February 22, 2012

We’re very lax in our writing.  Actually, not “we;” me.  Richard keeps a daily journal, but we’re too far past our last blog entry to try to retrace our travels.     

March was baptized but Virginia chose to wait until a family crisis involving her son is resolved.    

We teach between 20 and 25 lessons each week with varying degrees of progress.  We want to introduce you to a few of our dear ones…

We’ve told you about Hilda before.  Hilda (who has a little 5-year-old son, Danny) didn’t know she was a member, but when we first taught her we could tell she was a golden find because of the way she loved the Book of Mormon.  We learned after the second lesson that Hilda had been baptized when she was 12 but her family immediately became less active.  She doesn’t speak English, so we all celebrated when we discovered she was already a member.  She found the church twice!  She has a burning testimony and doesn’t let language challenges stop her from bearing her testimony.  Her English is improving every day.

Brother Womack, whom we’ve also previously described as our best member-missionary, works at the airport gift shop and rarely checks out customers without talking with them about their Heavenly Father.  About twice a week he gives us a referral.

There are three older women we call on that will never be baptized but they need us.  One is Erika.  Her father was in Hitler’s elite squad.  Her stories are wonderful and she’s fearless and non-complaining even though her health is fragile.

One of our investigators, Dee, has her mother-in-law living with her, plus her mother-in-law’s dog.  They received a 10-day-notice from the landlord about the dog and we took the issue to our Ward Council.  Brother Lonnie, a generous-hearted member who lives on an island, offered to babysit the dog.  Sitka Ward is awesome. 

We are teaching the Williamson family and they’re progressing well.  Sister Williamson is ready for baptism and calls herself a “dry member.”  Brother Williamson receives teachings so well that we think it won’t be long until he is ready to commit. 

We took our sweet Leeshawna off date.  She took pills when her boyfriend got engaged and we’ve been helping her move, etc.  It was interesting when we were at the hospital with Leeshawna because the doctor that treated her was one of our investigators, and Brother Williamson is manager of the counseling service.  We knew several of the attendants from other visits. 

Our days end after 9 PM and we notice that we’re somewhat tired but generally too spiritually-exhilarated to settle down right away.  We feel we’re serving in the best place on earth.  We have several investigators that we feel will be baptized soon.

In addition to teaching we do volunteer work at the community center and at the library.  Right now it’s more volunteer work than is comfortable.  On March 3 we’re in charge of a celebration at the library for Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  It includes a skit by the high school and involves volunteers from the junior high in face-painting and crafts, as well as a junior-magicians workshop.  It’s been good community involvement and two investigators are helping us.  However, we get more personal satisfaction and downright joy from simply teaching the gospel. 

Here are a few photos that will catch you up.  We’ll try to be more diligent about writing!

Love,

Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny

Brother Womack at the airport

March Runner's baptism.  She's amazing!

We're sad to report the JJ's mother, Lynda Joyce Knoll, died January 15, 2012.  Everyone who knew her mourns.  Our Jana is on the right.

Lonnie and Sandy East. 

Sitka Ward Relief Society presidency:  Alison, Marcia,, Patti (president) and Angie

Meet little Hilda.

Our friend, Grace, whom we work with at the community center.

The swans are thick and sooo beautiful.

Sunset view from our apartment

January 7, 2012

Happy 2012!  The year will begin with a bang as we travel to Anchorage for a baptism--and maybe TWO!  The one we're traveling for is March Runner, an attorney and elder in the Blackfoot tribe.  She's influential and lives in teh Bush area of Alaska (areas inaccessible by roads), which we serve.  We have taught her by telephone for the past four months and she has given us a run for our money.  For instance, last evening we taught about the covenants Heavenly Father makes with us when we are baptized. We read a scripture and asked her about how that made her feel to be promised to come forth in the first resurrection.  She said, "First of all, Jesus Christ's resurrection was the first resurrection."  Our hearts almost burst with joy.  She's now teaching us more than we're teaching her.  March will be baptized in Anchorage on Sunday the 15th. 

The second baptism we HOPE we can attend is Virginia's.  She now lives in Kenai and if she can hang in there with her smoking-addiction-recovery, we'll drive to Kenai on Saturday the 14th for her baptism, then zoom back to Anchorage (depending on roads) so we can take March Runner to her first in-person Sacrament meeting on Sunday morning prior to her baptism that afternoon.  She's been attending by telephone all these months.    

Here are some photos we thought you'd enjoy. 

Hunter and Jana at Hunter's Bear award

Richard and I haul our drinking water from an artesian well

Filling our bottles.  Hauling water makes drinking it a pleasure.

We hike in about a mile with our sled about every week or ten days.

Sitka can really snow.  We shoveled from 8 am to 1 pm, with only a break for our District Meeting on the phone.

After the District Meeting we came out to find we had to shovel again. 

Our breakfast table: cereal, planner, scriptures, Richard's daily book, Stand a Little Taller, note books and bifocals.

Happy New Year to each of you! 

Love,
Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nana

December 26, 2011 THANK YOU!

Christmas week was slower in teaching than other weeks but we used our down-time by delivering invitations to everyone we knew, inviting them to church on Christmas Sunday.  Four investigators came. 

On Christmas Eve we met with half a dozen families at the Womack’s home and shared cheese and chocolate fondue.  Afterwards we read Christmas stories from Matthew, Luke and 3 Nephi. 

On Christmas day, three people we’re teaching, Tambi, Rod and Grant, talked in Sacrament meeting.  Tambi’s husband, Scott, who was recently ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, blessed the Sacrament for the first time. 

More about Patty and Rod:  They’re rather poor after spending their money to go to the temple last month for endowments and family sealing.  So Rod, who is a fireman, offered Patty a scalp massage.  While Rod went after the towel and shampoo Patty thought it would be nice to light some tea-candles on the TV, which she did.  When Rod returned he threw the towel on the TV, was working on Patty’s scalp and said “My goodness it's bright in here.” He turned and the entire TV was up in flames.  He grabbed the burning towel and ran outside and threw it in the yard, on top of his tarp, and went back in to extinguish the rest, which was easily done.  Then he noticed the brightness coming from the yard, looked out and saw the flames on his tarp.  He ran out and turned on the garden hose, which was frozen, so he started shoveling snow on top of the fire.  Meanwhile Patty was airing out the house wondering why Rod was out shoveling snow in the middle of a crisis.  So Patty purchased Rod some battery-operated tea-lights and a new tarp for Christmas.  Although half melted, their TV still works, which they consider a blessing from paying tithing. 

Thank you, Meridian Fourth Ward, for all your wonderful messages and gifts.  We decorated our apartment with your cards and notes.  Steve and Rosie’s origami is taped to the kitchen cabinet.  Thank you Rafe and Jackson and Emily (former Primary class members) for your cards, as well as the rest of the Primary.  Our home ward spoils missionaries! 

We love and miss our family, but being missionaries at Christmas is the best thing we could be doing.  It gives us an opportunity to give a Christmas gift to our Savior.  What we feel He wants for Christmas is all of Heavenly Father’s children to come back.  We hope our offering is an acceptable Christmas gift to Him. 

Love to each of you.

Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nana

December 16, 2011

The Pendant Miracle:  The Calverts are active in the community (Sister Calvert is Rotary president and on the Coast-Guard committee) and have recently activated.  The church grounds were unlit and dark when Sister Calvert was carrying her huge jello salad to the Christmas party and she took a hard fall.  She reassured everyone she was all right and her jello salad was shoveled up and thrown over a snow-covered embankment and the broken bowl and larger salad parts were thrown in the dumpster.  Later she discovered that her necklace was missing, which was announced on Sunday morning.  We asked her what it looked like.  It was an irreplaceable hand-carved Russian pendant that was an anniversary present from her husband, very thin and about two inches high. We went out between meetings and, miracle of miracles, Richard spotted her thin silver chain in the lawn, about ten feet from her fall, but we couldn’t find the pendant.  We decided that the pendant might be over the snow bank or in the trash with her broken bowl, so we and the Calverts went home to change after meetings so we could return and dumpster-dive, which we did to no avail.  However, after carful search and a prayer from us, Brother Calvert found the pendant in the snow bank just above the drop-off.  It was underneath the snow and the Calverts tearfully and thankfully testify that finding it could only have been an answer to prayer.  We love for new members to have these experiences.  We call Calverts new members, but they were both baptized at age eight.  However, Scott has never held the Priesthood and Tambi stopped attending before age 16.  Giving up coffee was their only real challenge and, thanks to Koreen Robinson for introducing us to Choffy, giving up coffee is not a problem for any of our investigators.  The Calverts will be going through the temple as soon as Scott receives the Melchizedek priesthood, slated for May 2012 stake conference.      

Scott emerging from the hillside WITH the pendant.  Hero!

Tambi and Scott

We’ve been teaching Christmas stories and have personally learned much.  We hope we can follow Mary’s (the Savior’s mother) example and keep all these precious things in our hearts (see Luke 1:39-53).

Saturday morning we volunteered at the library and had forty children and their parents attend our reading of Frosty-the-Snowman, magic show activity (starring potential-investigator, Dr. Fribush), and craft (we helped them make snowmen out of paper plates).  Parents have stopped us on the streets with positive comments about our library program.  Community service helps our missionary work in many ways.  

Dr. Fribush doing magic tricks.

We have two new investigators!  They’re golden.  We’re trying our best to measure up to the trust they so willingly give us.

We reached our goal of teaching 20 lessons in Sitka last week.  People were happy to see us when we went to their homes with candy-sack invitations to the Saturday-night Ward Christmas party.  The adults in the ward expressed a desire to have a party without kids, so we volunteered to take all the kids, age two and up.  We matched up old to young and did indoor relay races.  The kids raced to build snowmen from rolls toilet paper and then we had an indoor snowball fight out of balled-up paper towels.  It was delightful pandemonium.  The ward wrapped gifts for each child and after they were thoroughly worn out we put on a Rudolf cartoon for the last fifteen minutes.  They were so exhausted they just raised their hands for popcorn refills.  

We’re celebrating Christmas Eve with the Womack family and Christmas day with the Ady and Swanberg families.  How blessed we are to know such great people. 

We love you each and all, and wish you a wonderful Christmas. 

Much love,

Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nan 

Moon rising over Sitka at 3 p.m.  Before 5 p.m. it's as dark as midnight.

December 5, 2011

We flew to Anchorage the week of November 14^th and we saw the Ady family sealed in the Anchorage Temple. What a spiritual feast to have President Perkins, the Temple President, perform the sealing. It was a highlight.

When we returned we worked hard to recoup our teach-ees and found that most hadn’t known we were gone, which was good.  The following week we went to zone conference in Juneau and were gone three days.  In between traveling we had a fabulous Thanksgiving celebration and attended The Nutcracker, which is a community-centered event for the 7^th year running.  Whoever isn’t on stage is in the audience cheering their friends and family members.  We were in the audience, of course, but recognized many cast members from our Ward family and community friends.  It was a Sitka-style version of the story.  The performers looked professional in their costumes and precision performances, but included in the story were dances of fishermen, Ice Maidens, the Snow Queen, little Herrings, and a Klondike Can-Can.  It was a wow.  The family we live with performed in several dances. 

This week we're slammed.  We have a week-full of people to see and invite to the Saturday Christmas party.  Saturday morning we have a presentation of Frosty the Snowman to the Library children, complete with magic show by Richard's medical doctor, Ron Fribush, and then Saturday evening we entertain the ward children during the Christmas party while the adults have their gift exchange.  We've given them a time limit of 45 minutes.  We're going to try to get Dr. Fribush to repeat his magic act for the ward children.  

It’s way too much fun in Sitka. 

Love,

Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny

Record snowfalls in November

Cute snow shovelers

Thanksgiving with Tambi and Scott at 1 p.m.  They'll be heading for the temple soon!

Tambi shows her FIRST ribboned crust

Thanksgiving dinner at 6 with the Swanberg's and Ady's

Pie with Jackie and Thomas at 8!  Oh my!

Beautiful Sitka

Artist, Nancy Behnken, designed my Sister Kathy's Christmas card. Kathy was a champion blanket jumper.

Snow, snow, snow.

At Zone conference in Juneau we caroled with the other missionaries in the mall.  Fun!

Our friend, Heather Kroll from California who now lives in Juneau.  Awesome!

The Nutcracker.  Our landlady is in the yellow skirt on the left. 

Costumes were outstanding.  Dancing would rival any large city.

Can you think of anything kids could do that would give them more confidence?

Linda's primary class:  Daniel, Briggs and Aubrey.