December Zone Conference

I think that we have been able to achieve a work load that is compatible with our age and our abilities.  The adult Institute class and the Missionary Preparation class have helped to fill some empty areas of time.

My preparations for the YSA Institute for Wednesday evening were centered on the crucifixion.  While the preparations for the adult Institute were centered around the birth of the Savior and the beginning of his ministry.  It was interesting to study and present for me.  It caused me lots of thought as to just how important this belief is to me in my life.  How grateful I am for the Atonement. 

The chest colds that you can get while in Alaska are every bit as big as the state of Alaska.  I think today I am seeing considerable improvement.

We have had so much snow. Where it hasn't been moved by snow plows you can see over a foot and a half of snow.

As usual there is a great deal of time spent reading scriptures and lessons, making lesson plans and organizing presentations.  Sister Waldron and I each taught a seminary class this week. 

Mike and Heidi Malin taught a lesson and incorporated the Feast of the Tabernacles.  They had candles and nuts and dates and olives for a Tabernacle meal.  They let the kids wear their jammies, and set up their blankets over the chairs like tents.  It was very effective. 
In my reading I came across the verses that tell us Elizabeth and Zacharias are Levites.  And in the same preparations I read that Mary was a Jewess highly favored of God.  I started wondering how Mary and Elizabeth could then be cousins.  I wasn't finding an answer.  I went to Jesus the Christ.  I went to several other sources and was able to find nothing.  So then I googled it.  The answer was in the scriptures, I just hadn't picked up on it.  It is in the Genealogy.  Mary's father was Heli (Eli) and he married a Levite woman, Anna.  Anna was Elizabeth's mother's sister.  And therefore they are cousins.  It is little things like this that are making my mission very valuable for me.  It is that, and the people I meet.

Our attendance at YSA Institute was only 4.  I expect next week to even be worse.  It is finals week.  Between that and people going home after the semester it will get lonely around here.  We did pick up another sister in our Thursday morning adult class though. 

Our second zone conference was held this week.  All of the missionaries from Whitehorse, Canada on the North, to Ketchikan on the south flew in to Juneau to get instruction and training from President and Sister Beesely.  The zone leaders did a fine job of preparing this conference.  They played hard early in the morning at basketball and some sort of floor hockey.  They studied hard afterwards and did tracting together.  They then returned for wonderful instruction.

I was trusted with teaching them how to incorporate the Book of Mormon more effectively in their teaching.  I gave a few examples and then related to them the similarities of the languages of the Athabascans, Tlingits, Navajos and Apaches.  I hypothesized that it was possible that the Asian immigrants to Alaska and the Lamanite had settled their lands and moved 10-12 miles at a time until they came into contact with each other.  Could it be possible they would inter-marry as they met? 

I then told of my experience on the Chinle reservation with a Navajo Singer.  I had an opportunity to teach him only one time.  (He had told me I had one shot to teach him, and then I was not to bother him again.)  So I put away my Elder Brown discussions and told of the history of the Book of Mormon, the coming of a Great White God and his promise of a return, and the Gold Plates.  I then taught this Shaman, or Singer, the story of how Joseph Smith received those same Golden Plates.  He accused me of having obtained this information from another tribal elder or Singer.  There was not other way I could have known of the history of the ancients.  I then challenged the missionaries to not ignore the Lamanites in their areas.  This same Book of Mormon was written for the Lamanites.  They, the Lamanites (Native Americans)  would be blessed by this book through the means of the Gentiles.  It was fun to be in front of their enthusiastic countenances.

At the conclusion they had a white elephant game.  There were a lot of laughs as we unwrapped each present.  Each one showed us the fun personalities of those who wrapped the gift, and the fun personality of the missionary that received it. 

This morning was our Missionary Preparation class.  We had 5 in attendance.  I put them outside of their comfort zones by having them actually teach from the "Preach My Gospel" manual.  As always, they enjoyed staying after and chatting and eating. 

When I stepped outside this morning there were 12 or more Bald Eagles in the trees and flying around the air.  At one time I saw 5 in one tree.  I ran in to get my camera but only 3 were left when I returned.  They seemed to be playing King of the Sitka Spruce.  They all wanted to perch on the top.

We purchased tickets to attend an choral presentation called, "King Island Christmas."  There was a piano accompanist, a director and a choir.  The story tells of the residents living on King Island some time ago.  Their priest had been sent to get the yearly supplies and return with them on a freighter.  Winter came a bit early and the ice was quickly forming on the sea.  The waves were higher than would be safe for the people to transport their year's worth of supplies from the freighter to the shore.  By radio they decided to go to the leaward side of the island.  There the waves would be smaller and they could meet the freighter there.  However they only had 3 hours as the ice was quickly forming.  They had to carry their umiak (a large canoe) over the mountain to cross the island and reach the leaward side.  Through trials they completed their mission and were able to get their priest off of the freighter along with the crates of supplies that would keep them alive for another year.  We enjoyed the show a lot.  There were several from our stake singing in the choir.  They have plans to take the show to Scotland next summer.  By the way, the story is true.