March Journal

March 9, 2011

Dear family and friends,

How time flies when you’re having fun! It seems as if we’re really busy here, but we don’t have a lot to show for it! It is still cold here, but we’re getting used to it, and it is moderating a bit. I guess that’s because we’re moving into spring! It only got down to -15F this morning, was -8 when we went to Wal-mart after our Seminary class, and now it’s all the way up to -1 on our car thermometer. That sounds pretty cold until you realize that we have been having overnight lows between -25 and -35F and daily highs of -10 to -5. I caught bronchitis last week, so spent a few days trying to recover, and am feeling better. I think it was a combination of the cold, plus the dust from the insulation on our apartment, dust from the sheet-rock, and the fact that almost everybody we have visited this past two weeks has been either getting sick, or getting over it. I got pretty chilled at the rendezvous last weekend, and that didn’t help either. It was -15 with a wind-chill of -30F, and my stupid new coat I bought in Rexburg that was supposed to be so warm had a defective zipper, so whenever I zipped it up, it promptly un-zipped from the other end. Anyway, the next day we went to a local store and I bought a new warm coat. It is really nice and MUCH warmer, especially since the zipper works. I would send my other coat back for warranty, but it costs a lot to mail stuff from here to there. Much more than China to the US. I sent two books back, one to Rexburg and one to Burley. It cost $65, and the books cost less than that originally. We decided that we won’t send anything anywhere unless we go to Alaska and mail it from there. Even a mailed letter to the US is $1.25. Thank the Lord for e-mail!

      Our apartment work is progressing. We have worked several days on it last week and this week, and we are hoping that we can move sometime next week. We finished the sheet-rock, finished the taping and sanding. Got the ceilings textured, and got the whole thing painted inside. Monday we went over and installed the flooring, the owner had a guy come over and lay the carpet in the bedroom, for which I was really grateful. About all we have left now is to get the electrician to come back and finish the wiring. To meet code, it has to be done by a licensed electrician, which is fine with me. We also have to wait for another guy to come install the kitchen cabinets so we can finish the plumbing. The cabinets are take-outs from somewhere else, so they don’t fit, but the guy is a friend of the owners and is a cabinet maker. He is also a less-active member, so we went over and helped him for awhile the other night, and had a good visit. We are hoping we can visit him more, and see if we can get them back to church. He is really a fun, sharp guy, and would really be a help to the branch if we could bring them back. He is also trying to blend two different kinds of countertop, and doesn’t like that very much. Things are terribly expensive up here! They want over $1000 just for a cheap laminate countertop like you can buy there for $69 at Home Depot. Problem is, they don’t have any Home Depots here. The closest one is in Vancouver, B.C., which is three days drive South of here. It will be nice when it’s done though. We’ve gotten along great here in the apartment we are in, and have had some great visits with the people we are staying with. He is a less-active member, his wife is not a member. They are really good people, and we had them out to church last week. This week they were at a hockey tournament that the son was playing in down in Watson Lake, about 6 hours away, and it was over the weekend, so they couldn’t come to church. When they got back, we had a great visit, and Bro. Ng (pronounced “ing”) said he really enjoyed going to church, and missed it the week they were gone. He wants to come again this Sunday. He works night shift as a security officer at Yukon College, but gets off at 8:00 a.m., so can make church at 10. He’s kind of tired, but said he could do it, then go home and sleep afterward to be ready for work again. His wife, Beth, enjoyed attending, and we are going to start teaching her this weekend. We are pretty excited. For that reason, we will feel bad about moving to the other side of town, but we’ll be sure to come back and visit often!

The reason we are building the apartment and not just renting somewhere else is because there aren’t any apartments to rent. The housing crunch hasn’t hit here, so prices are still high, and there is still a major shortage of available housing. One of the members of our branch presidency just bought another duplex to use just as a rental. It has a three-bedroom apartment, and a two-bedroom apartment. The two-bedroom rents for $1200/mo and the three-bedroom one goes for $1500 to $1600/mo. Both are plus utilities. Heating here costs a lot because they either have to use heating oil (diesel) at $6.00/gallon, or propane at $5/gallon. A few people use wood because there is plenty here, but it is so expensive to get it out that most just use propane. They don’t have natural gas here, so that isn’t an option. If you heat with electricity, it usually runs $1200-$1500/mo during the winter. The houses are built really well here, with double-wall, double insulation construction, and either triple-glazed or double-double glazed windows, but when it says -20 to -50 below for months at a time, it still takes a lot to heat a home. I really like the mild climate of Rexburg!

While Ng’s were in Watson Lake, we got to “babysit” their dog. It is a little short-haired lap-dog of some kind that has really security issues. We haven’t been here long enough for it to really accept us, so while they were gone Sushi whined and moaned and yapped the whole time. It didn’t bother us as much during the day (most of it, we were gone), but she also kept us up all night! Next day was the same. That night ReNee slept on the sofa in the living room with a pillow beside the couch, and every time Sushi started to cry, she’d reach over and pat her and tell her it was all right. Well, the dog and I got a little more sleep, but ReNee didn’t! I think we were as happy as the dog was when the Ng’s got home about 10:30 Sunday night! At least Sushi will come down and visit us when we’re home now, and doesn’t whine nearly as much while Beth is in school and Tim is at work. Beth is finishing her degree at the college in elder-care, and will graduate in April. She’s pretty excited. She goes to school a week, then works at the Senior center a week on her practicum.

There are several of the families here in the branch that do day-care. They have two levels. One is called “home care” where they can have up to three children without major training or a license. Of course they can’t charge as much either. Then they have “day care” where they can have up to 15 kids in their home, but they have to have schooling and licenses to do that. They can make pretty good money doing that. They get $500/mo per kid, so if you take 10 kids, it turns into pretty good money. And the money is provided by the government, so you don’t have to worry about whether you are going to get paid or not. A lot of the wives are making as much or more than the husbands are. Of course, things cost more up here, too.

Some of our kids have written and complained at how fast gas is rising there. It costs $4.00/gallon now! That’s outrageous! When we got here, gas was $1.20/liter, which translates to $4.80/gallon. Of course, prices have been jumping here, too. When it jumps 5c, it’s per liter, which is really .20/gallon. It’s going up here every day or two, too. We’re up to $1.30/liter now. I try not to let my car get too low, especially in this cold weather, so when we gas up it usually only costs $73-75 to fill it. That’s not quite as hard to take as the $90 to $100 if it gets really low. But it sure beats walking in this weather! We live in a suburb called Granger that is about 5 miles from downtown, and 8 mi from the church, so we are putting quite a lot of miles on our car. We drive all over visiting, so we are gassing up about once or twice every week. I can see why they say this is a more expensive mission. Between that and the $1100/mo rent, it doesn’t leave lots. Groceries cost more here, milk is about $5/gallon, eggs $2.50, bananas .88/lb, bread $2.50 for the cheap stuff unless you buy day-old good stuff, which is about the same price. Tomatoes and oranges are about $2.50/lb, lettuce 3.49/head. Hamburgers at A & W or McDonalds are $8.99 for a big mac meal, soft drinks are 2.49 for a regular size, 3.49 for a large. You have to remember that Canadian and US dollars are equal now, and if you use US dollars they charge you 10% exchange fee. We have converted mostly to Canadian. A large Quizno’s sandwich runs 11.99, with an extra $2.99 if you want chips and a small drink. We don’t eat out nearly as much as we did in Rexburg! I liked the .6:1 ratio we enjoyed in China where our money went much farther!

The lady that teaches Seminary here has been gone for a week, so she asked me if I’d teach for her. It has been really fun. We meet at the church at 7:00 a.m., and they are studying the Doctrine and Covenants. We just taught sections 106-107 this week on the priesthood, and will teaching 108-109 tomorrow, which is the dedication of the Kirtland temple. We have had four students, but the girl left today to go to visit in Utah, so we’ll be down to three. One of the boys grandmother died yesterday, so he’ll be gone the rest of the week, so now two. And they usually get there about 7:20-7:30, have to be done by 8:00 for school, so it doesn’t leave a lot of time for gospel study! Of course we have to be there on time just in case someone comes on time, so we are getting a lot of good gospel study time in while we are waiting. It has given us a good chance to get to know the high school age kids, though. They are really fun, and since they are the only LDS kids in the high school, they are strong and know the gospel well. The two that came today are both too young to drive, so they have to wait till Bro. or Sis. Ramirez can bring them. They live fairly close together, and Chris’s mom isn’t very active.

Last weekend was the Sourdough Rendezvous, kind of a Mt. Man affair. It was bitter cold, but didn’t seem to make a lot of difference in attendance. It lasted three days, and we went to part of it on Friday like I mentioned above. It warmed up to -15 with a 25 mph wind, which took the wind-chill down to between -30 to -50. They had dog pulls, log-throwing competition, ice sculptures, junior and senior king and queen competitions, lots of stuff. One of the members who just joined the church from our branch participated in the “flour-packing” competition where they pile bags of flour on your back and see how far you can carry how much. He had 607 pounds on his back and carried it about 20’ when the wind caught him and blew him down. He took third place. The winners carried 730 lbs, one for 35’, the other for 20’ to take first and second. The people carrying aren’t all that big, but they’re sure tough! Russell, our member, is only about 5’8”, and probably weights about 200 lbs. He is full-blooded First Nation (Indian), and doesn’t look that strong, but he really is. He grew up in this area, and is a total outdoor survivalist. It’s not uncommon for him to spend most of a winter in the bush with nothing but his rifle and a knife. He builds and lives in brush and snow shelters, and lives off the caribou and moose that he shoots. Not much problem with spoilage at -50, and he loves the solitude. His wife also likes the outdoor, but with 5 kids she doesn’t like the outdoor camping quite as much. They are really a fun family, he and his wife got baptized the week we came to Whitehorse, the next week he was ordained a Priest, and the next weekend he baptized his 11-year old daughter. He has two more kids that are taking the lessons, we are hoping they get baptized pretty soon.

We are teaching a family named Brackenberry, a man and his common-law wife. We are only on the second discussion, will cover the gospel this Saturday when we meet with them. Will challenge them to get married, give up tobacco, coffee, and alcohol and see what comes of it. They have been to church with us three times, and seem quite receptive when we teach them. We have mentioned the word of wisdom when teaching them, and he says it will be a challenge, but he thinks they can do it. It’s been interesting. We are also teaching a young family, the Walls, that the husband is Mennonite and the wife is Catholic. Other missionaries have worked with them quite a bit, but they aren’t progressing very quickly. They like to take things very methodically, we’re hoping to strike a chord of interest somewhere. We had quite a long discussion last week on why Nephi is teaching in past tense about the baptism of the Savior in chapter 31 when the birth of the Savior is still 500 years in the future. It was an interesting discussion explaining why Nephi was quoting Isaiah, who was speaking of the latter days, and that Nephi was speaking to US, not to the people of his time, and he knew that by our standards, the birth of the Savior was 2000 years in the past. Next week we’re going to talk them about eternal marriage.

March 14, 2011

Oh, My! I got interrupted and here it is a week later! How time flies when you’re having fun! We have been working on the apartment, should be able to move into it this week. The electricians came and put in the rest of the outlets, switches, electric heaters, etc. on Thursday, the cabinet brother came and put in the rest of the bottom cabinets on Saturday. He even came to church yesterday! We were pretty excited. We still need the upper cabinets installed, but that won’t take very long. I need to also go over and finish putting in the mop boards now that the cabinets and heaters are in. It’s going to be really hard to leave the place we’ve been staying, as we’ve gotten to be really good friends with the Ngs. They come down quite often, and we’ve had great discussions about the church. Last evening they came down and brought a friend of theirs from the Philippines (that’s where Sis. Ng is from), and we talked to him about the church. He is Seventh-Day Adventist, but we told him we’d get him a Book of Mormon in Tagalog, and he said he’d read it.

Today is our prep day, but I’m helping Bro. Ng remodel his kitchen, so probably won’t get much prep done. He wanted to “open up some space,” so we cut the middle of the wall out between his kitchen and living room. He wants to put cabinets along where it was, and make an island/breakfast nook there. We had to move some wires, a heat duct, a vent pipe, and sheet rock part of the walls, but we’ve only been on it a couple of days, should finish it up in the next day or two. Takes a little while for the mud to dry, and we have to put three coats on. Then he is going to paint it. He doesn’t have the cabinets for it yet, will probably wait a little while before he buys them, they’re really expensive here.

We had some good lessons this week, taught the Brackenberrys again, challenged them to get married and quit smoking and drinking, we’ll see how receptive they are when we visit them this week. He’s fine with getting married, but his wife says she isn’t ready. They’ve only been together since 1982. He said he wants to get married for eternity, and I told him they had to get married for time before they can get baptized, then have to be active in the church for at least a year before they can go to the temple. Was a good discussion, but she wasn’t too receptive to it. We’ll see how that goes. We had another discussion with the Walls, they believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but think that God doesn’t care which church you go to, and that you don’t need the priesthood to act in His name if you are sincere. I think we will let them simmer for awhile. They said they’d finish reading the Book of Mormon, and we left them our number. The elders baptized two young boys on Saturday that came from India. We went with them to teach them on Wednesday night, and they are really sharp. One is 9, the other 11. Their mom wants to join too, but has some things to work out with her past marriage before she can. She attended the baptism and came to church yesterday.

We finally got a cell phone! We never could get one through the mission like we were supposed to, so we borrowed a phone from the people we’re going to be renting from, and will just pay them the bill when it comes each month. Only problem is if we call outside of Canada it is an “international call” so it costs a dollar a minute to talk. At least now we can call the members and other missionaries here in town. We’re going to try to get a land phone when we move, that should make it a lot easier to call family and friends in the US.

We love your letters and appreciate so much the news from home. We got pretty homesick when we heard about Summer’s blessing and the fun everybody had getting together for it. Thanks SO much for the awesome pictures Shaun! It’s fun to hear that Mike got his other shop, maybe it will help you pick up a little extra cash in all of your spare time! How is helicopter school going? Do you still have four students to teach? Are things picking up now spring is on its way? I’d imagine it’s a little hard to fly when it’s pouring rain. We’re pretty excited today! This is the first day since we’ve been here where it hasn’t gotten below zero at night! It’s +1 this morning! (Of course the wind chill is still -9, but who cares!) It’s supposed to get up to 7 today and snow, but hey! Spring is on it’s way! It is even supposed to get up to +25 by the middle of this week! They say the snow could all be gone by the end of April or the first of May. It will really be strange not to have to wear long-johns every day!

Ed, I’m so glad you’re having so much fun working on cars! I know you just can’t stand not to. I’d suggest getting your alignment done at Call’s Sinclair. The guy that does them went through our program. His name is Darren (I think he’s still the one that does them), and he does them the way they are supposed to be done. You might also check to see if Troy has his alignment class going. They could put the struts in and align it in just a day or two. It’s toward the end of the semester, so they should be pretty quick by now. Would take care of both the spring and alignment problem.
It’s awesome that your TSA students took first place in two categories! Those experiences are the ones that don’t show up on budgets or kudos, but the students will remember for the rest of their lives. You are awesome!

Better go. This is already way beyond reasonable. Hope you are all doing well. We are really enjoying our experience!

Love, Mom & Dad (Elder & Sis. Powell)

Happy Valentines Day!

Feb. 14, 2011 - Happy Valentines Day!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it’s finally update time. We had a great trip to Washington to catch our ferry. We stopped in Boise and visited with Shaun and Kelli, got to hold our newest grandbaby, a beautiful little girl named Summer Dawn. She truly is a beauty! Then we went to Caldwell, had a great Mexican dinner that Tyler and Amber had fixed, visited with them and Shaun and Kelli. Truly a wonderful time with our families. We stayed at Ambers that night, then drove on up to Seattle on Thursday. We visited Ruben and Jamie Ortega, our great friends and neighbors who are Shaun’s age and close friends. We went to dinner with them, spent the night, then got up early to go to the temple in Bellview. We got lost, so didn’t end up finding the temple, (I don’t know why they don’t list them in any phone book!) finally ran low on time, so drove on up to Bellingham to catch the ferry. Our trip up on the ferry was good. It is a huge ferry, on the ground-level they have a big parking deck that they haul busses, semi’s, motor-homes, and cars and trucks. They can haul about 125 cars/pickups/etc, even had outfits hauling trailers with cars on the trailers. The next deck up is a cabin deck where we had our sleeping berth. Small, with a set of bunks, a sink and a toilet/shower. We didn’t spend a lot of time there except to sleep. They had two nice lounges you could sit to read, plus you could walk around the decks. They did have a little theater where they showed the same movies several times. Mostly kids movies. Despicable Me, How to Train your Dragon, etc. They did show one the second night that was kind of interesting, called “Social Network”, about the kid that invented “Facebook” and became the youngest billionaire so far. It was pretty good, and I’d never heard about it before. They have a cafeteria on board, but food was relatively expensive, so we shared some meals. We read three books apiece, but they turned all the lights off at 9:00 so couldn’t read after that. A lot of the younger people just slept in the chairs or on the deck. They also have a place for people to pitch tents on the top deck, but only one did because it was so cold and stormy. It rained and snowed most of the way up, except the last morning it was beautifully clear and sunny, though still cold. We stopped at several of the larger islands to pick up and drop off passengers and cars along the way, but weren’t there long enough to get off and look around. We also had to detour to Kake, AK, because one of the other ferries had a generator problem, so we had to take on their passengers and cars. Made us about three or four hours late getting into Juneau, then Skagway. It also made it so we drove over the pass into Whitehorse at night instead of during the day, but the weather was clear and the roads were plowed, so it wasn’t bad. It is a beautiful mountain drive, much like driving over Jackson Pass from Rexburg. We got to Whitehorse about 8:30 p.m., then we had our apartment experience. When we got here, we found that the apartment we were supposed to move into isn’t finished yet. They finished the electrical wiring Thursday, still need to rough in the plumbing, then we can start dry-walling. I offered to help, as most of the labor is voluntary, and we can get in sooner that way. We’ll probably start on that this week after they do the plumbing. Then we will have to paint, lay carpet, put in baseboard heaters, etc. Fortunately one of the less-active members in the branch has an apartment that his mother had been living in until she recently broke her leg, and is now in an assisted living center. Unfortunately, all of her stuff is still in the apartment, plus quite a bit of their stuff, so we are living in a doubly-furnished apartment living out of our suitcases, because there isn’t anywhere to put anything. But it sure beats paying for a motel because we don’t have a place to live! We really hope to be here only another week or two until our place is finished. There really isn’t any available housing here, and they certainly don’t have any building crunch. Houses are still extremely expensive, and it’s a sellers market.

Whitehorse is a beautiful town, situated right on the Yukon River, although it is pretty cold. Today’s high will be -11F, tonight supposed to be about-25 or so. It is supposed to be at least this cold all week, then may warm up to near zero next week as another snowstorm moves in. We have about 18” of snow on the level, but they keep the streets plowed really good. We wear our winter clothes everywhere, plug our car in at night, and just try not to be out in the cold too much. It’s still dang cold, though. I’m sure we’ll get used to it. People here say it should start warming up some next month, and the snow should all be gone by May. The town is about 25,000 people, the largest town in the Yukon Territory. Juneau is about 35,000, Anchorage by far the largest at 350,000. The entire population of Alaska is 750,000, and it definitely has a frontier feel. The people are pretty laid back, and are very friendly. I think we’ll really like it here.

We were here Tuesday, were able to begin unpacking some of our stuff, then Wednesday morning we drove back to Skagway (135 miles on mountain roads) to catch a plane to Juneau for our first zone conference, and to meet the mission president. On the way out we were in a little 6-seater Cessna. The weather was terrible, we were pushing snow with the front bumper of our car over White pass between Whitehorse and Skagway, the wind was blowing, we could barely see the road, and our prayers were answered when the snowplow came up from the other way. We drove on the wrong side of the road( the plowed side) the rest of the way to Skagway, and didn’t pass another car. At least the pass wasn’t closed! It was snowing and raining in Skagway. We were delayed at the airport (about the size of Rexburg’s airport) for nearly 6 hours waiting for the visibility to clear enough to fly, then we were buffeted by strong winds and low ceiling the whole way. It was like flying on a roller-coaster suspended from a bungee. We were flying almost at water level about 750 to 1000 feet. I made it OK until we got delayed at the Juneau airport, then lost it. We made it back from our conference in Juneau Saturday afternoon at about 1:30 p.m. The trip back from Juneau was much better than the trip out. On the way back, we got to fly on a 12 seater, and even though it was windy and raining with a low ceiling, and we flew at 700 feet, the flight was much smoother.

The conference in Juneau was great, we got to spend two days with all of the missionaries from the Juneau zone, which covers pretty much the Southwest part of the mission. There were 20 missionaries, including one set of sisters and one senior couple. (us) Our mission president, President Dance conducted it, and his wife, Sis. Dance, also taught us. The zone leaders and assistants to the president also helped. It is amazing to see the strength of these young elders! They are definitely our leaders of the future! We also got to meet our Stake President from Juneau, President Hammond, and Pres. Toupo, the second counselor in the mission presidency. It is really difficult logistics to get us all together, as some have to fly, some have to ride the ferry for two days, almost nobody can drive because Juneau is not accessible by car. Most of the conference was dedicated to studying our Preach My Gospel books, and practicing teaching. We really need it. We still are having a hard time trying to figure out what we are supposed to be doing, but everybody seems really glad to have us here. That in itself means a lot. We returned to Whitehorse about 2:00 pm on Saturday.

Saturday night we had the opportunity to attend a baptismal service for a family the missionaries have been teaching for awhile. It is a couple with six children, the youngest 4, the oldest 18. The parents were baptized, but none of the kids were. The 18 year old daughter attended the baptism, plus three of the younger kids. The 4-year old ran around the church and had a great time, but those attending the baptism were understanding and didn’t make a big deal out of it. It was a nice service, and one of the member families served kind of a pot-luck dinner afterward. It was nice to get to know people a little bit.

We had a good day at church yesterday. The chapel is a large, log building. It is very nice. The Andrea’s were confirmed, then we were asked to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies. A member of the Stake Presidency from Juneau then spoke to us. There were about 50 people at church, quite a few of them children. There were also about five investigators there, but most of them left after sacrament meeting and the members were so friendly they wanted to talk, so we didn’t get to do much with the investigators except shake their hands. We have quite a few members here, but most of them are less-active, so I’d imagine a good part of our work will be with them.

We met with a member of the high council yesterday and went over the branch list, will meet with the Branch President and Relief Society president soon to see what we can do to help them. I think they want us to start a temple preparation class. We were invited to a family’s house for dinner after church. They are a great member family from Venezuela, and they served food from there. It was really good! Chicken soup and rice, plus hash browns and fried bananas. We didn’t stay too long, then went over to our appointment with the high counselor. Last night we came home and just crashed. We were pretty tired from our hectic week of travel and meetings! The elders here are awesome, very dedicated and motivated. They have very good support from the members. Elder Thompson has been here for almost six months, so he is being transferred next week because his visa expires. We will be sad to see him go. Elder Blackhurst is good, though, and will be good to break in whoever comes in. He has been here about six weeks, so knows the people and knows his way around. They drive a Chevy extended cab 4x4 pickup about like Uncle Bob’s new one. I’m sure glad we have our all-wheel drive van, though the pickup would have been good, too. I like the mileage of the van better, though, as gas is over $5.00/gallon here. When we went to Skagway we gassed up before coming back, and it was only $3.88/gallon, and we thought it was a real bargain! Who’da thunk? Groceries are about 50% higher than in Rexburg, too. I can see why this is considered a higher-cost assignment. I’m afraid to find out what our apartment rent will be when we get moved in. The elders are in a smaller basement apartment, and their rent is $900/month.

Today is our P-day, so we’re trying to get some of our stuff unpacked and buy some groceries and figure out what we’re going to be doing. We are going to meet with another family tonight for dinner, then will try to see if they have some friends we could teach. We are also washing clothes, vacuuming, cleaning, unpacking, etc. We need to run to town and get some oil and filter for the car. I can’t believe how fast the miles accumulate. I changed it just before we left Rexburg! I met a member at church yesterday that has a shop with a grease pit. He said I could come use it to change my oil out of the weather. Needless to say, we became friends REALLY FAST! His wife is Relief Society president, and we are going to their house for dinner on Thursday. We are really looking forward to getting to know them better.

We are happy to be here. It will definitely be a different experience than China, but we feel it is where we are supposed to be at this time in our life. We love your letters and e-mails. We don’t officially have internet yet, but the Ng’s (pronounced “ing”) that we are staying with have wireless and have graciously given us their password so we can log on to contact our loved ones. Bless them! They don’t have unlimited internet here, so it’s quite expensive, especially if you send large files. I’m trying to keep it smaller, and really compress the pictures. I hope you can get them OK.

Well, I guess I’d better go. ReNee is ready to go shopping! Not quite like China, though! I don’t think ANYTHING is cheap here! They do have a Wal-Mart here about the size of the one in Rexburg, and they have a Canadian Tire store that’s kind of like a Checker Auto Parts. They have a McDonalds and an A&W, but hamburger meals are $9.50 for the cheap ones, so I don’t think we’ll be having breakfast there very often. They don’t do refills here, so I guess we’re going to get weaned off Diet Pepsi whether we like it or not! Just pause a moment in compassion for ReNee when you go fill your mug! J

Love, Dondavid and ReNee

Hurray! We made it!

Dearest Family,
We finally made it to Whitehorse! Our apartment won't be ready to move into for a couple of weeks or so, so we are temporarily living in the basement apartment of one of the less-active members here. They are super nice people, and we had a great time getting aquainted and settling in last night. Our ferry was detoured 3 hours because another one on the line broke down, so we had to go to Kake and pick up their passengers and cars. Anyway, we got to Skagway at 4:30 instead of 1:30, drove on up to Whitehorse. The weather was beautiful (but a little chilly at -10), the roads were great. Reminded me a lot of driving over Jackson pass in the winter.
We are getting ready to go to town with the missionaries to get groceries and found out where things are. Just wanted to let you know we made it! We will let you know more as we find out more. Sure love you and miss you already!

Love, Dad and Mom

MTC Experience

Attached is my first journal entry for our new mission experience. I was going to post it on our Ma & Pa Pals blog, but can't figure out how to get into it again. We'll give it a shot next week, I guess.

Our mission address in Whitehorse will be:

Elder and Sister Powell
98 Alsek Rd.
Whitehorse YT, Canada
y18 3K6

Our mission home address is:

Elder and Sister Powell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
12350 Industry Way Ste 218
Anchorage, AK 99515
Ph: 907-345-7579

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Elder Dondavid and Sister ReNee Powell

MTC Experience

January 30, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, the adventure begins! We left Rexburg at 5:30 a.m. so we could report to the Missionary Training Center on Monday morning, Jan. 24^th, at 10:00 a.m. After dropping our bags off at our dorm room, we went to the initial orientation meeting, picked up our packets at the bookstore, had lunch, then a welcome meeting with the MTC presidency and all of the other Senior Missionaries. There are 31 couples new this week, assignments all over the world and ranging from Member and Leadership Support (Prostelyting) (That’s us!), Church Educational Systems, Office and Family History, Military Relations, Church Service, Humanitarian, etc. We found one other couple going to our mission in Alaska to coordinate seminary and institute programs. They will be stationed in Juneau, and we’ll be riding on the same ferry with them most of the way. We also met a couple who had recently completed a mission in Alaska, and it was fun to find out a little bit about what we might be in for. They were stationed along the Aleutian Chain, opposite where we will start out in Whitehorse. But we don’t know where we will be assigned as the work progresses. Many of the couples are going foreign speaking, so will be there another week, but we were only there through Friday. We then reviewed all of our medical information, talked about safety concerns, and the general mechanics of missionary service.

We were then organized into districts that we will be studying and working with while we are here. There are four couples in each district, and ours included (R to L) the Neibuhrs that worked in the China Teacher’s Program with us while we were there, and we went on several tours with them (Small world!), the Hintons on their way to England, the Harrops on their way to Panama, and Sis. Rodriguez, our afternoon teacher. She is from Texas, and is really a ball of enthusiasm!

In the evening we were given free time to get settled in our apartments and prepare for our first presentations to be given tomorrow morning!

Tuesday morning we got up and went to breakfast at the MTC cafeteria. It is an amazing place where they feed all the missionaries in a very short time. It is a study in efficiency. You swipe your card as you go in, and you can have your choice of whatever you want to eat! They have three main serving areas that have individual entrees plus fruits, salads, desserts, etc. One night we had Alaskan Salmon with all the trimmings, another night Chicken Fried Steak with veggies, mashed potatoes & gravy. Or if you prefer, you can go to another area and they will make you wraps with whatever you want in them, plus salads, desserts, ice cream, etc. You can pile on as much as you want of anything you desire. Some of the Elders really did! We were VERY careful to eat wisely, as we didn’t want to come home any bigger than when we went! (It worked.)

Anyway, after eating, we went to meetings again, had another large assembly where we talked about the Message of the Restoration, then divided into our districts where we learned about preparing to teach. We did a lot of role-playing, and practiced trying to use concepts from the lessons in Preach My Gospel. I had no idea what an amazing book that is! It’s pretty intimidating to think about teaching people you don’t even know. I struggled a little with the role-playing, as I don’t like group interaction very much. However, I got used to it, and it turned out pretty well after all. We were assigned to prepare a 45 minute lesson to present to an “investigator” in a role-play situation. They have people who are usually recent converts to the church who come and pretend to be investigators and actually have you teach the lesson to them again. We had a girl from Texas who had joined the church in March and had come up to school in Provo. She had such a sweet spirit about her, and was so excited about her membership in the church. She was very patient with us! The experience was wonderful, as we could see what we need to prepare as we go forth to teach.

That evening after dinner we went to a general fireside for the missionaries at the MTC. We listened to a great talk by Elder David Evans of the 1^st Quorum of the Seventy. He talked about personal experiences and interactions his family has had with President Monson’s family. It was really good, and spiritual. I guess they lived in the same ward as President Monson for many years, and told stories of family experiences as they watched him progress from Bishop, Stake President, to General Authority, and finally Prophet and President of the church. It was really good, quite informal, and not the generally published kind of information. Another amazing thing about the fireside was sitting in an auditorium with thousands of other missionaries including young elders, sisters, and senior missionaries. You could definitely feel the sprit there, and the strength of the priesthood! The MTC choir was amazing.

Wednesday morning we prepared a lesson on the Book of Mormon, discussed the experiences we had the previous day, then taught each other how to use the Book of Mormon and invite people to make commitments to read and study it, and to pray and prepare for baptism. It becomes a little less intimidating as you learn to become more comfortable with the scriptures and the ways to present them. One of the things I have found most interesting is how much it strengthens our own testimonies as we teach others of the beauties of the Gospel, and realize how much we take for granted as we go about our daily lives! Maybe we needed this experience for that reason, if for none other.

Thursday we had a Bro. & Sis. Burns come in and talk about different ways of finding people to teach, and how we can share the gospel with them. They together talked about the logistics of keeping track of who are in your district, how to approach them, how to keep records of their progress, their responses, and how to map the areas you are working in to save time and avoid duplication. It is definitely something we need to develop and use! They also talked about working with new members, less active members, investigators, and EETNL. (Everyone else that needs love). Then we broke into districts again and prepared lessons to give to “investigators” on the plan of salvation. This afternoon we went to the Teaching Resource Center where we were assigned to “homes” (rooms) with “investigators” in them. We knocked on the doors, introduced ourselves, then taught a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It was again a great experience. When we finished, we visited with the brother (Bro. Haun) we had taught (about our age) and he had recently returned from serving in Alaska, also. He was excited for us, and told us that his experience there was wonderful, and they were sorry it was over. We would have liked to have visited more, but the next group of missionaries was coming in to teach, so we had to leave. After dinner we returned to our apartment to study our lessons and prepare for the coming day.

Friday morning we had an EXCELLENT group presentation by a couple (Bro. & Sis. Hart) who had served several missions, They also talked about how to work more effectively with the local leaders of the church. The most important time in a new members or returning members life in the church is the first few months after they are baptized (or return). They are making such a dramatic change in their lives, it is often difficult for them. They have lost many friends who don’t understand why they have made such a change, plus they are trying to assimilate into an entirely new culture with its own terminology, language, way of life. Often they don’t understand why things are done the way they are, plus they are still learning new aspects that they didn’t fully understand when they were baptized. They need a good support group! Our job is to keep in constant touch with them, make sure they have their questions answered, explain new things to them, teach them all of the missionary discussions again. But most important, help them make friends and feel needed. Then we broke into our small districts again and we talked about working with less-active members, new members, and investigators in our areas.

This afternoon we had another group presentation by a Bro. & Sis. Rawlins who talked about working with local leaders, and how to coordinate our efforts with the ward, stake and mission leaders. We will only be there for a limited time, but if we work well with the local leaders, new people will have a strong support base even after we are gone. Wise counsel!

Part of our district class was presented by a Sis. Faust, who has severed three missions with another single sister. She talked about how to work with people in difficult areas. She told about being sent to an area with her companion that was considered the “armpit” of her mission. No one would talk to them, the people would avoid them even to the point of walking on the other side of the street when they saw them coming. So the sisters prayed as to how to get the people to accept them. She talked about the importance of doing whatever the Spirit directs. They were prompted to join Weight Watchers! So they did. It opened many doors to them, because the people began to see them as regular people. They ended up spending their entire mission there, and had resounding success in an area that had been considered “tracted out.” She also talked about sharing the work with the local members and how to get them involved. She also gave us an awesome motto:

“Obedience is the price. Work is the commitment. Faith is the Power. Spirit is the Key. Christ is the reason.”

We then worked together to consider how to solve some “case study” problems that were commonly encountered in missionary work, and talked about how to handle them. It was very good. It will be really interesting to see if we can incorporate them into our actual missionary experiences.

Finally, we met together again as a group to discuss our experience in the MTC. It was fun to hear the other couple’s impressions. We weren’t the only people who struggled some of the time! And many of them had to try to learn a foreign language along the way! Thank the Lord for small favors! It’s amazing how you can make friends with so many people in such a short time, and sad to realize that we’ll probably never be together again as a group in this life.

At 5:00 p.m. we turned in our keys, had one final MTC meal (pizza and salad), then checked out, gassed the car up, and headed home. Got back to Rexburg at about 10:30. Warren and Rachel were still up, and we got to share some of our experiences with them before we finally went to bed. The queen size bed at the MTC was pretty good, but there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed with your favorite pillow. Definitely going to miss that! But Warren and Rachel will enjoy them!

Saturday we got up and Russ came over to finish putting the engine in Zach’s pickup. ReNee had good LONG visits on the phone with Teresa and Amber. Ed came over a little later, and Russ, Ed, ReNee and I picked up Julie and we went to McDonalds for breakfast, then ReNee and Julie went to Idaho Falls shopping and we boys finished up the engine in the pickup. Had to put the steering gear back in, fix a water leak, exhaust leak, brake line leak, bleed the brakes, etc. Then we took it on a trailer down to Rigby because it wasn’t licensed or insured, dropped it off, used a borrowed scanner to diagnose an electrical problem in Russ’ van (It wouldn’t start, wasn’t getting power to the computer), fixed it, then took the trailer on to Idaho Falls to pick up the car Zach has been driving while his pickup is down. It had overheated and won’t start, so we trailered it back home and unloaded it in the back yard where I got the pickup stuck in the snow that’s about 18’’ deep back there. We unhooked the empty trailer, got the pickup turned around, then Ed and Russ muscled the trailer around, we hooked it back up to the pickup and pulled it up where it’s supposed to be parked. About then Scott Peterson dropped by with his wife and brother to visit for a few minutes, so Ed and Russ went home. I visited with Scott for awhile, he used to be one of my students at BYU-I, and I have kept pretty close to him. He is storing a ’57 Ford Ranch Wagon in my field for awhile, and we both have a long interest in restoring and driving vintage cars. He showed his brother my collection of ’55 Ford sedans, my ’55 convertible, my three ‘59 Edsels, my three ‘57-’58 Chevy pickups, the ’66 Mustang, and all the other junk I have around. It was fun to talk about them. He wanted to know if I wanted to buy a ’61 Ford shortbox stepside pickup, but I told him I’d have to wait for any more projects until after our mission. I don’t think I’ll miss working on cars for awhile, but I’m sure going to miss working with my boys!

Today is Sunday, we’re looking forward to visiting our ward one last time before we leave on Wednesday to drive to Bellingham, WA, to catch the ferry to Alaska. The ferry doesn’t sail until Friday, Feb 4^th, so we will get to be home for a few days to distill our stuff and decide what we really want to take with us. We are driving our ’07 Toyota Sienna van because it’s all-wheel drive, and they have a lot of snow in Whitehorse. Yet it should give us room to transport people we work with as we need to. We land in Skagway, then will unload off the ferry and drive up to Whitehorse. We have found after talking to our mission president that we will be spending the first few months of our mission in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory of Canada. After that they’ll probably transfer us to somewhere in Alaska, as our Canadian visas are only good for 6 months. Guess we’ll see as time goes on! The mission president (Pres. Dance) said we could talk to the branch president to find out what he wants us to do, and we can meet Pres. and Sis. Dance the next time they come through. It’s about 700 miles from Anchorage. We are moving into an apartment that hasn’t had missionaries in it before, and is mostly unfurnished. We don’t know what will be there, but suspect it won’t be much. We’re taking a lot of kitchen setup stuff, plus office and living stuff. And of course enough clothes to last us for hopefully the whole 23 months. My part is easy—two suits, lots of white shirts, and two pair of shoes. Plus a few P-day clothes and a few tools. Plus some cold-weather clothes because it’s Alaska! Of course ReNee has a wider choice of what to wear, so that takes a little more room and time. Plus her cold-weather gear and her P-day stuff. And several pair of shoes. And her sewing machine, wheat mixer, etc. etc. Maybe we should take the pickup after all? J There is already a set of Elders in Whitehorse, and they may send in another pair after we get there. Whitehorse and the surrounding area include about 30,000 people.

Well, I’d better be getting ready for church. Fortunately, we are on the 1-4 schedule this year, at least for today. I have no idea what our schedule will be in Whitehorse. Guess we’ll know by this time next week! We’re pretty excited, though a little apprehensive, about this new adventure, but we’re really looking forward to this missionary experience. We hope that we can learn to become at least a little more profitable servants to our wonderful Heavenly Father who has blessed our family so richly. After church we’re going to have Ed and Russ’s families over for banana splits so we can see all our close grandkids once more before we leave. We’re really looking forward to it.

May God bless you all!

Elder and Sister Powell.

FW: Un-farewell

Just in case you would like to know, we've been asked to speak in Church on Jan. 16th prior to our leaving on Jan. 24th to enter the mission home. They don't have farewells as such anymore, and we will be speaking on an assigned topic. There will also be another speaker who is leaving for the MTC on Jan. 26th, and she will be serving in Soporo, Japan. If you should like to come, our Sacrament starts at 1:00 p.m. that day. If you'd like to come early and visit, we'd love it! We'll have a luncheon afterwards here at the house. If you don't want to make it, that's fine, too. It's a crummy time of year and the weather so far hasn't been great!
Love, Dad. (Dondavid)

Mission Call

We are excited to be called to serve in the Alaska Anchorage mission. We will be reporting the end of January. We will be serving a Membership and Leadership Report (MLS) mission. We are excited. We will post pictures and more information as it becomes available.