New Nature Worry

Hi Everyone again,
I forgot to tell you about a new land development here that has some of the sisters alarmed.  We developed a big split across the road about 8" wide now that goes up the side of the mountain.  They filled it up, but it opened again.  They were calling it a ground slump.  It is wherte a mass of land slips and shifts from the top, then upswells at the bottom.  This has gone on for a couple of weeks now.  There are also sink holes appearing in the area.  One house was evacuated.  It is affecting about a 4 mile area.  The latest is that they found an old man-hold and it is full of water and evidentally filling from somewhere and washing down the mountain.  Guess we'll see what happens there.  On the other side of town from us.
Thats all.
Mom

Thoughts on Life

Dear Family,

I haven’t written for a long time and I apologize. Life is so “the same.” There is little to write. Dad shovels snow, fixes tires, chops wood (I carry wood). I watch him work or visit with the sisters. I am getting really good at visiting. I think that fills a need. When people live alone, they get lonely, they don’t get to reminisce, or talk, or just have a good sounding board. So I think they enjoy the visits, and I certainly do. Sometimes one just needs to talk. Men don’t seem to have this need so much. Weird. I do genealogy, prepare lessons for Relief Society, bake cookies for people and try not to eat them before I get them given away. Pretty much I keep house, wash, and cook (which I still dislike by the way). Everyone loves dad. They will really miss him when he leaves. A couple of the sisters call and love to visit with him when he answers the phone. The little branch here definitely needs our “youth?” It is a blessing to be able to work hard, and the sisters have really needed some help this winter which is worse than normal.

We had a fun relief society enrichment meeting last week. We did Yoga for seniors, soaked our feet in minty Epson salts, exfoliated them, creamed them, and it felt lovely; then we had a lecture on personal hygiene, and lunch. We only had six of us there but we had a good time. It reminded me of having a pretty spell at home. One lady wants me to do yoga for the senior citizen center. I hope the lady calls me; it would be fun.

Last week we were literally snowed in for a couple of days. When it snows here, once it begins, it just keeps on steadily all day. We got around 4 feet of new snow. It can lay down 1-2 inches of snow an hour. This week we shoveled everyone out just before we got wind and rain. Wind has blown all day at about 60 mph. One hundred foot trees are swaying 5 feet to either side of their trunks giving a 10 foot swipe. I keep checking to see if any have broken off. This has to be the only place where you check for fallen trees or bear scat when you go outside. It rains like it snows—buckets of it all day. The nice thing is it is warmer, and it has melted 2-3 feet of snow, so now I can see out my window a little better. When the temperature drops, all this water will freeze, and it will be icy and slick. We will have to wear our snow tires (things that attach to your shoes with studs in them to keep you from falling down). We probably have another couple of months of winter. People say when the snow melts, it is a real mess for awhile. I will probably have to break down and get some water boots. Many people here wear those green boots we call pipe-moving boots. They have some that are slightly better looking at Wal-Mart that are black rubber with colored polka-dots or flowers for the ladies. (of course, you have to get to a Wal-mart in Juneau or Whitehorse ) At first, I thought these boots must be for kids, but guess not. I am afraid my long skirts will be rather water soaked, but I don’t want to shorten them for one wet spring. My Merrill boots are ok but are heavy, and I probably don’t want them to be so warm.

We finally saw some moose. Here again animals are larger than the same species at home. (can’t find my moose pictures—I think I didn’t have my camera) These were along the road, but I understand sometimes they come right into town. The snow has been so deep that it is causing them to move down.

Now I am feeling inclined to talk about the birds here. The Tlingit Native Americans in this area have totems of the Eagle, Raven, fish, and Bears primarily. In Whitehorse, they had the Raven, and the Wolf. Anyway, the ravens are almost as fun to watch as the eagles. They are huge and love to play in the wind gusts. They also come in flocks to peck around the parking lot by the store. I caught some of them at the service station. They hardly move when you drive through them.

Eagles are always wonderful. It makes me feel so awesome to catch them on camera. There is something special about actually taking the picture yourself. I love this eagle who is warming his wings in the sun. It is almost like the eagles pose for their pictures. They also roost in the tops on the trees and never in the pine trees. They like to be in the open areas. Maybe it is because they need the space for their wings to land. The eagles always seem to roost in the same spots and the same trees. Many times there will be 4 or more eagles in the same tree. I have a few pictures of eagles in flight, but they are hard to catch.

We recently found four swans that seem to have forgotten to migrate. They are simply beautiful. There are also huge seagulls, a different variety than the ones we have. Buzzards are cool. Here again the nature here is just so beautiful I can hardly get enough of it.

Here in Haines, there is only one main road, so people say, “ Just go out the road.” I thought that was so dumb until I realized that there is literally only one main road. If you go “out “the road, it isn’t hard to find most places. They will say, “He lives at 35 mile.” And you know it is just out the road. When it snows though it is a bit difficult to find the mile markers, let alone the little lane openings that have been plowed. Oh they have a new term here “the burm.” The burm is where piles of snow are in front of your drive way or along the side of the road that the snow plow has plowed up. We hate the burm because we always have to shovel it away for everyone to get out of their drives.

Well I think that is about all I have to say for now. We sure love to hear from you and know how your life is going. Hope you have a good day tomorrow.

Love you tons, Mom

Troy & Emma’s Having a New Baby

    How exciting!  You'll love this little girl just as much!  Have you told the others yet?  You really ought to tell Warren and Rachel.  It is so much more fun to share your experiences, especially Rachel with her first one.  Remember how exciting everything was with Emma when she was expecting Taya?  (I know, that was a LONG time ago!)  Anyway, tell them and be excited with them!  Have you thought of a name for her yet?

    It sounds like you're doing a  lot of things with your new house.  It was fun to get Olivia's message about getting to have snow and her own bed, plus Levi's blog about getting to burn brush and trees and have a wiener roast!  That's the kinds of things the kids will love and remember more than anything.  I remember the bonfires we had out in the back field when we burned the limbs and brush and junk we had collected, then had a wiener roast when it had burned down.

     How are you coming on the remodeling?  What are you doing about the plumbing in your new bathroom?  Keep us informed with pictures, I wish we were there to be  helping with it.  It would be a lot more fun (and a lot warmer) than shoveling snow every day!  We shoveled most of the day today, and we're supposed to get eight more inches tonight.  At least maybe the snow you are getting will help lessen the drought you guys are having.  Or is it farther west than you guys?  We don't get much news here.  We ordered a TV a couple of months ago and it still hasn't gotten here yet.  Mail is slow in Alaska.

     Tell everybody hello for us.  My computer crashed and we have it patched back together a little at a time.  Hope to get my Skype back up and running soon.  Maybe we can Skype you guys for Christmas?

     We sure love you.  Dad.

Wonderful Talk Mom

Jeffery R. Holland—Nov 5,2011

--Missionary Fireside in Anchorage

The Plight of the Apostles after Christ died.

· How much could they really know? They had been in the church three years or less. They probably felt so inadequate, so humble, and did not fully comprehend what was required of them. And then He was gone. He has repeatedly tried to tell them, I am going to leave. Possibly they didn’t quite believe it. Now he was gone.

· One thing the twelve did—they went to the temple

Why do we go to the temple? To get fortified, so Peter and John went. On the way, there was a man sitting on the steps of the temple about 40 years of age who had been crippled since birth. He was a beggar. The temple is a good place to find people who care where he could get alms. He was carried there every day to beg. (Acts 3:1-13) (Elder Holland uses literary license here) He probably asks for alms and many move past him into the temple. When he saw Peter and John were about to go into the temple he asks for alms. They stopped. Peter said, “Look on us.” The beggar looked expecting to receive something. Probably a dinare-n “widow’s mite or if he was lucky he might get two. And then wow, what did he get. “… Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee; In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:6) And he took his hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. “And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping and praising God.” (Acts 3:8) Elder Holland said notice those verbs—the man deserved those verbs, he had never walked and now was leaping and praising God. A crowd gathers; they have known this man for years, and they marvel in amazement at what they see. This is probably an understatement. Peter is offended and asks why they are amazed. Why weren’t you amazed before? Then Peter rails on the crowd. Why do you look on us as if we had done this thing.

“the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus; who ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

“But denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

“And killed the Prince of life, who God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, who ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. (Acts 3: 13-16).

Peter goes on to say they are offended because they think the apostles have done this. We are fishermen except when we are given the authority that Christ gave us. He tells them to repent and be baptized and prophesied the coming of a great prophet whom we know to be Joseph Smith. Christ will return, repent until He comes again, until the time of restoration of all things.

Five thousand people were baptized. These apostles were untrained, unlearned Galileans—unprepared, illiterate, common, religious ordinary leaders. Much like today

Now the Pharisees and scribes have a problem. The problem didn’t go away when they crucified Christ. It is still here. They are doing miracles, and now the worst scenario is here. They are being done by fishermen, ignorant and illiterate.

Symbolic Problem: A man is healed, praising God all over the area, and the Pharisees can say nothing. They can’t do anything about this active visual aid who is leaping around. Their problem didn’t go away when they killed Jesus.

Another example also exists. In John 9, we read of Jesus healing a man who has been blind since birth. He spit and made clay and anointed his eyes. The man’s sight was restored and Christ tells him to tell no man. The man was so excited to have his sight he tells everyone. The Pharisees go to his parents and tell them to constrain their son. The parents fear the Jews and tell the Pharisees their son is of age, and they should talk to him. So the Pharisees do, and the man says,” Whereas, I was blind, now I see.” They can’t deny it.

There are three applications we can find here:

1. You can’t argue with the evidence. You can walk away; maybe you don’t care; you can say it’s not for me; but the evidence continues to speak throughout eternity-- this is true.

· You don’t have to do anything about it; you can be through with it.

· This is God’s truth, and you have heard it! We are all a little blind, a little deaf, a little lame, a little damaged, but light changes your life. It can be yours if you want it to be

· By their fruits ye shall know them. The church grows despite persecution. The church is the first into any disaster area; faster than any other organization. It doesn’t ask if you are members or not. We’re there. Can’t argue with the evidence.

2. When you come to the truth, you get a lot more than you bargained for.

· Think of what the man felt in the temple. He thought he would get a coin—What did he get? In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he walked. No coin but strong ankles.

· How about Joseph Smith.? He wanted an answer to a simple question. What did he get? The responsibility to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

· You have not yet imagined what the Lord promised to those who love him. No idea what this gospel will mean to you. You haven’t seen anything yet. Both here and in eternity.

3. You can’t kill this.

· James the brother of John was the first apostle martyred for the church.

· Paul was beheaded. He was drawn and quartered and parts of his bodies were put on the four corners of Rome, and his head placed on a stake in the center of Rome as a warning to other Christians.

· Peter was crucified upside down so as not to appear to be the equal of the Savior.

· The Lord said to Alma in a pivotal point in the Book of Mormon. “I can do my own work. This is for you.”

· This is the last time. These are the Latter Days. It is a culminating time.

· Joseph Smith was killed, but it didn’t end. It is history. Some believe if you are violent enough, you can destroy righteousness. Violence can’t destroy righteousness.

· Now I (Elder Holland) am a witness. I don’t just witness. I am a witness. You can walk away or walk in. But you have been told. He bore his testimony of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This was a profoundly moving talk. You felt the apostolic mantle on Elder Holland. He spoke with power and authority. He did not mince words. There was urgency in his speaking. There were new converts, and investigators in the audience. I pray they were as moved as I was. To have been told and not “walk in” would be a tragedy.