Summer and Dan Speak in Church

The highlight this week was hearing Dan (Lisa) and Summer Hall speak in Sacrament meeting via YouTube. Summer will start online MTC on Wednesday, May 18. Three weeks later she will fly to Chicago to start her mission there. We were happy to hear Summer talk about her excitement to serve a mission. Although serving a mission in the Midwest was the last place she was hoping to go (tornadoes). She talked about how you serve is more important than where you serve. I liked the scripture she shared in D&C 80:3. She also talked about planting seeds, like Christ's love, will affect your companions and members as well as those you contact to meet and teach. She gave a quote from President Hinckley about missionary work that I really liked. (I think President Hinckley related a lot to missionaries from his mission experience)

"I cannot promise you fun. I cannot promise you ease and comfort. I cannot promise you freedom from discouragement, from fear, from downright misery at times. But I can promise you that you will grow as you have never grown in a similar period during your entire lives. I can promise you a happiness that will be unique and wonderful and lasting. I can promise you that you will reevaluate your lives, that you will establish new priorities, that you will live closer to the Lord, that prayer will become a real and wonderful experience, that you will walk with faith in the outcome of the good things you do."

Even as a senior missionary couple we have found those promises to be true. Another quote (old but true) from President Hinckley to mission presidents: "Each of you will have a wonderful experience and work very hard, perhaps harder than you have ever worked in your lives, but you will gain deeper satisfaction as you do so". Mission presidents really do work harder than anyone else in the mission, but all missionaries have joy and deep satisfaction in working for a great common cause. At the end of the day we have seen prayers answered and some days miracles. Sometimes it seems the miracle is to be able to do hard work!

A small example of feeling prompted by the Spirit in missionary work happened this past week. We had been working cleaning the chapel on our P-day with 3 other members and were dressed in work clothes and heading home to clean up. We had stopped at Costco for a few things on the way and I thought about taking off my name tag until I looked better. I wondered if it did any good to wear it in the store looking the way I did. As I walked down the aisle I heard a woman say "Missionaries!" (with a lot of enthusiasm). It made me so glad that I had worn my tag anyway. It didn't matter to her how we looked or that we were in work clothes. She was just happy to see missionaries. It made me happy too.

Sometimes it is hard to work every day and not see the difference you may or may not be making. In the Come Follow Me Follow Up podcast with Hank Smith and John Bytheway for the past week (D&C 49-50) they talked about the benefits of being "boringly consistent". It is consistent effort that makes a difference not necessarily the eye-catching effort. There are not many boring days on a mission though. It may not always be exciting but it is not necessarily boring because there is always work to do. We enjoyed hearing some of Dan's mission experiences with contacting people at the end of a long day at the end of a long week. It was the extra consistent effort when you want to give up that often makes a difference.

Our activities this past week included driving to Fairbanks to deliver some beds, furniture and household items. It was gray and rainy most of the time. On the way up we looked at a possible rental for some Elders serving in Willow, Alaska. They currently live in Wasilla, about 30 miles away and drive about 3200 miles/month to serve in the Willow area. There was a big forest fire 2 years ago and there are not many places to rent there. We found this house that is a little off the road. You can't miss it though. We think they must have gotten their paint on sale. Bright purple, orange and lime green. It is off in the woods but there are neighbors not too far away. If moose live in herds I think a herd of moose live there (a lot of moose droppings close to the house). Pretty views and very woodsy!

It is starting to look like tourist season. We saw a lot more RV's, trailers, motorcycles and cars on the road. I imagine summer travel will take longer from now on. One joke we heard was "If it's tourist season, why don't they let us shoot them?" (Like deer season) Actually most people are quite excited to have tourists return. We have been getting things booked for when family will come to visit this summer. Kate said there are no car rentals available and that people have been renting U-Haul trucks to use for travel. Gas prices are starting to go up too. We paid $4.39 for gas by Denali, while in Wasilla it was $3.04.

The scenery is starting to get very green and beautiful. I understand when the flowers bloom it is really beautiful. I love the drive to Fairbanks to see the scenery. Even on a cloudy day, when we couldn't see Denali, there was a lot to enjoy. The color of green breaking through, the rivers, the rain clouds, and the layers of mountains were all so beautiful. I loved the smell of fresh rain too. It does rain a lot in Alaska so it is good to find beauty even on cloudy days!

We went to dinner with the senior military relations couple serving in Fairbanks. They are Elder and Sister Sessions and are from Provo too. They came to Alaska about a week after we did and will leave about the same time we do. She does mending for the missionaries and cuts their hair in addition to serving on the military base.

Not much else that is new. We were traveling a lot last week and will be traveling this week to Glen Allen to help the Elders in Valdez switch out their studded winter tires for summer tires. We had to pick up tires in Wasilla last week and will drive to Glen Allen on Tuesday. Jed has fond memories of getting a chicken sandwich at a burger place in Glen Allen. It cost $22. Jed asked why it cost so much. The employee told him because it had avocado. I guess it balances out with the free burger and poutine from Canada.

These last pictures are from going to Alaska Wild Berry Store in Anchorage. Annie said it was her most favorite store because it had toys, clothes, candy and ice cream (all souvenirs). Cute bear carvings all around too. We had fun playing at the playground later in the day on our P-day. I think they like Alaska. I love the look on their faces with the bear hug!