Our Final Anchorage In-Service

Diane and I flew to Anchorage, Alaska on Thursday a week ago.  Our purpose was to attend a Friday in-service for our Church Education calling.  It was our final time to attend one of these wonderful learning opportunities.  Greg Bishop, the CES supervisor from Seattle over the Northwest, and Erik Bacon, the coordinator over Anchorage had prepared the meeting.  Also with us was Scott Beames, our coordinator, Michael Davidson and Joe Dinwoody, who are full time seminary teachers in Matanuska and Palmer. 

We received lots of guidance and instruction.  I also got lots of ideas for the in-service that I will be presenting the first Wednesday morning in November to our stake seminary teachers.

 
We arranged to spend a bit of time in Anchorage and arrived Thursday afternoon.  We had to cut our Thursday institute short by 30 minutes to catch the plane.  After picking up our vehicle from the mission office we checked into our hotel.  Then after a bite to eat we excitedly drove to the temple.  We arrived just a bit too late to take in a session but we did join a group doing sealings. 

Friday was the in-service.  The recently assigned missionary couple to the Institute building in Anchorage fixed a great lunch.  After dismissing the meeting, Diane and I went to the hotel for a 30 minute nap and then off to Village Inn for dinner.  Afterwards we attended a session in the temple. 

The following morning, Saturday, we again went to the temple for a session.  We were surprised to see the Verhagen family in the session.  They are from Fairbanks.  Mary Verhagen has accepted a call to serve in the Ohio mission and was getting ready to leave early next month.  Mary and her brothers, Josh and Elijah, attended our spring semester of institute and it was so good to see them again.  She is going to be a dynamite sister missionary.  Bro. and Sister Verhagen have been called to serve as temple workers in the Anchorage temple for one weekend each month.  They stay with friends Thursday through Sunday before the drive back to Fairbanks.  Even though we have access to a temple here in Alaska, I am so grateful to be living with ten minutes of a temple in Riverton, and can go often.

Our Institute was attended very well two and three weeks ago.  We had 16 YSA to teach.  This week we were down to 6.  I hope it isn't because of the Isaiah chapters.  I try to make them as exciting as I can.  Actually, to me they are incredible.  The fact that the Lord would show Isaiah the events of the Jews and Gentiles, and the coming of Immanuel to Isaiah, is wonderful.  That Isaiah was able to prophecy the mission of Joseph Smith 2600 years before his birth, is a testimony builder for me.  His understanding the Book of Mormon would be a spokesman from the dust of Nephi's people to us is a special message.  I especially marvel that Isaiah prophecies in the latter days any who warred with; or bothered Israel, would face God's wrath.  He specifically states that these nations will turn on themselves.  I look at Egypt, Lybia, Syria, Iraq and others in the middle east and realize these things are happening. . . now, just as Isaiah prophesied. 

Mont and Tina Williams invited us for New Mexico enchiladas Thursday evening.  We picked up Elder and Sister Brinkerhoff and took them with us.  Along with their daughter Kim, we had a wonderful evening.  Tina and Kim attend Thursday institute. 

We drove to the county records office Thursday afternoon to watch the Brinkerhoffs as they recorded the records in the archive for family search.  It looked pretty repetitive to me.  But they seem happy as can be. 

I miss being able to go out after a salmon once a week as I did while they were running.  The eagles seem to be someplace other than Juneau.  The rain and cloud cover has been extreme to us; but, as we are told, this is typical for Juneau.  We are experiencing temperatures in the high forties for the high, and the low forties for the low.  There has been snow in the upper mountain areas. 

President Josh Sakona and his wife Lovinia invited us to dinner earlier this week.  He checked his crab pots that day and had some king crab.  We had all the king crab we could eat.  Plus they had salmon cooked in coconut oil and on top of that they had steak.  There was asparagus and slices of zucchini squash and a salad.  I'm sure we ate more than we should have.  We enjoyed the meal and the visit with the family.  Jamie, Margaret and Kayleen are their children.  They are all in their twenties and single.  They attend the YSA branch.  We really love these people and enjoy being with them.

The gospel is beautiful, and true.  How grateful I am that my parents taught me the gospel. 

2 Nephi 25:26 

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Isaiah

Members of the Young Single Adult branch continue to come and go, even outside of the tourist season.  We have met a wonderful young woman by the name of Corina Sandoval.  Life has been hard for Corina in Mexico.  She came to Sitka to visit friends with whom she had graduated from high school with.  She had some life altering thinking to do.  While living her life to the fullest one day, she was helping clean a boat for an upcoming fishing trip.  Not having complete control of her faculties she tumbled into the engine room and hurt herself with a concussion and some stitches.  She had an epiphany of sorts and decided she would like to clean her life up. 

The Sisters in Sitka made contact with her shortly thereafter and quickly she understood the principles of the gospel, and she accepted the challenge to be baptized.  Within a couple of weeks she left Sitka and came to Juneau to be with an older friend who had also been in Sitka.  Her name is Hilda and she also hails from Mexico.  Hilda is now a care keeper for an 80 year old man in a very nice home.  Hilda is also a member of the church but has been inactive most of her life.  Unexpectedly they showed up at institute.  At the conclusion of the evening they were excited about the church, the lesson and the prospects of living the gospel.  Corina has attended two times since.  This past week Diane and I gave her a ride home as no other YSA lived near her.  We had a nice chat and learned that she was married and planned to return to Mexico.  Her intent is to try and work out a marriage that was not working well when she made the decision to go to Alaska.  I asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing before returning home.  She said she would like that.

She did come to church yesterday with a plan to delay her return to Mexico until Friday.   I introduced her to President Sakona and he invited me to assist him with the priesthood blessing.  We had a wonderful visit with Corina where she expressed fear at returning to a husband who is now loving another and living very differently from the teachings of the gospel.  President Sakona gave her a beautiful blessing and we taught her about the priesthood and the strength and support it can be in our lives.  She will leave this week having only been with us about 5 weeks.  But she allowed us an opportunity to serve her and teach her. 

Scott Beames setting up the 'Go To Meeting' technology.  While he was doing that I am getting the my computer into "Go To Meeting' and getting the Polycom up so the outlying branches can join us and see us.

Scott Beames, the Alaska coordinator for the CES, visited last week.  He conducted an in-service for our stake seminary teachers in preparation for the coming Book of Mormon chapters which include Isaiah.  He brought his wife Tricia.  Their children are old enough to get themselves off to school.  They live in Palmer.  We met with them, the Schlechters and Bob and Sowa Francis at our favorite Thai food place.  I'd call it a restaurant, but that might be stretching it some.  It's just a dig.

This is how our early morning In-Service looks.   Our early morning seminary teachers have made arrangements for substitute teachers while they are in training.

Elder Call of the Seventy and President John Beesley, our mission president met with us in our chapel yesterday.  The meeting was for each ward and branch council in our stake.  The theme was to help these councils be effective in hastening the work.  It took a tremendous amount of technology to connect each of our 13 units to sound and most of them to video.  Some responded to questions by texting in answers and others used the polycom and some were able to respond directly with the vidyo system used by the church. 

President Josh Sakona and his wife Lovinia

I am finding myself immersed in the chapters of the Book of Mormon that quote Isaiah.  He wrote with the intent of making the meaning of his writings understandable to a covenant people.  He knew the world would grow weary of his poetry and not seek the meaning.  But he also knew that in our day we would read it and understand it.  With the assistance of a wonderful book called 'Understanding Isaiah' and the BYU tv gospel discussion broadcasts that I watch, I believe I am understanding it more than ever before.  I am not totally comfortable teaching it, but feel better about it than I would have a year ago.  These writings help establish the credibility of the Savior and also the church, sometimes described as that on Mount Zion and the New Jerusalem.  They give great insight into the future of the house of Israel on Mount Zion and the House of Israel in Jerusalem. 

After our YSA Family Home Evening everyone went to a Tae Kwan Do studio for some self defense training.

I am trying to do as Nephi as suggested when he introduced the first of the Isaiah chapters in First Nephi.  He told us that in reading Isaiah we should liken his writings as unto ourselves. 

We met a senior couple at the ferry dock this morning at 4:00 a.m.  They are Elder and Sister Brinkerhoff from Fairview, Utah.  They will be doing records preservation while they are here.  They are without an apartment for a couple of weeks and will be staying in a motel until the apartment above us becomes available the first of November. 

Aubrey Welling, President Welling's daughter, and Dara, one of our YSA as they prepare to learn the art of self-defense.

Conference was so meaningful and uplifting.  I think the most poignant message was that we should not be doubting our religion, but doubting our doubts.  Elder Uchtdorf acknowledged the church is and has been led by men.  They are God's chosen Prophets, but they are still men.  And sometimes men make mistakes.  I'm grateful that I've been able to understand that and hold on to the faith that offers so many blessings.  In spite of the inadequacies of man, the church has been organized in its fulness once again.  We are led by a chosen Prophet, chosen by God himself.  And he spoke to us Gods will once again from the pulpit just two Sunday's ago. 

Diane Celebrates A Birthday In Juneau

Diane finally caught up with me in age this week.  We are both now 66.  We celebrated with some flowers and a night out for dinner at a decent Chinese restaurant she enjoys.  The highlight of the day was having a few of our children call to express their love and appreciation to her for being their mother.  I think one of my greatest comforts has been to see our daughter grow from resentment at having a 'replacement' mother, to having reached a place of gratitude and love for that 'replacement mother.'  The test is what we do with the apples we have been given to harvest.  This daughter has finally made a beautiful batch of bottled apples that is being enjoyed in many 'apple pies' now and to come. (And to think I didn't feel we could afford another child.  How I thank her birth mother every day for being more wise than me.  I could not have afforded to be without her at this time in my life.)  Each child I have been blessed with, is a blessing to me in different ways. 

The tourist season is over.  The final cruise ships left the docks last Thursday.  Diane and I walked downtown where she looked over some items we wanted to purchase to help us remember this wonderful experience and place.  If you know Diane, you know she is a decorator supreme.  She makes our home a peaceful place.  We can look on our walls and find remembrances of our faith, our family and our life's experiences.  These items we purchased will help her to do some more of that.

Emily Ann Lohrey received her mission call last Monday.  She has been called to a mission in Siberia, Russia.  It was fun to watch her express her excitement at FHE as she would inform each friend who entered the room of her call.   She just jumped into their arms and would squeal with delight.  She has had four years of Russian in school.  That can't be a bad thing. 

Hannah Cordell has returned to our missionary prep classes.  She attended a couple of times after graduating from seminary and then decided she wasn't going to go on a mission.  Sunday there she was again.  She has started the on-line paper process and has put her availability date down as the new year.  When asked what happened, she replied that she didn't really know.  She just woke up and knew that she needed and wanted to go on a mission.  Her countenance is noticeably different in the missionary prep class.  She was there because she wanted to be there, so that she could be as prepared as she could possibly be.  She went through her scriptures with purpose.  We both noticed the change and the light that seemed to have become part of her.

The attendance at our FHE on Monday evenings has increased substantially since Wendy Calderwood has returned from her mission.  She does the planning and promoting.  They are well done and fun.  This evening there will be a short lesson and then she has arranged for a martial arts class to give them all a free martial arts lesson.  She has recently been called to be the Relief Society president.  I hope there is a suitable FHE leader available to replace her. 

We have two new members, converts, who have moved in from Sitka.  Corina Sandoval was baptized last month.  Her friend, a convert and her roommate is Hilda.  I still have to learn her last name.  They are both Latino and excited about the gospel.  They have been coming to Institute.

It always fun to see the sun.  In the early morning when it hits the Alaskan mountains it can be breath taking.

My preparations for this week's Institute lesson include coming to grips with Isaiah.  I am finding it fascinating.  I am understanding better that Isaiah wanted those who would read his writings to know and understand the branches of the tree of Israel.  He wanted those who had been removed from the tree to know their branch would be returned to the tree.  He wanted us to understand who Christ is and what he has given us.  He wanted us to understand that when we become children of the promise that we become a covenant people, and these covenants are sacred and essential.  Nephi understood Isaiah from the Brass Plates, and he became a kindred spirit with the mission and prophecies of Isaiah.  I hope I am able to help the YSA branch become as excited about it as we discuss it. 

It is a beautiful time of year.  The leaves are changing color and falling to the ground.  The foliage is preparing for the winter as well. 

Thursday Institute discussion centered around the writings of James, the half brother of Jesus.  Where as Paul teaches a lot about the trees of the gospel, James teaches much about the vines and protruding branches than can trip us up.  He teaches us what it takes to live a "Christ-Like" life.  Our attendance has been consistent.  I think I enjoy that part of our mission the most.  We take a single Institute lesson and spend the entire time on it.  We completely dissect the principles of the gospel and have time to chew on each morsel of truth.  I learn a great deal from those who attend. 

The fog is a daily occurrence.  I enjoy seeing it across the mountains and in this case in the Gastineau Channel.

The ravens and eagles have been away from our apartment since the salmon started to run in early summer.  The salmon runs are winding down and we again see an occasional raven and eagle.  The bears are full of salmon fat and they are finishing up their preparations for the coming winter's hibernation and birthing.  Diane and I saw our first really big male black bear in a clearing only a mile from our apartment.  He was meandering a very small stream looking for anything he could find of interest. 

Tara Pearce is a Junior in our Juneau Seminary class.  She also dives for the Thunder Mountain High School.  She invited us to see her dive.  Her father is her assistant coach standing beside her. 

Juneau, Alaska in September

The real Juneau has again reared its damp and cloudy head.  We are experiencing copious amounts of rain.  The car washes here are quite pathetic.  The best car wash is when I work the car over in the rain with a scrub brush.  The rain rinses the dirt from the car.  I placed the carry all back on the Subaru so I won't have to do it in the cold when our release date comes.   There is nothing I hate worse than having to work outside with my fingers when it is freezing.

Kayleen Sekona lives in Juneau and attends our Wednesday Institute classes. 

The past week has been repetitive as each school day we roll out of bed with the 5:00 a.m. alarm.  We arrive at the church in time to open the doors for early morning seminary at 6:15. a.m.  Diane does a lot of cooking and baking in preparation for Wednesday and Thursday institute classes.  I believe the kids look forward more to her meals than they do to the lessons.  I continue to index and dabble with ancestors names while Diane gets right into the genealogy.  She has turned in names consistently to the temple lately.

Josh Sekona is our Young Single Adults Branch President.  He is from Tonga and went to Samoa on his mission as a young man.  He is a spiritual giant.

The Coho (silvers) are in the water in very large numbers.  I have been out a couple of times with my fly pole but I guess I won't get to experience catching one on a fly.  They won't take it from me.  They are congregating by the ladders at the fish hatchery in huge numbers.  The seals are in front of the ladders waiting for easy meals.  One seal chased a silver right up to my feet yesterday.  He got a good chunk of the fish before he let it go and the fish kind of sunk right at my side.  That was exciting.

Emilyann Lohrey graduated from seminary just this past June.  She has been attending our missionary preparation class on Sunday afternoons.  Her papers are in and we expect to see a mission call in the next week.

Our Institute lesson on Wednesday night was centered on the Book of Mormon chapters 6-11.  We had a group of 15 attend.  Most of them were our local young people.  The summer workers are sifting their way out of town and back down to the lower 48.  I enjoyed the discussion of the principles that can be learned from those chapters in the Book of Mormon.  The vision of the Tree of Life is so important to understand.  It can contribute immensely to our understanding and to our ability to be content and happy while on this journey through life.

Eric Mullen has begun to attend the missionary preparation classes.  He spent the summer as a commercial fisherman.  He has recently been called to be a branch missionary and is one of the many success stories we have been able to experience.

Yesterday's Adult Institute centered on the last half of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament.  We compared the role of the Levitical high Priest in the Tabernacle on the Day of Atonement to the Savior, He who allowed Himself to be the final and one time sacrifice, performing for each of us the infinite atonement.  We discussed that the rituals of the sacrifice in the Old Testament were never designed to offer man exaltation.  It was simply a similitude of the sacrifice to come.  Those who come on Thursday mornings contribute greatly to the discussion and we are enjoying learning together.

Jaymie Lawrence was baptized in late summer up in Homer.  She moved here a week later and is very active and upbeat.  She has been called to be the Family History specialist in the branch. 

Bryce Anderson lives here and has been attending BYU Hawaii.  He is working to make money to finish his education.  He is an exceptional photographer.

As I study more, and as I age, I feel as if the gospel is a mural in front of me.  I am gradually stepping back from the picture and getting a broader glimpse of the whole work.  It is truly a masterpiece.

This is Shawndel Wilcock.  She has graduated from college and is finishing up her summer job before returning home.  Randon Calderwood has received his mission call to Las Vegas, Nevada.  He will be leaving in a few weeks.  Wendy, his sister, just returned from her mission at the beginning of the summer and is our Relief Society President.

This Is Alaska

Two of our sons, Gregg and Erik, spent a week with us.  They noticed some differences between the way things are done here and in the lower 48.  We were able to experience some of those differences this week.

This is Doc Warner's main building in Excursion Outlet.  We would eat our breakfast and dinners here and prepare our own lunches.  Diane spent some time here putting together puzzles while we would fish.  A full day of fishing was a bit much for her.

Our Stake conference was held Saturday and Sunday.  Our stake pilots got our stake President and his wife here from Ketchikan.  (Yes we have stake pilots, two of them.  They get the stake leaders where they need to be in this vast Juneau Stake which extends from Whitehorse in the Yukon, to Ketchikan in the far southeast of Alaska and many points in between.)   Many of the members of the outlying branches and wards came into Juneau at some expense to meet together.  Some flew and some came by ferry.  There was a wonderful pot luck feast between the leadership meetings and the Saturday adult session.  Each of the buildings from throughout the stake called in to participate by polycom so they could hear the instruction.  I believe a video feed was sent out from the stake house to the branches as well. 

In this steel Quonset Mark Warner stores his boats for the winter.  When he gets the first row serviced and placed for winter he makes a second row in front of it.  In this building is their freezer for the fish and the vacuum packer and the workshop area.

We closed our eyes and imagined sister Tew in Craig as she addressed us.  A highlight for us was hearing Emilyanne Lohrey.  She had been asked to bare her testimony.  She has been in our missionary prep class for several months.  She is a humble and strong young woman.  Her mother is as well.  Her father is not a member but attends many of the meetings.  They have adopted two special needs children from Russia.  They are both girls under the age of six and can be quite a handful for all in the family.  Emilyanne bore a wonderful and strong testimony.  She was later interviewed by President Youngburg and at the conclusion of that interview he sent her missionary papers in to Salt Lake City. 

Mark Warner runs the lodge.  He is posing with a friend of his from Albuquerque, Jane.  She trades a month of labor at the lodge each summer for the chance to be in Alaska and do some fishing in between shifts.  She caught a 184 lb. halibut on Thursday and brought it in by herself; at least up to the boat where Doc and her husband pulled it into the boat.  We watched them fillet it on the dock.  It was impressive.

Sunday's session of conference was a video feed from Salt Lake City.  We were able to listen Elder Nash of the Seventy, Sister McKonkie of the Young Women's Presidency and Elders Hale and Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve.  I enjoyed listening to their testimonies and encouragement to remain true to the gospel. 

Every trip has to have a funny story.  This was ours.  Gregg hooked into a "Big One."  He was sure it was a very big halibut.  He felt the pole was going to break.  He grunted for ten minutes and worked has at getting the line in.  It just didn't progress much.  I finally noticed that we were getting closer to a boat next to us with each of his efforts.  He had hooked the anchor of another boat.  It was embarrassing to ask the other fishermen to pull anchor so he could get the hook out of the chain, but they were good sports about it. 

In the afternoon I set up the technology for and showed the CES fireside.  Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve spoke from the campus of BYU Hawaii.  We showed it again at 6:00 p.m. as several of the branch had not heard the announcement that it would be shown at 4:00 p.m.  We usually show it at 6:00 p.m. but our stake president announced it to be at 4:00 p.m. because that is when it was in Utah.  To be prepared we just did it twice. 

Mark Warner Jr. helps at the lodge.  He graduated from seminary a year early and is now in Salt Lake City attending the BYU classes offered that way.  He enrolls in the Provo campus next semester.




We are enjoying getting up at 5:00 a.m. to be able to open the church for early morning seminary.  The classes have grown in number, especially the Junior and Senior class. 

This is Doc Warner and his wife Linda.  They are leaving soon on their 3rd mission.  This one will be a second mission to the South Pacific.  Linda will be nursing in Tahiti and Doc will be doing what he can once he gets there.

I began teaching the Institute Book of Mormon class.   I am very excited to teach the lessons we learn from the Book of Mormon.  We went over the title page and introduction and the testimonies of the three witnesses and the testimonies of the 8 witnesses and included the testimony of Mary Whitmer.  The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.  It validates again the Savior as the Son of God and our Redeemer.  It was given to us by the gift of revelation by the Holy Ghost through Joseph Smith.  He was the called Prophet to do this and had been foreordained to do so in the first estate.  I know these things to be true.  Our Father In Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ still speak to us through their servants, the prophets.  And Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today, receiving instruction to guide us through these perilous days.  Sometimes I think of 'these perilous days' as the days of my lifetime from birth to whenever death will come.

This was our final halibut of the day.  We could keep two apiece each day.  The big ones must be rare.  All of ours were under 30 lbs. 

We met with our newly called Family History consultant for the branch to help her get started.  She has been a member of the church for just over a month.  She is so excited about genealogy.  Jaymie has a huge hurdle to begin with.  She doesn't know who her father is and her mother is not sure. 

Gregg and Erik Visit

We did our usual amount of teaching of Institute and Missionary Preparation classes.  We have also had an orientation for the coming seminary year.  We met with the parents and students to register them for their classes.  We met with the teachers one evening in the church as they were doing their bulletin boards and organizing their file cabinets and supplies. 

We seem to be blessed now and then with a visit from someone we have known in the past, or a past student.  This week we were blessed to spend a week with our sons, Gregg and Erik.  It was so good to see them on the curb at the airport as we drove in to get them.

 We had lunch with them and then spent the day showing them the sights of Juneau.  They were amazed at the beauty and fascinated with the fish hatchery.  There really weren't that many fish going up the ladder and yet they were fascinated by it.  The silvers had not really made an appearance yet.  They are now in.  The numbers are getting impressive.

I stayed with them until dinner time.  Diane fixed a nice dinner for them.  But I was recovering from some sort of stomach bug and had to stay in bed and try to get over that.  Diane drove them up to Mendenhall where they immediately saw two or three bear in the river.  These bear seemed to have no concern for the number of humans around them on the boardwalk.  They were interested in feeding on the sockeye salmon that were in the stream.  It could not have been better choreographed.  The boys wanted to see bear and the glacier area provided.

 We spent Saturday seeing as much of the Juneau area as we could.  In the evening we wanted to attend a wedding reception for Carolyn Chenowyth and Josh Smith.  Carolyn is a BYU student and Josh has been taking the missionary lessons since January.  We arrived at 5:00 and thought we would be just right.  We didn't realize we had to walk almost two miles into the Boy Scout camp.  By the time we got there the reception was over.  We did get to watch them take some pictures.  On the way back out we crossed paths with two black bear.  Erik was fascinated with the number of bald eagles we saw.  I can understand that myself.

We learned that after a lesson on the principle of eternal marriage in the temple, Josh texted the missionaries on Friday evening and asked if he could get baptized on Saturday.  I feel bad we didn't know about it until after it was over. 

We all attended our church block on Sunday and then we boarded an Allen Marine ferry in the afternoon for our two hour shuttle over to Excursion Inlet.  We spent Monday through Friday fishing together. 

I tried to make it an opportunity to express my testimony to them on the scriptures and Joseph Smith.  I enjoyed hearing them express their testimonies to me of their belief of the same things.

 
Today we were back at it in church.  I picked up three travelers from a cruise ship and took them to the church house so they could attend the afternoon block.  Camille Porter is the mother of one of my private voice students.  She made the arrangements.  Coincidentally, another of the three was Jaree.  She is the daughter of Bobbie and Fred Zitting, our wonderful friends from our home ward, the Field Crescent ward. 

The Real SE Alaska Returns

That beautiful, warm sunshine seems to have departed for a time.  In it's place we have the weather that we have become accustomed to; lower temperatures and cloudy skies with lots of rain. 

This is a look down one of the main streets in Skagway.  There is still a lot of the early 1900's feel with the wooden walkways and power poles. It is really small in population at around 800 people.  After the tourist season many leave for the winter dropping the population down to just over 300 who tough out the cold weather.

The week has been full of study as I prepare for lessons.  Diane has been busy doing many different odd jobs in preparation for the first day of seminary which is next Monday.  We had an orientation for the seminary students and their parents on Sunday, after the final block in the building had finished.  Our Junior and Senior class will be bigger than we have experienced here.  There will be 24, at least.  The Stake Presidency called Sister Carol Stauffer to help teach the class.  She has a daughter, Grace, who will be a senior this year.  Carol has been a substitute and we know she will be tremendous.  We meet with her today for some training.

The garden we entered in Skagway had many bronze sculptures.  We've seen this in the wild, but the bears haven't been quite that buff.

 

The class of sophomores will have about 13 in it.  It is being team taught by Michael and Heidi Malin.  Heidi is a returned missionary and served in Siberia.  They are no longer newly weds and we are glad to have them as long as they will teach. 

We enjoy the Native American art. 

Lynn Hirschi is going to try to teach the incoming 12 freshmen alone this year.  Her team teacher was released.  Her helper of last year, Erin Willis, experienced have her husband called to be the bishop.

We and Sister Jenny Schlechter had a meeting with Pres. Gilbert of the stake presidency and Harold Mikesell, our high council advisor.  We discussed the needs in the stake and anything we could place on the table concerning seminary.

The Wednesday evening lesson was on the importance of the family unit, and life after the one we are living now.  I enjoyed these lessons very much.  My family is important to me, every member that I know and have yet to meet.  (I put that in there because our son Erik and his wife, Andrea, announced we are expecting our 30th grandchild in February.)  And I have a vested interest in the life after this one.  It is immediate with me, knowing that I have a wife and a father and all four of my grandparents that have experienced the journey where we close our eyes on mortality and open them again, immediately, on eternity.

The greatness and majesty of this earth just never ceases to amaze me. 

When things get slow, Diane and I do family history and indexing.  Occasionally I will take a couple of hours off and drive to some coastal area and fish.  The pinks (humpy) really seem to like what I am throwing out.  I am hoping to soon get an incoming silver (coho).  It really doesn't matter if I catch anything.  I find myself just looking around at the beautiful scenery around me and enjoying every second of being here.

We had to fly above the clouds at times to avoid running into these jutting mountain peaks.