Sunday, April 29, 2012

April 29, 2012

Nephew Vance Hemsley with daughter, Faith

Richard with our sweet Virginia

Sister missionaries.  We took the sisters and Virginia out for dinner after the baptism.

We spent most of last week in the Anchorage/Wasilla/Kenai areas, so this first paragraph is pretty much a travel log.  Sorry.  We left Sitka on the 6 a.m. flight Monday morning and flew to Anchorage, and then drove to Wasilla to visit with David Robinson (my brother) and his wife, Koreen.  We thoroughly enjoyed their company, their cooking and the comfortable bed.  David’s getting ready for another over-seas assignment and Koreen will likely go with him, so we wanted to see them before they take off.  Tuesday morning we drove to Kenai where we attended Virginia’s baptism that evening.  Wednesday we drove back to Anchorage to attend the temple and spend the evening with President and Sister Beesley and other couples from the mission. 

About Virginia:    Last June, while serving in Dutch Harbor we received an email from our mission president saying that the Lord had transferred us to Sitka and that we were to spend a week in Anchorage prior to departing for Sitka.  We asked if we could stay at a missionary apartment in Anchorage so we wouldn’t have such high hotel bills since it was peak season.  The missionary apartment given to us was next door to Virginia’s apartment.  We had prayed for someone to be placed in our path, and there she was, sitting on her porch smoking, so we visited with her and invited her to dinner.  We worked like crazy cleaning the apartment and then bought some take-out food and shared it with her.  We taught her the first lesson and committed her to baptism.  During the lesson she had said that she had lived next door to “the boys” for two years and always wanted to know more.  Each day she watched them come home and smelled their cooking and listened to their singing, but not one missionary had talked to her.  We taught her twice more before leaving for Sitka.  Over the following months we learned that Virginia had fallen through the cracks again and again.  Finally, (we’re convinced in answer to our prayers) Virginia was transferred to Kenai and we called the sister-missionaries there. They took Virginia into their hearts and now Virginia is baptized.  It was joyful to see her in white.     

While in Anchorage we handed our Bush Branch over to new missionaries.  The church defines the Bush as “areas of Alaska that are not served by other wards or branches and that are not accessible by road.”  As the first missionaries called to the Bush Branch we spent a lot of time figuring out how to teach people effectively over the phone—there isn’t enough band width for Skype so we never get to see those we teach.  We’re admittedly territorial about those voices we have come to love.  So after meeting with the missionaries and turning over our area book we set an appointment for last evening to “meet” them on an 800-conference line with one of our investigators.  We introduced the elders, had prayer and read scriptures and then it was time for us to say good-bye and for the elders to continue teaching.  After hanging up Richard said “I don’t like this one bit.”    We wish we could teach them from Boise.  Letting go is hard.

When we got back to our beautiful island of Sitka (noon Thursday) Richard found a leak underneath our sink in the apartment.  The landlords were stateside at a daughter’s wedding so Richard spent several hours replacing rusted pipes.  We had to reschedule our two evening appointments.  Consequently Friday arrived and we had ZERO lessons for the week, but now it’s Sunday night and we’ve had 10.  But even though it’s a bleak week for lessons, one of our investigators set a baptismal date for May 19.  We’re going to work with him closely over the next couple weeks to help him prepare.       

We just talked with Virginia.  She was confirmed today and she says she feels sooo good.  She says she looked in the mirror and said “I’m beautiful,” which she says she had never thought before.  She says that people tell her she glows.  She told us of the new vibrant colors she sees in nature and of her overwhelming gratitude for all of it.  She cried when she said that she finally found the place where she belongs.  She thanked us.  Can you imagine?  We’re the ones who feel thankful. 

FINAL MONTH!  YIKES!!!!

Love each of you.
Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny


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