Home from Alaska-

 So this will be our final entry of our mission to the Anchorage Alaska Mission, assigned as CES missionaries. As I'm writing this, we are home in Malad, Idaho, and have been released as full-time missionaries. In one way it's very sad, and we miss so badly the people that we have been working with and serving. But we recognize that our service had a time to end and it is now time for us to look to the future and what it holds for us. 

Greeting Party at the Airport

The last two days of the mission was heart wrenching as we realized that many of these people we will never see again in this life. But we have faith and confidence that we will see them again. 

Monday we went to our final District Council with the Westchester District--Young missionaries.  President Larsen our mission President joined us--and unusual treat for all of us. It was so great to meet with them one last time and feel their wonderful spirit and testimony. 

Westchester District

 On Monday night, JUSTIN REEDER, had worked with the YSA Ward and North Stake group to have a combined FHE and the announcement he sent out said we were going to celebrate President and Nelson's 100th birthday by reviewing and sharing how he has impacted our lives. He also said that we are also going to say goodbye to Elder and Sister Cox. He had told us that we might be asked to say a few words at the end so we weren't sure what was coming. As we gathered together as a group with 30 or 40 YSA's

Last FHE some of our friends who came

that we had served with, we were able to share with them, some of our feelings about being in Alaska and serving a mission here. We ended the meeting about 8 o'clock so it was a short one hour FHE and we didn't leave till about 10 that night because we stayed around and talked and laughed and took pictures and had a great time.

Tuesday night was our regular Institute night, and again an opportunity for us to say goodbye to other people who we hadn't already. Although we would've loved to been in the lesson with

Justin Reeder-Our mission leader

JUSTIN, we were needed out in the hall to talk & to counsel with some kids who were in need. We didn't leave that night till about 10 o'clock as well. 

Patti & Darrell Kincaid -she was Thurs night teacher

We love these people dearly and I was talking to Carolee, I thought how amazing it was that we came on our mission, hoping to be able to touch someone and we hope we did, but it ended up that they were the ones that touched us.

As we look back on our 12 months here in Alaska, there is no question in our minds that we gave it our all.

My First friend in Alaska--ALI

A senior mission is way, way different than a mission when you're a young adult. It is so much better, and because our missions are not proselyting missions nor teaching missions per se, we hope that we were able to Influence someone for good among the people that we associated with. We will forever be changed because of our service in Alaska and as full-time representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him and testify that He lives. 

Love you all...

P.S. This is our favorite Sister Missionary in the whole world--even thought she is not in the coldest mission in the world, but probably the hottest in Tucson, Arizona !! We got to talk with her on Monday before we left when all three of us were missionaries at the same time.  It was an honor for us.  She is so awesome. 

Sister Kaley Cox Our first grandchild missionary!!

September 8,2024

So everyone, this is the last hurrah!  We finish our mission and leave Alaska on Wednesday  9/11/2024. So we only have 2 days left in Alaska!  Totally hard to believe its been a year.  

 

Sisters Soderberg, Paul & Rasmussen (L to R) during 
District Council

We have had a great week! We fed our district a waffle, bacon & eggs breakfast Monday morning at the Institute as part of district council and had a great testimony Meeting with them! We are again really impressed with these missionaries. Again, to watch these missionaries, in a self-directed meeting talk about such truths was so impressive.  We know all missionaries are not like this, but almost all that we have gotten to know are.   It was a new way to celebrate Labor Day!!  We were asked to sub in early morning seminary on Tuesday, so Gary prepped most of the afternoon!  I started packing and organizing.  Since there was no FHE due to Labor Day, we went down to Ocean View Bluff Park and went for a hike along the coast in a beautiful, dense forest. 

Ocean View Bluff Park-we hiked in the forest to the left

It had been raining so the trail was a little sloppy.  But it was an adventure as we traversed a trail that was not visible from the viewpoint.  We love our out of the  way adventures where we see little hidden jewels.  

Tuesday we taught early morning seminary at the Institute building, the 9th-10th graders. It starts at 7 now due to school start changes, so not too bad--better than 6:00AM!  Lesson was from Helaman, on prophets, so a great one! I can't believe how much we gain from teaching.  I (Gary) do most of the in front of class teaching, but during our prep time, we are discussing concepts, principles that we want to teach and then discuss questions to ask, approach to take.  It is very helpful for me.  Then Carolee will take a part to teach in almost every lesson.  It has been a great formula for me as she helps me stay focused on topic, gives me different perspective and tells me when what I'm doing makes no sense.  I really appreciate her input and support.  We balance each other well as we seem to do.  

After class, we helped the other teacher with some technical problems she was having.  Once it was fixed I turned to walk from around the podium and tripped over the cord from the TV we were hooked to.  I went down hard on my artificial knee and my hands.  Carolee said I jumped up like I was a teenager and I said I was ok.  Chatted for a few more minutes as I showed her my "clicker" to advance the power point presentation with blue tooth.  I didn't want her to feel bad since she was warning me about the cords as I was falling to the ground.  I should have been more careful.  But I was really hurting.  My wrists were sore and my knee was screaming at me.  The next day I could hardly walk, but each day is a little better.  It's Sunday now and it still hurts to go down stairs, but I can sleep without Advil. 😬 

We went souvenir shopping while we were out cause we were out!  We are getting short on time!  Then we went to the institute at noon and I spent most of the afternoon cleaning then making bread for Institute class. We didn’t have missionaries or others so it was quiet! Justin has a great class on the Book of Revelation. I think we had 25 kids there.  No bread left that night!  Carolee has become famous for her bread, dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls--and raspberry jam.  It is such a treat for everyone, even the Stake Presidency who meets there.  If they time the end of their meeting just right, a hot piece of homemade bread is a pretty sweet ending to their night. Most of the time we don't get a slice, so no bread is part of the gift!

Wednesday morning was my last temple day! I was a follower on the first session!  She was sweet to have me do that.  I really hope I will be able to continue working after we return home!  They were very sweet telling me goodbye!  We usually go back to the temple in the evening but a senior sister missionary was showing the movie Escape from Germany at the Institute bldg. so we went to help her and enjoyed the movie with her, Sister Watanabe, Sister Badger and a few friends!  We provided popcorn from our movie theater style popcorn maker.  President Azimi wasn’t sure the movie night is a good idea so don’t know where that is going!  

Also found out that Jarilyn is having a boy!! We are thrilled for her Benny to get a brother along with his 3 sisters!

Due to our Wednesday schedule we went to the temple on Thursday morning!  I love it and the 7 minute drive will be missed!  I did make cinnamon rolls for Thursday night institute. Another last!  We had 12 kids there which was great.  Our last night with Patti Kinkaid. We sure love her! Her and her husband Darrell have become loyal friends and we will miss them.  She has such a pure, innocent spirit that we just love.  We will continue to study the book about gift of repentance from Elder Anderson.

BYU had a football game on Friday so after some errands in the morning, we enjoyed the game and I mended missionary pants!  BYU won, so obviously that was good and Staci and James  and Dallin were there! It was a fun game!  

Saturday,  our last p-day! Carolee was packing (I have not started yet. I am in denial that we are really leaving)  and we spent some time writing talks for speaking in the YSA group in the North Anchorage Stake.  So we decided to have one last adventure so we drove up North to Arctic Valley to see the leaves.  After we were going to Falls Creek down Turnagain Arm to the south of Anchorage, to hike the trail! 

(The following is Carolee's version of a story in 51 words.  If that works for you, then skip the next paragraph where I will tell you the story, not just the facts! 😁)

Carolee:  Lo and behold we had out miracle at the last hour and saw our first bears, crossing Seward Highway!  

Bears!!!  The other cub was a slow poke.

A black bear and two cubs!! Our first, at week 50 in Alaska and with 4 days left here!! It was the last thing on the bucket list!  We can go home now!!

Gary's bear story...I shouldn't have to say this, but every word in my story is true, without embellishment, exaggeration, or stretching the truth.  There is no "binging" going on.  I promise. 

So, after I pushed the 650 pound dead grizzly bear off my chest and holstered my 357 magnum pistol that was still hot from emptying the whole magazine into the grizzly's open gaping mouth,  I checked to see if everyone else was ok...😂

Ok, so here's the bear story.  To preface this story,  we have seen bears before, but we really wanted to see an Alaskan bear in the wild.  It was on our bucket list for our time here and we have gone 360 day without seeing one.    We left our house and as we just started going, I remembered that we hadn't brought our walking poles.  We usually have them in the car but we had emptied the car to clean it for the next missionaries coming in.  So we turned around and went back and got them. We drove off and about the same place, I asked Carolee if she had closed the garage door cause I couldn't remember doing it, so we turned around and sure enough we had not closed it.  So we headed out again and Carolee was cuing up a podcast for us to listen to, but was having some problems.  So before we got on the highway heading out of town, I pulled over and got it going.  We got out of Anchorage with the coast on one side and the mountains on the other.  suddenly the panel truck and car in front of us slowed down and moved a little left like they were going to make a left turn, but then they didn't turn.  In my typical aggressive, critical driving habit (one of these days my repentance will really stick) I was criticizing them when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the brush on the passenger side of the road.  I turned and looked and at first thought it was a big black lab dog!  But then I recognized the nose and yelled that it was a bear.  I pulled off immediately into the parking lot  of the Chugach State park and turned to see if we could see it in the brush.  Suddenly it was right to the side of us and it crossed the highway with a cub following it.  Traffic was stopped both ways--like Yellowstone.  Only they stop here, not to gawk, but to allow the bear to cross safely.  So it went off into the trees across and I noticed a road right across from me so we crossed the highway, just after the bears.  I looked back for a second and saw that traffic was still stopped because a 2nd cub was crossing the road.  We pulled into what apparently was a private driveway to see if we could see them.  The reason we went there, was because I got buck fever and I couldn't get my stupid phone to go to the camera and I didn't get a picture of them.  How could I prove to my family & friends that we saw a bear with no picture?  So as we were stopped, we saw the sign that it was a private driveway, so I stopped.  Just then a car pulled up behind me and honked his horn and yelled at me to leave that he lived up there.  So I moved over and let him speed by and suddenly the mama bear and one cub came out of the trees,

This is our Alaskan Black Bear. I think I'll name her "Miracle"

crossed in front of us and disappeared into the trees.  We could see the other cub still trying to get out of some underbrush to follow mama, but we left before he made it.  Now, as we thought of the events of us leaving this morning, if we had not been delayed by those insignificant little things, we would not have seen these bears.  Some call that a coincidence but we don't believe in those any more--they are divine interventions, tender mercies or tiny miracles.  Some people may think it silly to think that, but we had been longing to have that experience, but never shirked our responsibilities to go seek them out.  I think that the Lord is very aware of each of us and it makes me feel like he is in the very details of our lives. Besides, what harm would there be to make this experience happen for us?  It brought a bit of joy to our day and I personally am very grateful for it.  

So, there you have it, 695 words, not counting the Grizzly bear introduction or this explanation.  haha

Falls Creek

We continued on and hiked for up Falls Creek for about a half hour. It was pretty steep, but the name of the creek was accurate.  Beautiful little falls all the way down the mountain. 


Then another little adventure up Indian Creek where we saw more of beautiful Alaska.  We were so blessed to come here.  

We have just had an amazing Sunday day!  We went to the YSA for the last time and got to see a lot of our kids and tell them goodbye!  We then went and spoke at North Anchorage YSA. Very small group but some of our favs like Bishop Afatia, Fen, Cathy!!  After, I came home and made funeral potatoes to take to dinner at Reeders. We had a wonderful visit with them! They have been so kind and thoughtful to us and have become great friends. The highlight was our mission zoom tonight where our district reported finding 200 people this week! Four companionships!  What a huge increase in their teaching pool.  They were able to share with the whole mission some of the things they did and how they exercised their faith and how it just kept getting stronger.  And they remained humble, expressed gratitude and the Lord blessed them. They are such great kids! They are working their tails off. We are really proud of them!  The mission is pulling out of a major slump.

We clean and pack and go to last district meeting, FHE, and Institute and leave Wed morning!  We will shed some tears but we have loved it all and have no regrets!  We are grateful for our call here and the beautiful world we have enjoyed!  The people are amazing as they would be anywhere when you are in the service of our God!

September 1,2024

We recognize this week we can't say we will do something we want to do later anymore, so we're just doing.  Like Gary will want to know what is down that road so we turn down it instead of drive by it like we have for a year! 

 Also coming up is our next to last Tuesday at the Institute building so time to clean and organize! Along with making waffle cookies and cutting watermelon for class that night, I cleaned out a lot of cupboards and organized our paper goods etc. Should have done this day one here just so i would have been better at knowing all we had! Still will do some more cleaning and organizing this week so our replacements can see better what they are working with! We had a big class Tuesday night studying The Book of Revelation. Justin is a great teacher! 

 Thursday we only had like 3 young adults at class besides missionaries! It is a great course but hard to teach with that number. I did bake bread and everyone likes that. I sent an extra loaf home with Christopher. He comes religiously but does not come into the class room! He is a sad case since suffering a traumatic brain injury a few years ago.  He was a promising young man and now he is state custody and talks intelligent words, but just cannot connect concepts and it ends up total gibberish. He walks 4 miles each way to institute two nights a week no matter the weather.  He is surely one whom the atonement of Jesus Christ will cover in such a beautiful way.  Till then, we are kind and loving to him and Carolee always makes sure there is enough for him to take home. Some interesting challenges! 

I was able to work in the temple and I now only have one more time. Gary went and help butcher & process Caribou again and then we went on a session with our young adults that evening. Talli, the relief society president was the only YSA  there. She broke up with her guy so was sad. I was glad we were there to give her a hug. 

Friends at the Alaska State Fair, Palmer, AK

State Fair 2,035  lb pumpkin  (It's the orange one, 
not the blue one 😂)

Friday we went to the state Fair in Palmer. We went with the Badgers and Gailey's who work down in Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula! It was a nice day to enjoy the culture and be with friends! We spent all day and were glad we went! Badgers had us for dinner again! Steaks and it was all delicious! We are so sad to say goodbye to them!  We have had a lot of adventures with them.  We hope to come back to visit them with Kuerths next summer sometime! 

 

Fall is really here because not only are the leaves changing but BYU football started so after a morning walk down a trail we came home to watch the game! It was a fun game! I was able to stay a little distracted by mending some elders clothes and prepping food for Hawaiian haystacks for our break the fast today at church! We made way too much food cause only 40 or so came. We had 65 in Sacrament meeting but they hadn't announced this meal ahead so kids have plans I think! 

Campbell Creek Estuary

Fall is coming

Saturday after the game, I (Gary) cooked a Caribou Roast for dinner.  Michael shared it with us.  I swear, it tasted just like chicken!!😂😂 Actually, it is not a very gamy flavor, looked like a beef roast, but was very, very lean.  So I blew it by over cooking it a bit so it was kind of dry.  We used different  sauces with it.  It was kind of good, although I'm not sure I would order it or ask for more.  If offered to me, I would take it.  

I'm saying Caribouuuuu, not doing what face 
the kids nowadays pull...the smoldering kind of look!

 We also visited the Russian Jack ward. I met some sisters there that a family member needs institute! I was able to encourage and give info! Gary was able to talk to a young poly waiting for his mission call who was discouraged! He helped encourage him. We bear our testimonies tonight on Larsen's Lessons which is our Sunday night mission-wide zoom meeting, so I think that means adios!! We'll show them and work for another week! We do love it here!  (Gary) We have so loved being missionaries.  If you want to do something valuable with your time, that will make a difference in the world, a senior mission is such an awesome way to do it.  We can't wait to be home, but it is getting harder and harder each day telling people we've come to love good-bye.  

We love all of you and can't wait for hugs! May God bless us all this week! Think Celestial!

Aug 26 2024

Both Carolee & Gary contributed to this post.  

Still no doubt, Alaska is still awesome.  We are not trying to say it’s better than anywhere else.  It’s awesome because it is still so undiscovered by the world really.  It’s may have been visited by many, but very few stay because of the cold, snowy winters and the extreme long time of darkness and equally long daytime hours and short summertime.  The population of Anchorage is actually contracting slowly.  Because of our adventurous nature, I think we would have found stuff to be amazed about even if we were in Southern Georgia, Ohio or Wichita, Kansas. (ok, well maybe not Wichita).  But because Alaska is so over the top everything, it’s hard not to be excited about it.  And besides, we had no control over where we were assigned, so we are grateful, not boastful about being here.  If you were to ask me what the best thing about Alaska is, I would say the people.  We love them to death even when everything is not hunky dory.  (btw, what the heck does hunky dory mean and why???)

With time running thin till we return home, we have tried to keep moving all the time.  That means that D.A.N.** keeps getting pushed off the schedule or becomes DEN which is not good for healthy sleeping habits.  Of course its been years since I had anywhere near healthy sleeping habits. ☹**Daily Afternoon Nap 

 Well today we thought maybe we were subbing in seminary for Justin due to emergency at home! Ended up a false alarm so instead we helped process caribou at Michael Metcalf's house.  He is our elders quorum pres. in YSA.

Sister Cox Grinding Caribou

Great Man and a serious hunter and fisherman. He went hunting with friends and ended up with everyone’s meat cause they couldn’t afford to ship it home!  So Dad and I and his dad spent the day making caribou burger and jerky!  We were glad to help he has been so good to us taking Gary fishing and tutoring us on Alaska!! For a mid day break we went to district council and had a great activity getting to know each other! We have two greenies! A sister Rasmussen from Hubbard Idaho. And Elder Davis from Phoenix. We had a great time and I took them pumpkin brownies! They were happy about that!!  We left Michael's at 6:50 pm after he fed us caribou burgers( which were good).  

Arctic Valley Area Chugach Mountains

Then headed to Eagle River to hike with YSA for family night! We didn’t find the kids but found the ski resort and another gorgeous place!  Autumn is coming!  It was cold and the leaves are changing!!

We had a great Sabbath! We both spoke in church, sort of our farewell I guess! It went well and there were lots of new kids and almost 100 there! Surprised cause a lot of kids have gone back down to school!  Patti and Darrel Kincaid came over for dinner and we very much enjoy being with them!  Also I got to talk to Lynn Kuerth ( my bestie missionary buddy). She was diagnosed with  cancer this week. She went home early for health but this was shocking!  We have really missed them! We pray all will go well with her as she starts treatment. We will see them soon as they are in Clinton Utah!

Barn Quilt in Talkeetna

Saturday morning we took our YSA missionaries to breakfast!  Sort of a planning meeting! Sisters Clement and Richins, Elders Bailey, Bell, and Rasmussen.  That was great and then we went on an adventure to Talketna!  A little tourist town a couple hours north!  

Quilt & Fabric Shop in Talkeetna 

We just did lunch and walked down to the river and I got some Alaska fabric I wanted!!  

It was an all day adventure cause we also stopped at La da sa the church owned camp up here!  The missionaries that live and work there, gave a great tour. Sister Lee a service missionary and Elder Henry the one that he and his wife run the camp!  It was amazing! Loved seeing that! They have a big lake on the property, small cabins and a lodge with covered eating area and inside area too.  It is open for all members of the church and is open everyday of the year but Sundays. 

Lake & Waterfront at LaDaSa

It is really impressive with archery, air rifle ranges, full cement basketball court, RV hook up pads, tent camping sites, stocked wood shed for tenant usage, sports activity area and more.  It is way cool 

Cabins at the camp

This is where Tricia & Ken stayed with their family when they came up a few years ago.  We did not comprehend how great it was, but it still is camping with no toilets in the small cabins.  here is a shower house too.  

As we wind down to the end here we are appreciating a lot of lasts like Badgers had us to dinner Friday night! It will be sad to say goodbye to them! They are such great friends and we have shared a lot of adventures with them.   

Also Thursday Patti’s class is The amazing gift of forgiveness! A book by Elder Anderson. I did Banana bread for that!  Small classes that we hope will grow!

Thursday looked like the last day with sunshine for the next 14 days, so I decided I’d better pull the trigger on one of my Alaska bucket list items—fly in a bush plane that takes off and lands on the lake.  We have watched them all summer and so I got into a plane at 3 in the afternoon. 

Lookin' good, actin' cc&c

 I got in the co-pilot chair (or I wouldn’t have gone) so I could have a  good view of everything.  It was only 30 minutes, of which 10 was taxiing.

Coming in for the Landing

  But it was so smooth and so quick of a takeoff and landing was really soft.  Could hardly tell we were on the water and not in the air.  We went west over Cook Inlet and saw the forest, mountains and tundra and many, many lakes accessible only by air.  It was worth the $100!

We also went to the Temple with a lot of changes. One is that there are two session in a row every morning and evening! It’s great.  So Wednesday when I worked I did two veils in a row!  The shortened ceremony allows for that change!

Wednesday (gary) Carolee’s day at the temple on Wednesday was eventful with the new adjustments still being worked through.  Afterwards we drove up to Palmer to go to dinner with Newman’s, our good senior missionary friends serving up there.  They got transferred up to the Sulcha Branch in the North Pole Stake.  They are on a 23 month mission and this is their 2^nd transfer!  Usually you don’t get transferred at all.   So we may not see them again so we went to say goodbye.  They will come home in February and are building a house in Idaho Falls.  

Tuesday--We got to the Temple on Tuesday morning and were able to get in on the newest adjustments to the endowment.  Absolutely inspired and awesome.  IMHO. 

But we again had no one show up to hang out at the Institute but the missionaries from all N. Anchorage.  It was transfer day so it was kind of a madhouse.  

Institute fall semester started with Tuesday Book of Revelation ,Justin’s class. Carolee baked bread, which is always the favorite of everyone.  They love it so much.  (Thanks Diane, you get all the credit) She times it coming out of the oven 15 minutes before class gets out and the smell of it throughout the building drives everyone crazy.  And it tastes better than it smells—I know, how can that possibly be true, but true it is.

Jenna off to college and Carolee

Steal the Flag warriors 

FHE at Sand dunes where we told kids who were heading out to BYU & BYUI goodbye! We love this place! We did have a long visit with our replacements and I’m sure they will be great!!  We were smart this time and brought our lawn chairs and watched them play.  When anyone got tired or subbed out, they came over and sat by us and chatted.  It’s a fun group and they had a lot of fun together.  We left before they were done so we wouldn’t get locked in the parking lot.  They have an awful lot of energy, they do…

I also had a good visit with my roommates! They are the best! Love sharing our lives still! Every week has been a great one. We do get worn out in a good way!  

Last Fireweed Blossom of the Season  Means snow is 4 weeks away

We love serving here and acknowledge the blessings and miracles we see daily! We love our Heavenly Father and his Son.  We are grateful to serve them in anyway we can! We love you all!!

 

Wow, what a busy two weeks.  I think we have finally landed, but now we head into the last 3 ½  weeks of our mission, which we know will be crazy busy.    Carolee covered most of what happened that week of the 11^th.  But left out some exciting times for me.

Salmon Fishing Story:   On Tuesday night the 6^th, Elder Newman said the President Smith counselor in Mission Presidency (he of bear mauling fame and 50 year resident of Alaska and Master Salmon fisherman) invited us to go Salmon fishing with him at the confluence of the Russian river and Kenai River.  It was an offer that we could not resist.  The reds (Sockeye) were running up the rivers.  

I still didn’t have my power-point presentation for my Institute lesson done, but since we were leaving so early I figured we would be home by 3pm and give me plenty of time to finish preparing. 

The turquoise color is the Kenai, the brown is the Russian, but it is  really clear

Kenai & Russian Rivers Confluence

So Elder Newman came down from Palmer (45 min NE of Anchorage)  and slept at our apt till 2:30 AM, when we left with Pres. Smith at 3am.  We got to the parking lot at the campground at 5 AM and met some of his friends who had come up from Utah.  We put on our chest waders (I borrowed from one of the Stake Presidents here), rain gear (it was raining pretty hard and did so till we got out of the river) and headed out for a mile walk to the river.  I kinda looked the part of a veteran fisherman with my chest waders, but my rented fishing pole was way out-classed by everyone there. ☹  At the confluence, we waded across the Russian in thigh deep water and moved down the bank to get to the  “best spot”.  The water was moving very fast and I was a little nervous with my footing in that deep and fast-moving water.  There were only about 10 other people there when we got there at 5:30am, .  By the time we left at 2pm, it was almost elbow to elbow fishing for almost as far as I could see, up and down the river.  It was insane.  Pres. Smith had caught his limit of 3 Reds or Sockeye Salmon, not Kings (Kings are endangered and so you can’t harvest them if there are any).  Anyway, he was helping me and I finally got one by around 1pm.  That was 7 freaking hours in this freezing cold river leaning into the current to keep my balance.  My glutes quads, calves’, hamstrings and ankles were burning. 😩 

The chest waders were like a dry suit, so I wasn’t wet or too cold.  Pretty amazing.  The boots weren’t too good so my feet got a little wet and cold.  I only got out for about 30 minutes total to relax my muscles.  And I did sit on the bank for a while.  I am just a bad fisherman…I would change out where I was fishing to another in our group and as soon as I did, they would catch one.  It kept happening over and over.  It drove me crazy.  The Sockeye is about 2-3 feet long and weighs about 5-10 lbs and fights like a demon. 

This was our whole catch for the group.  Mine is the one in front.  

The one that I got was using Pres Smith’s $1,000 fly rod.  As I was pulling it in, it had the pole bent in half.  Pres. Smith kept saying let the pole do the work, walk up-stream, then “don’t break my $1,000 dollar pole!”  So I decided I won’t borrow a pole anymore.  But that one fish fed us and Tanner’s family for two dinners and still had a little left-over!  It is really good.  So, after lally-gagging around the river and talking to other fisherman in the river and the parking lot, we finally left at 3pm!   So, that would still get me home by 5:00 so I was still feeling ok about finishing my lesson in time.  But then, on the way home Pres Smith wanted to know who was buying ice cream at Wild Mike’s ice cream shop in Cooper Landing.  Apparently, that is kind of the gesture one makes when someone takes you fishing on the Kenai.  So I bought ice cream for the 3 of us--$22.  The scoops were big, but…  So the line was long and now it was 5:30 ETA.  As we were driving home I could tell Pres Smith was getting way tired so I wanted to make it home alive, so I offered to drive for him.  So we pulled over and I started driving after the pit stop (10 minute exchange) and we were almost to the outskirts of Anchorage when he told me to pull over.  I could tell something was wrong so I pulled off into a pullout almost immediately.  He had a Charlie-horse in his leg with no where to stretch it! I know what that’s like…ouch! He jumped out of the truck fast. Another 10 minutes.  By now I was just hoping  to be able to shower before going to teach, because we still had to go to his house and unload and load our stuff into the other car and drive to my place.  It was a little hairy, but I did get a real quick shower and showed up to teach a little unprepared for my comfort.  But, good students and good questions help us learn together, which is what we did. Sorry, but the fish story doesn’t end there.  Michael Metcalf our YSA EQ President had invited me to go fishing for Pink Salmon or Humpies on Friday night at 7:00pm.  This is the next run after the Reds.  The color is based on the color of the meat.  The pinks are more undesirable meat, and is used mostly for canning and dips and stuff.  So, sports fishermen usually catch and release.  So, we drove 45 minutes to Ingram Creek down at the end of Turnagain Arm.  It was raining solid again, the whole time we were in the water and quit when we got out at about 10:30 pm.  Of course it’s still not dark at 10:30 pm, but we all had caught one so we headed out and I got home about 11:45 pm and it was almost totally dark by then.  But I am now a certified Salmon fisherman (unofficial of course) but recognized by all the locals.  😊 I would still like to catch a Silver or Coho Salmon which are bigger than the Sockeye, but my fishing time may be over.  We’ll have to see.  I missed out on catching a Chinook or King Salmon 35 years ago when I came up here with Seldon (my boss).  We came up to set up the books for a friend, Mike Babcock, and we got skunked due to commercial fishermen netting the river the day we were there.  So that ship has sailed…

Tanner and Family visit:

Saturday morning after my last fishing escapade, we went to our Seminary training meeting from 9-12 at the Institute building.  We came home and headed to the airport to pick up Tanner, Kassy, Zoey & Nate.  It was so good to see them and get such good hugs.  We loved having them here and had a pretty magical week.  We saw the majesty and beauty of Alaska with and abundant intersection with wild life.  For those of you who have been here before you may recognize some of the places we visited and things we did.  So here is kind of a highlight of things we did and saw.  I made a more thorough itinerary of what we did and saw for Zoey and Nate and I’ll include it at the end for the record. 

We saw documentary movies about bears and the Earthquake of 1964.  We then visited Earthquake Park where you can see how far the land dropped into the ocean. We walked to a salmon estuary 3

blocks from our house and discovered an amazing, colorful forest of mushrooms.  I knew Tanner & Kassy were into mushrooms, but they are the King & Queen of mushrooms. 

They can spot and identify them all over the place.  We drove to Seward, the epicenter of the earthquake, visited the Sealife Center where there were rescued sea life like seals, sea lions, octopus, sea birds and a touch tank of starfish, urchins and other cool stuff; visited a massively powerful waterfall and followed it into the ocean; skipped rocks in the gorgeous turquoise waters of Kenai Lake—twice. 

        
Back in Anchorage we rented bikes and rode on the coastal trail and over to the 2^nd busiest Seaplane seaport in the country, Lake Hood and

watched planes take off and land on the lake.  We even saw 4 “moosen” as we traveled the trail.  E-bikes I think will become a necessity when we get home.  They are amazing.   This is a moose--no, Nate is not                                                                                             a moose!

We went up to the Glen Alps Flat Top trailhead to get a view of the whole city and Cook Inlet.  And we picked wild blueberries and raspberries with many people from Anchorage.  We rode the tram to the top of Alyeska ski resort, hiked even higher, saw 7 glaciers before coming down.  

Then to Virgin Creek Falls which is the furthest north Coastal rain forest in the world.  They get over 70 inches of rain a year, just down the road from the ski resort! The falls were breath taking. 

We skipped rocks in Portage Lake, the glacier lake filled by the Portage glacier but could only see it by going on a boat cruise.  We saw the Byron glacier from there and headed to Whittier through a 2.7 mile tunnel through the mountain.  The longest auto tunnel in America—we’ve been told.  It is one way only and carries traffic from trains, busses, and automobiles.  It’s pretty cool.  Saw some cool glaciers there too.

Driving on the road by the Turnagain Arm (an arm of water off to the south of Cook Inlet) we saw rare Beluga Whales.  They are white and rather small—15-20 ft.  We had never seen one, so we thought they were mythical 😊, But now we have video proof they exist!  (i can't get the video to work, so you just have to take it on the 6 witnesses who saw them) 

We went to the Zoo and saw all the Alaskan animals in one place, including a pair of polar bears that were very entertaining. 

We finished with a picnic, hiking in the rain and then watching a movie “The Great Alaskan Sled Dog Race” starring Togo the hero dog who led the team to Nome to get a DPT serum to save the children of the remote city.  It was early 1900s and the Iditarod Dog Sled Race is held each year to commemorate that run.  I’d recommend the movie. 

So, all in all, it was just an awesome week.  It didn’t matter where we went, those kids were off and running to see everything they possible could.  A lot of the places didn’t have protective fencing and keeping them off the very edge of disaster was difficult at best.  I think I’ll quote Tanner here that I think you will all agree with “Parenting is impossible”. 😊 

We loved the week with Tanner and we loved the week with Chalae’s family.  It would have been awesome if all of you could come for a week, but we know it was not possible. 

On Friday after they left, we went to dinner with the North Anchorage Stake President and his wife.  We have become friends with him because he has an office here in the Institute Building and Carolee feeds them a lot.  That’s a good way to make friends, ha-ha.  He is part of the unique cultural diversity here in Anchorage.  He is Persian, born and raised in Iran.  His mother joined the church there and they escaped to America.  They took us to the highest class, expensive restaurant in Anchorage and told me that if we ordered the cheapest thing on the menu that he would be deeply offended.  Wow…did you all know that halibut have cheeks?  Not buns, but cheeks.  Well, we had them as a starter and wow!  As you know all 5-star restaurants are big into presentation and sauces and dips.  I’d forgotten food could taste that good.  It was a wonderful evening. 

Then on Saturday, we rented e-bikes again and went on a bike ride with the Badgers, our good friends who we’ve had many adventures with. 

They are the temple construction missionaries who came out with us but will be here for 2 more years.  We explored the city green space creek trails for over 3 hours.  It was really awesome.  It’s like you are way out in the woods and suddenly you go through a tunnel under a major roadway.  Lakes dot the length of the trails and the water in the creeks is really high from all the rain up here this month, but it’s still so clear!

Sunday, we went to 3 Sacrament meetings trying to cover all our bases before we leave.  And Monday we start the Institute and Seminary semesters all over again and we hit all the night time activities.   We love being busy and involved and making relationships with so many YSAs, young missionaries and other senior couples here in Alaska.  We hope that what we have done here will have made a difference in someone’s life. 

3 weeks is not very long and I’m getting a little panicked that we will run out of time with what we want to still do as missionaries.  We made a list on Saturday of the things and also the personal things.  I think we’ve hit almost all of our Alaska bucket list, so that is fun. 

We do look forward to seeing all of you, but I am feeling a little melancholy about leaving.

But life is good, the gospel is true and God loves all of us as His children!