I love being a missionary!  And I love being a missionary in Alaska!  And I love serving as a CES/YSA missionary in Alaska! And I love my companion!!  And I love that we never have to get transferred or get another companion!!!  And we are so blessed to be in Alaska. Fun to look out our window and see our neighborhood friends.

If we were in Florida or West Virginia or Chicago, I think I would say the same thing about wherever & whatever we were doing, because I know the Lord knew where we should be.   I was meeting with our Institute Director, Justin Reeder this week and showing him some of the things on our Master Plan that we had been working on and finishing.  About ¾ of the way through our discussion, he stopped, turned and looked at me and said as he pointed to the things we were discussing “This is why you were sent to Alaska!  What you and Sister Cox are doing is exactly what we have been needing!” Covid took a major toll on the YSAs in Anchorage, in many ways.  So many of them have not returned and we need to find them.  But as I’ve said before, we need to implement the organization the Church has set up, get it going, use local members, to make a sustainable organization that will continue to grow after we go home.  It’s taking a huge amount of effort and working with people to get the ball rolling.  But we feel like we are getting some momentum and pray it continues.  It’s been a lot like setting up a new business, but harder when I’m not the boss, and its church, not work.  But my experience in setting up new businesses and re-organizing new wards 4 times in 5 years is working to our advantage in what we are doing.  Big difference is I don’t have the final say—so to speak.

We had a combined 3 Zone conference this week.  There were about 70 missionaries so a good size group.  That included for the first time the service missionaries and their leader.  Although we do not get involved in the proselyting practices, lessons, presentations and breakout groups, in zone conferences, we decided to meet during the breakout sessions with the service missionaries, and had some good discussions. One was:

·       “begin with the end in mind”. That has to do with the big picture & daily picture as well.

·       In the big group, we talked about accountability to God for our goals and what we want to accomplish. In order to be accountable, we should set daily attainable goals, and begin the day committed to each other & to God to accomplish, what we decide to do.

So, these two principals were what they were teaching to the young missionaries. I was thinking, good grief, how many times in my life have I heard that?!!  So instead of tuning it out, I tuned in and thought how can we use these principals in our companionship? 

Now, the one of the biggest obstacles that I am facing here on the mission is the morning time. It is so hard for me to get to clear my head and get my body moving.  I am not like my companion who wakes up, gets out of bed and by the time she is to the closet, she is in her workout clothes and chomping at the bit to get going—or do whatever we’re going to do.  I am still struggling to sit up in bed, let alone be ready to leave and go walk at the mall or outside.  It usually takes me a least a half hour and then wash my face with ice cold water to finally start to come alive.  Then I’d have to get dressed yada, yada, yada.

Although I’ve been sleeping much better it doesn’t seem to improve those first shining moments of the day!  It may be/might have a tiny bit to do with my advancing years, because I know I’m not the only senior missionary battling this.  It has made our mornings really out of sync and we just can’t seem to get on the same morning page.  The morning is our study time, prep time, planning time, etc.   Carolee and I talked after the conference about these principals and how we could implement them into our missionary work.  So after much conversation, we have decided to have our planning meeting at noon every day. Since we effectively work the swing shift our nights don’t get over till around 9:30 PM.  From noon to 9:30 is a pretty long day being at it.  And it worked great this week!  I can’t believe that it took 5 months into our mission to be able to figure out our mornings!  In that planning meeting, we will then be able to begin with the end in mind—decide what we want to accomplish that day and make sure that what we are doing fits into our long-term goals. This helps us prioritize what we do each day, then be accountable to ourselves, to each other, and to God each day. At the end of the day, we report how we did. If we did not do so good, we can repent and try to get better the next day. We are not perfect, but we need to be trying our best. 

That’s what my comp keeps telling me.  And she is a really, really good comp!!!

 We had some fun activities this week that Carolee covered in her entry.  I have an additional picture of the outhouse races that was pretty creative.  A group entered as the Bob Ross Pine trees.  You’ll see they all had wigs like his hair and a pine tree attached to the back of the outhouse.  Can’t you still just see Bob Ross painting a pine tree and talking in his low monotone voice?

Think Groundhog Day...                                                                                                        

This Fur Rondy celebration as they call it here is short for Fur Rendezvous.  We were able to see the Open World Championship Sled Dog Race from a trailhead right by the Institute.  The teams ran a 26 mile course on Fri, Sat & Sunday and then added their times to see the winner.

The trail was freshly groomed then had 3 new inches of snow, so it was beautiful.  I imagine that some of those teams will be in the Iditarod which starts this weekend. We will be able to volunteer  for that, so that is coming next week. 

This is Gary's favorite thing!  I want it to keep snowing and snowing.  I know, I'm weird. There is snow everywhere, piles are deep on streets, main roads are mostly clear but with a center strip  of ice on each lane.  All subdivision roads are snow packed. And the front loaders and dump trucks never stop hauling snow away and putting it in huge piles that are 3 or 4 stories tall.  Bulldozers just keep plowing it up higher and higher.  Some are saying that the piles may not melt this summer.😕  

Carolee mentioned in one of her posts about being grateful for not having headaches anymore.  My sister Diane asked about her headaches, so I felt it deserves an entry since it is a major miracle in our lives. 

Carolee’s Miracle.

For almost her whole life, Carolee wakes up with a major headache.  Not migraines, but most days it takes 2 Excedrin & 45min of intense exercise to get rid of them.

We are always on the lookout for something to help. She has always had bad posture and in the last 20+ years standing in front of her quilting position like she’s looking at a phone did not help the issue.  We’ve looked into exercise routines, stretches, PT, diet, sugar and everything else we could think of. To no avail.  Excedrin has been a way of life for many years. 

So sometime in January, I got an ad on Instagram, that talked about this wheel thingy that is 4 inches in diameter and the claim is that it places your neck at the correct angle which helps stretch the muscles and corrects the curvature of the neck. When used for 10-20 minutes a day, it claims will eliminate a neck hump and relieve neck pain and headaches. It has a channel for your spine to keep it straight. It is called a Chirp Wheel for 29 bucks on Amazon.   Sometimes she doesn’t like my Amazon solutions.  So, I bought it without telling her (you did what??) and while it was on its way, she had a conversation with some other sister missionaries about some of the health and neck challenges they were having.  Since I hadn’t told her about my purchase, that conversation facilitated her listening to me and she was more willing to give it a try.   

She has been using it now for almost 4 weeks and it has totally eliminated her headaches!

She lays on it before she goes to bed, it stretches her neck out and Wala the miracle happens!! No headache in the morning.  I don’t even ask her anymore; she has moved the extra Strength Excedrin into the medicine cabinet instead of her night stand!  It is a life changing miracle for her and us.  One we have been praying for for a long time.

Snow sculptures at                                                                             Fur Roundy.

This is what the roundabouts can look like, but its also what every cul de sac looks like.  It is crazy awesome!! 😄

 Gary has had a miracle too.

My struggle sleeping at night because of neuropathy is old news and well documented, I think.  I take Lyrica twice a day to be able to stay sane.  However, laying down and having my feet up triggers pain that I have a hard time dealing with.  So, I take Lyrica and a Tylenol PM at night.  Sometimes I can fall asleep before the reaction to lying down hits and sometimes I can’t.  Most of the time I can sleep about 1-3 hours without waking up from the pain. The Tylenol PM is supposed to help me go back to sleep.  But not so helpful...so some nights I am up for hours.  I am usually so drowsy from the meds that I can’t read, so I resorted to playing mindless games on my phone and finding any comfort food I could place my hands on or invent.  Needless to say, the quality of sleep has been pretty poor and the affect on my waistline pretty profound!   

So next is how things came together in my mind that resulted in a paradigm shift for me.

We have become fans of the series The Chosen.  I will not defend nor advocate our position, so just hear me out.  In the 1^st season, and in sporadic spots throughout the next season, I noticed that when it shows Christ or any of the Apostles go to bed, as they lay down, blow out the candle, they say a prayer. The prayer is usually a recitation from the Law of Moses that goes something like: Blessed art Thou Oh God, the king of the universe, the creator of all things, etc. etc. and then Bless my eyelids to sleep and body to rest—something like that.

Then, in Come Follow Me we talked about the condescension of God, and how far he condescended from his throne next to Elohim, the Highest of the High, to the lowest station of human life in order to sink below all to know how to succor his people. That reminded me of how great He truly is!

And made me question, how often do I recognize His greatness? Or praise Him on a consistent high enough level?  So I decided to start doing that as I went to bed.  At first it was a bit awkward trying to insert it into a typical prayer, but I realized that in our culture of praising him, and acknowledging his greatness is usually expressed as hymns.  So now as I go to sleep, I am reciting the words to hymns that praise Him.  How Great Thou Art, I Stand All Amazed, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation, Praise Ye the Lord, etc.   

The impact has been huge for me! I have fallen asleep so quickly, even with my toes, feeling like they were going to burn a hole through the mattress, even with my feet feeling swollen, prickling and numb, it did not matter—I went to sleep. And even though, I awake during the night, if I will go back to bed soon, and repeat the same process I go back to sleep quickly, with fewer times awake till morning.

I keep track of my sleep with my Fitbit. It has been amazing to watch my sleep scores go up. I still do have some bad nights, but this is a miracle for me to be able to get the sleep I need. Last night I slept for 8 1/2 hours and got the highest sleep score ever. My stake president blessed me in my setting apart, that I would get enough sleep to carry out my labors. It took me a while, it took watching the Chosen and remembering in the Book of Mormon, where it tells us to pray, as we lay down to sleep.  But this has been like Alma & his people being strengthened to bear the burdens placed upon them. The burden is not gone, but for now I am able to bear the burden I am carrying. 

Both of these “miracles” are a testimony to me that my Heavenly Father is aware of me & Carolee.  We have not asked why we have had to carry these burdens, but we have faith in the Lord that He will take care of us.  I am so happy that he has relieved Carolee of her burden and that I’m able to get better sleep.

When you look for them, little miracles or divine interventions are happening all the time.  We can identify them almost daily.

The gospel is true; Jesus loves us; we love you all and pray for you always.  Gary

February 25 2024

 We have had a great week being Alaskans!!  Today after our two YSA sacrament meetings we were invited by friends to a brass quintet concert at the Lutheran church down town!  It was really great to not only get great music but also see the church and fellow good people!! Enjoyed it a lot!!    

Yesterday was the Fur Rondy festival! Which is a big deal we find out!! We  five couples of our senior missionaries met at the institute and walked down to a trail close by and we watched the sled dogs go by!

 It was pretty cool! 15 different teams went by  with only a couple of minutes between! This was a precursor for the Ididorod! After we went back and had a pancake lunch.

Bacon eggs juice and all!!  After we went down town to figure out what was happening and we found the outhouse races.  They had to build outhouses and put them on skis and race two at a time on a course!  Many teams from churches to businesses to military!

 We watched until we got too cold and two of our couples left for home!  Either the army or Air Force won for sure!  Four pushers and one sitter. Our military were the only ones in shape!!  After we went to the snow sculpting in progress and that was pretty cool!  Big blocks of compressed snow that artists create things!  A carnival was going on and fireworks and lots of other Alaskan type stuff!! It was fun!  We ran into our young adults , the young missionaries from our zone other members etc., some of our seminary students.  We are glad to thrive here with our thermals and cleats, and warm paraphernalia.

Our institutes were great this week they seem to be growing! The Thursday night one particularly with a promise of volleyball after! I panicked cause I planned food for twenty and thirty showed.  Thank heavens I have frozen cookie dough as a back up always.  We had zone conference so we went there and I got excused from my temple shift but we did go that night!!  We helped with the luncheon. That the stake pres. Wife always does. Sister Esplin.  She does it up nice always! It’s nice to see all the missionaries in the 3 anchorage zones.  Love you   Carolee

February 19, 2024

 

 I haven’t recorded for a few weeks because it has been pretty event filled and crazy. 

I just read Carolee’s entry and she covers most of the stuff I’m writing about, but as you know she only used about 4 lines, maybe 5 and only about 30 words.  So, sit down if you want to read mine.  I just don’t know how to do it another way.  I’ve tried, but the fingers just don’t work like hers,  and that’s a good thing.

Two weeks ago on Monday night late, we got a call from JUSTIN REEDER, who asked us to teach for him the next day because he was so sick. He told us lesson was at 7:30 in the morning. So, I work into the night trying to prepare lesson, I was not able to utilize technology by  i.e. PowerPoint,  (time & ability restraint) so I just decided to have a discussion with the chapter they were talking about in the Book of Mormon.

So I taught the class at 7:30 and that was the only seminary class, but he was pretty sick and so I started and spent the rest the day to prepared the Institute lesson for that night. He kept saying that he was going to try to make it made it so I wasn’t so serious in my preparation, but by 5:30 I knew he was not going to be able to teach.  So I taught the class, Carolee prepared the refreshments and we did the whole thing, so that was a long day from seven in the morning till 9:30 at night before we got home. During the day, I also made some adjustments to the seminary class because I still needed to teach two more classes the next day on Wednesday. So those two days were very exhausting. Carolee is a very good at helping me prepare. She is a good sounding board and offers excellent suggestions for presentation. So even though she’s not in front, a lot, she is in on the preparation, so I can call her at any time for help in class, and if I faint or have a medical emergency during class, she can just push me out of the way on the floor and go on with the lesson, because she knows what’s going on and helped me prepare.😂😂 yeah, well that happened once except for the floor part, so we’ve learned our lesson. 😩 When she says we taught seminary or Institute, it is very valid because of her valuable input to the lesson and willing support. 

So, after teaching 4 lessons in two days and the prep work, it is very exhausting and takes a lot out of you. Teaching teenagers and adults is strenuous work both physically & emotionally, trying to connect various stages of life and experience.

That means that Thursday is kind of a wipe out day hard to accomplish anything because of how drained we are.

That was the second time in three weeks, but he had come down sick, the previous time when he had a case of the shingles. Well, on Saturday, he texted and asked if we would cover his Tuesday and Wednesday classes because he was going to be out of town for a session in Washington with CES.  So, this time we had more time to prepare, and I guess more stress because we knew in advance. Sometimes I feel like my dad when I prepare lessons because I way over-prepare. I remember my dad giving talk at church where he would go to the pulpit with like seven books plus his scriptures. I mean when Brother Cox spoke he was loaded for bear and talked for a long time. It was pretty boring from the kids perspective.  I don’t do that in the same outwardly show with books and stuff but I do overthink things., get lost in the weeds, And end up using about 10% of what I brought prepared to discuss. The bigger emphasis now is on how to get the class involved and asking correct questions that will initiate pondering as they answer the questions. Asking good questions is hard.

So anyway 7:30 in the morning came and we taught the first hour which is a difficult hour since the kids are all asleep and not in a frame of mind to have a good conversation.   So it was a disaster from my perspective, but Carolee said it was OK. That night was Institute & I felt better about that lesson. Then on Wednesday morning. I taught the class when Carolee was in the temple so she wasn’t there. During that class, the Sr. Sister missionaries were videoing me teaching for a video they are making for the mission to describe what senior missionaries do so we can share with those entertaining serving a mission. In the middle of the class there was a bang on the door, and a man appeared there who said he was a code enforcement officer for the city of Anchorage. He proceeded to tell us that we were not supposed to be in there, because there was no occupancy permit for that building. No one was supposed to be in the building at all until that was taken care of. I kindly ask him to talk to the owner of the building he said that he had, and he was very rude and demanding, that we should not be there. He left not very happy but we continued with the lesson after I settled the class down. 

After discussions with JUSTIN and the owner of the building, it was decided that we should not meet there in the afternoon until the situation resolved and so the owner offered for us to do the class in his house. The house is right there on the property. So we went over to this gigantic mansion, three-story family room with all glass facing the beautiful forest and we watched a moose walked across the property in front of us. It was a spectacular scene.  So I sat on the fireplace hearth and the kids sofas and chairs on the floor and we had a 35 minute class where we just talked about the chapter and I let them out early and Carolee gave them a valentine cookie. 

Once again, we were so exhausted that it was hard to do anything. And that’s OK, we can’t run faster and we have strength to run and believe me we were out of gas. I am so grateful we are not teachers out here as part of our mission—teaching seminary class or Institute class full-time. 

Our schedule is pretty difficult as it is because we usually start our day around noon and finish most days at 9:30 or 10 PM. There are no senior missionaries in our mission that are doing those kind of hours. But we are glad to do it, and hopefully what we are building here will be sustainable with the young single adults, and will be able to touch lives for years to come. That is the goal. So this last week was our five nighter of nightly activities because we had a luau on Friday night. So Saturday we went to the Chosen movie at the theater and out to dinner with Kincaids. 

So the last two weeks have been kind of brutal physically and mentally, but at the same time very rewarding, spiritually. I learn so much more when I’m studying to teach than when I’m studying to learn. That is a really crazy thing and it really should be the other way around.

We’ve gotten posters up in buildings, new invitations printed and ready to go, so we’ve been very engaged in a lot of moving parts. 

This week’s schedule seems less demanding so far, so it should give us more time to go out inviting! 

Our miracle with Carolee’s headaches is ongoing and we are so grateful!!  

 I think I am experiencing a miracle too with my feet.  Although they hurt more than ever, I have been sleeping through the pain and I just don’t know how.  I am aware of the pain and within minutes of going to bed, I’m on the verge of rolling out and going through my nighttime walking routine when I just suddenly go to sleep.  I also seem to be sleeping in longer stretches which enhances the quality of the sleep too.  But I do get woken up several times a night by the pain and have to get up to relieve it by walking around and standing to change the pressure on the feet. However, there is a BIG problem here in our apartment and that is that when I get up I am only 3 steps (literally) from the refrigerator door and 4 steps from the pantry.  And that is not good on so many levels.  Carolee has gotten to the point, with my resentful approval, where the chocolate chips and potato chips are stored under her night stand!  What a sad example of my self-control.  But, in my defense, who has self-control at two o’clock in the morning and in physical and emotional pain???? I need comfort food in the worst way.  You would not believe some of the things I’ve come up with to eat.  And the hardest part is with the bedroom being so close, I have to do everything in silence so as not to wake up the queen or I would be in real trouble and not get anything at all to eat!! 

Wa Wa Wa.  Call the Wambulance.  First world problem!

Nevertheless, we are loving our mission, loving the young people here and feeling like we are starting to make a difference for now and for the future.  We are truly praying hard for these young people here.  They have many challenges and trials and they need so much help.  There are many who are trying so hard to do the right thing and many more who have just given in.  this world is really a different animal that the one that I grew up in.  so many more challenges, but the kids have so many more tools.  Now they just need to use them. 

 

Love you all,  gary

All of my favorite people in the entire world, all in the same picture. 

We got a heart attack from the sister Missionaries on Valentines night.  We love working with these young sisters and elders. 

One of our favorite hoar frost pictures at -15 degrees

February 19 2024

 We maybe had our busiest week of the mission so far.  From how dead we have been I think so anyway!  It was good stuff!  Monday as usual we had district council. We are trying to get to know this group so I took cinnamon rolls which I made!  Then I started prepping for valentines week!  Gary taught 3 seminary classes and institute so I try to help! I made valentine cookies-cut out hearts and cream cheese frosting for all of those and Thursday institute!  So we had 7;30 am class Tuesday and open institute 12-9. Class in there too! Sister Pruit and currier came to do pictures.   We worked on my serger so she could use it too!  She filmed me baking , and Gary teaching and studying, prepping!  Monday night we were at FHE. Which was pizza and speed friendshipping! Turned out a great activity!  Tuesday institute went well!  Did more cookies .  Wed morning Gary dropped me off at temple for my shift and he took cookies for his 9:15 class.  I had a great shift!  Got to do thing new again!  Even took a Samoan sister through the veil in her language with brother Kuerth on the receiver!  It was very interesting!!     Gary on the other hand had an adventure he will tell about!  We ended up having the 1 o’clock class at a neighbors house!  So I stayed at the building and directed kids to walk up the icy road to class!!  We did get to meet the folks that share the Airbnb with the seminary! A great couple from Utah! He is an emergency room dr!! They are wealthy and very generous!  The class fit easily in their family room.  They were a lot distractions so we cut class short .  It was valentines exhausted we were but we went to an early dinner with Kuerths to celebrate at Texas Roadhouse!!  Could laugh off the stress a bit!!

Thursday we had. Huge catch up on life!  Like shopping, mail run to office, car wash etc.   more cookies finished for Thursday night institute!  We had a good class. Patti is doing well!  After they invited us to go to the Chosen with them on Friday.  That ended up on Saturday and dinner at Applebee's! We really enjoy Kincaids and value their friendship!  It was her birthday and I got her a little gift!

We also were at the Brayton building Friday and Saturday to get a few things before it is torn down!!pretty amazing that they donated everything from toilets to stage curtains to pews to chair rail molding to all kinds of charities in the community!  Churches, theaters, shelters etc everything that could go went!! It was amazing to see!  Badgers are really involved with this project!  It is the sight of the new temple!

We delivered posters to the buildings about institute from President Nelson. So we have covered the territory this past week!  We try to go walking at the mall everyday but  not happening .  I do continue to see miracles with my headaches gone in the mornings whenever I use my wheel at night!!  We also feel encouraged about our kids!  Seeing good things at home!  Blessings are going their way!  We pray hard for them and the young adults here!  We love them all!!     We also had a Luau on Friday with the YSA.  Food was great and I didn’t prepare it!! We did help clean up!!                           

We have had a warm spell and the snow is really melting!!  The calm before serious cold coming back this coming weekend. Almost felt like spring!(in the 30s).  I think we have winter a couple more months here but we are okay with that. Love & miss you all.  Carolee

February 11 2024

 We have had a great week!  We had zone council Monday and are slowly getting to know this group! Had a service project with them Thursday helping prep for the Iditarod!  Next week we help again! Then our zone leaders had a baptism Saturday morning that we went to! A young Mom Elizabeth! Her husband is a member so that was exciting.

Packaging straw for the Iditarod

Justin got sick so Gary taught 7:30 seminary Tues and institute Tues night!  Spending 12-7 at institute and a council meeting after meant for a long day!  It was great though and we were glad to start meeting even though Justin was not there!  Great kids and good feedback!  I just did popcorn and marshmallow popcorn for treats this week. I also got another quilt done that we have had on at the building!  We watched at FHE a big group playing pickle ball and getting to know some of these kids better!

Badgers invited us to lunch on Thursday so we had a good visit!! They are fun to be with but we don’t see so much these days! Temple is cranking up and they will be busy!  We had Kuerths here today for a visit and get together for the Super Bowl. They usually have a party and don’t have a good tv so we were glad to visit and eat good food!  We are really comfortable with them so it’s great to be together. Patti Kincaid is also a great friend and we all have joy when we get a good turnout for her class!  Both over 20 this week! Our friend Issac and three friends came!  He was Jordan Hirschis priest.  Anyway an inactive friend and 2girls that aren’t members .  We love that!  

A little explore on pday up Eagle River to their nature center!! For sure a place to go see in every season!  We see moose really often these days!  They say deep snow is bringing them down. Pretty cool!

Still loving being at the temple!  It’s amazing how it has come back to me!! I don’t mind being the janitor after our shift is done also! Lots of dear sisters to get to know!!

Grateful for zoom calls that keep me somewhat connected to home!!  Also love random texts and calls we get!  We love our dear family forever!! Carolee

February 4 2024

  Have had so many times this week of being so grateful for being here in Alaska!   I cannot believe how beautiful it is.  Driving to the temple wed morning the hoar frost was so beautiful I felt like I was in a fairy land! It was -15 but really don’t feel that cause we don’t spend time outside! 

We had big nights at both institutes this week!!  They stayed and visited after for a long time too!  I had fruit plates and banana bread Tuesday and wheat bread Thursday.  We all felt good about it! The missionaries and teachers!  Some new faces! One of our YSAs ,Jacob, who is down syndrome came up to me after Tuesday and said me and my brother are gluten free. He doesn’t talk really plainly but I understood and I had forgotten!  And actually it’s 4 of them and one othe girl!  So I told him I would try to work on that!  He said Thankyou!  He is really cute so I felt bad!             Caul and Craig got home this week and that made me a little sad! Not sure if I need them serving with me or if I feel left out at home now!  It’s okay!! I’m a big girl!!

We had workers in and out our place all week due to our flooding problem! So we missed temple Wednesday night . I went Friday morning on a session.  Gary waited for restoration guys!  I also went Thursday afternoon to the group working on days for girls!  Good group of members there working together!  Nice to visit while we work!  Friday night I was going to a school play with three of our sister missionaries but one by one backed out!  It was like -23 so I stayed home and Gary and I watched Ground Hog Day!!  After we walked at the mall!  We go up the tower and can get a pretty good work out!  My miracle for the week is I have not had a head ache in the morning all week!  It’s amazing but pretty sure it’s my neck how I sleep and I got a tool where i can roll on my neck to hit pressure points that I do before I go to bed and then sleep with a rolled towel under my neck!!  Cautiously optimistic, but I’ve had a headache everyday for so long it feels hopeful!

P day was great we watched games and went for a ride down Turnagain and saw amazing frozen waterfalls!! So gorgeous!  

This is the frozen Turnagain Arm. The ice is brownish and all broken up from the tide coming and going. It's quite a site to see this huge ice flow moving. 

Today had over 50 at YSA ward which felt really good!  We pray constantly for these young people. We went to dinner on base with the Kuerth's and single soldiers! Sister missionaries too!  Only 3 soldiers came but hope to build that too!!Gary sat and talked to one who is Jewish by race and religion!  Brilliant young man from Guatemala!  We leave our comfort zone often but are always glad after that we did!    We are loving serving here and pray constantly for our family and loved ones at home!  We love our Savior and want everyone to feel his love like we do!! Carolee