One of the YSA, Justin Brinkerhoff, alerted me through Facebook that the northern lights, Aurora Borealis, would be visible last night. It is so rare to see them here in Juneau as the sky is usually overcast. I habitually get up in the morning around 2:00 a.m., and last night was no exception. Diane didn't want to go so I got dressed and ventured out alone. It was cold, 25 degrees. I drove up to Mendenhall Glacier and sure enough, once out of the street lights there they were. They filled two thirds of the sky. This night they were mostly white. I occasionally saw a hint of pale green or blue and once even a flash of orange. I tried taking pictures but I don't really understand what to do. I opened the shutter to 1/50 but there must be something else.
Wendy Calderwood and Ian Tracey are the called Mom and Dad for planning YSA family home evening activities. They do a great job.
I drove back home and stopped on a road just by the church where there were no street lights and got out of the car to look up. The heavenly vistas were even more spectacular here in Lemon Creek. These mostly white lights looked like fingers of clouds in the clear cold air, but they flashed, spun and danced like lightning. I had to make sure Diane saw them. I came back and woke her up and made her drive out past the church so we could see them together. She only grumped a little bit. I think she liked them.
Monty and Teena Williams invited us to dinner twice during the past 14 days. Elder and Sister Brinkerhoff also were invited both times. We picked them up and took them with us so they wouldn't have to try and find it. The second time we had a home evening lesson and then played Whodunit. I'd never heard of the game but we had a wonderful time.
A J Collins is from Ely, Nevada. He is Choctaw Indian. He owns a condominium with three bedrooms and rents them out. He has been fortunate in that most have LDS standards and so he shares the same values. He is also the finance records keeper for one of the local mines. He is actually 32 but still participates in YSA family home evening and Institute. He is attending the 3rd ward now since his 32nd birthday. We really love him and appreciate his faithfulness in being active.
The Brinkerhoffs, Dan and Ruth, who are from Fairview, Utah, have finally moved into their apartment. They lived two weeks in the Best Western without a kitchen. Their apartment is above us and across the hallway. It is exactly the same floor-plan inverted. The elders and Ogo Tupou helped move their furnishing with Ogo's pick-up. I helped them put together their new furniture pieces and bed. It appears they are happier there than they would be moving into ours in three months. If that remains the case, the sister missionaries will move out of their, what I consider to be inadequate apartment, and into ours. They are very excited for that time. Sister Whitby is from Texas, Black, and a real talented go getter. Sister Hallmark is from Utah, White, and also a real go getter. They are wonderful to have around. To tell it like it is, the Elders have been more on their toes since the sisters arrived. It has been great.
Dara Johnson joined us from Utah in the middle of the summer. She returned this week to continue her schooling. Bryce Anderson lives here with his parents, is a returned missionary and has been to a year of school at BYU Hawaii.
I made bread twice this week to take to people who have treated us so well. I'm taking two loaves to John Lohrey today. They had us over to dinner Tuesday. Also invited was the Leigh family, Donna and her husband and son who is a senior and attends seminary. Donna is a niece of my Aunt Esther Everett. Emilyann Lohrey is leaving Wednesday for the mission home with her mother. John will be staying with the three adopted little girls and also staying is Michael. who is also in our seminary. John is not a member. You wouldn't know it as he comes to church more than most members. He is a member of the Chapel by the Lake congregation. I haven't a clue why he isn't baptized but Emilyann says it has something to do with a due loyalty to his parents who had been members of that church. Michael won't get baptized either as he wants to be loyal to his Father. Emily Anne will be going to a mission in the middle of Siberia. I'm hoping the bread will be a help to John during the time he is without his wife, Diane. They are both excited to be going to the temple for the first time and seeing Temple Square and doing their final shopping for Emilyann. (I hadn't realized how attached I am to these YSA young people. I mentioned in Institute Thursday night my best wishes for her now that she would be leaving us for 18 months. I found myself a bit choked up. She will leave a big hole in our missionary prep class.) We survived when Nia Ma'ake left on a mission, I know we will have the void filled by someone.
Eric Mullen is from California where his family lives. He is a student at UASE. He made the decision to return to activity about 10 months ago. He is a faithful attendee at missionary prep and plans to leave at the end of this school year at the age of 23. Dylan Shizynski was baptized around Christmas time. He has been to boot camp for his first six months of the army reserve. He maintained a good strong testimony throughout it all. Emilyann Lohrey leaves for her mission Wednesday. She turned 19 recently. She is a tiny thing and has a great knowledge of the gospel and a wonderful strong testimony.
I didn't take these pictures. Bryce Anderson did. These actually happened last night. He was in downtown Juneau.
I have been teaching the book of Revelations in our Thursday morning Institute discussions. The attendance has only been around six lately for a number of reasons and conflicts. But I, like all teachers, learn more from preparing and teaching than those who attend do. I'm finding that it is understandable and wonderful. So much has come to pass just as John the Revelator prophesied. Some is definitely happening right now. And because these things have and are happening, I have no doubt the prophecies concerning the sifting of the tares from the wheat and the prophecies of Isaiah will also come to pass. And Nephi tells his prophecies in yet another literary style. But all three, and Ezekiel as well, tell of the same events that have and will occur yet on the earth.
The YSA Institute classes, which have been centered on the final chapters of Isaiah, as they occur in the Book of Mormon and the book of Jacob, have continued to have a total attendance better than last year. Jacob fortifies the teaches of his brother, Nephi. He asks his people, inside the temple, to obey the commandments and to shun pride. While covering the many warnings Jacob gave to his family that he loved, and while touching on the events of those who had hurt the tender hearts of their wives and children because of lasciviousness, I found myself spending a considerable amount of time paralleling those times with our times. I hadn't intended to go where I did, but found myself spending a considerable amount of time warning them of the dangers of pornography and how it is wounding the hearts of girl friends, boy friends, wives and children. Sometimes I feel impressed to emphasize segments of the writings in a stronger and more impressionable manner than I have planned. I hope none of them needed the heavy reinforcement. Visiting with our Branch President however, leads me to know this pernicious activity creeps among us, hiding in the cracks and floor boards and closets of our lives, apartments and homes, like incestuous cockroaches.
We had a wonderful surprise yesterday. We received an unexpected missionary care package from the Ty and Melinda Vranes family who are in our home ward. It lifted our day. We are going to love handing out the CTR rings and goodies to the primary kids in our wards.
We are enjoying our mission. We are getting a lot done. We are strengthening our testimonies of the gospel plan. Our family is more dear to us than ever. I recall, when being privileged enough to hear his prayers, a phrase Dad used. "And bless our children and our grandchildren, that not a single one may be lost to the adversary." I find myself using the same heaven sent plea.
