July in Alaska—Cold and Bright

This will be our only July in Alaska and it has been fun to be here as missionaries and also to share the experience with family. Lisa, Dan, Ethan and Amber have been visiting the past week and we went to Seward for a fishing trip (Dan andEthan) and wildlife/glacier tour (Lisa, Amber and us). It was a cold rainy day. We bundled up and went for a 6 hr cruise. Dan and Ethan fished for 12 hrs. It was a bit choppy but we all survived. We saw orca and humpback whales, sea lions, mountain goats, puffins and glaciers with ice chunks in the water. Ethan caught the biggest fish. Now Lisa needs some fish recipes.

Kate and Jed went to Seward to celebrate the Fourth. Seward has the biggest Fourth celebration in Alaska with a lot of tourists during July. Even though cruise ships are not coming, the town still is fully occupied. They usually have a population of about 2500 but for the Fourth there are around 50,000 people. Kate got a picture of fireworks at 12:01 a.m.on July 4. Still really bright outside!

It was so fun to have Lisa’s family here. They stayed with us and it reminded me of our trips to Lake Powell for vacations. Our apartment is a bit small but we were able to all fit. I enjoyed all the visiting time and playing Mexican Train and Five Crowns. Jed and Kate and kids came too. I love being with family and feel so grateful that we have been able to serve a mission here and still have some family time. Lisa’s family was able to come to church with us. Coincidentally we were the speakers that week! They also helped us move some senior sister missionaries into their apartment. It was so nice to share some of our mission experience with them. They were very accommodating to our schedule.

Here are some of the pictures from that week. We enjoyed eating out (Moose’s Tooth pizza and desserts were the best); staying at a beautiful cabin like resort (Dan is great at grilling); Lisa saw a moose in the river while eating breakfast; hike to Exit Glacier (the river at the base and hearing the rumble of rolling boulders was amazing).

Lisa loves trains so they rode to Seward on the train and we drove their car down. Then we rode the train back to Anchorage and they drove back. I loved the scenery we saw from the train. (There are ice caps, like icebergs, in the picture of the river below the glacier). It took 4 hrs on the train instead of two by car but was worth the view. On their own the rode a helicopter to walk on a glacier. Lisa has great video of a river on the glacier. They also went to Whittier in Prince William Sound, the zoo and Conservation Center with Kate and kids. The time went by so fast!

Sorry I missed writing 2 weeks ago. I’ll try catch up a little bit from the week before. It was a really busy week moving missionaries in Palmer and Wasilla. It will be transfers this week with 30 new missionaries coming (the most we have had). We are trying to get larger apartments to accommodate 4 missionaries instead of two so it gives more flexibility for transfers.

It was interesting shopping for things in the furniture store in Anchorage. They have Cabelas-like displays except it is for furniture instead of sporting goods. While walking on the second floor it felt like we were having an earthquake. I asked the salesman and he said the floor is built on a roller platform to prevent damage during an earthquake. So the floor has a rolling, earthquake-simulator effect. It felt almost like a real earthquake and you could see mirrors and paintings swaying when you walked by.

LeAnn came the week June 19-25 to babysit for Kate while they had friends from Oregon come to visit. She was so nice to make dinner for us one night, spent a couple of nights with us and trimmed my hair. I love how she cuts my hair! We were able to get some really good fish and chips one night with her and Kate. She was so nice to help Kate (a great aunt too).

Kate and Jed had quite an adventure with their friends. They went fishing in Seward and came home with about 100 lbs of halibut, salmon and rockfish. Kate and Jackie rode the train home with the fish and it was interesting to see the looks they got when these 2 petite women picked up all that fish. They also went rafting on a river in Hope. It was mostly class 4-5 rapids. They had to pass a swimming test of getting out of a whirlpool by swimming or grabbing hold of a rescue rope. It was a very wild ride. This isn’t the river they were on but the rivers now a running very high like in this picture.

They also went on a plane ride around Denali. It is hard to get a good view of Denali in the summer because there are usually clouds. The pilot said in the summer you only see a full clear view of Denali about 25% of the time and in the winter you see it around 40% of the time. They did get to see some amazing views by plane though. I will need to get some pictures from her.

Spiritual thought: Our mission experience has been so great. We have seen miracles in being able to accomplish the things we need to do for the missionaries. Although we have missed being around family we are so grateful for the opportunities we have had to see some of our family and enjoy sharing Alaska with them. Although we are not there to help, we feel the Lord is watching over our family and their needs. We are so grateful that Joe and Collynn are able to buy Wes's home in the neighborhood with Jordyn and Brandon. He has been so kind to our family. Thank you so much Wes! We are also grateful that Kevin and Lindsey were able to buy the home they have been renting in Mapleton. The housing market is so crazy right now that buying any house seems like a miracle, but we are especially grateful they have been able to get homes that are so good for their families. I have heard "you can't give the Lord a crumb without getting a loaf in return". I do feel we are being blessed in unusual and unexpected ways. I hope that even in challenging times you are able to see the blessings in your lives. If not right now, I know they will come.

This week is transfers so will be really busy but we look forward to David and all of his family and LeAnn and all of her family who will be coming this Saturday and stay through July 18. More adventures ahead! Also we look forward to celebrating Millie's birthday on July 11 with her here in Alaska.

Have a great week. One last picture is of the boretide in Turnagain Arm. It is the only place in the US that has a boretide (interesting to read about online). It was really surprising to see on our way to Seward. If you look carefully you can see someone on a boogie board in the bottom edge of the tide. We saw 5 swimmers along the way waiting for the tide to surf on it. That water is so cold!!