March 10 2024

 

A few highlights of our week starting with daylight savings time!  So now it is light at 8:30 pm. Not nearly so traumatic for us now as when we had littles but for their sake it could go away.

Beautiful O'Malley Peak!

We have tracted this week( trying to find our YSA’s) & fed many institute kids!  

Took treats to district meeting to wish them off with love!! Had a really fun FHE at Strawberry building!  They played games and really had a good time with gym games like musical chairs etc.

Tuesday we do open building at noon on, so have time there to make treats. Did some mending for sister Pruit for members.  Visit with missionaries that drop by and do our study!  Had Institute council meeting after class too and planned an activity ( making empanadas) for this weeks spring break no class!  Feels good to have a counsel involved.

Wednesday temple is always good for me!  I get to watch the Brayton building go down too!! Very interesting!  

Also a good day cause we do a zoom with usually our girls but sometimes boys get on!!  We catch up on life!! We went that night to see the Chosen, the series movie we really enjoy!  Feel it is appropriate for us!  Really like the spirit I feel with it!!  Thursday I went with sisters to serve at the local charity . I serged for a couple of hours and finished a big project I was helping with. After had a good group at institute! Did cookie bars and fruit!  Elder Halls birthday so celebrated all!  I had done mint brownies earlier on Tuesday!  Really enjoy Patti Kincaid! A great friend!  We ran errands on Friday and asked Kuerths to do something with us . She had texted us earlier in the morning to say they are going home in May do to some complications with her heath!  It made me feel so sad I cried!! We took Mark my Iditarod hat and we were going to dinner. Kitty Badger called while we were at their house and said they were bored. So we all went to “Don Jose's” for dinner and visited and laughed for three hours!  It was great.                                                                  

 We went yesterday to go to a baptism that I guess got changed so missed that but went north on a ride and Hiked Thunderbird Falls trail and went up to Elklutna Lake and walked out on the ice.  It was cold but beautiful!  Realizing this winter will end and we have lots more stuff we want to see. 

Dad and I have been doing somewhat better on some goals!  One is to listen to a conference talk every night!  One more way to bring the spirit into our lives!! And to prepare for our upcoming conference!  We love these great teachers and are inspired by them to lean closer to our Savior!  We are grateful to be serving Him right now!  We do love our supporters at home!! Love Carolee 

Monday, March 11, 2024

Today marks our 6^th month anniversary of entering the MTC to start our mission.  We are halfway finished.  We have a lot of work to do to accomplish what we started out to do.  Hopefully we will leave in place a sustainable program that will have the Institute attendance increasing and a plan in place to continue to invite the one and make sure the lost are fellowshipped back.  And that there is a mechanism to keep the Institute Council alive, staffed and functioning.  We have a pretty good council in place now that I hope will help bring in people not coming.  The enthusiasm is there and with summer coming up, we can do a lot of activities.  We really love these young adults and pray intensely for them.  Their generation has such a different way of life and sees the world so differently that it is hard for us to relate.  But we see effort from a lot of these kids, but still so many are distracted and have wandered off.

I love to see divine intervention happen.  After Kuerth’s revelation on Friday that they are going home in May, 5 months early, we invited them to go to dinner with us after we posted some posters in the church buildings.  We also wanted to go to the new Costco business center out there to see about some things that they had that we could buy in bulk for Institute.  We walked around the huge store and saw a couple of things we were looking for.  But the main thing we need is frozen cookies.  They are just cookie dough frozen and ready to bake.  We have them for emergencies at the Institute for when more people show up than we have treats for.  So Carolee bakes a couple or three dozen during class to add to the original snack.  It’s been a life saver and we are running low. Anyway, we re-traced our steps through the frozen section and found them at the very back corner of the store.  As we turned around to continue, one of our YSAs was walking up.  He works there (we knew that, but were just hoping we would see him).  His name is Logan and has been inactive in the church for a long time.  I helped him with his headlight in his car and have taken an interest in him.  What are the chances in a store that size that he would be taking a garbage run and walking right into us there?  It was good to talk to him.  Then when we got to Kuerth’s, just as we were about to leave, Sister Badger called and said they were bored.  So we went to dinner with them too…she needed a social outlet right then.  Timing was fascinating…

Saturday as we were coming home from Lake Eklunta

& Thunderbird Falls, Carolee mentioned that we were probably past the point of having snow decorating the pine trees.  I sadly concurred. Then we awoke Sunday with a fresh 3 inches, covering the brown snow on the edges of the roads and dusting the pines with a beautiful layer of snow. 

  There has been at least 3 feet of snow on the ground every day since the 3^rd of November when we were hit with a huge snow storm and there is no way its going away anytime soon.  Almost 5 months and counting.  But we realize that this is our only winter in Alaska and it is so beautiful we just want to enjoy every minute of it. 

We love serving the Lord and these YSAs here.  It is very different from my proselyting mission in South America, but we are still doing hard things and growing as we show our faith in Jesus Christ.  We miss all of you and pray for you.  The gospel is true.  We would not be here if we didn’t have that conviction.  Love you all,  Gary