Both Carolee & Gary contributed to this post.
Still no doubt, Alaska is still awesome. We are not trying to say it’s better than
anywhere else. It’s awesome because it
is still so undiscovered by the world really.
It’s may have been visited by many, but very few stay because of the cold,
snowy winters and the extreme long time of darkness and equally long daytime
hours and short summertime. The population
of Anchorage is actually contracting slowly.
Because of our adventurous nature, I think we would have found stuff to
be amazed about even if we were in Southern Georgia, Ohio or Wichita, Kansas. (ok,
well maybe not Wichita). But because
Alaska is so over the top everything, it’s hard not to be excited about
it. And besides, we had no control over
where we were assigned, so we are grateful, not boastful about being here. If you were to ask me what the best thing
about Alaska is, I would say the people.
We love them to death even when everything is not hunky dory. (btw, what the heck does hunky dory mean and
why???)
With time running thin till we return home, we have tried to keep moving all the time. That means that D.A.N.** keeps getting pushed off the schedule or becomes DEN which is not good for healthy sleeping habits. Of course its been years since I had anywhere near healthy sleeping habits. ☹**Daily Afternoon Nap
Well today we thought maybe we were subbing in seminary for Justin due to emergency at home! Ended up a false alarm so instead we helped process caribou at Michael Metcalf's house. He is our elders quorum pres. in YSA.
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| Sister Cox Grinding Caribou |
Great Man and a serious hunter and fisherman. He went hunting with friends and ended up with everyone’s meat cause they couldn’t afford to ship it home! So Dad and I and his dad spent the day making caribou burger and jerky! We were glad to help he has been so good to us taking Gary fishing and tutoring us on Alaska!! For a mid day break we went to district council and had a great activity getting to know each other! We have two greenies! A sister Rasmussen from Hubbard Idaho. And Elder Davis from Phoenix. We had a great time and I took them pumpkin brownies! They were happy about that!! We left Michael's at 6:50 pm after he fed us caribou burgers( which were good).
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| Arctic Valley Area Chugach Mountains |
Then headed to Eagle River to hike with YSA for family night! We didn’t find the kids but found the ski resort and another gorgeous place! Autumn is coming! It was cold and the leaves are changing!!
We had a great Sabbath! We both spoke in church, sort of our farewell I guess! It went well and there were lots of new kids and almost 100 there! Surprised cause a lot of kids have gone back down to school! Patti and Darrel Kincaid came over for dinner and we very much enjoy being with them! Also I got to talk to Lynn Kuerth ( my bestie missionary buddy). She was diagnosed with cancer this week. She went home early for health but this was shocking! We have really missed them! We pray all will go well with her as she starts treatment. We will see them soon as they are in Clinton Utah!
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| Barn Quilt in Talkeetna |
Saturday morning we took our YSA missionaries to breakfast! Sort of a planning meeting! Sisters Clement and Richins, Elders Bailey, Bell, and Rasmussen. That was great and then we went on an adventure to Talketna! A little tourist town a couple hours north!
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| Quilt & Fabric Shop in Talkeetna |
It was an all day adventure cause we also stopped at La da sa the church owned camp up here! The missionaries that live and work there, gave a great tour. Sister Lee a service missionary and Elder Henry the one that he and his wife run the camp! It was amazing! Loved seeing that! They have a big lake on the property, small cabins and a lodge with covered eating area and inside area too. It is open for all members of the church and is open everyday of the year but Sundays.
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| Lake & Waterfront at LaDaSa |
It is really impressive with archery, air rifle ranges, full cement basketball court, RV hook up pads, tent camping sites, stocked wood shed for tenant usage, sports activity area and more. It is way cool
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| Cabins at the camp |
This is where Tricia & Ken stayed with their family when they came up a few years ago. We did not comprehend how great it was, but it still is camping with no toilets in the small cabins. here is a shower house too.
As we wind down to the end here we are appreciating a lot of lasts like Badgers had us to dinner Friday night! It will be sad to say goodbye to them! They are such great friends and we have shared a lot of adventures with them.
Also Thursday Patti’s class is The amazing gift of forgiveness! A book by Elder Anderson. I did Banana bread for that! Small classes that we hope will grow!
Thursday looked like the last day with sunshine for the next 14 days, so I decided I’d better pull the trigger on one of my Alaska bucket list items—fly in a bush plane that takes off and lands on the lake. We have watched them all summer and so I got into a plane at 3 in the afternoon.
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| Lookin' good, actin' cc&c |
I got in the co-pilot chair (or I wouldn’t have gone) so I could have a good view of everything. It was only 30 minutes, of which 10 was taxiing.
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| Coming in for the Landing |
But it was so smooth and so quick of a takeoff and landing was really soft. Could hardly tell we were on the water and not in the air. We went west over Cook Inlet and saw the forest, mountains and tundra and many, many lakes accessible only by air. It was worth the $100!
We also went to the Temple with a lot of changes. One is that there are two session in a row every morning and evening! It’s great. So Wednesday when I worked I did two veils in a row! The shortened ceremony allows for that change!
Wednesday (gary) Carolee’s day at the temple on Wednesday
was eventful with the new adjustments still being worked through. Afterwards we drove up to Palmer to go to
dinner with Newman’s, our good senior missionary friends serving up there. They got transferred up to the Sulcha Branch
in the North Pole Stake. They are on a
23 month mission and this is their 2nd transfer! Usually you don’t get transferred at
all. So we may not see them again so we went to say
goodbye. They will come home in February
and are building a house in Idaho Falls.
Tuesday--We got to the Temple on Tuesday morning and were able to get in on the newest adjustments to the endowment. Absolutely inspired and awesome. IMHO.
But we again had no one show up to hang out at the Institute but the missionaries from all N. Anchorage. It was transfer day so it was kind of a madhouse.
Institute fall semester started with Tuesday Book of Revelation ,Justin’s class. Carolee baked bread, which is always the favorite of everyone. They love it so much. (Thanks Diane, you get all the credit) She times it coming out of the oven 15 minutes before class gets out and the smell of it throughout the building drives everyone crazy. And it tastes better than it smells—I know, how can that possibly be true, but true it is.
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| Jenna off to college and Carolee |
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| Steal the Flag warriors |
FHE at Sand dunes where we told kids who were heading out to BYU & BYUI goodbye! We love this place! We did have a long visit with our replacements and I’m sure they will be great!! We were smart this time and brought our lawn chairs and watched them play. When anyone got tired or subbed out, they came over and sat by us and chatted. It’s a fun group and they had a lot of fun together. We left before they were done so we wouldn’t get locked in the parking lot. They have an awful lot of energy, they do…
I also had a good visit with my roommates! They are the best! Love sharing our lives still! Every week has been a great one. We do get worn out in a good way!
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| Last Fireweed Blossom of the Season Means snow is 4 weeks away |
We love serving here and acknowledge the blessings and miracles we see daily! We love our Heavenly Father and his Son. We are grateful to serve them in anyway we can! We love you all!!
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