Welcome Spring!  Some pussy willows.  The first sign of spring.

                                  Saturday was a beautiful day for a walk.  The snow is melting and it's warm.

                            A frozen lake at the trail head for cross-country skiing near the University.

                                       

                                        We've watched this house being built. It's an Alaska thing.

Happy Easter to all.  What a wonderful time to reflect on the great mission and atoning sacrifice and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We feel so blessed to be able to share our testimonies that He lives and loves us all.  What a blessing to know that if we choose to repent and follow Him that we can return as families to live with Him forever. 

It's getting warmer in Fairbanks.  We had a pleasant walk on Saturday and even found pussy willows.  So far, they are the first signs of spring.  "Break up" is the season of melting and the rivers start breaking up their ice.  "Break up" has been late this year because of the cold weather.  If it stays warm like it has been for a couple of days, it will soon start.  The little frozen lake has melted somewhat even today. 

I must explain the house picture.  Outside of the city limits, there are no building codes here.  In November, the builder of this house put up the white box in the back.  Soon it was covered with white insulation and a stove pipe appeared out of the top.  All winter, he lived in the little box.  A few weeks ago, he started building on the front part and then started adding the top.  You will notice that the house is built on pilings - no foundation - probably no water either.  It's not unusual to have a home with no water.  The water is trucked in and put in tanks.  In the back ground, you can see a few of the larger houses up on the hill.  Homes here run from a very small shack to larger sized homes.  Most of them are wood siding.  Some don't even seem to get that far. 

Today we had the chance to share our Easter dinner with 7 young adults from the branch and the branch president.  We crowded around our table and it was great to have so many for dinner again.  It was almost like being home, but not quite.  Tonight Jim was the speaker at a fireside.  He brought his replica gold plates, sword of Laban, Urim and Thummim, and Liahona picture.  He enjoys sharing the importance of these with others.  Today, we have our own Liahona to guide us.  It is our scriptures.  When we study them diligently, heed their directions, and use our faith, they will direct us as well. 

With love to all,
Jim and JoAnn

                                                      Early morning seminary teachers:
                                              Diane Roe, Lori Ames, Sister Spens, Maureen Law
                                                     Marcia Evarts, Sue Hull, Trisha Johnson

                                           Gary Holyoak, Pres. Olsen, Elder Spens, John Boyle

                                   A great bonfire while we waited for a dark sky that never came. 

                                                            Alaska sky at 10:30 pm.

                                               "Singing Mothers" at Stake Conference

   Well we continue to move along with our missionary work here in Alaska. We have now passed our six month anniversary and it seem like we just arrived yesterday. Time certainly flies while we are busy here with Institute teaching, early morning seminary coordination and inservice and our continued work with the YSA branch. We are starting to receive young people that are coming to Alaska for the summer to work in the tourist industry. Our branch and institute will apparently grow in numbers for the summer season. We are responsible for starting a summer class at the Healy branch down at Denali Park for the large number of YSA that come from the BYU and BYU Idaho campus every summer.  It will be an interesting experience.

     The Alaska Fairbanks Stake is the largest geographical stake in the USA. It goes from Barrow in the north to Tok in the south a distance of about 800 miles. Stake conference is broadcast to the outlying branches. That is our stake presidency sitting on the stand at conference. (The conference was held in the auditorium of the high school.)  The singing mothers chorus had over 100 members including women in the outlying branches that joined in. JoAnn and I were asked to bear our testimonies at the general session of stake conference so that people in the stake would get to know us a little better. I was talking to a Brother in Barrow on Sunday evening and he said we came across just fine in the broadcast. If you want to see the testimonies you can go to the stake web sight at  www.fairbanksstake.org  move forward to minute 138.00 in the general session if you do not want to hear all.  We just took a couple of minutes each to bear witness of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Also if you want to hear JoAnn sing, the choir is recorded at the beginning and also the closing song.  President and Sister Dance, our mission president and wife, also spoke.  It was great to have them there as well.

     Also above are a couple of pictures of the Friday night star gazing activity.  However, it fell a little short because it is now at a point where it just does not get dark. Alaska always amazes us.  There is a prevailing dusky glow all night that will turn in to all but full sunlight in June. Also pictured above are some of our 13 early morning seminary teachers. Notice the clock on the wall. Yes, we did start our early morning inservice at 6:30 am.  The rest participate in our inservice via a telephone polycom system. It is great to be here in Alaska and to be teaching the gospel and serving the Lord.

Jim and JoAnn

                                   Delta Junction seminary teacher - Maggie Olsen. We have had a chance
                                    to meet and work with many wonderful early morning seminary teachers.

                                                                Jung & Jacob Ames

                               Wedding cake made by Jacob's mother Lori, a North Pole seminary teacher.

                                          Check out this fish hook and lure.  There are nothing but
                                                      big fish in Alaska! (Is that a U of U tie?)

                A preparation day quilt project to remind us that it's spring. Green for the upcoming
                leaves of birch and quakies and blue for the state flower, forget-me-nots!

                            Good morning April 10, 2011 - Spring? The snow is actually starting to melt and there
                                             will be no more days of thirty or forty below zero!

It's been a good week at the institute.  We have had several new guys show up that are going to be working in Fairbanks or around here this summer.  It's good to have new people at the branch and in our classes.  I'm getting better at making cinnamon rolls, but this week we almost had a disaster.  There were two districts of missionaries at the institute have district meetings.  As Jim and I were eating lunch, Jim told me that the elders were making baked salmon for lunch.  They didn't know that I had dough raising in the oven.  I got to the kitchen just in time.  My dish towel on top of the dough had not caught on fire yet.  However, the dough had started to bake a little in the bowl.  It gave the cinnamon rolls an interesting texture, but they still tasted good.

Jacob and Jung were married on Saturday.  Jung has only been a member of the church since September, so they have plans to be sealed in the temple in a year.  Jung loves the temple.   She was so excited to do baptisms when we went as a group.  It will be a wonderful day for both of them when they meet that goal.   The reception was very nice.  Lori Ames is Jacob's mother and a dedicated seminary teacher.  I didn't know she had such skill and a baker and decorator of wedding cakes.   It was delicious and beautiful.  Jacob is a recently returned missionary and has 10 brothers and sisters, so the reception was full of grandchildren having a great time.  It reminded me of home.

Jim was offered a frozen moose hide by a member of our branch presidency.  He couldn't pass up the deal.  However, he has already discovered that it is going to take some effort to do anything with it!  It is now salted down on a gravel portion of our driveway - at least we have been told it's gavel below the snow.   We'll see what happens.

We loved general conference.  It will be wonderful to be able to study again the counsel of the leaders of the Church in depth this fall semester.  I have really appreciated the direction we have received.  (Some of the boys in the branch have taken Pres. Monson's admonition to get going and get married to heart and have even asked some of the girls out for a change.  That's a good step in the right direction.)   We are so grateful to be members of Christ's church that has been restored and reestablished in the latter days.  We invite our friends to come and see what we have to add to what you have.  We know the Savior lives and has given us a way to return to His presence if we will repent and follow Him.

Lots of love,
JoAnn & Jim

                                                     Jung Tak's wedding shower at the Institute.

                                  Jung opening the throw I made for her from Jerri Olsen's "stash."

                                                          Another view of the throw.

                                                    Elder Spens didn't want to be left out.

      The Elders Hall pictured above is at the Morris-Thompson center in Fairbanks. (It's kind of a museum community display center.)  The hall is for the elderly native Americans use. It makes and interesting picture.

     Speaking of interest the institute continues to be a place of interest to serve our mission. There are a variety of activities in any given week like: Wedding receptions, district meetings for elders in the Fairbanks area, wedding showers as shown above, occasional ward dinners and YSA classes, activities, various meetings as well as weekly branch meetings. Oh, also an occasional fireside too.  It can get very busy.  This week being general conference we started watching the morning sessions live on Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am due to the time differential.  We have a huge satellite receiver on the institute property, however it does not point up into the sky but rather points almost horizontally to the south to receive the communication satellite signal. Also we had a "pancake brunch" between the sessions on Sunday. 

     We are starting to see the spring thaw here in Fairbanks. The ice has left the roads but  not the parking lots so the institute parking lot is covered with about three inches of ice. We have chipped most of it away from the entry sidewalk but the parking area is still covered. We continue to enjoy teaching and the  association we have  with the YSA. This spring semester is coming to an end and we are starting to think about the Summer schedule. We love to teach the gospel and continue to learn along with out students. Not only is the gospel great but it is great to be missionaries as well.

Jim and JoAnn

                                       President Dance      Elder Spens           Sister Spens

                                                      Sister Dance       Sister Spens

                                                   Our newly printed t shirts designed by Patrick.
                                                            (Printer's sticker on shoulder)


We have had a wonderful and busy week.  Classes are back in session again.  It's fun to be a part of these students lives.   On Monday we had a few more come to the home evening group.  That was really nice.  It's been hard for some of the students to adjust to meeting in smaller groups.  Besides classes, the Branch had a pot luck dinner on Friday night.  There was a nice variety of food and we had a good group attend.   Shane, who is in the military, brought a friend to the dinner.  He was a friendly guy but not interested in religion.  That's okay, too.  After the dinner, we offered to drive them home to Fort Wainwright.  It was the first time we had been on that base.  It is interesting to talk to these young men as they prepare to be deployed to Afghanistan in about a month.  They are so willing to serve our country. 

Friday afternoon we were able to attend part of a specialized training with President and Sister Dance.  We were not able to get them both together for a picture.  They are great leaders and really help all of us to feel the Spirit of the Lord and to have a desire to do better.  One of our young girls, Katie, was able to spend some time with them in Nome last week.  She bore her testimony in sacrament meeting today.  She told how Sister Dance had wanted to watch her play basketball, but had been unable to come so she gave her a letter.  In that letter she gave a scripture reference for Katie to look up.  Katie was amazed when she looked up the scripture that it was exactly what she needed to get through some problems she was going through that she had not even mentioned.  I love Sister Dance!  She is a great example and just knows exactly what to do.

Saturday we had a Relief Society meeting on healthy eating.  I need to think about that a bit more!  After the lesson, we made cookies.  Not in keeping with the lesson, but they were good anyway.  Melanie Johnson (Payton) and her mother and friend came to decorate the Institute for a wedding open house that evening.  I could tell they needed a bit of help, so I stayed to do what I could.  The open house was a lot of fun.  It was great to congratulate Melanie and Travis. They were married in the Logan Utah Temple.  I will miss them at the Branch. 

This afternoon after meetings we left quickly to drive to Delta Junction, about 2 hours away, to speak at a fireside about senior missions.   Bryce and Jan Wrigley (Mallory's parents) invited us to have dinner with them before the fireside.  It was a delicious dinner.  We love getting to know the members of the church here in Alaska.  I think we helped those in attendance understand a little more about senior missions.  On the ride home it started snowing.  It's still winter here.  We won't complain though because the weather has been above freezing this week!   We probably have more sunlight than you do in Utah now!  Things change quickly here.

A special thank you to Patrick for working out our new t shirt design.  The kids really like it.  Thanks, too, to all those who have helped Tina recently.  We have a great family and love and appreciate the way you help each other.  Have a wonderful week.

Love,
JoAnn & Jim

                                   Here is an example of the delicate ice carving found at Ice Alaska, an
                                    International ice carving competition here in Fairbanks.

                                                                       Phone home.

                                                          Zoo animals in the childrens' area.

                                     A spotted leopard in a pavilion of ice complete with gargoyles.

                                                                 A friendly ice Eskimo.

                                                                   The tiny ballerina.

                                                   Dog sledding with the aurora overhead.

                                                 A musk ox on the UAF large animal facility.

                                                          The Alaska oil pipeline overhead.

 

                                                  A quilt showing some of the animals of Alaska.
                                        The center is a world map looking down from the North Pole.

     This week has been spring break for students at UAF so we have not had institute classes this week. On Monday we went to the ice carving festival as shown above. We went with a member of the branch presidency, a few YSA and one investigator. We all dressed warmly because spring in Alaska means temperatures around 25 degrees in the day time and around zero at night. We checked out the large Alaskan animal farm at UAF to see the musk ox above. He did not seem to care that we stood right next to him. He just kept on eating his grass. They are actually a variety of goat. There are wild herds of the musk ox that live on the northern tundra areas. Their inner "wool" is very soft and is spun into yarn and woven into sweaters, scarfs,etc. It is a very expensive material costing almost $100 per skein. It is combed out of the animals coat in the spring when they start to molt.
    On Saturday for a break JoAnn and I also took a drive north on the Dalton highway where we took the pipeline picture above. It had to be one of the worst highway driving experiences we have had so far. The roadway was hilly up and down and very icy. When we would climb a hill we would loose speed because we were loosing traction and thus momentum. We would hit the bottom of the hill at about 50 and then gradually slow down until we reached the top when we would be down to 35 or so. It was a challenge to drive. It is the ice truckers highway up to Prudhoe Bay.
     When we first arrived here in Fairbanks and went to the Institute of Religion,  I felt like we had traveled to a far corner of the earth far away from home.   However,  I felt a certain sense of being at home in the building that has become the place of our daily service.  Today in our Sacrament meeting we heard from Pres. Wappett who was the stake president when the Institute was built.  It was his privilege to dedicate the building back in 1997.  He spoke of the sacred experience he had at the dedication and of how the building was built with the sacred funds of the Church.  I  now know, at least in part, why I felt at home in the institute facility almost at once.  It is truly great to be missionaries serving in Alaska.  We feel a great responsibility to serve the students to the best of our abilities.

(Today is the first day of Spring - temperature 38 degrees!)

Jim and JoAnn  

Why did the moose decide not to cross the road?   (He didn't want to be someone's dinner.)

A view of our icy roads.

A newspaper photographer caught this image of the aurora on Thursday night.

This has been an interesting week of things to be thankful for.  The weather has been in the 20's during the day time, and it feels so warm!  The ice on the roads is sublimating and most of the roads are getting pretty clear of ice.   Especially those that are not in the shade of the trees.  The city road teams are loading the snow on the sides of the road in dump trucks and hauling it away to prevent flooding in the city once it decides to get warm enough to melt.  The icy road picture was taken today and shows what we have been driving on all winter. 

On our way to home evening group, we came upon a moose that was having a hard time deciding whether or not to cross the road.  Finally it gave up and moved back.  We have been so blessed with safety.  Fifty moose have been killed this winter in Fairbanks alone by being hit by cars.  It usually totals the cars.  At our home evening, we had a wonderful lesson by Trisha Haines on gratitude.  Trisha is a wonderful girl.  She has been investigating the church for over a year and a half.  We are blessed to have met her.

Tuesday we noticed the back tire was looking low.  We searched everywhere on the way home from the Institute to find an air pump.  None of the service stations had a working air pumps.  As soon as we got home, Jim checked the pressure and decided that we needed to go right back to Sears where we bought the tires and see what was wrong.   They found a screw in the tire and were able to fix it for free.  Another blessing.  We might have been in big trouble if we had waited until morning--especially since we had to be at the Institute for Seminary inservice at 6:00 am. 

Classes this week have been great.  We have had many comments from those in our classes that we taught them just what they had needed that day.  Another blessing.  As we left the Institute, the sky was full of the northern lights.  We had seen a faint green band several times, but this time it was swirling and moving all over the sky.  Our camera doesn't have the ability to take a long exposure, so we borrowed a picture from newsminer.com.  The newspaper had a big spread and titled it "A Night to Remember."  We drove home and went to the top of our hill to watch it for quite a while.  It was really exciting.  A long exposure camera intensifies the colors quite a bit.  We feel blessed to have seen such a wonderful display.  What a beautiful world we have been blessed to live on.

Saturday evening we had Elder Smith and Elder Gledhill for dinner.  It's always a blessing to share time with the elders.  They always leave a wonderful message.  Today Sister Olsen (the Branch Presidents wife and also our landlord) and I were invited to attend Priesthood Meeting.  We were on a panel along with our husbands for open questions about life, etc.  It turned out to be very enlightening to all of us.  Our testimonies of the blessings of the Lord in our lives have helped us grow and learn and hopefully teach our family of the importance of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We are so grateful for our knowledge that we can be forgiven of our sins and mistakes and someday return to live with our Father in Heaven and with Jesus Christ and with our families forever if we remain faithful.  So many blessings!!

Love to all of you,
JoAnn and Jim