October 29,2023

 This week we went to our presidents house for dinner on Monday with the Badgers and Kuerths!  Our new best friends.  We enjoy both couples and plan to explore and celebrate with them!  We enjoyed getting to know president and Sister Larsen as well!! They are great people and will be overwhelmed always so I don’t think we will have a lot to do with them!  Which is fine! We want to help not be needy!!!

We got the 6:30am call tues. Morning and Brother Reeder was sick throwing up so asked us to take his tues classes but on the Fri schedule.  So we had three classes and one started in an hour!  We are semi current in our New Testament reading so Gary got on and figured out the lesson!  This high school crowd are kind of tough but we survived. First period is the hardest in every way so it gets  easier as the day goes on!  By the time we are done we come home to do Halloween cookies for institute. He is better. Figured it was food poisoning.  So we didn’t have to teach institute too!  Signs of the times was our lesson!  So by Tuesday night we were dead!  

We had zone counsel on Wednesday. That was interesting to be taught by zone leaders and sister leaders!  Some are really sharp.  We still are amazed at this culture or something where everyone just walks in and out of meeting constantly! It is wierd!  After we went to the office and errands and sort of crashed that night!  Things catch up with us these days!

Took cookies to the office before institute but they were mostly gone!  So we decided to host a Halloween party at the institute and invite all the seniors in Anchorage!  I think we will have 18 of us there!

We had a good class with sister Kincaid but not many there! By next class elder Smith will be home and transfers will happen so we may have a whole new group!

Friday morning I went to the temple.  I really want to go every week .  Then we went with badgers and Kuerths to find the bore Tides!  Up turn again arm. The tide comes in at certain times and raises the water like 30 feet!  We watched water low and glass smooth start to boil and rumble and raise! In less than by an hour it rise like 12 ft. We also bought snow pants so that we won’t freeze whenever we do any outside stuff.   We kind of sluffed  stuff that night needing time at home!  Sat we went to the Farmers market and then went for walk on the boardwalk called Potters Marsh. We saw a bald Eagle. We will go back when it isn’t all frozen so we can see more animals!!

October 22,2023

 We actually just finished a testimony meeting on zoom with the missionaries that are leaving this next week! We know some of them and are already attached to one!!  Great young men that left everything behind, they left their nets, as the apostles of old, in service of the Lord and we are impressed!! They loved their missions and they love the lord!!

We have had a calm couple of days to recover from a big week!  We went chasing northern lights last night and Friday! We missed them but gave up to early on Friday! They were amazing around 1 am.  We went to breakfast with the Kuerths. We enjoy visiting with them!! We were going to join them for a service project but it was 22 degrees so we went shopping for warm clothes instead!!  We got some warmer stuff so we can do this stuff!

We spent the week mostly teaching and preparing!  I taught seminary on tues and Wednesday and Gary taught institute in tues and seminary on Thursday!  It was mostly okay but we are learning how to manage the crowd etc.  by each of our last class we both were okay with things!  Gary took his meds after the first class he taught on Thursday on an empty stomach and he had to leave during the second class cause he got so sick!  We had not planned together so that was stressful!  We all lived and enjoyed some of it!

We also went to pumpkin carving with young adults at FHE on Monday and temple with them on Wednesday! We are getting to know a lot of them and have a good time!  I made pumpkin chocolate chip bars for our meeting and the kids were fans!! 

We are getting to enjoy our district too!  We named ourselves the sunbeam district and it brings a smile to all!! We recorded some fun videos of doing actions to primary songs!  Broke some barriers and we can laugh together!  We also went to YSA baptism last night! It was all in Samoan and our YSA elders and district leader talked!  Very special spirit with these people!!

We had service project  that we did not do anything.           Turned into culture with the Badgers Friday at the indigenous people dance and program! It was a great way to help preserve their culture!  We left after about 1 1/2 he to give others our seats who would appreciate it more!!

We ran out of milk and gary was going to run next door and borrow a gallon!  Made him a little homesick thinking of you all!  Hope our family all know how much we love you!!  We will continue to claim the blessings promised us with our call that those we love will be blessed and watched over!! Love always!!!

October 16, 2023

 So my blog post for the week, 

"What she said!!"  

October 15, 2024

 Wow! Today we had a great experience in the North Anchorage Stake conference.  Last night was great also as the bishops spoke and reported on there leadership meeting that they went ministering to members of their ward!  Today and last night some of our YSA’s spoke and were so amazing!  A foursome of high school boys sang a song that was unbelievable!! Samoans!  Beautiful! Then fir our intermediate hymn we sang a hymn in Samoan!  The polys about raised the roof!  It was amazing!!  There is a bit of cultural challenge here in the church but the spirit in this meeting lets you know these people are a special group!!  One speaker was bishops wife in Spanish branch and she spoke in English and Spanish!!  Th it s is not what I thought Alaska would be like!!!

We had the assignment to inspect appartment this week!  We did 12.  It’s great we get to know the missionaries and see where they all live!  They are all realy clean truthfully! They had warning but still!! We were impressed!

We played charades with the YSA’s for FHE. Thanks Dot for recent practice with games or we would have been even worse!  We laughed alot! We had institute and did peanut butter fingers and marshmallow popcorn different nights!  They loved it!!  We were also able to go with kids to do baptisms at the temple!! Dad did many confirmations!  We meet new kids at each activity so are getting more familiar.  We brought Cornbread to the munch and mingle today!  CES stands for cooking every second!! Pretty true!  It’s great though!

We did meet more senior couples and had lunch with 8 of us yesterday!  Really fun to get to know them too!  One was a student of my dads at bountiful high!!  We are planning to do regular get together with them!  We met one couple at the office that has been in Barrow which is north of the arctic circle.  They were there 5 months and it almost drove her nuts.  Very isolated and there internet and phones were out for 2 1/2 months.  She really wants to get together now!!  We are not lacking what she did but we enjoy the comradiry of our peers!  We’ve shared with Myriam our new friend with here name. Another is Sophia a twin!!  We also have a Kamryn. But she is a red head!  This helps us remember names!

We also served dinner at the women’s shelter down town!  That was a great experience!  The cook was a professional chef and has come to believe in our Savior and wants to serve!  A very good man!  We just have great experiences everywhere!  We love this serving thing!!

We do miss all those we love !!we pray constantly for all of you!!

Thunderbird Falls, Eagle River

Thunderbird Falls 

There are 5 mountain ranges surrounding Anchorage. So they ca;; the Anchorage area "The Bowl"

This is 15X zoom from the Costco parking lot

Eklutna River

On the way to Palmer...which is called the Valley

From shopping mall in Anchorage by our house.

a Sunday afternoon walk in the rain at Lake Taku, 5 min from our house

zoomed in mountain from our apartment...I think.

It was clear and sunny for most of the first week we were here.  Then it's been cloudy and rainy since then, so the mountains are covered in clouds and we can't see the mountains.  

 October 9 2023

We have had another great week!  A few highlights were being able to go to the Anchorage temple on Wednesday night.  Also meeting the temple president and his wife. A few interesting things different here are you take your shoes off as you go in the temple( in the entryway).  The baptistry is on the main floor of the temple, right by recommend desk!  It is very small overall but does two sessions a day 10 am. And 7 pm.

We went to FHE with the singles ward and got to meet the bishop and just a few of the kids!    Only about 40 kids came to church in young singles ward!  There are about 550 kids on the list.  So in Anchorage stake  we had 10 at fhe.  Tonight in northstake there were10.  Pretty interesting!  It lets us get to know the kids which is great.  Rachel is relief society president and she is a redhead that plays piano and organ. Very much reminds me of  Jar and Chalae!!  We went to their church on Sunday and Bishop asked us to give the prayers. When I went up to give the opening prayer my earring I had lost day one of the mission  was on the pulpit.  It wasn’t a huge loss but a little tender mercy that I was up there and it was there for me to see and get back!

We had a very good meeting “by chance” with a missionary couple that just got here on Monday. We were at Costco for a prescription and as we were leaving I said to Gary let’s split a hot dog. We sat at only table.  This Man comes up to us sees our badge and says they are missionaries .  Could they join us. They were splitting a hot dog too!  They were having a bad day! Moved into a filthy apartment, hadn’t met pres. And we’re feeling out of whack!! We sat and talked for 2 hours.  They are mark and Lynn Kuearth!  Military relations! From Davis county and we have tons in common. We had them over for Lazagna last night!  We visited another 2 and a half hours.  We will hang out with them !  

We also had district meeting on Monday afternoons.  I was really lost last week! Today was better and I brought cinnamon rolls so they like me now!!  We have 16 in our district and our leader is from American Samoa.  The Spanish elders are in it too so we have some friends!

We took Cinnamon rolls to institute both nights and I think they were a hit!  They are with the missionaries for sure!!  We have seen a lot of elders smith,major and Gonzalez, and sister Hogan and Young. They are fun to be with!!  Great young people!!  They are ysa missionaries so we will help each other locate our missing souls!

We had dinner Friday night with sister Couier and Pruitt.  They fed us ribs and we had a great visit!  They said she buttered us up to ask us a favor to inspect appartments for them.  We will do 12 I have scheduled this week!!  We enjoy their company also!

Sat we went a baptism with missionaries from our district and got to have a great visit with one of our Bishops.  They are anxious about their youth so are glad for help!!  After we drove up to Eagle River north of here  and hiked a mile to a waterfall!  It was foggy before but cleared up!  It was drizzling and in the 40s. I told Gary if we were home we would not be out and about but here we want to explore before it snows.   We ran into some members on the trail too!We drove up to Palmer and Wasilla on wed just to see! It was a beautiful!

We are loving it here and are grateful to be here and serving at this time!!!

Hey Fam,  Greetings from the last frontier, as they say…

It’s been a busy week for us here—we’re still trying to get settled in our home we will be living in for a year.  All of our “fixes” we just ask the question, can we do it like this for  a year or is it worth it for a year.  You can guess my answer most of the time. For example, the bathroom situation.  There is one full bath upstairs, with no counter space at all, no drawers either.  Our stuff just didn’t fit…not even for one person.  So in the downstairs bathroom, it has one of those shelf things over the toilet.  So we bought one from Walmart for $20 to put upstairs.  It is nice, but still only fit her stuff.  So I moved to the downstairs ¾ bathroom and now we both have enough room and the small shower with my own space is worth going up and down the stairs every morning.  Its colder down there, so I am just fine with it.  We put up blackout curtains in the family room, because we have two streetlights right outside that are on eye level with our windows.  The blinds didn’t cut it, so now we can block that light.  Just stuff like that that keeps us from feeling settled.  But we are close…only a few bulbs I have to change to bright, bright, bright bulbs.  When they are all on, it looks pretty bright in here and we will get to leave them all on all the time we are here shortly.

Conference has been really good, but it feels a little sad without Pres Nelson there, but he is 99 yrs old, so we’ll cut him some slack.  But wow, 20 new temples and Alaska scores one of them in Fairbanks.  That is 5 hours from Anchorage and there are two stakes up there I believe.  There is joy here over that. 

We had a trio of Spanish speaking Elders over for the last session and for dinner after.  Two of them were from Spanish Fork and one of them knew Kaley.  It was fun and they loved being here.  Kind of a relief for them  to be with grandparents... :).

I taught my first Institute class this week and it went ok.  It was nice to have prep time on the clock, so to speak.  It was the small class and there were like 15 or so there, but 7 were missionaries.  But it was good to get it done so I feel more comfortable.  Our leader, Justin Reeder just told us that he needs us to substitute his seminary classes for the month of November and his Institute classes.  That is a little daunting.  They have released time here so it is during the day which is much better that early morning.  Mom is going to take one class & I will take 2.  We’ll help each other If needed. 

 

When we go to church up here, it is so amazing that the church is the same everywhere.  Just in Anchorage, there are wards or branches or groups that speak the following languages:

Samoan

Tongan

Spanish

Hmong

Philippino

Korean

Japanese.

Pretty amazing in one city, that many members to organize.  And Sacrament meeting is just the same, Come Follow Me study is just the same, the organization is the same. 

With the technology that we have now, it is much easier to keep it al together.  But think of  Lehi, taking his family with no permanent written documents that would be able to keep their language and learning.  To go back and get the brass plates was so critical in so many ways including maintaining the consistent word of God.  I hope you all enjoyed that story and learned so many lessons from it.

 

We are loving what we are doing.  We went we went to our first zone conference.  It was actually a mission conference.  The President went to the North Pole Zone and we all zoomed in.  We were in the North Stake House with all the Anchorage missionaries.  It was an excellent conference and we were pretty amazed with the missionary leaders, both the boys and the girls. 

This coming week is our first full week where we will need to plan our week and determine how we attack our responsibility.  Up till now our time has been filled for us.  We are excited about it.

 It has been mostly sunny since we got here.  Its been a glorious fall, and apparently an unusual one, with more sunshine than usual.  We have taken advantage of it as much as we can by being outside and going on walks in new places.  Lake Taku, Bi-Centennial Preserve, Campbell Crik and others.  It’s been fun and enjoyable to be outside. 

 

We love you all…Adioooooooos.