Hi, everyone.
Sorry we're late.  It's been a busy and fun week. I had a Sister Missionary Conference in Anchorage and we spent three days in Barrow.  There is snow in Barrow already.  It was probably our last trip to Barrow, so we went up on Saturday in time to catch the Relief Society Conference and then we went to the Branch meetings on Sunday.  They have a small but wonderful branch.  It is quite multicultural with members from Samoa and Tonga, the Philippines and Americans.  Our main purpose was to visit the seminary class on Monday morning.  Todd Henke, the seminary teachers picks up the 3 boys every morning to bring them to the church for seminary.  Because we got to stay with Todd, two of the boys came on a four wheeler so that we could fit in the jeep.  They were pretty cold by the time they got there.  It was a great class.  We realize how important each one is to the Lord.  Even small classes are important.  Todd and Elaine had a skin sewing class on Saturday that we visited.  It was so interesting to learn how to work with furs, etc.  Fur parkas and hats are really a necessity in Barrow.  The wind a really strong most of the time and it's cold!  Elaine is working on a parka for herself lined with some nice sheep skin that she had shipped up.  It should be really warm.   We wanted to visit before things were totally frozen.  We got some fun pictures of the Arctic Ocean that we will post later.  

We had a wonderful zone conference last Monday with Elder William Walker of the Seventy and his wife.  It was an intense day of learning.   We met them at the airport along with Pres. and Sister Beesley and the two assistants to the president.  Elder Walker was raised in Raymond, Alberta, Canada and knows the Ehlert family up there.  It was fun to be able to call Dad and tell him about the conference and Elder Walker's comment, "the Ehlerts are a good bunch."  Now I know how our sons felt after zone conferences on their missions. 

I got to repeat the zone conference in Anchorage on Thursday, only this time we had five zones together so that Elder Walker could meet more missionaries.  After zone conference all the sisters in the mission got together for dinner at the mission home and a wonderful meeting together.  The theme of the conference was that we are all children of our Heavenly Father and that each one of us is so important.  It went along perfectly with Pres. Uchtdorf's message in Relief Society conference.  The sisters in Barrow really responded when he talked about the forget-me-not since it's the state flower of Alaska. It had special meaning to us in Alaska.

We forgot to bring home the camera from the institute tonight so we missed trying to take pictures of the aurora that was out tonight.  We'll have to catch up with pictures later. 

Be sure to watch general conference.  It is such a blessing to know that we have a prophet on the earth today that can guide us if we will be listen and put into practice the messages we hear.  Listen for ways to strengthen your family.  That's what life is all about--helping our family and others return to Heavenly Father.  We love you so much and want to have our family be together forever.

JoAnn and Jim

 This is a very large bull moose just inside Denali park. The bulls are in rut now and are very dangerous. This one had a antler spread of six or seven feet! It was moving away from us at about 200 yards.

 This is the same large bull moose with a great view of his back side. The Yukon moose variety is the largest moose in north America. They are very plentiful in the forests of Alaska. It is hunting season now and we see and hear of many being taken.

This is a view inside the Denali National Park. 

 The upper picture is a view inside Denali park in late September with the fall conditions. It is the Savage river drainage which is as far as you can drive in to the park in a private car. We saw a lone Dahl sheep on the high ridge just in back of where this picture was taken. He was too far away for a picture. The bottom picture is the ten thousand foot pinnacles just south and east of Denali s peak. They are spectacular peaks in and of themselves because they are so steep and pointed.

This is a view of Denali peak from the Park highway just east of the mountain probably about fifty miles. The picture was taken from a flat valley floor of about two thousand feet elevation. Then the lower mountains in the foreground are shorter peaks of eight or nine thousand feet. Then Denali is in the far back jutting up to over twenty thousand feet. With our binoculars we could see the snow cornices on the south face of the east buttress of the mountain and they appeared to be several hundred feet thick. Denali or Mt. McKinley is truly a spectacular mountain.

Life is wonderful in Alaska.  We were excited to have about 12 attend our Tuesday night class.  That was a big change from 2 the week before.  Since we are having guest speakers from the stake, we are anxious to have people there.  We even put up posters at Stake Conference inviting people to come.  On Thursday we got a new laptop and camera to help us begin to broadcast our classes on the stake internet site.  Travis Payton is helping us work out the technology, and we are very hopeful that things will begin soon.   We had a great group of young adults attend classes on Thursday.  It's always fun and challenging to bake cinnamon rolls for between classes and think of something more substantial for after class for munch and mingle.  The chili dogs were a hit, but the sauerkraut was not a favorite.  Good thing to remember.  On Friday, we had two new Relief Society sisters come and a sister call in from Wainwright, a village of about 700 people.  The sister and her husband are the only members of the church in their village, so they are used to using the polycom to join in meetings.  We hope more will join us.  Technology is so much fun! 

On Friday after class, we headed to Anchorage.  On the way, we drove into Denali Park as far as you can go.  It was about 35 miles.  We were very excited to see the bull moose in the pictures.  He was the second bull moose we have seen since we arrived.  It is so much fun to see the changes in the scenery.  The birch trees are yellow gold and it looks like the whole country is ablaze.  We were able to stay at the mission home again.  It is always a blessing to be able to spend time with Pres. & Sister Beesley.  Saturday morning we attended the temple.  Adam Dewey, one of the young adults in our temple preparation class, went to the temple for the first time.  We were so pleased to be able to be there.  He is leaving for a mission to Brazil in December.  It was a wonderful experience to be in the temple with several members of our stake.  Members from Salcha and Delta were there as well as a large group from our branch who came to do baptisms for the dead.  We are blessed to have a temple that is only 6-7 hours drive from Fairbanks.  The members here are hoping that there will be a temple in Fairbanks some day. 

Today we had the opportunity to speak in the Salcha Branch.  Generally they have about 100 people, but several stayed in Anchorage to see friends and family after attending the temple.  Pres. Price told us that they usually have about 90% attendance at their branch meetings.  What faithful saints!  They have even move a house of some of the members this summer.  They had been told that their home had to be moved because of the possibility of flooding from the river, and the community got together and moved it.  The father in the home has terminal cancer, but he was at church sitting on the front row with his family.  After the meeting was over, his wife brought their granddaughter up to the stand.  She told me that she had something to give me.  I was overwhelmed when she gave me the biggest hug and just wouldn't let go.  She was about 4 years old and thought I needed a hug from a "granddaughter."   She was right.  I truly miss all my grandchildren, but I know it will be a blessing to all of us through our mission here.  I feel like I am learning so much by studying more and teaching classes.  We all need to strengthen each other in our testimonies of Jesus Christ.  Through our faith in Him and our obedience to His commandments, we can stand against the evils and trials of the world around us.  Be strong and faithful and follow the prophet!


JoAnn and Jim

Home evening  Trisha, Pres. Olsen, & Elder Ulu'ave

More Home Evening - Adam, Elder Gledhill, Riley, Joslyn, Aubry

                                            A rabbit we found on our walk in the neighborhood.

We have seen these rabbits along side of  the road as we have driven around but this one was very close and quite oblivious to us so we got right up next to him and took his picture. These rabbits turn totally white in the winter months. You will also notice below that the fall colors are in full swing here in the far north. It is mostly yellows and some orange from the birch trees however there are just a few birch trees that have a bright red top just to add to the beauty of the forest in its splendor of fall colors.  The two pictures above are of the weekly family night we hold where Trisha (the investigator of about two years) is the assigned family night chair-person and we usually have the meeting at her apartment. The pictures above are at what the guys call "the ranch" or the house where several YSA are renting together. We had a great barbecue and a lesson from the full time young elders. Our association with the YSA is certainly a highlight of being here in Fairbanks. They are just a great bunch of young people to associate with. The bottom two pictures were taken on labor day. We went with a couple of YSA and two of their non-member friends out to some of our nearby mountains to hike the trail up to angel rocks. It is an hour and one half drive to the trail head and then the trail goes up a couple of miles and maybe five hundred feet elevation gain to some granite outcrops called angel rock. It was a fun drive and hike to a place we had not been. The two non-members are having the gospel introduced to them by Cameron who is a fellow student with them at UAF in the physics department. We thought we had driven a long way to Alaska but one of the non-member girls had driven all the way from North Carolina. This past week was the first full week of institute classes, and we had The Gospel and the Productive Life on Tuesday evening, Teachings of the Living Prophets at noon on Wednesday, another section of The Gospel and the Productive Life on Thursday at six p.m., Old Testament class on Thursday at seven thirty and a Book of Mormon class on Friday at ten a.m.. We are also teaching temple preparation on Sunday as well. We are having our first early morning seminary in-service this coming Wednesday at six thirty a.m. and we are speaking in the Salcha branch this coming Sunday. So needless to say along with all of the other things we have to do, we are keeping busy.  We continue to enjoy the work here and love to be missionaries.

Jim and JoAnn
 

The hills are beautiful with color.

                                                                    Angel Rocks

Elder & Sister Spens, Cameron, Doug, Jody, Adam, & Matt at Angel Rocks trail head

President & Sister Beesley

                                                    A field of fire weed turning bright red.

                                                             A maple tree in our yard.

                                 This woodcarving is called "Three Generations" and was carved by a native Alaskan.
                                 It is the latest in our collection of native art. 

This week has been wonderful.  President and Sister Beesley came to Fairbanks Thursday afternoon and were here until Monday morning.  They stayed upstairs in Pres. Olsen's spare room.  It was a blessing to have them here.  They spent Friday at the Institute interviewing missionaries.  They were at the Institute on Thursday night for our first day of class although they didn't attend classes.  Sunday night Pres. Beesley spoke at a fireside for about 40 young people and members of our stake.  It is exciting to see his videos as a test pilot for secret airplanes and hear how he relates flying to the decisions and choices we have to make in life.  It was well received.  President and Sister Beesley are amazing.  I can't believe how much energy they give to keep the mission work going well.   We had a special fast on Friday for a new area that is being opened near Sitka with two elders being assigned to that area. 

Saturday afternoon we stopped at a wonderful garden that we have been watching all summer.  Their produce was for sale.  I bought a giant zucchini for $1.00--the kind you can't give away at home.  It made some wonderful zucchini bread that we served at the fireside and I still have 3/4 of it left to make more.  Saturday morning Pres. & Sister Beesley and Pres. Olsen had breakfast with us before starting on their busy day. 

Classes began on Thursday with a wonderful turnout for the 7:30 class.  We had about 30 in attendance.  Of course, my class at 6:00 was smaller, but not as many are off work or out of school by then.  I was happy with the class.  Our Friday morning class was very small -- one person.  However, we will continue to encourage others to come and a few more have promised to be there.  We have another class starting Tuesday night.  We have invited several people in the stake to help with the different lessons.  We are hoping for a good turnout.  I had three girls ask me on Sunday if I would teach a class for them on Wednesdays.  It's a joy to be able to work with these great kids.

Fall is definitely in the air, but we have had two nice weeks of pleasant weather and mostly clear skies.  It's a nice change from rain.  We loved hearing about Izzie's blessing.  We are so pleased with how are family is supporting each other while we are gone.  We love you all!

JoAnn & Jim

                                         The suburban after driving 100 miles on a wet dirt road.

                                          Sandhill cranes at the crane festival in Creamer's Field

                                               I'll be back in the spring after winter in Mexico.

Creamer's Field Migratory Bird Refuge.  There were more Canada geese than Sandhill cranes.

 

 

                                       Elder & Sister Spens with new convert Cortnee Adams in Healy

                                A view of a glacier and beautiful fall scenery on the Denali Highway

                                   100 miles of relatively smooth dirt road - the Denali Highway

                                    A closer view of one of the many glaciers of the Alaska Range

We had an adventurous week this week.  The weather was quite nice with only occasional storms, so we decided to take the trip to Healy to deliver some materials to a new seminary teacher.  We stopped in Denali to find directions and were glad to see Cortnee Adams working in the gift shop of the Princess Lodge there.  She was so happy to see us.  We were able to conduct her baptismal interview earlier this summer, but were not able to be at her baptism.  Things are going very well for her.  She is so happy.  On the way home, we took the scenic way home over 100 miles of dirt road that is only open in the summer.  It was a long trip, but it was great to see more of the beauties of Alaska. The road was above the tree line for a lot of the time, so we saw plains covered with beautiful colors.  Fall had definitely arrived in that part of Alaska.  (It took Elder Spens several tries to get the car clean again.)

We are getting excited about the new classes that will start this week at the Institute.  We are going to offer classes that haven't been offered for a while.  We are also going to add another night class on Tuesdays for those who are not able to come on Thursday.  We have also decided to teach a Book of Mormon class for adult members of the stake as well as students on Friday in the day time.   Right now we are just crossing our fingers that students will come.  We have faith that they will and that we will have a wonderful semester.  On Sundays, we are teaching a Temple Preparation class to two couples who are getting married in October, and a missionary who had received his call to Brazil.  It is a great blessing for us to share our testimonies of the blessings we can receive through temple ordinances.  How blessed we are to have temples again on the earth.  We feel great peace in knowing that our family can be together forever through obedience to the gospel. 

Thursday the young elders came for district meetings.  It is always so much fun to be around them and feel their energy and enthusiasm.  (We had Elder Gledhill and Elder Ulu'ave for dinner on Saturday night as well.)  One of the elders brought a big bowl of baked salmon and made salmon burgers with teriyaki  sauce and pineapple slices on them.  They were delicious.  Sister Miller, another seminary teacher, brought us some salmon, cod, and halibut from their family fishing trip.   It is an adventure for me to learn to cook these wonderful fish.  We are grateful for the generosity of our friends here. 

Saturday afternoon we decided to go to Creamer's Field to the Crane festival.  I wondered how the cranes knew they were invited from 9 am to 5 pm.  The cranes have been at the field for quite a while.  It is a place where they eat and practice flying to build up their muscles for the long flight to Mexico.  It really is fun to watch them.  The Canada geese had also returned.  They were here in the spring.  In fact, it the first sign to spring to see a Canada goose arrive.  They will also be flying south before too long.  

Tonight we attended a fireside for single adults.  President Shane Duval, the Stake President, was the speaker.  He spoke of the love Jesus Christ has for each one of us.  He knows us and wants us to become all that we can.  Even though we make mistakes, he is willing to forgive us as we repent and strive to do better.  He reminded us that even though we are faced with challenges, we can receive guidance and help from the Lord to face hard things.  Christ loves each of us and wants us to return to His presence after this life.  We just have to endure with faith and do our best to follow Him and keep His commandments.  We are so grateful for Christ's atoning sacrifice that allows us to repent and be forgiven. 

Have a wonderful week.
JoAnn and Jim

                                  Our friend Greg Bishop, Northwest area director & Elder Spens

                                          Elder Ulu'ave         Adam Olguin      Elder Gledhill

Fall is in the air here in Alaska with colors arriving in the vegetation.

 

                                               Zone conference at the Institute

                                                More fall colors in the Birch trees leaves.

Here we are back at the Institute.

             After removing the old wall covering and moldings this is the new look of the institute building.        
             We have noticed that the pictures stand out much better with the white painted walls.

     The flowers are truly amazing here in Fairbanks. This huge dahlia is a result of the long period of sunshine here in the north. Even though the summers are cool the number of daylight hours is a great compensator for plant growth. It is as green here even in the interior of Alaska as any place on earth. It just requires varieties of vegetation that are winter hardy to 50 or 60 below zero.  It truly has been a wonderful place to be in the summer. It is just endless green. The local residents tel us that winter snows can start any time after the first of September so we shall see.
     On Tuesday, our area director, Greg Bishop came to visit for the day.  We had one day to show him the sights here in Fairbanks and introduce him to a student, a seminary teacher, and Pres. Payton who is in over the seminaries and the institute as a member of our stake presidency.  After a tour of our building, we were able to visit the UAF Large Animal Research Station and see the musk oxen and caribou and reindeer there.  We went to visit the Morris Thompson Center, but the displays were closed for repairs.  However, we enjoyed a very interesting film about living alone in the wilds of Alaska.  We took a quick trip to see the oil pipeline and enjoyed a wonderful meal with the Paytons.   It was a busy day, but we learned many things and truly enjoyed our time with Bro. Bishop. 
     We are now totally back into the redecorated institute building. It is good to be back and not have to work out of our apartment. It is a great blessing for the YSA to have the facility of the institute building. It was built 14 years ago and was in need of new carpet and some new paint and hopefully it will last for the next 14 years of use.
     Adam's baptism was on Wednesday.  It is wonderful to see the changes in the lives of those who accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and are willing to follow His example and be baptized into His restored church.
     We are starting to see the YSA who are working here for the summer leave. Some are going back to school in the lower 48 and some are just going back home. Our branch will definitely be smaller within the next couple of weeks, and we have no idea how many new students will show up for the fall semester at institute classes. We are conducting an official registration, however we we will not know officially until the first week or two of class how many will be attending. Early morning seminary started this week as well and JoAnn has been busy with the distribution of the curriculum materials to our 14 units. We have also had request from two additional families in the outlying areas to provide home seminary to their students. With stake approval they can do this then we provide the materials and training for the new teachers.
     We had a stake priesthood meeting where the theme was the subject of joy.  It was emphasized that our greatest joy in this life comes from our family, obedience to the gospel and service to the Lord. I remember our new mission president, Pres. Beesley, in our first interview with him asking us if we were happy.  We are certainly finding joy and happiness in the service of the Lord here in the Alaska mission and especially with our assignment at the institute and with the early morning seminary program here. We also find great joy in working with the YSA in many capacities. 

We send our love to all of you.  
Jim and JoAnn

                                              Elder Smith       Tim Surap            Elder Gledhill

                                        Elder Gledhill, Scott West, Andy Pusateri, Elder Smith

                                                A giant cabbage at the fair with a blue ribbon

                                          Melanie Johnson Payton dancing with her radio "star"

                                                   Robin Johnson with her orthodontist "star"

                                          Adam Dewey with his elementary school teacher "star"

                          Sunset in Fairbanks after a rainy drive home from teaching in Delta Junction

Missionary work is going strong in our Branch here.  Tim Surap and Andy Pusateri were both baptized this week.  Tim was baptized on Monday and Andy on Saturday.  I was asked to play the piano for both baptismal services.  This week we have another baptism scheduled on Wednesday.  What a blessing to see these men learn and make commitments to follow the Savior.

We had our last Institute classes for the summer this week as well.  I think we will really miss our drive to Delta Junction.  Some of our dear friends there are not returning to school in Fairbanks this fall, and we will miss them all.  Spencer Tappen just received his mission call to Campinas, Brazil.  He was so excited! 

The new carpet has been laid and we are returning to the Institute.  It's not my favorite color--a combination of blue, mauve, green, brown, and gray.  At least it won't show the dirt very much.  On Friday we took the computer, etc. back to the Institute.  We were able to get most of the pictures hung on the walls.  They take on a new look against white painted walls.  Hopefully it won't take us long to get organized once again. 

This week was the Fair in Fairbanks.  We decided to go to watch the branch members "Dancing with the Fairbanks Stars."  We were well represented with four of the seven dancers being members of the church.  Melanie was a member of the branch before she got married.  Her sister Robin and Adam Dewey are also from the branch and one seminary student Kyle Ashcraft also danced.  It was lots of fun watching them dance.  They all performed very well.  Adam has received his mission call to Brazil as well.  He will be leaving just after Christmas.  The produce at the fair made us realize that we didn't start early enough.  Giant cabbages are the "talk of the town" so to speak.  Our produce has been very meager.  Even though there is so much sunlight, it has been a very cool and rainy summer with lots of clouds.  Gardening in Alaska is an adventure.  The sun is now setting just after 10 pm.  Nights are beginning to get longer and the trees are beginning to look like they want to turn colors. 

Several of the young people here for the summer are leaving this week to return to school.  It has been a great experience getting to know them.  Perhaps some of them will return next year.  Elder Smith is returning home this Tuesday to Highland, Utah, after a wonderful mission.  We had Elder Smith and Elder Gledhill over for dinner this week for a farewell meal together.  It was fun to make lasagne with moose meat! It did taste good. 

We started a temple preparation class during Sunday School for two couples and Adam Dewey.  It's such a blessing to help them prepare to receive the great blessings of the temple.  (As a service project this week I have been altering Rachel's wedding dress.  It's tricky to buy a dress on the internet.  We had to cut 8" off the bottom and do some adjusting in the shoulders.  I felt blessed to figure out how to make it fit without taking it all apart.)

Our blessings here in Alaska are amazing.  We love being a small part of the Lord's work. The testimonies of the young missionaries and the young people continue to strengthen ours as well.  We encourage our family to share their testimonies with each other and their friends.  The Lord has greatly blessed us all. 

Love,
JoAnn and Jim