Down Under...the weather.

 

SICKNESS...YUCK!

So, this was not a wonderful week!  We wanted it to be, the weather wanted it to be, our schedule was looking like it would be, but after a recovery/catch up day on Monday from our 4-day weekend in Valdez we came down sick.  Tuesday I just crashed and slept most of the day and then Carolee followed on Wednesday.  We were certain that it was just a cold and it would pass quickly because we were teaching Institute Thursday Night. We thought we had plenty of time to finish our prep for the lesson and suddenly all we could do was sleep and feel crappy. So we used all our awake energy and time to try to get things together and it was just not working well. When we went to bed Wednesday night we felt like we would be ok and we had all day to finish. NOT! we were both worse on Thursday, so we admitted we could not tough it out and called Justin. He said he would get a substitute and so he asked the other teacher Patti Kincaid to teach. She said she would, but we know that last minute is not her forte'. She was at work and at 5pm she finally admitted she would not be able to prep in the 90 minutes available to her after work. So at the last minute we sent a cancellation notice on Facebook. we know many showed up, and we were sad because we didn't want to slow momentum. So we will teach the same lesson in our next rotation in July.

And the problem is still here on Monday! I have little energy, coughing my brains out and feeling gross. I literally did not go to sleep last night--every time I laid down, I started coughing hysterically, and I was wide awake. So, the little recliner here in the apartment did not get me comfortable enough, for long enough to even drift off since the cough was ever present. So, not a happy camper here but gratefully Carolee is feeling much better. Her lingering issue is residual headaches. So not a great productive missionary week by any measure. Carolee did get to church and was able to connect where she needed to.

YSA CONNECTION

On Monday, there was a combined FHE with the Cook Inlet YSA Ward and the North Stake YSA group. It is essentially the Poly group. the activity was games at the beach of a popular little lake in Kincaid Park, but with 25+ from the YSA Ward and the same from the Poly group, and the locals that were there, there just wasn't enough room. So the Polys took their volleyball net down to the Kincaid Soccer fields and played volleyball and the YSA Ward stayed at the lake and played football, spike ball and hung out. So, nice try to combine, but the Polys like being with people who look like themselves and the YSA ward is white, so there you have it. They talk to each other and interact when necessary, but activities and hanging out, they want to be with their own. That is a consequence of the decision to have Samoan & Tongan speaking wards and Spanish, Hmong, Filipino branches and groups. All of these are in the North Stake and it is the poorer section, All of the Anchorage Stake are white wards and are more affluent. And it's tough to get them together. We thought we had a shot at it for a bit, but it collapses really quickly. And I don't think it's racial. I think most of it is socioeconomics. almost a caste system, but definitely levels of wealth and location. It is so weird, but its true and real. We are not a Zion people yet, but there is a lot of work trying to be. We are outsiders and "assigned" to work with both elements. And we do and we just love them all. The Polys are so crazy fun, enthusiastic, friendly, generous and so willing to help...unless you make the helping be their calling. Then, not so much. HAHA

And the others are our people who we identify so much with. Lyzzy, Lolee, Thomas, Ethan, Kaley...And of course there are the ever present "bubble" kids who just don't have anywhere else to land. They are in every YSA unit I believe. And if that is all that there is, then it is a very challenging situation. It was kind of like that here when we got here, but it has grown enough that the bubble kids just blend in and the other kids just include them and take them as they are without a lot of judgment. And that is so awesome to see! We just love all these kids to death and constantly pray for them. They are all in a tough situation and being 18-30 and single whether or not you live at home is challenging. and they all have a story. for example, we have a young man, late 20s, named Christopher who is hard to describe. Not socially gifted and OCD in some of his behaviors. When you engage in conversation with him, sometimes he is coherant, and most of the time is just babbliing, throwing out a lot of relevant words, but not making any sense. Justin told us to just smile, be nice, but not engage him since he has caused a little commotion. He lives 4.5 miles away and he walks to and from regardless of weather of temperature. That's an hour and a half each way. He is OCD about attendance so he marks the roll himself, thingking he is getting a college degree by attending, he HAS to do it himself. I asked Justin what was up with him and he said he didn't know but that he had been coming since before Justin started. the other thing with him was that he would carry his sunday clothes in a back pack and go into the restroom and change into white shirt and tie, sit in the next classroom by himself and listen through the wall. after everyone else got refreshments, he would take some if he liked it and then go change back to his street clothes and walk home. Even if it was -20^*.

At one point i found some old prints from 2014 of some Institute activities. I recognized a couple of faces, but like all YSA the turnover is huge. But there in several pictures was Christopher, a smiling, interacting, normal looking YSA. So I started asking and finally asked Logan, our local info guy if he knew Christopher's story. He did. In 2018-19 Christopher had a crash on a bike we think, in which he suffered a traumatic brain injury. He never recovered and his parents could not deal with him so he is a ward of the state. It is tragic, but we know the rest of the story now. And the beautiful thing about it, is that every single one of these YSAs we have come through here treat him kindly and like he is part of the scene.

The picture here is of one of the YSA missionaries (Sister Moleni) sitting conversing with Christopher with such sincerity, such attentive listening and unhurried effort to connect that I thought that that is exactly how Christ would act. Its really wonderful associating with such wonderful young people. It gives me a breath of hope for the future. There are many examples of this kind of situation in our YSAs here where we are seeing wonderful interactions.

BYU CONNECTION

Last transfer, we got a new zone leader named Elder Jason Martz. I haven't gotten to know him very well...not like the others before him. But, maybe I need to. Someone told me that he played football at BYU! Signed to play is now what I understand. He's a QB! He's from Mississippi and for some reason I remember them signing a QB out of Mississippi who was heading on a mission first. Pretty cool. That QB room is pretty crowded from what I'm seeing, and I think that I saw BYU just signed the "QB" of the future a 4 star from Oregon I think. I looked up Martz and could not find anything on him. I haven't talked to him about it at all, but I'm going to next time we have a district or zone council.

Then we got a new Sister missionary who is a Tongan ancestry named Sister Tu'ikolovatu. We were talking to her at FHE on Monday and trying to pronounce her name. She said that we could call her Sister Sitake if we wanted, because that was her father's name, but the Tu'ikolovatu was her mother's maiden name. the name Sitake would be too much attention getting. I said so Kalini?... she said he was her cousin and Fesi Sitake, the receivers coach is her brother! That;s pretty cool, but she's a good missionary, outgoing, and very athletic...like all the Poly missionaries are. I might get some ticket connection every once in a while...

The worst thing is I feel like we've wasted a whole week of summer--skies have been blue and temps into the 70s. unbelievable stuff for this time of year. We have so much to see and so much work to do, it just may be impossible.

Again, we love it here...we would love it no matter where we were, but we are lucky and blessed to be in Alaska one of the most amazing places in the world. We love the place, we love the people, we love the work, we love the Lord and we love all of you.

(don't love being sick or recovering from surgery)