Final Mission Post

The CES fireside this month was given by Elder Tad Callister of the presidency of the 1^st quorum of Seventies.  It was absolutely brilliant.  He outlined what the Savior’s church should be expected to look like now.  He outlined the organization and the teachings of Christianity, comparing those at the end of the Savior’s life with those of the church of today.

It put a lump in our throats to say good-bye to our seminary students and their dedicated teachers.

Our first stop was Sitka.  We had a 5 hour wait in this port.  We read and did jig-saw puzzles. 

We are on the ferry now, waiting in Sitka for our departure to the next port.  We left Auke Bay in Juneau aboard the Malispina of the Alaska Marine Highway at 12:15 a.m. on the morning of January 21, 2014.   My emotions have been close to the surface the past five days.  It has been a continual parade of farewells and good-byes.  Closure brings to my surface melancholy.

It seemed to begin with a final lesson I taught in Sunday school.  The lesson was on foreordination.  We had a good number in attendance.  It was our first Sunday beginning the block at 11:00 a.m. instead of 9:40 a.m.  No one could remember why we started at 9:40 a.m.  And if they did remember church, and the correct starting time, it was too early to roll out of bed for many.  None of us are sure why we haven’t done this earlier.  But when it was suggested by our Elder’s quorum president, everyone jumped on the idea and the Stake approved it. 

The ferry also stopped in Petersburg and Wrangell but we slept through those stops.  This is the stop in Ketchikan.

President Sekona made a great effort to get as many to our final Institute lesson on Wednesday evening as possible.  We had 20 attend, plus several adults and the missionaries.  The lesson was from Alma chapters 40-51.  I spent most of the time explaining the need of an atoning figure and the great blessing of that sacrifice, and applied mercy and grace, having repented and done all we can do for ourselves.  The participation was flowing and the spirit was strong.  I couldn’t help but think; “They were so sincere in their tribute to us and the mission we have served.  Why couldn’t they attend consistently for the concern of their own strength and testimonies?”  Diane and I were hugged and kissed and thanked and we shed tears as we realized our time together was drawing to a close.  I gave Diane time to bear her testimony and express her feelings.  For both of us our words came with effort as our hearts seemed to obscure our abilities to speak. 

Looking towards Sitka.

It was wonderful to have Scott Beames with us.  He was there having completed a trip to Craig and Thorne Bay on the Island of Prince of Wales.  What an adventure he had.  The rain has been pouring on the inside passage for days.  He rented a car in Ketchikan, ferried it to Hollis on Prince of Wales and drove the 50 minutes to Craig.  After visiting with Travis and Erica Tripple on their houseboat, and attending their early morning seminary class, he proceeded back to Craig.  Mud slides were occurring everywhere.  The ground could hold no more water.  He was told he could not traverse the road back to Hollis to catch the ferry as the road had been covered with mud many feet deep and many yards long.  What was he to do?  He had a plane to catch in Ketchikan in order to preside over our in-service that would be held on Friday morning.  He did the only thing possible.  He arranged for a private bush pilot to fly him to Ketchikan.  He arranged with the branch president, Mel Bingham, to drive the rental car into Hollis when the road was clear and place it on the ferry.  He arranged with the Bishop in Ketchikan to pick that car up from the ferry and return it to the rental agency when it arrived from Hollis.  He did make the flight and arrived in time to attend seminary with us.  I was grateful that he was able to experience the spirit that fills our room during Institute.  I will miss that spirit in Alaska.  I know it can be experienced anywhere, but that won’t be on a mission and in Juneau with a wonderful group of Young Single Adults and our wonderful branch presidency.  President Sekona and his 2^nd councilor, Bob Francis have been so good to be in attendance.

Our ferry, the Malispina, pulls into the Bellingham, Washington dock. 

Diane and I were in the Relief Society room Thursday morning doing our usual studying and going back and forth between classes to see that all was well.  Ten minutes before the time for classes to end we heard quite a rustle in the hallways.  My immediate thought was that the teachers had released their students early.  All of the students from each of the three seminary classes came into the Relief Society room and presented us with a “Forget Me Not” statue to remember them by.  And then they sang “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.”  Then Jenny Schlechter asked if I would give the closing prayer.  I think that may have been the second hardest prayer I have ever offered to my maker.  Usually when my emotions get the best of me my voice locks up.  But this time my voice was able to continue but my eyes burst similarly to the Teton dam back in the 70s.  And if that wasn’t hard enough, most of our seminary students gave us a hug.  I took the time to whisper into each their ears, “Be Great.” 

This final picture I took of Alaska.  It sort of represents the closing of a very wonderful block of our lives.

Following that emotional hour. I made final preparations for our concluding discussion with the adult Institute class.  The material was from Moses in the Pearl of Great Price.  Again, there were good-byes and tears.  The hard thing was to notify them the Stake Presidency had decided not to call a replacement teacher.  There are no CES people in Juneau and they asked me to encourage them to study the gospel from the prepared manuals in groups if they preferred, or alone.  But the stake has chosen not to call a teacher for the class.  They accepted it but were a little sad that it was over. 

Friday morning, the 17^th, was our final In-Service with the seminary teachers of the Juneau stake.  Scott employed a new online communication system the church is using.  He finally abandoned the PCS system that gave me so much grief in setting up and monitoring in the past.

Scott took us to dinner with Jenny that evening.  He had put a lot of thought into some going away mementos.  He gave us a beautiful picture book of SW Alaska.  Also in the gift sack was a picture frame and in that frame was a picture of the students from the seminary saying good-bye to us. 

Saturday evening Elder and Sister Dan and Ruth Brinkerhoff took us to dinner at the Valley Restaurant.    I talked them into coming into our apartment and watching a video I have of a glacier break up that happened in Nova Scotia.  The video showed a glacier with a portion of it bigger than Manhattan Island completely falling apart.  Sister Brinkerhoff and Diane chatted at the table for a couple of hours while Elder Brinkerhoff and I watched BYU beat Santa Clara in basketball.

We enjoyed our final Sunday block with the YSA branch.  The 11:00 a.m. start seems to have helped the attendance a great deal.  There were a few more good-byes.  Diane Lohrey gave Diane a beautiful hand carved and painted bird feather attached to a pin, a broach.  It was hand made by her husband John.  We have great expectations that John will soon join the church.   Along with that we hope to hear soon that Michael, 16 years old, will also be baptized.  He’s waiting for his father I think.  He is such a tremendous young man.  And he is so faithful in his attendance at Seminary.  *(We learned from Michael's sister, Emilyanne who is on a mission now, that Michael will be baptized this month.)

Yesterday was the final push to get the apartment ready to turn over to the Sister missionaries.  Diane has been cleaning and organizing for several weeks in preparation for our departure.  That evening we were invited to have supper with Jenny Schlechter and her brothers who are living with her for the time being.  Her husband, Michael, who is a ferry captain, is in Seattle for two weeks of training.  We returned to the apartment and read for a couple of hours until it was time to drive the car onto the ferry.  After being in the apartment for a bit we were visited by Eric Mullen and Brennan Oakley.  Eric seemed to be relieved to see we hadn’t left.  For some reason he had chosen not to attend the meetings on Sunday and felt badly he had not said good-bye.  We had a wonderful visit and laughed together before we had to push them out the door so we could leave.  Eric will be a wonderful missionary.  His papers will go in any week now.

I have been blessed with a wonderful companion.  Diane has been more than a good sport by jumping into this desire to serve with me.  She has been a powerful influence for faith and testimony.  I love her.

Our family worked very hard to get the house back into shape.  They moved all of our belongings from the storage garage back into their proper place in the house.  They even stocked the cupboards and provided a couple of nights for us in a hotel until we could get the gas company to turn the gas back on.  The inside of the house was full of balloons.

My emotions are ever present right now.  Another of my life’s goals has come and passed.  I can only hope that we helped build the Lord’s kingdom as expected, and that testimonies have been strengthened.  Was it worth it?  There is no doubt in my mind.  It was.  My many hours of preparation from the scriptures has strengthened my testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is the organization as left by the Savior upon completing His Foreordained Mission on the Earth.  He is my Brother.  He is my Friend.  He is my Savior.  I know and love Him better now than any other time in my life.   He is represented now by a real prophet.  Thomas S. Monson exercises all of the keys of power and authority from Jesus Christ here on the earth, and he communicates with God and he speaks in His behalf.  And twelve Apostles along with Pres. Monson hold the priesthood keys.

I am so anxious to see my family again.  I have missed them.  I don’t think I realized how much until now, as we slowly travel through the waters of the South West Passage in their direction.

And with that being said, I close the pages of this blog in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen!