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.