Whoa! We've Been Sleeping In

With Seminary taking an hiatus for three months we have been able to sleep in.  I can handle this getting up at 6:30 a.m. thing.  Our mid-day naps are much shorter now.

We meet new summer YSA people with each event during the week.  Our Institute lesson on Wednesday evening included a discussion on the Holy Ghost and concluded with what we know about our pre-mortal life.  We were having a very good discussion on pre-mortal existence when we had 4 late comers enter.  A couple of them were pretty obnoxious with their entrance and I was pretty sure we were going to lose the spirit of learning that had been in the room up until that point.  Immediately these young people pulled out their cell phones and began texting and giggling.  I was afraid we were going to lose this beautiful lesson. They had chosen to sit on the empty seats on the front row immediately in front of me.   My mind was scrambling for a way to get that newly situated front row involved.  I asked them to read for us.  I asked for a few comments and it seemed like they dropped into the row of learning like water down a furrow of freshly furrowed dirt.  A wonderfully built Tongan who came in for the first time, went from clowning around to being very attentive to what was going on.  It turned into a great discussion and a good lesson. 

We used some scriptures to illustrate that we weren't all equal in our pre-mortal existence.  Some were noble and great.  Some of us were made leaders.  Some were even rebellious which disqualified them for the opportunity to even receive a body.  And many chose to follow the Father's suggested plan.  Our discussion centered on receiving blessings and circumstance in this life based on many of our decisions and accomplishments from our pre-mortal life.  Apparently this discussion hadn't gone on long enough for some of our attendees.  After the closing prayer there were a lot of the Polynesian YSA swarming around me for even more answers about life's circumstances.  It was a wonderful evening.  I answered as many of their questions as I could and told them I just don't know on some of the others. 

We didn't hold our Thursday Adult Institute Discussion as it ended up being the funeral for Sister Monson who had passed away earlier in the week.  Many wanted to watch that funeral and many others were involved in their end of the school year activities with their younger children. 

Seminary graduation went off without too much trouble.  There was some early setting up required and then lots of greetings at the door.  I was able to represent the CES and present the graduates to their ecclesiastical leaders as having completed all that was necessary for certificates of completion and diplomas of graduation from seminary. 

Friday I purchased my Mormon Missionary Alaskan Fishing Starter Kit.  I don't know when I'll get to use it but I'm definitely ready.  They say the king salmon are beginning their show.  And there are some Dolly Varden that need some catching.

Sunday was a wonderful day with our YSA branch.  Tanisha Jensen has been called to teach the Sunday School Gospel Doctrine class.  She is a returned missionary and does a wonderful job.  I like her spunk.  Our new Relief Society President is young.  Nicole Huntsman just returned from her second year at BYU and is attending our mission prep classes.  Her father, Don Huntsman, was just released from the Stake Presidency. 

I have been following the weather forecast this week closely.  I have wanted to go out to the Sawyer Glacier about 40 miles south of Juneau.  It is so expensive that I wanted to make sure we went on a sunny day so we could see it from the best possible vantage point.  Friday, the forecast seemed certain that Memorial Day, Monday, would indeed be Sunny.  So I went to the dock and bought Diane and I each a ticket to board the Outward Bound Excursion company's Captain Cook tour boat to the Tracy Arm to see the glacier. 

The day was incredible.  The sun never had a cloud pass between it and us the entire journey.  I love to be out on the water and feel the rushing breeze flow past from the speed of the boat.  We were only going 20 knots (23 mph I was told).  The trip ended up going through an ever changing channel entry into the Tracy fjord.  We passed several big cruise liners, two that ventured up the fjord and spend 20 minutes in front of the glacier so their tourists can get some pictures before turning around and then speeding into Juneau so they can buy jewelry and fur and take the tours available there.  Our captain gave us 90 minutes in front of the Glacier.  We saw 4 very big displays of calving while there and lots of smaller bits of ice breaking off the slow moving river of ice into the channel.  We were soon surrounded with lots of huge ice cubes.

The harbor seals love to bask in the sun and even give birth to their pups on these bobbing blocks of ice.  There were literally hundreds of them lying out in the sun.  Our captain drove us up to some beautiful water falls so we could stretch our hands out and get them wet from the splashes of cascading water.  He slowly took us around a larger iceberg 360 degrees so we could take pictures of all of the varying colors.  My pictures don't do the beauty of the place near the justice they deserve.  My greens don't look quite right and there is lots of blue.  But then, There was blue everywhere; it was in the water, the sky and the ice.   And the sun was so bright.  My camera shutter speed was 2000 which seemed to work the best and many times there was still too much light.  I wish my smarter brother had been to my side to help with my camera. 

We returned in time for Diane to make a very good salad, the one she makes most often, which we took to our YSA family home evening barbeque at the Twin Lakes park which is very near us.  We had lots of YSA members attend and they seemed to all be having a good time.  We listened to many of them tell of their adventures during this Memorial Day. 

My thoughts have been with my warrior Father a bit this past week.  I searched for the records of his 161st regiment of the 25th Infantry division and read the history of that part of WWII which included my father, from 1945 until 1946 when he was discharged because he was needed back at the farm.  His father had been in an accident and he was needed to run it. 

When things get going slow here we do a little indexing for the church and we do a little genealogy for ourselves.  But as always, I spend a lot of time in the scriptures getting ready for what lies ahead. 

Here Comes the Sun

This morning one of the seminary girls offered the opening prayer.  She said something like this. "Heavenly Father; Thanks so much for the sunshine.  Living here we don't see a lot of it and we are so thankful to have it."  She was echoing my thoughts exactly.  The snow line is receding up the mountain sides.  The bare bushes and trees are sporting young leaves and the tulips are out.  As a boy I recall this time of year emerging with the accompaniment of a new born colt to the side of the farm mare.  I always loved the arrival of a new colt. 

The ice is coming off of Mendenhall lake and the water is again gushing down every crevice in each mountain.

We have prepared vigorously for tomorrow evening's seminary graduation program.  Diane has worked especially hard getting the certificates, diplomas and the program ready and accurate.  The seminary teachers have given their final lessons from the New Testament.  Heidi and Michael Malin had placed around their room library pictures depicting the events of the entire year's study of the New Testament.  Centered among those pictures was a wonderful portrait of the Savior on a tripod, which set the room off in a very spiritual way.  The kids have been practicing their graduation song with Sister Kirkpatrick.  Yesterday we fed them breakfast.  We bought three big boxes of Eggos at Costco.  We had the toppings and syrups and chocolate milk and juice.  They ate Eggos to their little hearts content.  This morning, our final seminary day of the year, we had a testimony meeting with them.  It took a bit for them to get going, but once they did, many took the opportunity to express their growth during the past school year and to also declare their spiritual beliefs. 

The days of little sunlight are past.  We now see sunlight creeping in through the window shades by 4:00 a.m.  This is the mountain behind us at 9:30 p.m. earlier this week.  You can still see the sun shining on the mountain peak.  We still have a month before the summer solstice.

We did hold our Missionary Preparation lesson on Sunday.  Only one came.  That was our recently called Relief Society president, Nicole Huntsman.  She is very excited upon returning from her second year of school at BYU, Provo, to now go on a mission.  The usual attendees were returning from out of town from high school soccer games and other commitments. 

The Juneau 3rd ward lost their bishop due to the re-organization of the Stake Presidency.  That necessitated a new bishop being called.  Our freshman seminary class teacher has been a wonderful teacher.  But we will be losing her talents because her husband, Reuben Willis, has been called as the new Bishop.  He is a wonderful outgoing and smiling personality and I know the ward will love and serve diligently with him. 

This week I have been preparing an Institute lesson on the Doctrines of the Gospel.  Normally a class would meet twice a week for an hour each time.  A single lesson would be given in that hour.  However we only meet once a week.  We try very hard to get two lessons into an hour and a half.  The lessons this week are on the Holy Ghost and also on our Pre-Mortal Earth life.  When you gather everything together we actually know quite a bit about our life before our birth. 

This is a view of one of the wonderful and quaint streets in Downtown Juneau.  There is a lot of Scandanavian influence on the housing here.  You also see some Russian influence and good old American influence.  Now and then you will also see something very oriental.

The Thursday gospel discussions with our adult class will be centered on the first 8 chapters of the Book of Acts.  I love those chapters.  There are so many wonderful events that are told us in these first chapters of Acts.  The 'New' Christian church dealt with a rapidly growing member base.  It reminds me of not only the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but of the LDS church today.  It is growing so rapidly.

Diane's cooking skills have become a great asset to the Institute.  The kids love her deserts and the things that are set out to the side of them.  We had over sixty attend Sacrament meeting on Sunday.  The Priesthood and Relief Society rooms are full of excited YSA members.  It is an exciting time.  We had a member of the Quorum of Seventy with us Sunday, Elder Call.  He was here to train and work with the recently called Stake Presidency, but spent a lot of time with our YSA branch.

Michael Malin, Jenny Schlechter and Sister Waldron are preparing Eggos for the entire seminary.  We were even inviting the parents who were waiting in the parking lot to pick up their kids, to join us.  We had plenty.  I mopped that kitchen as clean as it has been since we arrived. 

There was lots of fun at Family Home Evening on Monday.  Lete and Marshall gave a lesson on the need for keeping our language clean.  It turned out to be a great lesson as everyone got involved and contributed to the discussion.  Afterwards there was lots of popcorn and some went to the cultural hall to play basketball.  Some went outside to play ultimate Frisbee and some stayed in the Relief Society room to play Family Feud, Battle of the Sexes.

 

Leti (Hotsauce Freddy) likes to pose whenever he knows he is having his picture taken.  Marshall Sargent is hoping to serve a mission here soon.  We really love these two great Tongans. 

We drove up a small canyon behind Downtown Juneau on a rainy Monday.  We had seen mountain goats on the cliffs the day before but the clouds were too low to see them that day.

 

 

  

 

Sister Bernie Kirkpatrick is working with the combined seminary classes to learn a song to sing when they graduate from seminary.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We love watching the water fall from the mountain side and flow down these conservation flumes and into the creeks which rush out to the waiting Gastineau Channel.

Another week has passed, and another tragedy has occurred in the world.  Our hearts were heavy as we watched images of the destruction in Oklahoma.  So many have been affected with heavy consequences in a matter of minutes.

Zone Conference Week

Elder W. Craig Zwick, 1st Quorum of the Seventy, and his wife, came to Juneau Monday.  They were beginning a tour of the Anchorage, Alaska mission.  We actually didn't see him until Tuesday.  Diane and I spent Tuesday morning in a missionary zone conference where we were taught by them both.  As we were introduced he mentioned that he seemed to know me from somewhere and asked if we had met before.  I told him that it had been with the Mormon Tabernacle choir and he recalled that we had met.  He is a wonderful teacher.  That evening he had a meeting with the stake leaders of all the auxiliaries and the missionaries of our zone. He set forth a few things that need to take place in the ward and branch counsels in regards to missionary work.  He promised that if these things would happen, the stake would grow quickly to a size that would require a stake division.  He also promised that it would happen again quickly.  It was a very special and rich meeting. 

Two of the young people who have been attending the missionary preparation class on Sundays received their mission calls this week.  Josh and Vili Tupou had hoped they would be called to Tonga.  However, they are both excited that one twin will be serving in Honduras, and the other in Guatemala. 

Diane is busily preparing certificates of completion and graduation for our seminary graduation which is coming up next Thursday.  We received them from the CES offices in Palmer, and Diane quickly got them ready over the weekend to put into the mail to each of our outlying branches and wards. 

Sunday I made a run downtown to pick up some of the new YSA members for the Sunday meeting block.  When I returned them back to their apartment I made sure they understood the bus system so they could get back and forth to the church that way. 

Preparing for this week's Institute class was a treat for me.  We are studying Doctrines of the Gospel.  The lesson was on God the Father and on Jesus the Christ.  The young people seemed to enjoy going into depth on their Heavenly Father and on their Savior.  We had over 20 attend this week.  These were the ones who were able to get away from their work schedules.  There is another 20 or so out there that could come if their work schedules would allow.  This week the tour ships have been showing up as many as 4 in a single day.  If you consider that these ships each bring approximately 1500 to 2000 tourists into town, and some even more,  you can imagine the bustle happening in downtown Juneau. 

How I am enjoying the time I spend in the scriptures.  I am experiencing what is described in the Book of Mormon by Alma as we try to exercise faith.  That we exercise our Faith as a seed and encourage it to grow by feeding it.  I am so thankful for my knowledge of the plan of our Heavenly Father.  I appreciate the Savior for providing a way to return to my Heavenly Father. 

It was a wonderful week to watch our children call their mother and express to her their love and appreciation for her efforts in their behalf.  Flowers and gifts have been arriving in the mail in addition to Skype phone calls.  She has been a wonderful mother.  I was able to speak with my mother as well.  She is special to me and I am so fortunate and blessed to be able to still express that to her even though it is from a distance by phone. 

Tourist Season Begins

Cruise ships have been appearing in the Juneau harbor daily now.  And with their arrival the traffic has increased significantly everywhere.  For a few days the tourists have been able to enjoy good weather.  In fact, yesterday was the warmest day we have experienced since arriving in Juneau.  The thermometer reached 70 degrees. 

 Diane and I were responsible for the YSA home evening lesson.  I added some things from Revelations that I didn't have time to put in our final lesson a week ago.  After 20 minutes of Revelations we took about 25 young adults into the cultural hall to play a game.  I had them put a chair in a circle and assume the name of an animal.  I gave them each a newspaper rolled into a club for striking each other.  (Lightly)  With 'it' in the middle, the last person to be it said the name of their animal and then the sound the animal makes, and then they said the name of another animal in the circle and the vocalized the call the animal makes.  I.E. Cow, moo moo, dog, woof woof.  The person in the middle had to strike the second animal before he could complete the cycle.  It got a little wild and I think they enjoyed "Animal Farm" for a while.  They then wanted to play some basketball.

This is Elizabeth Ditallo.  She graduated from UAS this week.  We will miss her as she is going to Barrow.  She graduated as a Marine Biologist.

The YSA generally ends up playing some
basketball.

Wednesday was the first day of a new semester in Institute.  We are going to be teaching the Doctrines of the Gospel.  Our first lesson was on Divine Nature and Revelation.  It was very enjoyable to prepare and present.  The young people were very eager to participate. 

In Thursday's adult gospel discussion we finished up the four gospels by discussing the Resurrection of the Savior. 

Today Diane went to the church to help Sister Tawni Calderwood with a sewing project.  They taught several others how to thread their sewing machines and then make a sack of some sort.  This evening we ate dinner with Tina and Monty Williams.  They invited us to a wonderful evening at their home.

The weather yesterday was so beautiful.  After going out to eat, (we do that most Fridays) we took a drive up to Mendenhall Glacier to take in some beautiful Alaska scenery.

Hump Day

Bryce Anderson has just returned from BYU, Idaho.  He will be working for Allen Marine on one of the whale watching tourist boats this summer.  Vika Toetu'u has just been called as the second councilor in the Branch Relief Society.

This great experience we are having is one half over today.  When our thoughts go back to home, the time seems to have slowly gone by.  If we think of our experiences here and in the now, time whizzes by. 

The lesson from Revelations seemed quite disjointed to me.  I would have liked to have a re-do on that one.  I spent the entire time giving them the meanings of the symbols the Apostle John mentions.  There really wasn't enough time to do that great book justice.  On Thursday evening we had an in-service for our stake teachers.  Only one sowed up for this.  Bro. Scott Beames spent the entire evening showing us how to teach Revelations.  I so wish I had received this before my lesson the night before.  This evening we are in charge of the YSA Family Home Evening lesson.  I think I'll give a little more of the introduction of the pieces of the revelatory puzzle that allowed Joseph Smith to declare the Book of Revelations to be a very clear book.

 
Elder Beirne just arrived from serving in Anchorage.  He is from Hawaii.  I had heard that he played some college football so I googled his name.  Sure enough, he had quarterbacked for University of Arizona and graduated in 2011.  He is in the middle of a masters degree.  The Mt West Schools wanted to make this 6'4" and 235 lb. athlete a linebacker.  The PAC schools said he could be a quarter back.  Evidently he was a pretty good one.

The Gospel Discussion for the adults on Thursday was centered on the Trial and Crucifixion of the Savior.  These attendees contribute such wonderful insight and experiences and the time flies by becoming a spiritual highlight of the week for me.   And the pot luck lunch was extra special this week.  The sisters went to the bank on this one.

Clarresa Ullmeyer attended her first Institute class on Wednesday.  What a night to begin that was, as we were teaching Revelations.  Her mother attends Institute on Thursdays and told us it was pretty overwhelming to her.  Michaela Schlechter will be graduating from H.S. and seminary this month.  She is anxious to be in the YSA and hangs out a lot.

Monday evening we were pleasantly surprised to have nearly 20 YSA members, whom we had never seen, walk in the door for FHE.  The tourist season is now officially in full swing.  There were two cruise ships last week and beginning today they come in daily with sometimes as many as 4 at once.  These kids are here to work for the summer for money to continue with their schooling.  When they introduced themselves yesterday in Elders Quorum, every one of them said they had been on a mission.  I know several of the newly arrived sisters are also returned missionaries.  During FHE I made a point of welcoming them and hoped they would lean on our YSA Branch to help them strengthen their testimonies. 

This is three of our YSA summer stock.  I haven't learned the name of the first, but in the middle is Klause, and on the right is Jackson. 

Yesterday after our Branch Council, I drove up to the Westin Baranov to pick up a few YSA to bring to the church.  I wasn't quite sure where the Baranov was but saw two young women standing on a corner looking like they were dressed for church.  I rolled down the window and asked if they knew where the Baranov was.  They did not.  I asked if they were expecting a ride to church and they were, so I told them to hop in.  I then asked if they were expecting a ride to the LDS church.  They were.  I ended up taking four back to their apartments after the block.  I am hoping they will get used to the city bus schedule and use that in the future. 

For some reason our Gospel Doctrine teacher did not show up.  The Branch President asked if I could wing the lesson.  I spent about ten minutes of the Priesthood Quorum time going over the lesson.  I then taught the law of consecration and all that goes along with that lesson.  At times like this I'm so happy to have developed the gift of babbling.  (Is that one of the gifts of the spirit?) Diane told me that I gave the lesson that had been given two weeks prior.  Oh well.  No one seem to recognize it.  Different chefs make quiche different ways.

We had a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting.  A couple of our young ladies have graduated from UAS and one is returning to her home in Barrow.  She was quite emotional about leaving.  She now has a degree in Marine Biology.  The second has been accepted into  BYU Hawaii to work on a masters degree.  She too was quite emotional about leaving Juneau.  Imagine the contrast of Cloudy Juneau and Sunny Laie. 

We returned to the church at 4:00 p.m.   I recorded the CES Fireside Broadcast of Elder Wm. R. Walker so I could show it at 6:00 p.m. to our YSA group.   I then went into the missionary prep class and taught three of our young people how to teach the gospel principles.  Yesterday we worked on the purpose of our earth life.  I understand the Tupou twins, Josh and Villi, have submitted their papers.  They graduate from H.S. this week.  They mentioned to me they really hope to be called to Tonga. Emilyanne is getting close to submitting her papers I believe. 

While I was teaching missionary prep, Diane was playing the piano for a duet.  One of our Tongan elder statesmen passed away Thursday morning.  His funeral is today and Diane will be playing for that duet as they sing.

Elder William R. Walker was our Stake President when we lived in Sandy.  We loved him in that capacity.  He gave a wonderful talk around and about Pres. Thomas S. Monson.  That was a treat to hear him bear testimony of the divine call that Pres. Monson holds, and that he is still a wonderful personality with lots of concern for the one that is lost.

The 3rd ward Elders cornered me after church yesterday.  They were insistent that I go with them to a missionary discussion at 8:00 p.m. Evidently they have begun teaching an eccentric who is very scripturally literate and they felt they needed help.  (What were they thinking when they thought I could help them?)   I consented to go with them.  When this 40 year old single man saw me at the door, he assumed that the elders had brought someone important to challenge his knowledge of the scriptures.  Oh little did he know, how little I know.

His apartment sits on the shore of the Gastineau Channel looking across that channel towards downtown Juneau.  The building was nice.  His apartment was a cluttered mess.  However I did catch very quickly that he had all sorts of religious material piled up on tables and couches and chairs around the room.  After an opening prayer, which he asked one of the elders to give, he proceeded on a quest to state every bit of Bible doctrine that he could spew at us, and in particular at me.  And he was aggressive.  I was finally able to get him to momentarily slow down so the elders could give the lesson they had planned.  Dave, our investigator, listened to them about 30 seconds and then was again right in my face, asking if I really believed God was so incompetent as to let His church perish from the earth in an apostasy.  I tried to explain that it wasn't incompetence but that he allowed it to happen for his purposes.  I even used some very good scriptures that prophets wrote, scriptures about that very much expected apostasy.  I suppose I pretty much expressed myself louder than I usually talk to get my point across in between his challenges of doctrine.  He wasn't convinced, and with a pointed finger declared that we hadn't proved anything.  I had to butt my way into his soliloquy to explain that it wasn't my opinion but that of the prophets that he was disputing.  I am sure that by this time my body language was giving off signals of exasperation and disgust.  He turned and said that I was wrong to come into his home and get mad when someone disputed what I had said.  I tried quickly to tone my body language down and not to look disgusted, but the damage had been done.  I tried again to get him to focus on the message the two elders had to deliver.  While they were scrambling for the DVD to show on the restoration, Dave asked me if I had been Born Again.  I told him that indeed I had; I just had not been saved in the sense that he was use to hearing.  That began another tirade of scriptural knowledge.  And another chastisement was delivered as well.  At this moment the elders got the DVD to working and I could see the sigh of relief pass over their faces as Dave slowed down his tirade enough to start watching the DVD on Joseph Smith.   However, he quickly picked up his bible again and was concentrating on more things to toss at us, in particular me, the supposed learned one.  He saw nothing of the DVD.   I could see this man was not searching for truth, but intent on delivering what he perceived as truth. 

We were finally able to get him to a point where we could say a closing prayer.  He asked if I would say it.  He wanted to hear me pray.  I must say, there was a quick silent prayer sent to the heavens as I paused before beginning our prayer together.  I gave as soft of a prayer, emotionally, as I could deliver.  I asked our Father in Heaven to have angels assist Dave to know of the truthfulness of the things the elders were teaching.  I asked that he would understand the Book of Mormon as he read it, and be able to feel of the spirit in the book, that being a second testimony of Jesus Christ.  I also asked in the prayer that he would be able to forgive me for appearing to him to be angry and disgusted.  When we got up to leave he was still in my face.  But it was a bit different.

He said, "If you come into my house, you better be prepared to get right in my face with your opinions and beliefs.  Because I'm going to get into yours." 

I replied, "I really don't like to teach that way.  As soon as one of us gets in the others face, the Holy Spirit feels the tension of contention, and he will leave.  And no one can then learn anything." 

I apologized to the two elders as we stood a bit numb in the parking lot.  I felt that a lot of the contention of the discussion came because I had been with them.  The man saw an older person with his missionary teachers and felt threatened.  They assured me that that was not the case and that he was in their faces as well when I wasn't there.  I then gave them the advice that if the contention did not soon disappear they might want to get on their knees and ask the Lord if they should continue to teach him.  I brought to their attention how they were feeling. 

I asked, "Do you feel the spirit of peace after a discussion like this?  Can you see how this type of an experience can ruin an entire day? If he continues to want to be the teacher rather than allowing you to teach him, you might better use your time elsewhere."  I hope that was the right advice.  These are two wonderful young men and that was quite an experience for all three of us to go through.

Stake Conference Week

Elder Koelicker and Elder Garns were our visitors from the Church.  They released our Stake Presidency and called three good men to succeed them.  I am always amazed how the gift of prophecy works through priesthood holders with the help of the Holy Ghost.  They knew no one in the stake when they arrived and after interviewing the bishops, high councilors and a few others, they had a consensus feeling who was supposed to serve.  Our new stake president is Michael Youngburg from Ketchikan.  His counselors are Bishop Calderwood from the Juneau 3rd ward and Benjamin Gilbert who had been on the high council who also lives here in Juneau.  (He also is who we went to for our dental check-ups a couple of weeks ago. 

The week has been extremely crammed with reading and studying for this week's Institute lesson.  We cover the final 19 chapters of Revelations.  It has been a journey for me.  I suspected this would come my way last year and bought a book about Revelations to study.  I have since dug into JFS Doctrines of Salvation for further insight.  I have discovered that you have to get into Isaiah, Joel, Job, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Malachi.  And then you have D & C 77, 101 and 45 along with JST Matthew 1.  And then there is a great outline by a Brother Wilcox and a talk given by Gerald R. Lund.  I am afraid I have so many papers in front of my I'm going to get lost in the presentation.  But if nothing else, I think I understand it.  I know I understand that the Book was given to us because we are loved.  Jesus gave this revelation to John for the benefit of his followers, his sheep, the sheaves of wheat.  It only stands to reason that a loving Savior would warn his flock before following through with the events that John recorded will happen. 

Diane and I had a wonderful visit with Allison Holtkamp while eating a Mexican meal at a downtown Juneau restaurant.  She was a special student of mine while I taught at Brighton H. S.  She is still a special person. 

On the sad side, two of our Juneau regulars have passed that age where they have been asked by the Stake Presidency to move into the regular wards and participate in the Single Adults programs there.    We will miss A. J. Collins and Stacy Storres a great deal. 

A couple of our Juneau seminary teachers needed a break.  So I taught the sophomores on Monday and Tuesday mornings.  I enjoyed working over the 2nd book of Peter and 1 John chapters 2 & 3 with them.  The kids were wonderful and contributed with some good comments.  Diane taught for Sister Kirkpatrick this morning.  Her work schedule is putting some strain on her mornings. 

What a wonderful surprise we had Monday evening at YSA Family Home Evening.  We had 15 new faces show up.  These are students who have picked up tourist season jobs with Princess Cruise Lines through the summer.  They quickly showed a bond with one another and with our branch .  The first cruise ship comes into the Juneau dock tomorrow.  Next week they begin coming daily, sometimes three or four a day.  We are looking forward to meeting even more of these summer workers in the next week or two. 

The weather has been solid rain for a week.  We even had two days of heavy, slushy snow over the weekend.