Deep freeze

 Wow, talk about a week of crazy things! From a weather perspective, I think there will not be another winter to match this in my lifetime. Last year in Malad was record-breaking, and totally awesome as I was able to spend a lot of time, plowing snow, which is Particularly therapeutic to me. I know that’s weird but it is.

I told Carolee before we left, that, regardless of what happened in Alaska, that I was going to tell everyone, it was the worst winter on record, whether it was or not, and just take the chance that no one would fact check me.😫 Little did I know that we would experience the worst winter on record in Anchorage. Since September 1 we have received 104 inches of snow. The average snowfall for that period of time is 47 inches. The last seven or eight days, the temperatures have been-10°or below. On Saturday morning we woke up and it was -21° and this week is projected to be -23°! 

On Sunday We had a storm come in that they projected 4 to 6 inches. By Monday afternoon we had 21 inches of new snow at our house. And it snowed three or four more inches overnight.  So regardless of what my intentions were we got a record winter.   So, with the Alaskan darkness, the frigid temperatures, and the record snowfall, I am totally in love with Alaska. Of course, I do have to temper my enthusiastic attitude because I’m only going to spend one year here and not the rest of my life.  It’s probably somewhat easier to embrace the dark, the cold, and the snow when it is a short time deal. But I don’t believe there can be another winter even in Malad that can match this, so we are trying to enjoy every minute and do as much as we can to experience it.

Last night as we were leaving to Institute at about 6:30 PM, we encountered water on the bottom floor of the townhouse, and Discovered that a pipe in the radiant Baseboard heater had broken, split open, and was spewing a very strong stream of water into the bedroom on the floor. I went to the garage, where the boiler/hot water heater was and there were literally 10 shut off valves on the menagerie of pipes. I was afraid that if I shut one off that would blow it up. So I got on the phone with the apartment guru from the office and he told me to look up a plumber in Google. He started to tell me how to do that. So as you can imagine that phone call didn’t end up very successfully. So I  followed his instructions and went to Google and called a plumber and they came out within about 30 minutes. All that time the water was spewing into the bedroom and we were sweeping it out down the short hall into the garage which has a drain. The plumber was able to turn off the water, fix the leak and start the boiler working again. But the garage heat portion was not working still. So today What is the day of working with plumbers, pipe thawers,  and Restoration services.  Is now 5:32 PM and the last of them just left. We have fans and dehumidifiers in the bedroom and the crawlspace and were able to de-ice the garage heater.

So we’ll have fans and stuff for a couple three or four days and then should be back to normal. It could’ve been a lot worse and we are grateful for timing and the that we were able to have the services on such short notice. I told them all that we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don’t know if that made a difference, but I had good conversations with all of these people about the church and about what we do here and it was pretty amazing. The plumber that was here last night. Heard me answer the phone “this is Elder Cox and when I signed his work order and invoice, I said well, that’s my doctor signature, which is why you can’t read it except for that I’m not a doctor . Then he said you may not be a doctor, but you are an Elder.  They were  all so friendly And typically I am so distrustful, but I felt as if I could trust all of these people. It was a comforting feeling, and I was grateful for it.

Our area, president, Elder, Bragg, visited the mission last week, and had conferences with the leadership of the elders and sisters, and left them with a promise that the missionaries in this mission would invite everyone that they met to church, that they would double the baptisms in a year. Senior missionaries do not have the responsibility to teach, that is left to the young elders and sisters, but we have taken it upon ourselves to take the challenges as well.

So the first day after that meeting, I had to get an Alaska drivers license. After I took my test and was filling out the application, I was engaged in a conversation with the employee helping me and Had told her that I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then she looked at the address, she said oh I live over by Strawberry Road , don’t you have a church right there on strawberry? I said we certainly do and she said she drives by it almost every day on her way to work. I took the plunge and said you know what you should come to church with us. We love visitors, and I think there’s so many people that you would feel right at home. she said well my mother goes to that Baptist Church on the corner there and she invites me to church every single week and I don’t go with her. So I said well that’s great and if one time you decide to go, we’d love to have you come visit us , she politely moved on with the application and who knows one day when she sees the visitors welcome sign in front of the building and remembers our conversation she might just go.

Then, on Saturday, which was one of the more memorable days of my life, In a secular way, we went up to Willow Alaska, which is about two hours north of here.

There we rented two side-by-sides—Polaris 1000 Rangers, enclosed, heated, with snow tracks!  It was a spectacular day with blue skies, and when we got into our machines, it was -21°. Although the ride itself was fairly tame for my standards, and we had a guide leading us, it was still spectacular and an unbelievable awesome adventure. And during one of the stops while we’re looking at the scenery and the views and drinking hot chocolate that the guide had brought along, I was having a nice conversation with him. He was a young 30ish Alaskan guy, And I asked him where he lived, which he told me was Wasilla. We have a stake in Wasilla and I Invited him to church and said we had a lot of churches there.   He said he will probably take me up on that. Last summer I spend a lot of time with young man from your church who is now in Idaho.

It’s amazing but when you decide something to do and you just open your mouth, I believe the Lord will fill it. Natural and I admit it is a little easier when you have a badge on your chest indicates you are a representative Jesus Christ. Now as we go visiting, seeking the lost young single adults here and leaving printed invitations, There are times when the person we are looking for is not there, but someone else answers the door. Now instead of just leaving the invitation, we leave the invitation and invite that person to church. It’s a very fulfilling experience.

Earlier last week, I was struggling to get awake in the morning because I’d had a bad night with my feet. And the phone rang and it was the seminary teacher whose house had burned down the week before Christmas and had called us to take her classes Well, she dealt with that. This time she was stuck behind a 37 car pile up that had taken place on a bridge over river between Palmer and Anchorage at -20°. At that temperature, a fog Maughan had rolled in and just had frozen the bridge the road and visibility.  It was ugly but at least no one got killed, but the freeway was closed for hours and she was stuck behind it. So with 45 minutes notice and a 20 minute drive and I needed to shower and get dressed, we rolled in and I taught seminary to 26 fairly gregarious teenagers who had a substitute...

Carolee says I teach better with no preparation and a lot of time to stew and over-prepare.

So eventful in many ways. And i thought we’d have a fairly rigid routine as missionaries.  Apparently not, Gary

Heading to Hatchers pass for the ride, this view of Mt. Denali from Willow greeted us...it's over 100 miles away, so you can see it from a long ways away.

                    We were driving so not so great of a pic with the street light                 

right in the middle of the  peak, but it is a huge mountain.  

On the way home, we turned off the main road to look at some of the beautiful scenery like this.  As we went around the corner we saw this little guy.  A yearling looking for Mama and as he ran away it was obvious he hadn't grown into his legs.