Pioneer Day

July 24, 2012, Pioneer Day.

Alaska Anchorage Mission

So I am sorry this is so long and without pictures but I hope it gives a flavor of our mission experiences.

I would like to write about the great blessings we enjoy and the gratitude I feel for them.  First, I have to write a bit about our mission.  Haines is rich in spiritual nourishment. The very quality of the mountains, the power of nature, the beauties one sees every day is breath-taking.  I think the Lord sent us here just for me.   One experiences the healing that comes with living close to nature, having solitude, and time.  The pace of life is slower here; people are less hurried; less concerned with acquiring the niceties of life such as clothing, cars, furniture, homes, jewelry, make-up, sport and recreation equipment etc.  Oh, they like these things and on some level, desire them, but they have not become necessities.  There is not the feeling of competitiveness, of keeping up appearances, or trying to be a little better than someone else.  One is ok just the way they are--dress warm, be kind to one another, and share.

The push to put children into sports, dance, gymnastics, singing groups at young ages is negligible.  Some of these activities are available, mostly sports, others are not—interesting how not having something available removes its desirability.

             The library appears to be the center of the community.  There is the standard summer reading program that most communities have.  In the winter, the library provides after school activities in native culture, crafts, sculpting, wood carving, basketry, as well as tutoring, reading, movies, and lectures for adults, and book reviews. There is a table at all times with discount books for sale, old magazines are in a basket in the foyer that are free.  These recirculate around the community and often return to the library.   The magazines are old but well cared for and well read.  I am impressed with the book exchange in the community.  You can go almost anywhere, the Laundromat, restaurants, gas stations  and find books that you can just take home and read and put into circulation somewhere when you finish.  Because of the long winters, everyone seems to read.  At Christmas time, the library hosts the town 16 foot Christmas tree and there is an evening for “The Lighting of the Library.”  It is decorated with winter scenes, and Christmas lights.  It is too snowy and icy to decorate town, so the library becomes the center.  Well I digress. 

            Many in the community have low paying jobs and struggle to make ends meet.  The result is a lot of sharing of one another’s burdens temporally and, I assume, emotionally.  If there is a fire or some other hardship, these people share whatever they have.  Often what is given might be things the individuals could use themselves, but because a greater need is perceived, they give freely of what they have.  I have come to understand the Lord’s command to give to the poor and needy, to give freely from the heart.  Perhaps one needs to experience destitution in order to recognize needs of others and have compassion. I stand ashamed as I realize how selfish I am at times.  This reaching out and caring for one another has touched my heart and makes me want to be more caring and aware. 

             Let me talk about living conditions here.  For an example, there is a young couple with two children.  They have a nice apartment, but the husband works for minimum wage.  It is a struggle to make it from one pay day to the next.  They manage the rent, and utilities. If anything extra comes up, they really struggle.  I mean they literally do not have grocery money, the frig is empty—they feed the children and do without when necessary.  This is a constant battle.  There have been times in my life when I felt we struggled, but I always had some sort of food in my cupboard and frig. 

             Gas is $4.87 a gallon and while there is really no where to drive here, it is still nice to be able to get out a bit.  The store is still four or more blocks away, and when it is cold that is difficult.  They have one truck for the husband to get to work.  Gas is a luxury.  There is no going out to lunch with the girls every week.  In the winter, the wife is house-bound.  Full time jobs are scarce and once you get to Alaska, it is hard to get enough money to move back to the lower forty-eight.  This particular man has job training in diesel mechanics, but the one mechanic in town won’t hire anyone without experience.  Rather a dead-end prospect for him. The few that are well-off own most of the business in town and so continue to do well.  Haines used to be very prosperous, but the lumber mills closed down, the fish cannery closed down, the saw mill is gone, and the town hasn’t encouraged any great amount of tourism; because, they like it the way it is and don’t want to change.  Consequently, young people grow up and leave because there are no jobs.  In many ways, Haines is a dying community. The majority of the population is old.  The whole school K-12 is about 150.  Contributing to the problem is Haines location on a peninsula.  The closest town of any size is Whitehorse, Canada, five hours away, and it can’t be reached half the time in the winter because of the snow.  Juneau is four hours away by Ferry.  Anchorage is fourteen hours away.  So the isolation contributes to the economic problems. 

             Here is what is called a dead-end economy—stuff comes in but never goes out. This happens because people shop online or outside the community and then there is nowhere for goods to go, so they are recycled in garage sales. Garage sales are marvelous places for children’s clothes, tools, and household items. This, of course, also helps those struggling financially.  Another example of dead-endedness is car disposal.  A huge barge came this spring and hauled off 1,000 plus cars.  There hadn’t been a barge for this purpose for ten years—cars were just driven into the woods and left to be grown over.  This really helped clean up the area. 

             The other side of this living condition is it develops great inner resources, resilience, and strong fortitude.  People don’t complain much here.  There are no whiners.  They just pick themselves up and carry on.  That is the way life is.  “Just deal with it,” is the attitude.  They have what I call a gnarly personality, surviving the elements as well as whatever life hands out to them. It reminds me of the poem that says something to the effect of, “Lord forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes the world is mine, etc”— you know the one I mean.

             Our branch here consists of 18-20 members.  Average attendance is 12-14.  There are four couples including us. 6 widows in their 70’s and 80’s, 3 part-member families and four less active sisters, and one child in Primary. In case you didn’t notice, we have a total of 4 priesthood holders.   Some of our widows have lived in Haines all their lives.  All have had very hard lives.  One lived on the far side of the inlet and had to come to school and town when the tide was low, so they could wade across the water.  They needed to return home before the tide came back in.  She talks of catching fish in the small streams with her hands.  They had no running water, and of course an outhouse.  When she talks of her youth, it sounds fun.  She had rich experiences though she left home at 15 because of family conflicts and abuse.  She finished 8^th grade and doesn’t consider herself very smart; however, she has a lot of life smarts.  She knows all about “fiddle heads” for salads, (these are early ferns that look like seashells before they unfurl), she makes seaweed pickles.  She now enjoys a small home in town, but  in the winter turns her heat down to save on the heating bill and lays under quilts to keep warm most of the day and then stays up at night to tend the fire so her pipes don’t freeze.  She crochets baby outfits for every baby born in town and gives them to the clinic to send home with the mom’s.  Mother’s here have to go to Juneau two weeks before their baby is due and stay in a motel or with friends because they don’t deliver babies in Haines.  How hard to not have your husband with you.  When you go into labor I guess you call and hope your spouse makes it in time. Anyway, this sister crochets dresses for Barbie dolls, does bead work of Eagles and other revered animals.  She has three organs that were discarded as people moved and taught herself to play.  She is very generous and gives me things continually.  She is one of the ladies who comes to play games with us.  She is a hard worker, thrifty and can laugh at life.

             Another very refined, educated lady was in a German concentration camp as a young woman.  They did experimental surgery on her and she was the hostage to get her father to cooperate with the Nazi’s.  She was not Jewish.  Because of this she was unable to have children of her own.  She became a surgical nurse and is now 85 and hopes to get a kidney transplant, or she plans to do her own kidney-dialysis in her home.  She never talks about how she feels or her struggles as a youth. Sometimes she says, “I’m not doing too well today, so I don’t think I can stay to all of church.”  You never see her without a smile on her face and yet I know she struggles with fiber-myalga (don’t know how to spell that), and arthritis along with her kidney problems. She is a convert to the church of seven years and came to Haines because she like the area.

             Then there is the sweet sister we took to the temple, who is our super prepared lady.  At any time, I think she has camping equipment for four people in the back of her camouflage van.  She has diabetes, arthritis, a house that is sitting on an artesian well of some sort that periodically floods her kitchen.  She is so independent that it is hard to do anything for her, but she would give you the shirt off her back.  She is lonely and marches to a different drummer than most of the rest of us, but is a tender spirit.  Because of divorce, she has lost track of her children and does not know where her children are, and has no relatives here.  She has also lost two husbands to death and recently lost her companion-dog, Victor which was very hard for her.

             Most of these sisters are converts to the church.  They come to church every week to support one another.  They understand the principle of stewardship, and being their brother’s keeper. They are grateful for their chapel that they have had for only about 20 years, and take turns cleaning every week. It is touching to see them all come out with pruning shears to clean the church yard together.  When you try to do some of the heavier work to help them, they act like they are more able than I am.  I think since I wear a skirt most of the time they think I can’t do anything even if I am in pants. Anyway, I think they enjoy the work, and tell me they are fine.  Then they can hardly move the next day, but never complain.  I am afraid I complain at times, but am working on that.   What a positive attitude they have, what commitment and dedication.

              Have I learned anything since being here?  Yes.  I’ve learned that my problems in life seem small by comparison to others.   I am blessed beyond measure both temporally and spiritually.  The testimonies of the saints here burn brightly and their individual strength is felt.   I am humbled to be in their presence.  I am thankful for all the Lord has blessed me with. Thankful that I have always had food, a  safe home,  my education, a family whom I love and cherish and that loves me in return and who is there when I need them; for a husband who understands me and is a good man.        And above all, I am thankful for the gospel which has been a guide to me all my life.  I love the gospel with all my heart. I would be nothing without the gospel.  I know our Heavenly Father loves us individually and knows our names.  I know he answers our prayers and wants us to ask him for what we need and want. I know when I draw near unto my Heavenly Father, He draws near unto me and gives me answers and direction in my life.  Sometimes I don’t ask, because I know he will answer and I am not ready to hear the answer, but I should.  I think we slow our own progress by depending on ourselves too much.  Today we desperately need His guidance and direction.  I know when I read the Book of Mormon, it strengthens me and helps me be closer to my Father in Heaven. I love the counsel in the Book of Mormon and the scripture that says, “..lean not unto thy own understanding;  in all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy paths.”   I am thankful for the priesthood in my home.  Having not had that when I grew up, I value it every day and am glad the Lord has entrusted that power to us.  I could not have raised my family without priesthood blessings to sustain me.  Because of the troubled times we live in, I am especially thankful for a living prophet, President Monson,  and know he gives us warnings and directions on how to live our lives. The gospel gives me a sense of peace and safety—it teaches me how to live with joy and happiness.  I bear testimony that God lives and because he live we to will live eternally.  God bless you all and remember how much we love and think about you. 

Love, Mom.

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

Journal Entry

Dec. 10, 2011

Dear Family and friends,

We too are really missing our kids. We've been out almost a year and still have a year to go. What were we thinking! If the next year goes as fast as this one has, we'll still be home in no time at all. I can't believe how fast the weeks and months fly by! We have also talked about how sad it would be if our kids got so used to being without us they won't care when we get home, and they will be so involved with their friends and family they won't have time for us. We want to visit them in the spring after we get home on our way to Florida for our "Old Family" reunion! I think it will be really fun! Of course, we're not thinking about that right now, but will be next year at this time!

We do have time to reflect and read quite a lot, though we have been pretty busy this past week with a funeral on Friday, (the guy who was flown south, died of an aneurysm) getting the church ready for meetings on Saturday, conducting and holding meetings on Sunday (The branch president is still gone for a couple of more weeks), then spending Monday and Tuesday sawing up and splitting a second tree that blew down in the parking lot of the church. We hauled it over to a widow's house that heats with wood and now between this one and the one last month she has enough wood for the winter. She really appreciates it. I hope they are about done blowing over, though. When I was young it didn't take three days afterwards to recover! We had to split them all with a maul and wedges and it still feels like work! Then we stacked it on her porch so it will be out of the snow.

Wednesday we did the family history center in the morning, visited in the afternoon, and in the evening I helped teach the community woodworking class at the high school that I've been doing. Next week is the last night, but they asked if I could help again starting in January. It has given us a great opportunity to get to know fanatics. We have the blessing of our mission president to do so. Of course I'm doing it as community service and not getting paid for it. The guy I teach with (the official teacher) attends the Baha’i church with his wife, and the other shop teacher doesn't go to church, but we found out his wife who lives in Montana is a member. She came to visit him for Thanksgiving, and we picked her up for church. She is a recent convert, and will be moving up next fall. We asked Darwin if he'd like to learn about what is wife believes and he said he's not ready yet, but will let us know when he is. Anyway, Thursday was our “P” day for washing, shopping and cleaning the house with Family History in the evening again, yesterday we helped a lady work out some problems with her home loan and insurance company, today we went to 33 mile with a young couple for hamburgers (the only place in the area for good ones), then came home and helped decorate the Christmas tree over at the church, then went and watched the “Snow Dragon” in the Community Christmas Parade. Also visited some less actives and made arrangements to pick them up for church tomorrow. So goes our weeks!

The weather here changes from month to month. Today's paper said we got 11 feet (135.8") topping the previous November record of 68". On December first it turned warmer and windy, thus the trees blowing down, as well as power lines. Weather has been into the 40s, we've also gotten about 10" of rain, so the snow level has dropped to about 18", and most of the roads are nearly clear. I'm really glad, I've been getting really tired of blowing the walks clear of snow every day, often with 2' of new snow. Today was cooler, about 32F, but crystal clear and sunny. The sun rises about 8:45, goes down by 3:15, but hey, any little bit helps! At noon it was barely above the mountains on the Southern horizon, goes down fast. When it does cool off in the evenings the roads get really slick, but at least we don't have to shovel it! We are warm and cozy in our little cottage, we have baseboard heaters heated by water from the church. Like heated floors, baseboards take a long time to respond, so we pretty much set it and leave it the same all the time. Sometimes it feels a little cool when it's windy, when it's nice it's a little warm, but we're definitely not complaining! The church system is heated with oil which is really expensive, but electricity is even more so, and they don't have natural gas available here. Many people spend $600-1200/month just for heating oil. We're really glad it's included with our cabin!

We are planning our branch Christmas party tomorrow; we'll have a dinner at the church, play a couple of games, and exchange "white elephant" gifts. The people seem to really like doing things, even though they are older. We changed it from next Saturday to Friday so one of the part member-less-active families could come, but the dad got a new job so he can't come anyway. His wife and two youngsters will be there. We are really hoping to teach him as we get to know him better. He works as a mechanic in a garage, but works half days Saturday and all day Sundays. Maybe pretty soon he can trade some weeks with others who work there.

Some of our dear friends from Whitehorse called and want us to come have Christmas dinner with them. We'd really love to, but can't unless President Lehman gets back from Washington and is feeling well enough to do without us. We won't know for another week or so. If all goes well, they should be back on the 20th or 21st. I hate to be gone the first week he gets back. We're still trying to find out what the Sunday schedule is for New Years this year. Is New Years Day going to also be Fast Sunday? What are they planning over there?

Well, I guess I'd better be going. I still need to do the paper program for church tomorrow; it's our primary program for our one kid in primary. He just turned 11 two weeks ago, so unless we get some more kids coming next year we'll have to cancel primary and start up a young men's program!

Hope things are going well for you. Did you have a good Thanksgiving? What are you doing for Christmas? We have loved getting family letters from some of you, especially with the pictures!

Love, Elder & Sister Powell

More Snow :)

We got another 2 feet of snow last night.  It brings our November total to 133".  Right now it's raining, we hope it stays warm enough so it doesn't snow more tonight!  I spent four hours shoveling and plowing this morning, then this afternoon the snow slid off the roof.  I'm attaching a couple of pictures of our "partly cloudy."

Hope it's better tomorrow as we leave for Juneau!   Love ya.  Dad.

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.

Journal Entry

18 Nov 2011

Hi all,

Things are going a little slower in Haines now, the snow has hit and so has the cold weather. We have about three feet on the ground now, temp today high of 8 degrees; wind chill is -21 with 30 mph winds. I guess it's a little earlier this year than it was last year, but normal for most years past. I guess they got a lot of rain last year but not much snow because it was warmer. This year it cooled off sooner so we got snow instead of rain.

We didn't have anything planned for Thanksgiving, several of the branch families are leaving to spend it with their families in Juneau and South, so we invited a couple of the widows to come have dinner with us. Well, it kind of snowballed, and it looks like we'll probably have 15 or so, we'll cook some of it here, some of it at the church, a couple of others will cook some and bring it. I think they just wanted a chance to visit and socialize. We're going to take some games over and play games after dinner. They have a fun card game here you play with five decks that is called "Hand and Foot" that we've learned how to play. We also play Farkle and "No Way, Jose," that's a lot of fun. We'll have to teach you some of them when we get back.

There isn't a lot to do here in the winter if you're not young enough to go skiing, snowmobiling, or hunting. We could go to Juneau shopping, but by the time you buy ferry tickets and hotels for two nights, it's $400 even if you don't buy anything! We are supposed to have a zone conference there the first week in December so we'll probably do some shopping while we are there. They pay our transportation, but we still have to pay our food and lodging, but at least that's about half the cost, so we're looking forward to it. I hope the weather is good, if it's stormy, the ferries don't run, so we might not be able to go, or might get stuck in Juneau till it clears. Oh, the joys of living in Alaska!

We had a wind come through the other night that snapped off a pine tree about 12" in diameter about 8' above the ground. Fortunately it fell diagonally across the parking lot, so it missed the shed, our car and our cabin. We need to go out and cut it up this afternoon, it's supposed to warm up to 9, but still with a wind chill of -15, but if we don't cut it up and it snows again we won't be able to cut it up and they won't be able to plow the driveway. We'll block it up and give the wood to one of the ladies in our branch that has a wood stove. She'll be really glad to get it.

Rachel is expecting, the baby is due in February. She was really sick the first four or five months, but is feeling better now in this last trimester. They are really excited. They are waiting until it gets here to find out if it's a boy or girl.

Warren is commuting to Pocatello or Idaho Falls to school every day. He is getting his masters from ISU, also interning at INL in Idaho Falls. We're REALLY glad to have them living in our house to take care of it while we are gone. They are paying all the utilities, insurance and taxes, plus any maintenance that is needed, so it works out really well for both of us. The commute was eating them alive, so they just bought a used Toyota Prius a few weeks ago. He is getting 58 miles per gallon with it consistently, so he says he isn't having ANY buyer’s remorse! They are selling their Subaru and his Dakota pickup to pay for it. He got it from a dealer in Salt Lake for $10,000, which is really a good price. It's a 2007 model with all the bells and whistles--backup camera, blue-tooth phone, Bose stereo system, the works. I told him to try to find us one in that price range to drive when we get back. Gas here is still $4.57/gal, and even with getting 20 mpg in our van, it would be nice to not have to pay $80 to fill up. The nice thing here is that we don't drive nearly as much as we did in Whitehorse where gas was a dollar more than here even.

It's good to hear that Kathy and Reed got a new Dodge van. Is it brand new? I think they are really nice, though I have talked to some people that said they don't think they are as good as the earlier ones. Of course they always say that when a new model comes out. Eric (Bev's boy) has a 2010 Chrysler and they love it. What color did they get? We are really enjoying our Toyota, haven't had any trouble with it other than I backed into our cabin in the snow the other night and broke out a tail light. I ordered another one online, but it takes six weeks or so to get it, so I bought a trailer taillight at the parts house and rigged it up so it will be legal till the new one gets here. Just a little "Mickey-mouse." I'm just glad it didn't do any damage to the fender or break out the back window! I'll bet Lainey is loving having the other van to haul her Cello around. Did they trade in their Malibu? I know they were a little disillusioned with it. They got pretty good mileage, but had it in the shop quite a bit.

The work is going a little slow, people don't get out as much when it gets dark by 3:45 and doesn't get light until 8:45 a.m. We are still visiting the branch members quite a bit, have spent a lot of time doing service for the older ladies. I fixed a couple of stoves, installed a window and a door, fixed several cars, and have spent a lot of time shoveling out cars so they can go to the store. We shoveled out Betty yesterday, the snow had blown level with the top of her car, and we shoveled out about 50' behind it to the road. The drifting reminds me a lot of Rexburg. At least it isn't storming, and the sunshine does a lot to lift the spirit. Also shoveled out Lucy where the plows had buried her car and pickup when they cleared the road behind her. Then jumped the pickup so she could get it down to the shop for a new battery. She is so amazing. She is 87 and still shoveling snow and captaining her own fishing boat. We went over and played Aggravation with her last week and she won both games! She is as sharp as a tack!

We are looking forward to church Sunday, our Stake President and one of the High Council are coming over to speak for High Council Sunday. I hope we have a good turnout. President Lehman and his wife are gone to the lower 48 for six weeks, two members are in the hospital, so it depletes our little branch quite a bit. When you have an average attendance of about 16, just a few is very noticeable!

Well, I guess I'd better go get ready to cut up this stupid tree. Hope you are doing well. Have a fun Thanksgiving! You will enjoy the family. That's the hardest part about ours--we will really miss being with family! We sure love you.

Dondavid and ReNee