. And then I saw that beautiful white side come
out of the water and realized they were Killer Whales.
The entire Ferry ride back to Juneau was spent
organizing and editing the pictures we took.
Once again every place we turned our heads yelled loudly at us, “You
have just got to take a picture of me.”
And so we did.
Diane picked up a jig-saw puzzle to work on. The Alaska Marine Highway System uses free
books and items to help the time pass while traveling.
We arrived in our beds at mid-night last night. We both realized we have experienced an
incredible opportunity on this week-end.
People can recognize truth all over the world when it is presented to
them. And even though a Filipino couple
could very well have come across the gospel in the Philippines, they have found
life’s path led them to Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. And there, while running her hair salon, she made
a friend of an LDS Filipino client. That
client bravely invited her and her husband to her home and the missionaries
presented the plan. They quickly
recognized it as truth through the Spirit of the Holy Ghost and within four
weeks of lessons and interviews they sought baptism after going through the process
of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
We are so blessed to be here. We have some very slow days. But when the action comes, it pours in
buckets.
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