Wrangell & Petersburg

On a rainy day, Monday, we boarded a plane for Wrangell.  We were met by Sister Christina Florschutz and her husband.  He was about to board a plane for N. Carolina where he was going to spend three weeks cutting wood for his parents, and so the timing was perfect.  Christina is our seminary teacher in Wrangell. 

After loading our bags into the back of her Dodge Ram pickup, we proceeded to accept the challenge of getting in the thing.  It was three feet from the ground to the step just to get in.  I helped Diane as if she were mounting a horse for the first time.  She then figured out how to use the hand bar.  Then Christina took us on a tour of the city.  The community has a population of about 1200 people.  There are about ten different churches.  Economically the community seems very strapped.  But the scenery is just like every place else we have been in Alaska, stupendous. 

Christina dropped us off at the home of the branch president, Pres. Wilson.  He and his wife were busily preparing a spaghetti dinner for us and the elders that live in the church next door.  That spaghetti sauce was the best I have ever tasted in my life, and it was made from scratch.  The elders left a message with us all after I had finished the dishes.  Sister Wilson and her son Blaine did the drying of the dishes.  Sister Wilson's father has been a Temple Square mission president and served several missions with his wife.  After dinner we played a game of Farkle with them and then went to bed. 

The following morning we dressed and went next door to the seminary.  Sister Florschutz gave a lesson to three valiant high school students who were willing to get up early to better themselves before school.  One of those was her son Ben, who is a sophomore.  Christina has a farm about 12 miles out of town with an array of animals she cares for.  She even orders in the chicken feed and sells it to the locals.  She orders 7 tons at a time.  How many chickens will that feed in a winter?  She would discuss a gospel principle from a scripture and then she challenged them to find another scripture that taught the same principle.  It was effective and the kids loved it.  They were faster at it than I was. 

After inspecting the elders apartment, we returned to the Wilsons home and had breakfast.  Christina joined us.  Sister Wilson was soon off to teach her elementary students at the school, then we were driven to the airport for our flight to Petersburg.

Petersburg is maybe the most economically stable place in appearances that we have visited outside of Anchorage.  The homes are beautiful with lots of Scandinavian influence in them.  The town is clean and has everything you could want.  It has a population of around 2200.  Both Wrangell and Petersburg flourished with the lumber business a few years back.  The environmentalists have pretty much put a stop to a lot of the lumber business in many places here.  I wonder if those environmentalists will enjoy cleaning themselves with plastic better than 'Charmin?' Just askin'. Neither town caters to the tourist industry.  The cruise lines will come into a town and take over a lot of things.  We see that here in Juneau.  Wrangell and Petersburg have voted to keep them out.  Wrangell does a little fishing.  Petersburg does a lot of fishing. 

Sister Donna Marsh met us at the airport and took us to her home.  Her husband is out catching herring with a friend from Juneau, Bud Rosenbruch.  Bud and his wife attend our Thursday seminary.  They are picking kelp from the ocean and stringing it in 20 inch rows in cages approximately 20' x 20' by 20' feet.  Then they net the herring and carefully drag the nets to the cages where the herring are transferred into and among the kelp.  There they will lay their eggs which cling to the kelp.  When all of the egg laying is done, they carefully release the herring back into the sea.  The roe sells for a nice profit in Asia.  Donna's sixteen year old son, Evan, is quite anxious to work with his dad and make his millions rather than go to school.  Donna is seeing to it that he finishes high school and applies to college.  He is a tremendous swimmer and hopes to swim for BYU.  He tells me his time on a hundred is around 55 seconds.  That is a great time.  His older brother, who will be turning in his mission papers shortly, is on scholarship for the swimming team at St. John's University. 

We were able to take a short nap after lunch, study a lesson and then go on a tour of Petersburg with Sister Marsh.  She is really a go getter.  She grew up in Boise, Idaho and graduated from BYU.  She met her husband while there and they quickly moved to Petersburg where President Marsh's parents and some of his siblings live.  They built a beautiful home themselves.  The wood work is wonderful and there is lots of it.  In as much as Pres. Marsh is a professional fisherman and hunting guide, there are animals and birds and fish on many of the walls.  Sister Marsh doesn't spend much time on the boat, but she knows how to use a rifle. 

We had a wonderful meal with she, and her son Evan, and the sister missionaries and Sister Bringhurst.  Sister Bringhurst  is the wife of our 2nd councilor in the Stake Presidency.  Sister Poudrier, who is from Jo City in Arizona, is a convert of 3 years.  Her companion, Sister Rivera, is from Pocatello.  Sister Poudrier told us her conversion story.  She had friends who were LDS.  And the rest is history.  Her family was very supportive of her and have all since joined the church.  She actually attended her mother's baptism and confirmation just over the last Christmas season over Skype.  Her mother was very surprised to see her on the TV screen when she got up to enter the baptismal font.  The Marshes have built an apartment upstairs in their home which they rent to the mission for the missionaries.  As we talked after dinner, Sister Bringhurst and I discovered that we both sang for Dr. William Ramsey at USU in 1968.  We did not remember one another, but we had a good time recalling the names of people we both knew.  She sang in a group called 'the Young Timers' at USU.  They did a lot of the same kinds of things I did with the 'Balladiers.'  Their music was more contemporary with the pop music of the 60s and we sang ballads like the 'New Christy Minstrels' sang.

We then retired for the night into one of their extra bedrooms.  Pres. Marsh had a big box with furs of animals he has trapped from previous winters to the side of our bed.  There was wolf, wolverine, martin, fox, mink and some furs I didn't recognize.  The bed was homemade, beautiful and high off of the floor.  Diane had to use a chair to get into it.  But it was comfortable.  Sister Marsh had little cards taped to the doors, mirrors and walls anywhere that her son, Evan, might pass during his ritual of getting ready for school.  These were wonderful spiritual goals and attitudes. 

We then gathered around a big, beautiful kitchen table made of oak.  In the center was a perfectly sized lazy Susan.  The kids supplies for the lesson, drinks of water, and pencils were there and they would spin the lazy Susan around to get what they needed.  They received a very well prepared lesson from Galatians and she also managed to sneak in there the economic value of BYU as a place to continue their educations.  In attendance was a 16 year old girl, Makaela.  She is a non-member and waiting until she is of age to be baptized.  She won't need her parents permission then.  She is a sharp young woman and played the piano for the devotional.  She has pretty firm in announcing that she will be attending BYU after high school.  There were three students in attendance.  One of those was Evan. 

I love to see the dedication and commitment of those with testimonies strong enough to get up early and learn of the things that will benefit them most on this journey of life.  We fall in love with them because of that virtue they have.

Upon returning home on Wednesday, I spent the afternoon finishing my preparations for the two Institute classes.  We wrapped up Hebrews on Wednesday evening with the YSA.  And we discussed the signs of the times from Matthew 24 in the Thursday gospel discussion group. 

I'm disappointed to say that things aren't progressing well this week with our investigator, Carl Bogren.  He is getting discouraged about not having a job. 

A Week To Sleep In

This is spring break.  The seminary has also been on break.  That means we did not have to be up at 5:00 and at the church at 6:15 a.m. to open the building and assist.  I hope we haven't developed some bad habits in a week.  Everything else has been as usual. 

We have taught Matt Adamson two missionary prep lessons, and we taught our Priests and Laurels in the 2nd and 3rd Wards a missionary prep lesson.  We also had our two Institute lessons. 

I have really enjoyed teaching from the book of Hebrews the past two weeks.  I spent a lot of time on section 84 of the Doctrine & Covenants.  Paul mentions the lesser priesthood does not come with an oath, and that the Melchizedek Priesthood does come with an oath and a covenant.  Section 84 explains that oath and covenant in detail.  And as with other covenants that we make with our Heavenly Father, when a little is required of us, an out of proportion amount of blessings await us, if we are faithful to that covenant.  The fact that by being faithful to the covenant will entitle us to all that the Father hath is a great blessing. 

Our Thursday Institute went well as we discussed Matthew 21-24.  We discussed hypocrisy in quite a bit of depth.  One of the most interesting points we made is that hypocrisy is a most serious form of bearing false witness. 

I have been involved in three lessons this week with our Tlingit investigator, Carl Bogren.  He wants to be baptized in the worst way.  He reads a great deal from the Book of Mormon and is always full of questions when we arrive for a lesson.  Right now our Branch President and Branch Missionary Leader are holding that back from happening.  I asked the missionaries to take our Branch Missionary leader with them to the next lesson rather than me.  He needs to see the progress this young man has made.  Carl does not have a job right now but has two promising possibilities we should know about shortly. 

His prayers have been quite different.  They reminded me of something you might witness at the bottom of a Rameumpton tower.  And they would go on for a long time using lots of long and flowery language.  I advised the Elders to teach him to pray from the Lord's Prayer.  They did and his prayers are coming more into line as the Savior taught. 

Elder Norris has been transferred.  The new Zone Leader is an Elder Katoa from Tonga.  What a wonderful, soft spirit he has.  He is a convert from Methodism.  He is learning English while on his mission and is doing quite well. 

Dexter Wilkey, a convert of a year now, attended a Temple Prep class last week.  Diane spent enough time with him to get in two lessons.  His fiancé, Kiera, from Idaho, attended a Temple Prep class with him Thursday evening.  Diane gave them two more lessons from the Temple Prep manual.  As it worked out, that completed the manual with both of them.  They will be getting married in the SLC Temple next month. 

I lost the magnet on my missionary badge.  Matt Adamson offered to get me a replacement.  He ordered some very small, strong batteries from Amazon. com and glued them onto a plastic strip.  They are pretty strong magnets.  I can see tearing a fingernail trying to get them apart.  (He was very proud of his contribution.  He had quite the grin on his face when he saw me trying to separate the magnets.)

The eagles have been breeding around our apartment.  It is pretty amazing to see them appear to be falling from the sky clutching each other and then break apart before hitting into objects on the ground.  I'm glad I'm not an eagle.  Theirs appears to be such a love hate relationship.   

It has also been a cold week with about 5 inches of snow.  The temperatures have dipped down to 11 degrees.

Jenny Schlechter had Diane and I to her home yesterday to plan for Seminary Graduation.  She then took us out to lunch to a little café we hadn't seen before.  The food there was great and we will go there again.

This is Villi Tupou, Frankie Gonzales, Emilanne Lowry and Josh Tupou.  They have faithfully attended each of the missionary prep classes we hold.  I find that admirable as they have just completed a three hour block.  Josh and Villi play on the Thunder Mt. H. S. basketball team.  They have been in anchorage this week for the state basketball tournament.  Unfortunately they lost two games. 

Back to Normal After Ketchikan

Even though our beds don't feel like our bed at home in Utah, we were happy to return to them after our Ketchikan/Craig trip. 

We have returned to our regular routine and it has been welcome.  Especially enjoyable is the missionary prep class for these priests and laurels we hold on Sunday afternoons.  EmmilyAnne Lowrey, who has gone from wanting to go to SVU, to being accepted and wanting to go to BYUI, now wants to go on a mission out of high school.  She turns 19 in June and could turn her papers in now I believe.  Her non-member father, John, is very supportive of the idea, as is her mother.  She impresses Diane and me with her insight into scriptural doctrines and ideas. 

Our YSA Family Home Evening (FHE) was very well attended.  That always amazes me because they are so haphazardly put together.  In fact, there was no plan so Nini asked if anyone would like to say something.  So for 20 minutes there were short positive experiences shared, some from their seats and some standing.  It wasn't exactly a testimony meeting, but almost. 

The missionaries continue to invite me to join them as they give discussions to Carl Bogren, our Tlingit investigator and recently returned marine.  He has progressed in the past 6 weeks to being on fire with a thirst for knowledge.  He actually reads the assigned reading each time we meet and has very intelligent questions.  I have gone from being skeptical to being aware that he is being touched by the spirit of the Holy Ghost as he learns.  His language is still very Protestant in nature as he prays and discusses the scriptures. After all, he has been one for a long time.  He still has a tendency to try to impress with big words and phrases.  But he wants to change, and he is changing.  He attends the Block meetings faithfully and he also attends Institute weekly.  The material is most times deeper than he can comprehend, but he is so attentive and into what is going on.  The missionaries have been meeting with him twice each week.  This week we taught the Word of Wisdom, Chastity (in all of its forms) and the Keeping of the Sabbath Day Holy.  He agreed with all of them and committed to trying to live these commandments to the best of his ability and knowledge.  His prayer before we left was sweet and from the heart.  It was long and wordy, but sincere.  Tears freely flow when he asks for and applies Moroni 10:3-5.  Elder Thorne challenged him to ask Father In Heaven to help him find a job.  He balked and explained that he didn't feel worthy to ask a menial favor from God.  We did some explaining and he followed through beautifully.

Elders Thorne and Norris asked me where we go next with him.  I think they have a hard time reading a Native American and that is why I am being asked to accompany them.  One short experience with Carl.  We had just taught him a lesson on the Word of Wisdom.  I asked him how the job search was going.  He was so excited to tell us that he thinks he has a job at a smoke shop.  Whoa!  A bit of explaining and comparing it to placing a recovered alcoholic behind a bar to serve drinks.  He got it and said he would keep looking.  It also took us into a discussion on trying to get a job that would allow him to keep the Sabbath day holy.  I could see him let his shoulders drop a bit as this would make his job search a bit tougher, but he is willing to exercise his faith and give it a try.  I called the seminary teacher in Yakutat to see if she remembered him growing up there.  Penny James did remember him.  I asked what she could tell me about him.  It wasn't an unfamiliar story.  He was present and eight years old when he saw his mother's boyfriend shoot her to death.  He was adopted and raised by an Uncle and Aunt.  He was not into trouble, but as he grew through high school he felt unloved and grew more rebellious.  He joined the marines. 

Back to the Elders question.  They asked for advice on what to do next.  My advice was to encourage Carl to set up a date for baptism, possibly a month out.  That won't be the problem.  He would be baptized tonight if we would let him.  But they need to also challenge him to get that job before he is baptized.  I don't feel he is making that enough of a priority.  A.J. Collins, our recently released Elders Quorum President, is generously letting him live in his apartment with two other members of the church.  He is not being charged rent as long as he looks for and gets a job.  I put a scenario before Carl by explaining, "Karl, here is what will happen if you don't pursue a job with more intent.  A. J. will sit down with you and explain that his apartment is a business venture for him.  He uses that to make money.  By not getting a job, or not actively pursuing a job, he will give you an ultimatum that will require you to work or be evicted.  And that will be hard because it will cause hard feelings.  It may even cause you to think less of the church because of that coming discussion.  But hopefully it will not."  He shook his head in agreement and said he understood.  The Elders always seem amazed that I can be so blunt with Carl.  But I believe my earlier missionary experiences with the Navajos have helped me in knowing how to talk with and get Carl's trust.  Small and Tender mercies huh?

Institute, as always, was exciting for me to prepare for and to teach.  The YSA Institute lesson was from the book of Hebrews.  I felt like I could take my time getting into depth, and so I actually spent the entire 90 minutes just giving an introduction to Hebrews.  The three things I wanted them to watch for as we begin to discuss Hebrews were this: 1) The Importance of Knowing that Jesus in literally God's Son, 2) The Superiority of Jesus' Priesthood, and 3) The Superiority of Jesus' Sacrifice.  As we got into these items, the discussion poured from those in attendance.  I even got so excited I had a brain cramp and had Aaron restoring the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.  I have no idea what I was thinking.  The hands went up like lightning when I said that.  I had to stop and ask, "What did I say?"  We all laughed at my senior moment, corrected it and went on.  I wish I could say that's the first time I experienced a dementia short-wave boost.  In spite of that, I felt like it was one of our most fruitful Institute classes. 

Thursday, yesterday, we discussed the Triumphal entry of the Savior on the foal of an ass into Jerusalem.  I just love being able to just sit around the table and introduce a theme and let them take off on it with their discussions.  I have to sometimes take the wheel and get us back on track with the intended lesson.  The pot-luck meal afterwards was very tasty. 

I was talking with Bud Rosenbruch after.  He showed me a picture of three king crabs he pulled out of a pot.  They each were 7-10 lbs.  I asked what king crab sold for and he said it can go to $28 a lb.  That explains why I saw a guy give another $200 for one crab last week while on the ferry.  It just amazes me.  It's no cheaper here than it is at home.  No wonder I never order it.

Sometimes I will get in a mood I guess and wonder at the call we have.  CES is a wonderful call.  But I will spend my time preparing lessons and teaching them and then have a bit of down time and wonder if we are as effective as we are supposed to be.  This caused me to pull out my Patriarchal Blessing and read it, and ponder over it after Institute Wednesday.  I have been teaching that if some were foreordained in the first estate to be leaders, that wouldn't it be expected that we were each foreordained to our callings prior to leaving our first estate to come to earth.  Paul seems to say so.  And how do we know what we were foreordained to?  I suppose that our Patriarchal Blessings could be a reminder of an earlier setting apart, or an earlier ordination.  As I finished reading that blessing, I had the strongest impression that these thoughts were truer than I imagined them to ever be before.  As I look back on my life I realize that by having patterned my life after this blessing, I have been blessed.  I noticed, again, the importance of the home of my youth in my successes, blessings and strengths.  I realized again how blessed I have been because of the faithfulness of my parents and my heritage.  I understand the importance of my name, and the names I have been given by those who love me.  And I love them for it.

Dexter Wilkey will be getting married next month.  He was baptized just over a year ago.  He will be getting married in the SLC temple to a BYUI student from Pocatello and Juneau.  Pres. Olsen gave him a couple of combined temple prep lessons and Diane gave him two additional combined lessons last evening.  His fiancé, Kiera, will be coming next week and Diane has made arrangements to give them the final two lessons while she is here. 

This morning the seminary classes had a breakfast.  Heidi and Michael's class wanted to do a little musical skit they had prepared.  It was fun and these pictures are from that activity.

Tuesday In Ketchikan

This is the view from outside our lodge window.  The small commercial planes are constantly on the go and it isn't even the tourist season yet. 

Bridgett Mattson is the seminary teacher in Ketchikan.  We visited her this morning for her 6:00 a.m. seminary class.  About half of the class is on the ferry attending the SE high school basketball tournament being held in Sitka.  The crew on the Taku ferry we arrived in, told us on the return to Sitka they will be picking up 400 high school students in Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburgh.  After her lesson we spent some time visiting with her and getting to know her and her students.  We gave her a few of our thoughts on teaching.  We did suggest that she have her bishop call a teacher to help her.  Each of our Juneau seminary classes have two teachers.  It does help them from burning out so soon because of the early hour 5 days a week during school.

 

Chet Hugo is the son of my cousin Nancy Hugo.  He served in Alaska on his mission and decided at that time that this is where he wanted to live.  His 16 year old son Nat attends Sister Mattson's seminary class.  I was looking forward to meeting Nat's sister, Becca; but she is suffering a bad cold.

There is a beautiful creek that runs through downtown Ketchikan.  The street next to it is called Creek street.  It has a rather naughty past but is very well kept and interesting now.  The buildings are all built on steep creek sides and shored up with pilings to keep them safe from spring run offs.

 

The streets are full of people in Ketchikan after April.  The final cruise ship will pull out in the middle of September and then the streets will look like this, quite empty.  We did find a nice cafe that was advertised as the favorite of the locals.  Their navy bean and ham soup was very good.

This gift shop, closed, had a display of the newspaper printed in 1867 announcing the sale of Alaska to the U.S.  I wonder if Russia regrets that sale?

 

Look what we found in the flower box.  The temperature says that it is 47 degrees.  However the wind reminded us that it is still winter.

 

The buildings are built on pilings to keep them safe from rising creek waters in the spring.  It creates a wonderful wooden walkway to get around.

When you finish your walk around Creek Street you end up facing the Ketchikan Harbor.  Having come from the farm, these are fascinating for me to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ferry Ride to Ketchikan

After a full day on Saturday, Diane and I drove to the ferry terminal, parked our car and boarded the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry, 'Taku,' for the slow boat ride to Ketchikan.  The ferry pulled out of the harbor at 10:45 p.m.  *In this blog, if you double click any single picture, all of the pictures will come up for a slide show.  That little bit of information is just for those of you who didn't realize that you could do that.  Those of you that did know, can skip that part.  JK

Diane took the bottom bunk and I took the top bunk.  'Holy Cow' I don't know how many more years of climbing into the top bunk are left in me.  It was a challenge getting up there, but an even more amazing feat to get back out without falling to my certain demise.  Our shower was smallish but adequate, and our WC was comparable to those found on 727s.  We immediately fell asleep and were only awake when the purser announced that we were leaving now.  He also announced that we were now in Hoonah.  That was sometime around 2:00 a.m.

The first picture is the window view from our ferry berth window.  To get up in the morning and experience that kind of beauty is a privilege for sure.  This picture on the right was taken while we were in the Sitka harbor.  This is looking back at the channel we took to arrive in Sitka and the same one we would use to go around the big Island and proceed over to Petersburg and Wrangell.  I was watching 5 humpback whales feeding back and forth for the 3-4 hours that we were docked.  We sighted them coming into the harbor and they were still there when we left.  We did see on orca breach and other than that, we only saw ducks. 

The views we would see kept me happy and taking pictures.  I would try different shutter speeds and then go in to my computer to see which ones worked the best.  The ferry doesn't even reach 20 mph which makes for the most wonderful way to see the SE part of Alaska. 


Sometimes we would be right next to the islands we were passing and at at other times we would be several miles away from the shoreline.  That happened on the final 40-50 miles as we approached Ketchikan.

Sunday morning the water was literally as calm as glass.  Sunday night the ride would get a little rocky when we would pass through narrow channels during the outgoing tide.  So much water runs between the islands during the tide movements it turns those waters into fast rolling rivers.  It doesn't feel like the ocean at all.

Here is another calm water scene we passed.  I was trying to study my Institute lessons for next week, but I just kept being drawn to the outer walkways to view scenes like this.  I did get all of Philemon and Timothy I and II read though.  Now I still have to get Titus.

This was the view we had pulling into the Sitka harbor.  We had a 3-4 hour wait before we were underway again.  It wasn't bad though because that was time I was able to spend watching the whales.  There was a tremendous amount of local boat traffic heading out for fishing and crabbing.

This was our Monday morning sunrise somewhere south of Wrangell.  I went to bed early so I would be sure to be able to wake myself up for the' golden hour' as my brother Paul calls it.  I took pictures with different lens speeds and finally ended up with this one.  I know that Paul, LaRee and Hannie could probably have made it worthy of purchase, but I was just happy to be able to capture it.

This is the same sun, just a bit later from a bit further back from the railing.

I always enjoy watching 'Old Glory' wave freely in the wind.  America is a wonderful place and Alaska is a wonderful place in America.  I just hope we as a people will not let tyrants into office, and should they get elected, I hope we as a people can stop them from becoming tyrannical.  My favorite early morning view of the flag was north of Mancos at a Willden family reunion.  I got out of Grandmother Mae's trailer door and heard dad start to sing 'God Bless America.'  I joined in with a harmony and then we did the National Anthem together.  Now both Dad and my voice are gone.

We arrived at Ketchikan right on schedule, 9:45 a.m.  The Elders here picked us up.  They took us to their apartment where we did an apartment check for the Palmers.  Elder & Sister Palmer asked if we would do those when we traveled to save them some travel.  They are much cleaner Elders than our Juneau Elders are.  They then drove us to the Cedars Inn.  It is owned by the Thomas' who are mission presidents in Ontario, Canada right now.  Their son is letting us stay here in a hotel that is not open yet, and not charging us just because he likes to help out the church.  Diane and I walked up the street aways for lunch. 

 

There are charter planes taking off and landing constantly outside our room window.  Even though it is not the tourist season, there is a lot of traffic in and out of here.

 

 

 

Douglas Island Walk

The sun was shinning on Saturday afternoon.  When that happens we hop in the Subaru and drive to someplace we haven't seen yet.  This Saturday we drove across the Gastineau Channel and headed north as far as the Island would go.  It wasn't a long way, probably 12-15 miles.  There is a ski resort up one of the side roads.  There were a lot of people skiing.  All of these pictures are from Saturday's walk down a trail about a mile long and then of the ski resort.

There was a plank laid down for a trail from the parking lot to the edge of the forrest next to the beach.  The ground was wet and like a bog.

 

The trees will fall over and create wonderful sights along the forrest floors.

In other parts of this walk the trees grew very tall and straight.

Looking from Douglas Island across the bay.

Occasisonally the Sitka Spruce don't grow very tall for some reason.  The ground here was very much like a bog.

There is a moss that grows on many of the trees and bushes. 

Moss will grow on anything that isn't used or purposefully cleaned.  It created a wonderful emerald quality to the forrest floor.

We did make it up to see Eagle Crest Ski Resort.  It looked a lot like the resorts in Utah.  However the snow is very slushy, at least at the bottom. 

We saw two runs, a small one of the left and one on the right that seemed to go nearly to the top of the mountain crest.

Sunshine & Juneau; An Implausibility

Elder Norris and Thorn have been asking me to visit Carl Bogrin with them when they teach him lessons.  I have made suggestions on how they approach him with teaching.  The last time we met we read Nephi's interpretation of his father's, Lehi, dream.  We then discussed this in depth until we were sure he understood it.  He wanted to focus on the spacious building, after we discussed it as representing the pride of the world.  I had a hard time getting him to focus on the Tree and the fruit at the end of the iron rod.  He is a member of the Assembly of God church.  For some reason the negativity of hell registers as more important than the glorious aspects of Exaltation and Eternal Life.  He finally got it.  When I inserted the family into the picture he finally got it.  We challenged him to read Alma chapter 40 for the next visit.  He is making good progress.  When we arrived to the lesson, at 1:00 p.m., he was asleep in his room.  We had to wait a bit for him to get dressed and come down for the lesson.  He is staying with a member for now.  A. J. Collins has made arrangements for him to stay without rent until he gets a job.  I took him a packet from a job fair so he could look for a job.  (We haven't heard anything from Home Depot yet.)  I was quite firm with him before leaving and told him he should be out looking for a job so he can be self reliant.  I also told him not to take advantage of A.J.'s kindness that members of the church are willing to be kind to others but that we should be self reliant.  I hope he got the message.  As I've said before, he would be baptized yesterday if the elders would let him.  When we got outside of the apartment I asked the elders if they had taught the commandments and things such as tithing, word of wisdom and such.  They hadn't.  I told them they need to quit being so slow about it.  They need to inform him of all that is required and then let him be baptized so the spirit of the Holy Ghost can help him to learn faster and better.

We had a wonderful week.  Matt Adamson received his mission call.  He asked us to meet him at Richard and Karlyn Welling's home to be with him when he opened his call.  He skyped his family in Valdez, Alaska and opened the letter.  He has been called to Tennessee. 

Nia Ma'ake received her call on Friday as well.  The mail is a bit slow up here.  She waited until Sunday evening to be with her family to open the letter.  She has been called to the Everett, Washington mission.  Those lucky, and fortunate people will love her. 

Our missionary preparation class was attended by Matt and Nia this week.  Heather Malin had a terrible cold and didn't want to be around anyone.  I had them teaching the 4th article of faith.  When I asked Matt to go first he looked at me with lots of hesitancy and said, "Elder Waldron, I don't know how to start."  I got after him a bit and took him back to the Doctrine and Covenants where we are taught not to worry before hand what we shall say.  We are first to seek the word, and then the Holy Ghost will prompt us with what to say when we need it.  I said, "Just open your mouth and start talking.  You already know this stuff."  He was perplexed, but he opened his mouth and he started teaching Nia very well.  He did know it.  Nia then taught the same thing to Matt and went into more depth with some scriptures.  We love working with these young people this way.  We will surely miss them when they leave.  And Nia leaves in 5 more weeks.  That is a short preparation time.

After the Missionary Preparation lesson, Diane taught them two Temple Preparation classes.  Stacey Storrs joined us for those.  That was the last one of those. 

Thursday, after the Institute lesson, one of the sisters in attendance asked Diane if we were invited to dinner often.  Diane said, "No, not often."  So Diane Lohrey invited us to dinner.  Her husband is a non-member.  She has two kids attending seminary.  Emilyanne is baptized and received her acceptance letter to BYU Idaho this week.  Michael, has not asked to be baptized yet.  He talks about a mission but his sister teases him that he has to be baptized first.  We think he is holding out to respect his Father, John.  John takes them to his church half of the time and goes to the LDS ward with the family the other half.  Diane Lohrey is really quite amazing.  She is a California girl.  She has adopted a learning disabled girl from Russia.  They actually visited Russia for some time before being able to bring her home from the orphanage.  They have adopted two other very young half sisters.  They appear to be about 3 and 4 years old.  They are very rambunctious.  Elders Norris and Thorne were invited to dinner as well.  We had a wonderful visit with them and left within about an hour of having arrived.  And Diane has a Russian foreign exchange student living with them.

Erin Willis and Lynn Hirschi fed their class breakfast Friday morning after seminary.  Sister Waldron spent the time in the kitchen preparing the meal.  A young man by the name of Richard Gould was keeping me from preparing my lesson.  So I invited him to go help Diane.  He is actually too old now for YSA, he's 34, but does occasionally show up at institute.

Heidi and Michael Malin were teaching some scripture mastery in Romans, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ...."  They bought a white t-shirt for each of their students and then had them paint something on that shirt that related to Romans or to Ann Dibb's talk, 'I'm A Mormon. I love it, I know it, I live it.'