November 12, 2011

Here’s a picture of our number-one ward missionary, Brother Womack.  What a great man!  Fearless and awesome!!!

Brother Wm. Topsekok and little Jasper (who turns 3 in April).  Brother Topsekok is white but was adopted by a native family at birth.  His first language is not English.

William Topsekok lost his oldest son in the big storm they had on the north-west coast of Alaska.  We usually teach William (of the Bush Branch) on Tuesdays, but this week we’ve been talking with him a few times a day.  Teller, Alaska is 80 miles north of Nome and inaccessible right now.  It’s on the coast and you can drill down on a Google map to see the tiny village.  There are no trees or hills to help mitigate the wind so it was a total onslaught for them.  The ice-sheets from the water hit land and waves swept over the road in fury.  Kyle, 25, was on a 4-wheeler at 4 p.m. and hasn’t been seen since.  There’s no way a human can survive the weather everyone in Teller knows it, so even though a body hasn’t been found they’re mourning Kyle’s loss.  We wrote earlier in the year about Brother Topsekok, telling you how his wife had fallen through the ice on a snow-machine and died, leaving Brother Topsekok to raise their 1-year-old son.  A few months thereafter Brother Topsekok was baptized in February 2011.  This newest tragedy re-opens his previous wounds.  However, Brother Topsekok testifies that he is able to suffer this loss much better because he has the gospel.  He compares his current experience to his former loss and shares his testimony with us.  We love Brother Topsekok and his little son, Jasper.   

 

The Sitka Ward is full of amazing people.  A newly married couple, Michaela and Keith Larsen, finished biking across Canada this Fall and gave a wonderful presentation of their experiences to the community last Sunday.  They biked 5,900 miles in four months, through 11 Canadian provinces.  Prior to their marriage Keith had biked from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to the farthest edge of Florida.  When he visited Sitka he told Michaela of his bicycle trip and she, being an athlete, was envious.  He knew he had found his match.  But…she had just received a mission call to South America, so she wrote to the first presidency and they told her to marry Keith, which she did. 

We’ll be in Anchorage Monday through Friday afternoon to see a family sealed in the temple, so we’ll be in catch-up mode when we return, trying to get back into the families we generally teach. 

We love you!

Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny

Elder Later riding a whale tail at Whale Park

The mountain look like mounds of very white powdered sugar.

View of our daily drive

31 October 2011

Have we been busy!  Last week we set a new record for the most lessons we have ever given in one week—26!  We also had a baptism yesterday and it was one of the best. 

Sitka used to be Alaska’s capital and it was here that the Russian sale of Alaska to the USA was transacted.  Unlike the rest of the state, Alaska Day in Sitka was a week-long celebration, which culminated October 18.  On the 17^th there was a costume ball featuring costumes from that period of time and everyone talked about what they would wear.  On the 18^th the school children had early release (10 am) so they could prepare for the parade and re-enactment ceremonies on Centennial Hill.  All the store windows were decorated and each day the newspaper featured winners of contests.  Weeklong activities included slave auctions, authentic Russian food for the entire town and the Russian Archangel dancers performed 90 minutes of wonderful, spirited dancing.  Throughout the week there was free food in the park and police women with plumed hats giving kisses and tickets to those NOT wearing Alaska buttons.  They also jail people for resisting, and you cannot get out of jail unless you call a friend to bail you out, which isn’t cheap, the bail-money going to charities.  We bought our Alaska buttons early and have been wearing them on the opposite side of our name badges.  

Scheduling missionary during celebration week wasn’t easy, nor was it easy the week after.  We decided to get busy, so we made a list of 35 people to find and visit to assess their interest in the gospel.  We’ve barely made a dent in the list and already we have new people to teach. 

There’s one ward member who is a missionary’s dream—Brother Womack.  He tirelessly and fearlessly asks everyone entering his gift shop if they’d like to meet us.   Our mission president and a visiting general authority told the Alaska missionaries NOT to ask members for referrals.  They said that if we work hard the members will learn to trust us with their friends.  Our baptism yesterday was a referral.  Brother Womack and a few members here trust us.  We are careful and appreciative of that trust. 

We reconnected with a woman we met while in Anchorage last June.   We taught her two lessons while we were there, but after we turned her over to local missionaries she fell through the cracks.  When we were able to contact her she was in the midst of moving to Kenai, so we taught her by telephone—something we’re getting accustomed to.  We matched her up with some sister missionaries in Kenai and now she’s back on track for baptism on January 8.  We hope and pray she can make it.  We’re helping her through the 12-step program for addictions to cigarettes.     

We love our family and friends!!!

Love,

Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny

President and Sister Beesley preside over the Alaska Anchorage mission.  They're amazing.  Google Jon Beesley and you'll get just part of the story.

Delivering lots of Rotary roses to shut-ins.  Rich took this.  Roses are all over the car, and the ones that wouldn't fit sent on our laps in the front seat.

Casey and her pink spider.  We read "The Busy Spider" to the kids at the library on Saturday and they made webs and spiders.  On Thursday we read "Little Cloud" and they made a lamb into a cloud.  Or vise versa.

Christiana's baptism.  Brother Bauder baptized her.  Her husband, Ben will come along in time.