December 10, 2023

Sunrise is at 10:02 AM         Sunset is at 3:44 PM        That is 5 hours and 41 minutes of daylight.

It is certainly an adjustment, both physically and emotionally. I didn’t realize the impact it would have on my brain. The morning isn’t as hard for me because I don't really get going too fast in the morning. But the afternoon when it is dark at 3:30 and we have to get ready to go to our meetings at 7 PM, it seems like it is midnight that we are starting the activities. Seriously, by  4:30 PM it is like its time to get ready for bed and get in our pajamas. So it is taking some adjustment to be productive and get out in the afternoons.

I think we will adjust to it, but then you throw the darkness in with the snowfall and low temperatures and it’s an interesting combination.  This whole week I think the high temperature has been 19°. But this is what we signed up for in Alaska and I’m thrilled we’re getting a full exposure of the Alaskan experience, with darkness, cold, snow, culture. It is so great.

Our work this week has proven that the same principal that has been so hard for me to accept is the same here-- and that is it always takes longer to do something than you possibly can imagine. Especially when you’re depending on other people to do what they say they’re going to do and do it in a way that is satisfactory to you. It manifests itself everywhere! AAAArrrggggg!

Yup, the Russians were here first!  Some even stayed.  Beautiful building!

We did apartment checks this week, which are fun, mostly because we get to talk and interact with the young missionaries. They are so good and we really enjoy being with them.  While Carolee is actually inspecting the apartment, I am usually talking to the elders and sisters, laughing, and having a good time. I’ve also been able to share lot of my young missionary experiences with these elders and sisters, and share some of the things that I’ve learned over my life. At a church activity, we ran into two or three companionships of missionaries, whose apartments we inspected previously, and who had been reassigned to another senior couple. They all came up to us and expressed sadness that we were not the ones inspecting their apartments. One of them said it was so fun to have us over and have some , interesting and entertaining discussions with adults.

At the Christmas social for all the senior missionaries in the mission on Friday night, President and Sister LARSEN gave us a gift and a card. In our card, Sister LARSEN, who talks with the missionaries before their interviews with the President, wrote us a note and in it she said, “you have to know that these young missionaries love you two immensely.”   I think it also help the bonds we have because Carolee feeds them treats when we come to inspect. No one else does that. 😋

We  feel a strong desire to help strengthen these young Missionaries, who have left their nets for two years to follow and serve their Master.  We are grateful to be involved in their lives, and hopefully share our example and any wisdom they are willing to accept.

Tomorrow, Monday,  the Institute is sponsoring the family home evening for all of Anchorage YSA. Which include both stakes.  As I mentioned before, Carolee is heading up the activity which is quilting quilts for the Fisher house, which is the equivalent of the Ronald McDonald house, but it’s located on the joint Air Force Army base here. They are in need of quilts for the children that can give them comfort after undergoing treatments or surgery or whatever the situation is. So it’s a great opportunity for her to use her talents. She has spent a great deal of time, tracking down quilting, frames, repairing them, buying fabric, and so forth to be able to have this ready for the young people to do the tying of the quilts. We have been doing a lot of coordinating for this activity this week, and, it’s a lot of work. We are ordering pizza to feed 40 or 50 people on Monday night and we are getting 10 large pizzas. It’s from a place called Moose Tooth pizza and it is famous here in Anchorage or in Alaska. When Tricia brought her family up here last year, they ate at Moose Tooth pizza  so we know it’s fame is spread wide. The challenges is that a large large pizza is about $36. So we are looking at about a $350 tab. Man, at home we could get 10 pizzas from Little Caesars and it would cost us about 50 or 60 bucks. The cost of living is quite a bit higher up here, especially for food, not only because they have to ship everything in, but they don’t have an over abundance of labor force. But anyway, Carolee has done a huge amount of work! I have done a lot of promotional work, getting it out on Facebook and Instagram, and announced in church and activities so  It’s a big deal here at the Institute. The weather is going to be a little dicey with 4 to 6 inches of snow forecast for tomorrow & the high of 19°, so we hope the weather won’t have an impact. But heck, we’re in Alaska they just deal with the weather .  It will be a great relief for Carolee when this is over. Of course they ask her to give a five minute talk in district council meeting tomorrow afternoon, when she is in the middle of a lot of the preparation still. Our morning tomorrow will be getting everything set up at the Institute.

But this week we also did a family home evening with the Cook Inlet Ward, 

we did apartment checks, we did a district brunch at a restaurant the city diner, we met with our Institute Director, JUSTIN REEDER, and talked about some future plans we're trying to get moving, we substituted in seminary for him for a half of a period too. The tracting afternoon I had scheduled on Wednesday got canceled because Ikaika could not do it, so we went to the temple instead. On Thursday afternoon we went to the JBER base to a service project where we stuffed bags with goodies and different assorted items to give to the single soldiers who are living in the barracks . We gave them Red Bull and carbonated water and treats and gadgets and games and toilet articles and all kinds of stuff. A group of missionaries, young and seniors stuffed about 3000 bags with all of these things. It was a great afternoon of service . Then on Friday, we hosted the seniors Christmas dinner at the Institute. President Larson brought in all of the senior missionaries from Alaska to come together for a dinner. There are 12 senior couples in the mission and several of them had to fly in because of where they are stationed, not being able to drive . So we spent the afternoon setting up the Institute and getting everything ready. Carolee baked rolls there, and President LARSEN, and the first counselor in the mission, presidency, steamed crab legs and provided ham as well for the dinner. The rest was sign-up with the senior missionaries that lived here in Anchorage . It was a wonderful evening. There are some great people serving here as senior missionaries and we thoroughly enjoyed being with all of them. There is no question we have developed lifelong friendships with many of these missionaries. 

All of the Older Missionaries in  Alaska! 😊

 On Saturday, which is our prep day, after spending the morning working on the quilting activity, we went up to Palmer, Alaska in a snowstorm about an hour away , and went to famous for Alaska burger joint...Burger Jim's, and then to an interfaith nativity display where they transformed a state center into multiple rooms with hundreds of nativity scenes and quilts from different cultures from different areas of the world and Alaska. The creativity was insane. It was pretty cool. Then we came back to Anchorage and went to an interfaith concert at our Stake Center. Some wonderful talent in the Christian world here in Alaska as well as in our church. Tonight we went to the JBER base and watched the army band give a Christmas concert. It was pretty fun except for the middle section where they turned all of the Christmas songs into a hard rock  Jesus  concert.   They had a hard time looking part with their short haircuts and their dress uniforms but the sound was definitely twangy electric guitar sounds. But it was a fun cultural experience.

As I’ve also mentioned before, there are no coincidences, but divine interventions, especially when you’re involved in the work of the Lord.

So this week we have been pondering the direction that we are going with our activities and making sure that we are online, staying in our lane, and doing things that will move forward, the overall picture or goal that we have for our mission here in Alaska. One of the things that is always concerning, especially with senior missionaries is that we can’t just always be doing all of the work and the plan needs to be sustainable because the missionaries go home. So we know that we have to make sure that what we do can be managed and maintained by local people to make that sustainability. And one of our plans has been to get a an institute council that Will be able to make decisions, plan, activities, carry out processes that will keep the Institute and YSA afloat.

There is a great communication deficit here and as I have expressed before with 1200 YSA is on the rolls there is not a lot of communication and or other things in play. So one day as me and my compo were talking, we had the idea that we needed to get posters to the churches With President Nelson‘s message to the YSAs that they need to go to Institute. It was prophetic council that no one here heard and we need to make sure it gets heard. Hence, making posters with his message to put in the buildings. Another portion of the plan would be to get with the Bishops and  have us talk in church with President Nelson's message.  As we started, looking at everything that we are trying to do, we are recognizing that we are getting overloaded and not getting the kind of help we need. The Institute council will be critical and so we will move forward with that next week. We were talking to Elder and Sister, Kuerth, the military relations couple we are friends with, and they could tell that we were getting in really deep. They suggested that we talk to the Stake Presidents and see if we could get a senior couple in each stake to serve a service mission to the YSA and help us do the things that we’re trying to get done . If we could do that when we leave they could continue the work and then when new senior couples come in to oversee things, the processes would still be in place by local people, and the seniors would be there to encourage and support and train.

We were thrilled with that concept and so we’ve been putting together some plans on how we can propose these things to our supervisor, JUSTIN REEDER, and to then stake presidents. So, today at church, we decide to go in the front door of the chapel for some reason, and as we did, we happen to go into the doors, exact same time as the first counselor in the state presidency, who was coming to the meeting. He happens to be in charge of the YSA in the stake. So we were able to set up a meeting with him on Tuesday to go over things. That was divine intervention.

I’ve been doing a lot of work on the list of YSA to make them more efficient for us and those who go visiting. The way we are going about. It requires more communication that I anticipated so again it makes things slow down and that kind of frustrates me, so I’m having to learn, more patience than I thought I had.

Life is never boring, and with all the stuff that we have going, I am just a little disillusioned (perhaps that is too strong of a word) but I was hoping to have more study time, more personal preparation, time, or whatever, but as usual with me, we are always in a hurry, trying to do more than we possibly can get done, and worrying if we have done enough. I say we, but I mean me. Carolee is always, it seems trying to talk me down off the edge. So far so good.

Carolee and some of the other senior sisters are getting together trying to make plans for Christmas and the holidays for us older missionaries.

Do, through it all we are loving it, the experience of the place is magical, and the work is voluminous, demanding, and fulfilling. There is no question in my mind that we are where we need to be, to touch people specifically that we can touch and I believe that our call here was Divinely inspired.

Nope, I didn't take this picture, but I want to!!!😆😆