A Routine (Sort Of)

There really isn't a lot to tell that is different from any other week.  We get up at 5:00 a.m. and are at the church at 6:15 a.m. to open the doors of the church for the seminary teachers.  Diane did substitute one day this week.  She was filling in for Bernie Kirkpatrick who is going to get her music kinderskool going.  I'm not sure what it is called.  We have added 5 new seminary students and lost 2.  Our 7th Day Adventist boy was told by his grandfather he didn't want him coming any longer.  And one boy moved to Oregon.  Mya, a 15 year old girl was baptized in December.  She has been coming.  Cat, another 16 year old girl has decided to be active again.  Eddie Gomez has moved back home and is with the Freshmen class.  Conner has moved in from Virginia.  His father is in the Coast Guard.

Institute is a lot of fun with so many coming again.  Our young people that are working in the legislature and senate are sometimes kept at work and arrive late, but we are glad to have them any portion they can attend.  They add a lot to the discussions. 

Scott Beames, our Alaska CES coordinator, came to Juneau to be with us for the monthly in-service session.  Scott visited with us for a couple of hours prior to the in-service meeting and Diane fed him a good home cooked meal.  He asked Diane and I to teach from the "Training Videos" online; 'How to Ask Questions."  I changed the title a bit to call it "Crafting Questions."  Because it is a craft to be learned.  We spent about twenty minutes training our teachers to ask questions that: 1) cause them to search, 2) cause them to analyze, 3) cause them to express feelings and testimony, and 4) questions that would help them in their application of the principles being taught. 

Thursday mornings adult institute class was a bit small, but we had a wonderful discussion on John 6, "The Bread of Life."  We spent 90 minutes on it and could have kept going I think. 

I have finished reading Michner's book, "Alaska."  I have a greater appreciation for this wonderful state and what it has taken to be what it is.  I feel badly to learn that once again the Native Americans have gotten a raw deal.  Our government has done a better job of taking care of them than they did the Native Americans in the lower 48.  I am not advocating carrying them indefinitely by any means.  There needs to be a better job of integrating them into our American society and weening them from what seems to be an eternal future support for them. 

Our ability to run an effective missionary preparation class is pretty much an impossibility.  The future missionaries are under no pressure to attend classes and so they come when they can.  They miss often.  Matt Adamson from Valdez is very consistent.  He will make a very good missionary.  He was the only one in attendance this morning.  We had a very good lesson on "The Plan of Salvation."  He hung around for an hour afterwards just to be with us.