A Final Zone Conference

This new year has offered challenges to overcome.  Many of the YSA have returned to their places of schooling.  We have seen others come in who hope to make money here before returning to their schooling activities.  That means there are presidencies to replace and teachers to be called and trained.  It keeps our branch presidency hopping.

This beautiful place is Amalga Harbor.  It is a few miles short of Echo Cove and is a popular place to launch fishing boats.

L. to R. Sister Ruth Brinkerhoff, (sitting) Elder Dan Brinkerhoff, Ruth and Dennis Cunningham, Diane Kaiser, and Sister Diane Waldron

The Cunninghams, Ruth and Dennis, invited us to dinner a final time before they headed down south to warmer weather and the temples of the southwest.  They also had invited the Brinkerhoffs and Sister Diane Kaiser.

Cort and Julie Franklin have been called to be the Institute teachers for the Young Single Adults in our place.  Cort has been the branch president of the YSA branch in the past and Julie has taught seminary and substitutes for us now and then.  They met with us before Wednesday's Institute class to receive some orientation and then stayed to watch the class.  We also had an earlier meeting with them and the stake presidency to prepare for the future.

President Jon and Sister Beesley were in Juneau for Zone Conference this weekend.  They invited me to assist in ways to help the missionaries teach and interest young people in the gospel.  There wasn't nearly enough time to do what I had planned.  Sister Whitby, from Dallas/Ft.Worth Texas, sang my sister Connie's song "He Answers Prayer."  I did show Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley's talk on the tree he neglected in his back yard until it was almost too late to salvage.

Elder and Sister Brinkerhoff at Echo Cove.  In July the pinks gather there prior to going upstream to spawn.

The Beesley's invited us to breakfast with them yesterday.  Our favorite place to eat breakfast if at Grandma's Feather Bed.  We, the Brinkerhoffs and the Oswalds, who are from Pocatello and serving in Haines, had a wonderful visit.  We giggled, laughed and even cried as we shared stories and feelings and experiences. 

Elder Brinkerhoff wanted to be shown where he could go to catch a fish when the season opens again.  We drove up to Echo cove near the end of the road.  It was actually the literal end of the road yesterday as that is as far as it was plowed.  We stopped and took pictures of some of the impressive sights we saw.  How do you decide which is more impressive than another here?

The lesson we discussed in Institute was the powerful chapters in Alma, 30-39.  There was lots of wonderful discussion.  A recently returned missionary, Andie Wharton, joined us for the first time.  She was in Brazil three weeks ago.  She just bubbles.  She shared some wonderful testimony of her experiences with her Father In Heaven.

Andie Wharton recently returned from Brazil where she was a missionary.  She shared with us her prayers to her Father In Heaven as she struggled to learn the language.  She seems to be a lot like I am when it comes to the scriptures.  Each verse has a special meaning and so it must have a special color.

The Thursday Institute lesson came from the Pearl of Great Price.  We learned more of God's purpose, the spiritual and physical creation of the earth and the Fall of Adam.  I continue to feel this is my favorite assignment of our mission.  We read every verse and discuss it until we understand it.  I have lots of time to use the resources provided by the church.

I wanted to get out to the end of the road a final time before leaving for Utah.  Yesterday seemed like the perfect day.  Echo cove is a beautiful place to drive to and a beautiful place to visit.  It is approximately 35 miles north of our apartment.