The days are long with sunshine, the herring are in and the festival has begun. Of course there’s a little drama because the bears are back, but right now Sitka feels like it’s awakened from a winter nap and it’s an exciting place to live. Here’s a link to an aerial view of a herring festival.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLXNw34yxrQ
Every day we say “We need to write this in our blog.” Each day passes and now we can’t recall all we wanted to share.
The mission office called and let us know that we were flying home May 29 from Anchorage. We knew it was coming but it’s still hard, good news. We talked with our president and asked if we could fly home directly from Sitka. Right now we don’t know if we’ll be coming home the 28th or 29th. They’ll let us know.
We’re not “wrapping up our mission.” We’re “ramping up our mission.” We want Sitka to continue to have missionaries, so if we’re teaching and turning in fruitful reports, President Beesley said he’d replace us. Those lucky missionaries. Sitka is ready for harvesting.
We found and taught three new people last week and our planner is full this week. We also teach a man in rehab (he admitted himself). It’s a spiritual experience to teach someone who the “the higher power” is. We better understand King Lamoni’s reaction as well as Ammon’s. This young man has family and friends who want him to fail and only one soul who will support his sobriety. The odds of his succeeding are slim, but right now he’s amazing and we love teaching him. He’ll be at church again this Sunday.
We enjoyed watching general conference with recent converts. On Sunday, noon session, we set up a TV in the Primary room for Spanish-speaking people and then went to the home of the Fritz family to watch it with them. We checked with Hilda afterwards to see if the Spanish broadcast was all right and she got tears. “I love my apostles,” she says. She is very brilliant and learning English quickly. Hilda is a great little missionary. Last week there were five in our “Spanish section” of the chapel. They’re all returning members and they support one another.
Our Leeshawna is doing well. She’s a polyanna and tends to look for the best and say everything is all right when it isn’t so we have to watch her. She’s in counseling and trying to start her own baking business so we felt she was well enough to begin teaching again. Her new best friend turns out to be a member. Less-active members make very good “member-present” helpers, and it’s always nice to hear their stories and testimonies.
The Williamson family is fun to teach. We aren’t sure they’ll be baptized during our tenure, but we can hope. Brother Williamson has serious doubts, which he is working on. We love this family and want to be there for their big day. Their baby had her first birthday party at the church, which was brilliant. We were able to get several appointments with attendees.
We love you!
Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny
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| Mountains and ocean surround downtown Sitka |
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| Brittany rope-swinging in our yard. Church in background on left. |
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| Mission couples: us, The Schindlers and the Powells |
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| Juneau Zone. Elder and Sister Beesley in middle. We'll get a closeup next time. |
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| Birthday party for Berlin (center front on her Dad's lap) |
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| Arriving at the Calverts to teach. They always swing the door open before we ever have a chance to knock, greeting us with smiles. We're so happy to be part of their lives. |
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| Kathy Swanberg. View from her living room. What an ocean! |
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| Evening time in Sitka. |
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| The CoraLee--Dylan's boat. |
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| We found the Calvert's along the road. Flat tire. |
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| The Herring run was so far off the shore (highly regulated) we couldn't get a good photo. The white dots are boats. Be sure to click onto the link above to watch it. It's soooo worth it! Millions were made during these few hours. |
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| Another evening in Sitka. Boats returning. |
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