The Temperatures Are Warmer Lately

The week has been challenging in so many ways.  Diane is still fighting cold symptoms and is well into her second month.  I have seemed to lick my cold.  But it took 10 weeks to do it.

 

Institute was very challenging for me.  Truthfully, I've probably only read the Epistles of Paul 2 times.  And so teaching the doctrines and principles Paul wrote about stretched me.  As always, the teacher gains so much more than the student.  I read so much written material and viewed so many conference talks about the Epistle of Romans.  I now understand the relationship better of The Blessings promised to Abraham, the lineage of those blessings, the adoption and grafting in of the gentiles and the idea of the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  I must admit, I was really stretched to present these principles in an intelligent and understandable manner.  I am looking forward to meeting Paul at some point when this life is over.

Yesterday in the Adult Institute class we discussed, "Where Much Is Given, Much Is Expected."  Our numbers were small.  There were 8 in attendance.  But these 8 gave it there all in contributing to the discussion.  We ended viewing the conference talk from April Conference 1975 given by Elder Neal A. Maxwell.  It seemed that each sentence was a complete sermon in and of itself.  I don't think the church has seen a words craftsman like him.  It was so full I had to make a copy of it to e-mail to each member of the class so they could digest it all.  I recall, when hearing him give the address, that it seemed so relevant to the times we were living in 1975.  It is so much more relevant today. 

The Elders called me to participate in a discussion with Carl.  He is 24, a Tlingit, and has completed four years in the Marine Corps about a year ago.  He is from Yakutat and his family felt he needed to come to Juneau for better opportunities.  The missionaries got acquainted with him and have been teaching him for about 6 weeks now.  They meet with him as often as 3 times a week.  He wants to be baptized.  The elders feel they want him to know and understand more before they will let him follow through with this commitment.  He has been attending Institute and he comes to Sacrament Meeting regularly.  He has attended both the YSA branch and the regular ward here in Juneau. 

Carl is very intelligent, but is definitely Native American in his approach.  He is struggling with work opportunities right now.  Diane and I met with him yesterday in the public library and helped him fill out an employment application online for Home Depot.  We were almost finished and I could see Carl was getting frustrated with the length of the application.  He was just marking questions without really giving them much thought.  He was fidgeting and finally, by mistake I believe, closed the window as we were trying to save it.  We lost two hours worth of filling out the application.  We are meeting again today to try and do it again.  Carl is intelligent and has wonderful people skills.  I really think he will be a good employee for whoever will hire him.

Sunday he came to church in Levis and a white T-Shirt.  Our Sunday School teacher, Elijah Verhagen, took Carl with him to his home a couple of miles down the road and gave him one of his white shirts and a tie and then brought him back.  Carl looked nice in them.  It was touching to see the brothership exhibited between them.

Heidi and Michael Malin, the seminary teachers of our Sophomores, have been working on "Romans 1:16,  16 For I am not ^aashamed of the ^bgospel of Christ: for it is the ^cpower of God unto ^dsalvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."  They took the class into the cultural hall this morning and gave each student a white T-Shirt.  They had plastic sheets laid out on the floor with markers and paints.  They then had the kids paint their T-Shirts with Ann Dibbs message from one of her talks; "I'm A Mormon.  I Know It! I Love It!  I Live It!'  It is wonderful to watch the kids take a gospel principle and apply it in their lives.

More YSA Reality

Marshall Sargent and Leti (Hotsauce) Kelepi entertaining us on the church stage.  Just before Christmas these same two characters entertained us slap dancing at the Luau.  Bethany Munoz, Mallory Welling and Nani Toetu'u doing their thing on the stage. 

Bethany and her family live down the street from us in a trailer court.  Mallory is the 8 year old daughter of Richard and Karlyn Welling.  Nani will be with her unit.  They will be deploying to Cuba in September.  They are military police.

Nic Tracy is a recently returned missionary.  He was in the Indiannapolis, Indiana mission.  He spent a week in Utah before coming home to Juneau.  He ran into a gal who had also been on a mission to Indiana.  They spent some time together and before Nic came back to Juneau they were engaged.  They will be getting married in May.  He went down to Utah a couple of weeks ago to spend time with her.  I tease him by accusing him of returning to Utah to get to know his fiancee.

Paula Munoz and A. J. Collins are doing the Macarina.  Paula is the sister of Bethany.  She is 18 and has had a very rough year.  She had some reconstructive surgery done on a foot in the summer.  She is just recovering enough to get out of the trailer and walk around on her own.  She will be having the other foot operated on this coming summer and will again have a lengthy recovery period. 

This is our branch president, David Olsen.

Here is a shot of one of the groups doing their karaoke and dance.  They really had a lot of fun making the clues for the game, hiding them and then monitoring the participants. 

Richard Welling and Justin Brink are really getting into their moment on the stage.  They even had a bit of harmony going with with their doot doots.

 

YSA Reality TV

The group said the activity was like some Reality TV show where they go around the world performing different stunts.  Anyway, they divided into three groups and off they went.


Landon had submitted to having his lips enhanced by Bethany to imitate Arnold Schwarzaneger.  At least that is what we all took the clues to mean. 

Aubrey Welling is the 12 year old daughter of our 1st councilor in the Branch Presidency, Richard.  Sawa is the wife of our 2nd councilor in the Branch Presidency, Robert Francis.  Each group had to finish up with a karaoke performance, along with dancing, in order to finish with any self respect. 

I don't know this young man's name.  He comes occasionally with Leti and Marshall.  But he and Bob Francis were having a great time with the karaoke. 

Colt Franklin just returned from his mission in Germany.  He has since been called to be the Elders Quorum President.  He was selected from his group to eat the pudding as quickly as possible.  I think he enjoyed any attention he could get his way this night.

Dillon Skrysinski was baptized in December.  He is the only member in his family.  His parents were supportive of his decision to be baptized.  Nani Toetu'u invited him to listen to the missionaries after Dillon had asked her a few questions.  Dillon bore talked in sacrament meeting Sunday and bore his testimony, telling us of feeling the Holy Ghost bare witness to him that what he was being taught by the missionaries was true.  He has joined the national guard and will be going to Military Police training next month.  He hopes to be finished in time to be deployed to Cuba with Nani's unit in September.  Nani will be a great influence for keeping spiritually on track.

Margaret Sekona has just graduated from BYU Hawaii with a degree in sociology.  She is now working here in Juneau and living with her family again.  She has a wonderful testimony and is a great asset to the branch.

We meet in the Relief Society room for our YSA family home evenings.  We usually have announcements for the coming week's activities followed by a spiritual lesson of some sort.  Oh, and we always start with a song and a prayer.  After the lesson we will have some treats provided by someone.  They do that as turns.  And then it usually breaks down to basketball or volleyball.  This time we had the crazy Reality activity.

This is A. J. Collins and Justin Brink.  A. J. turns 31 this month and we will lose him as he gets acclimated to the 2nd ward.  He served his mission in Berlin.  He is Choctaw Indian and has been our Elder's Quorum President.  He has a very strong testimony and when he actually stops coming to be with us, we will miss him greatly.  Justin Brink returned from a mission to Southern California just before Christmas.  He is very friendly with the Toetu'u family as well.  He seems to have a romantic interest in Nani Toetu'u.  He often wears a Lava Lava to Sacrament meetings along with a pair of flip flops, a white shirt and a tie.  His family isn't active and I think he would have liked to have been born a Tongan.  He is a great asset to the branch. 

Jeri Lynn Olsen is the Wife of our YSA Branch President.  She and David Olsen, her husband, moved here from Montana a couple of years ago.  They have four kids and two of them have been living here in Juneau off and on.  Their daughter Jamie and her husband Zac, are attending BYU in Provo for this semester.  They have been attending University of Alaska SE.  Their son Eric and his wife had been living with the Olsens in their apartment.  They have recently found an apartment of their own.

Jesse Adams is a returned missionary who served his mission in Mexico.  He works at one of the local hotels.  He has just been called to be the president of our YSA Institute class.  He is doing a little karaoke singing and dancing with Karlyn Welling and her daughter Naomi.  Karlyn is the wife of our Branch Presidency 1st councilor.  Naomi is her daughter and is in our Freshman seminary class.

The first assignment in the game was to read our clues and find our way into the nursery.  There was a diaper with a wad of brown stuff in it.  One of each group was asked to eat the contents .  We finally smelled the chocolate in the air and came to realize the gooey brown stuff was just rich brownie.  It was a mental thing getting past that diaper and into the brownie.  Justin Brink was up to the task.

Margaret Sekona was kept busy finding karaoke numbers for each of the groups to sing and dance to.

 

Valentine's Day In The Mission Field

Our family home evenings have been very well done the past two Mondays.  Margaret Sekona gave a beautiful lesson on the Holy Ghost two weeks ago.  Brad Allpin gave the lesson this week on agency.  There has been a lot of young people showing up.  What with the state legislature and the beginning of a new school semester, our numbers have been up. 

This is Justin Brink after Institute on Thursday.  He just returned from his mission in California.

Wednesday Institute was a lot of fun.  I sometimes wish I could turn right around and teach the lesson again so I could do it right.  I think of better questions to ask after it is all over.  Our lesson was on "The Law of the Harvest," and "Man is Justified By Faith." 

This is Landon Goodman and Colt Franklin.  Colt is recently returned from his mission and has just been called as the Elder's Quorum President.  Landon has been the branch mission leader.  He is working at a plumbers shop and is looking at going to UVU.

The young people were really in to it.  It was interesting to study Romans with them.  These are the writings that convinced Martin Luther that men are saved by Grace.  Paul was trying to balance the teachings of the Judaizers who were teaching that men are saved by works alone.  He was trying to bring the proper balance into the importance of Grace as well as works.  Luther seems to have taken that to mean that Grace alone, without works, would bring about exaltation.  It's a good thing there are lessons to follow so we can approach the works part in more depth. 

Diane prepared a pasta salad and some banana nut bread. 

Mary Verhagen is from Fairbanks.  She is going to a semester of school at University of Alaska SE.  Jesse Adams is a returned missionary.  He went to Mexico.  He is going to be our new Institute President.  Elijah Verhagen is here with his family.  He is working at the Legislature as a page.

Amie is a student at BYU.  She is in the ward where Clyde Stauffer, my brother-law, is in the bishopric.  Coincidentally she is engaged to Josh Verhagen who is here with his family working for the legislature in some capacity while they are in session.  They sang in Sacrament meeting today.  Diane accompanied them.  They sounded wonderful together.



Thursday at the adult Institute class we discussed the two great commandments.  The Kostenkos brought Sister Kostenko's mother who is in her nineties and struggling with these later years of life.  It was good to have her with us.  Our numbers were fewer as the kids are out of school for four days. 

Thursday evening we met with the Stake Presidency and the S & I people in our stake.  We conference called the Bishop in Sitka.  Our seminary teacher is struggling with some health problems.  Alice Smith's heart is giving her problems.  The bishop is struggling with getting another teacher.  We are in hopes this gets solved quickly. 

We have two Sister missionaries in Juneau now.  They are living in the apartment that was being used by the Spanish speaking missionaries.  We asked the Elders to give their apartment an extra special cleaning for the incoming sisters.  They did a very good job.  The Spanish Elders are now sharing the double wide trailer with the zone leaders.  We met the sisters today in church.  One is form Grace, Idaho and the other is from Cyprus, California. 

During our drive to the end of the road, Diane picked up lots of nice shells from the beach. 

Diane played the piano for Josh Verhagen and his fiance, Amie.  They sang a duet in church today.  They sang part of "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Mandarin and then they sang the final chorus in English.  They both have very nice voices. 

The temperature has been in the upper 30s and even above 40 one day.  We've had lots of rain.  Already we have received 15 inches of rainfall. 

We had a low key valentine's day.  I took Diane with me to pick out her own floral arrangement to place on the dining table.  Diane gave me a Tom Clancey book.  I got into it a bit but had to throw it away.  It just wasn't conducive to the missionary spirit.  She also gave me a pair of plastic shoes I can use in the shower after working out at the gym. 

This piece of driftwood created some wonderful pictures.  I probably don't have the right eye to be a photographer, but I had fun trying.

We bought tickets to go to the Anchorage Temple with our YSA branch on April 19 and 20.  CES decided to have an In-service training on the 19th in Anchorage.  The NW states CES coordinator will be visiting and called the meeting.  So, they will be paying for our airline tickets. 

End of the Road North

We had a wonderful Missionary Prep class with Nia Ma'ake and Matt Adamson on Saturday morning.  It was quite a challenge for Diane and me.  Our Regional Coordinator from Seattle, Greg Bishop, wanted another in-service Saturday morning on the vidyo program.  I really didn't want to cancel another Missionary Prep class and so I taught the class while Diane attended to the in-service.  Then I attended to the in-service while Diane taught the same two people the Temple Preparation lesson.  I believe both Nia and Matt have had their missionary applications sent to the Missionary Department now.

Sunday was a wonderful day.  We had a sacrament meeting with Mary Verhagen, Vika Toetu'u and Landon Goodman giving wonderful talks.  Each talk was well thought out and very well presented.  The Missionary Preparation class for the 2nd and 3rd wards had to be cancelled.  Only Frankie Gonzalez showed.  The Tupou twins were in Ketchikan with the high school basketball team.  Makayla was sick and Hunter didn't show. 

The last few days have been spent preparing Galatians and Romans for Institute tomorrow night.  With each passing week, as I study these lessons, I come to realize Paul was an incredible disciple and Apostle for the Savior. 

Today after lunch the sun was out and the temperature was up as high as 41 degrees.  We got in the car and drove north to the end of the road.  It ended up being close to 30 miles away.  The drive was beautiful and the road was good most of the way out.  There were a few miles of construction but most of the way it was paved.  The sun was in the wrong place for most of the pictures but I was able to wiggle some on the settings to get some shots.  I am still in awe at the incredible vistas of beauty that are around us. 

Our Spanish Elders have both been transfered to Anchorage.  Elder Smith has been her for seven months.  I haven't met their replacements.  We have also been sent two sister missionaries.  They arrive tomorrow.  The Spanish Elders will be living with the Zone Leaders in their trailer.  The Sister missionaries will be living where the Spanish Elders were.  I asked the Spanish Elders to make it spick and span for the Sisters.  They called and let us do a missionary apartment check before they left for the airport.  They did a very good job for our new Sisters.  We will be sending the apartment check form into the mission home. 

The Weeks Are Full

Diane and I went on a drive to the very south end of Juneau.  That is about 6 miles south of Downtown Juneau.  These pictures came from the end of that road.  I had to get one of the cheeky Ravens that seem to be everywhere.  Their cawing could ruin a good evening in a sleeping bag in the woods. 

 

It has been exciting to watch our new Relief Society Presidency take ahold of their callings.  Attendance has gone up on Sundays and at Home Evenings and at Institute and Friday Activities.  The new Elders Quorum Presidency and Branch Mission Leader have also lengthened their stride.  We had 20 at Institute last evening.  Several of them attended for the first time.  Our discussion was again centered on the teachings of Paul.  We discussed at length how we grow from our infirmities and afflictions.  After all, the Lord chastens those whom he loves. 

Today in our Adult Institute class we discussed the Light of Christ.  We had 12 in attendance today.  A couple who has recently returned from Malaysia attended for the first time.  They added greatly to the discussions.  I am feeling better about finding the principle of the gospel and taking it to learning the application in our lives as I lead the discussions. 

The Missionary Prep class went well on Sunday.  We have 4 regulars and they are a delight to be with.  I have been helping them to tell the Joseph Smith story as a missionary would.  They are learning well. 

This is the Governor's Mansion located in Juneau, AK.

 

One morning in seminary some of the kids, a few from each of the three classes, rushed into the church kitchen and expected to fix French toast, McDonalds type sandwhiches, and pancakes and get to class in less than 10 minutes.  I had to ask them to go to class and not use the kitchen in the future.  That incident came as a surprise.  They responded they weren't aware of the "No Cooking, Only Warming" policy in the buildings.  It was a chore to get them to clean up.  I think we have the problem fixed.

There is one of our seminary students who is very troubled.  He really has no friends and he isn't treated well by peers and even by his family.  He came to seminary this morning but avoided going to class.  I was able to find him and we sat together and chatted.  He was surprisingly willing to open up to me.  He is a bit of a 'gloomy Gus.'  We talked a lot and he answered any question I asked of him.  I tried to let him know he was loved by his seminary teacher and by me.  Especially I wanted him to know he was loved by the Savior.  We talked about the power of prayer.  We even had a prayer together and asked that he be able to find some happiness in life.  He committed to try to make that a pattern in his life.  I hope this kid can get a hold on being comfortable with life.  I hate to see someone feeling unloved and inadequate. 

 

We had a large number of YSA at the home evening on Monday.  And Margaret Sikona gave a beautiful lesson on the gift of the spirit of the Holy Ghost.  Margaret just graduated from BYU Hawaii and hoping to get a job here in Juneau.  

                                                              

 

Juneau to Anchorage

We performed our usual duties with the seminary Monday through Wednesday.  It got as cold as we have seen since being here, 9 degrees.  We experienced some freezing rain one day. 

There was a bigger turnout for our Institute class. Sixteen attended.  Our new relief society presidency and our new elders quorum president are taking it upon themselves to get others to attend.  Elder Norris is making a difference as well.  He and Elder Hartilius taught a discussion in the church to Carl.  After that discussion they invited him to attend Institute with them.  He even participated and had pertinent questions. 

The lesson was the book of I Corinthians.  We discussed the importance of being of one in purpose and spent the rest of the time on Idol Worship, and Chastity.  I had a wonderful video on staying pure.  It used beautiful music, no dialogue, and a room.  As different friends entered the young woman's apartment they sullied it with muddy boots, dirty fingers, and a video that caused her DVD player to ooze an oily, black, filthy slim.  With each new deposit of dirt, the light in the room dimmed slightly more.  Finally the young woman who lived in the room invited her friends who had brought the filth into her home to leave.  Others came to the door who entered without the dirt and the light remained in her apartment.  It had such an effect on all of us who watched it.  The church makes such wonderful videos.

Diane served some baked potatoes with topping, sticky buns and fruit salad.  It was all consumed when they were finished. 

Thursday we boarded a flight for Anchorage to attend a CES Regional In-Service.  They are so informative and enjoyable.  We were taught so well by Michael Davidson above.  He showed us all of his mountain climbing gear. (He climbs Mt. McKinley and Rainer for fun.)  He explained why he had all of the gear and ropes.  He then compared all of those tools to the simple tools he would take if he took others with him on lesser peaks.  And then he used a wonderful analogy with the mountain gear to the gear we take with us into the classroom.

Eric Bacon and Scott Beames used a talk by Neal A. Maxwell, "Teaching By The Spirit - The Language Of Inspiration" that was given in 1991.  They dissected as much of the talk with us as possible in their time allotments.  We were chasing through the scriptures and identifying principles of the presentation through the use of the scriptures. 

We broke for lunch prepared by Sister and Elder Hawkins of the Anchorage CES.  YSA and guests came in for lunch and heard the past mission president of the India mission speak and show his slides.  Yes, there is a mission in India.  He was fascinating.  He believes the gospel could blossom there as it does in S. America and the Philippines.  The key is getting the present generation of members through a leadership process so the church can grow properly.  There are other hindrances with their society he explained.  He had wonderful pictures that reminded me of Gregg's (our son) experience he showed to us when he returned from India.

We finished our conference and Diane and I went to dinner at the Outback and then drove to the Anchorage Temple to do a session.  The only temple smaller I have been in is the one in Sao Paulo.  It is beautiful.  We tried to attend Thursday evening but got lost and returned unsuccessfully to the hotel.

We are killing a few hours before heading to the Anchorage airport to board our plane for Juneau. 

I had a wonderful experience on the flight up to Anchorage.  My boarding pass placed me in the seat right next to the son of my cousin, Nancy Hugo.  His name is Chet.  We had a wonderful hour of visiting.  He showed me a lot of pictures from his Ipad and showed me some applications that are very impressive.  Poor Chet is 6' 8" and he sat in the aisle seat with his feet dripping into aisle.  I could tell he was very uncomfortable.  Chet is a mapping engineer.  He maps utilities and streets for municipal corporations.  At least that is what it sounded like to me. 

It seems when we travel, we are showing our age a bit more each time.  I forgot to pack any white shirts.  I also put on one brown shoe and one black one which I have been wearing the entire trip.  Diane forgot to pack any extra under garments.  I forgot to pack the adapter for my GPS phone so I could get around.  I did alright regardless.  Trips like this we look forward to.  It gets us into fresh routines and we meet wonderful people.  Elders Palmer and Herrin met us at the airport to give us a mission car to use while we here.  That helps the pocket book immensely.