JoAnn and Tammy Duval celebrate being survivors at the Relay for Life.
                              Tammy is also a breast cancer survivor and is the Stake President's wife.

                                    The tomato plant is loving the greenhouse in the backyard.

                                  We are now officially green.  This is our driveway up to our house.

                                          These wild roses grow along many of the roads here.

                             Tiny Forget Me Nots, the Alaska state flower, growing in our backyard.

     As you can see above Alaska has fully turned into summer. The interior has turned warm and we are experiencing wildfires that burn fiercely through the heavy black spruce forests. There is a large fire to the north of Fairbanks and another to the south. Some days have been smokey in the large Tanana valley of which we are part but other days are clear and beautiful. There are 47 forest fires burning in Alaska.  The tourists have started to arrive in Fairbanks in large numbers as well as the young people who are working in the tourist industry.  Our Elders quorum is now the largest in the stake and that will continue through September. This is the Alaska that everyone wants to see and experience, and it is beautiful and pleasant here. It is like living in the midst of a forest. We are told to enjoy summer while it is here because fall ends in September and winter starts in October.
     Also above is our little garden. Most vegetable gardening in done in greenhouses because the soil is very cold and does not promote growth of tomatoes and zucchini etc. There are areas of Fairbanks that have permafrost as well. Our garden will be an experiment to see what we can produce. Apparently the long hours of sunshine compensate for the cool days and cool soil so we will see how it goes. It has been nice to have a landlord who is a member and is very willing to share and help to make our stay here peasant. Randy and Jerri Olsen have become good friends not just our landlord. We have a lot in common with them and enjoy their company.
     After the Relay for Life (we walked a few laps) we were taken out to dinner by the stake president and his wife. We had a great time and got to know them better. Interestingly enough the stake president Shane Duvall was a fifth grade student attending Marsac Elementary School in Park City in 1967-68 while I was teaching at Park City High School just across town. Also President Duvall's mother is from  Lund just west of Ely Nevada!  
     We are expanding our institute program as well this summer semester. We have the class with the Pearl of Great Price at the institute building here in Fairbanks on Thursday night and then a class in Denali for all of the YSA employees working there. We have a couple called to teach that class since it is two hours away.  We will be starting a new PofGP class in the town of Delta Junction  about an hour and one half away) that we will teach on Wednesday evening. Its nice to have at least a small increase in the number of classes taught. 
     Our fast and testimony meeting today was very active with large numbers of YSA wanting to bear their testimonies. They just all are very enthusiastic about the gospel even those who have been in the church for only a short time. Our large elders quorum is filled with returned missionaries. One of the young men who we meet in our neighborhood the other day was carrying his sales material in a folder on one side and on the other side he had copies of the Book of Mormon and tracts so if he could not sell an alarm system he could talk to the people about the gospel. He said he had one referral that day to give to the local elders.
     We are doing well and enjoying our work here in the Alaska mission.We are continually blessed to be able to work with the young single adults in Fairbanks. We also have two anniversaries coming up this week. Our 44th wedding anniversary and every time a 4th of the month rolls around we add another month to our service here and this month will be number 8.

Jim and JoAnn

                                       A view of the valley and mountains in Denali National Park.

                                   A couple of caribou we saw trying to find something green to eat.

                                         Can you find the Ptarmigan - the real state bird of Alaska?

                             We saw this grizzly bear making it's way across the snow a long ways away.

                                               Two Dahl sheep posing by the side of the road.

                                    Our local wildlife.  This mosquito flew into our apartment today.

This week took us to Healy, near Denali National Park to set up the institute class there.  Things are never what you expect them to be here in Alaska.  We found out that they had already had the class early due to a Relief Society meeting and graduation scheduled on Wednesday.   However, all was not in vain.  We were finally able to meet Roben Shreeve, one of our seminary teachers, and her husband Weston who is the branch president.  We left some materials for Tallon Shreeve, the institute teacher, to use in the class.  The tourist season is in full swing near Denali and the Shreeve family is very involved.  We also met an investigator that is preparing to be baptized before long.   The Lord blesses us in unusual ways.  We only were able to meet the Shreeves because we were looking for Katrina Miller, one of our branch who is working in the gift shop this summer.  Roben happens to be her boss. 

We had previously arranged to take the tour bus into Denali.  It was a 6 hour trip and was very enjoyable.  We were very fortunate to see all of the major wildlife in the park, the moose, the caribou, two grizzly bears, one wolf, and the Dahl sheep.  I'm grateful that we had our binoculars with us to make animal watching a lot more fun.  Denali Park will not be green for another couple of weeks. 

Our institute class here in Fairbanks started on Thursday.  We are studying the Pearl of Great Price.  We were delighted that there were several new people that attended class.  We never know how things will go with the work schedules of our students.  The cinnamon rolls and milk were a hit as well.  We are so blessed to be able to work with the students here.  They are remarkable.

Today we had a wonderful sacrament meeting.  The speakers were assigned to talk about how prayer had helped them in their lives.  It was very inspirational.  Afterwards during Priesthood and Relief Society, President Olsen spoke to the whole group about the song "Keep the Commandments."  He told us how those three words were the advise given to the press by President Howard W. Hunter on the passing of Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith.  He committed all of us "Keep the Commandments" by studying the scriptures every day, having a kneeling prayer at least two times every day, and by doing some service to someone every day.  He promised that the Lord would help and protect us if we did those things.  We, too, know that the Lord will bless us every day as we keep His commandments and serve others.  May the Lord continue to bless and be with our family and friends.

With love,
JoAnn and Jim

                                                  A beautiful sunset last week about midnight. 
                                                 This week all the leaves are out on the trees.

                                    At the Anchorage Temple with Stephen and Kendra Tibbs and
                                 Melanie and Travis Payton - two of our temple preparation couples.

            At the zoo with Shalae, Gavin, Soren, Daniel, Maren, and Savannah Lund.

                                                          The grey wolf of Alaska.

                                                            The Dahl sheep.

                                                     A brown or grizzly bear.

                                                       A black bear.

                              The end of the Matanuska glacier.

                                      The Matanuska glacier begins in the canyons at the far left.

     We were in Anchorage this week for the temple sealing of Kendra and Stephen as shown above. We had the opportunity to teach Kendra in the temple preparation class, and both of them were also in our eternal marriage class. As a married couple they will not be attending the YSA branch any longer.  Kendra asked if they could still attend institute class, and of course we told her they surely could. Spring has finally arrived here in Alaska, and Anchorage as well as Fairbanks have now greened up nicely and the forest has taken on an entirely new look. Both JoAnn and I have observed how it feels like a totally different place from the frozen winter conditions. We drove back from Anchorage via the Glenn highway which is a scenic by way (as if all of Alaska were not that way). The highway works it's way through spectacular snow capped and glaciated mountains of the Alaska Range. It was a very pleasant drive.
     In Anchorage we stayed with a member family by the name of Lund. Sister Lund is a cousin of one of the young single adults working in Fairbanks who made the connections for us to stay with the family. The Lunds have five great children, and we just acted as surrogate grandparents to them. We went to the Anchorage zoo with sister Lund and the kids for a couple of hours and had a great time. The pictures of the animals above were all taken at the zoo, not in our back yard.  We stopped at Chillis restaurant in Anchorage to check with the girl that was interested in the church we gave her more information on the local missionaries and encouraged her to contact them. We will give her some time to see if she does before our next follow-up.
     We had a YSA fireside tonight where Pres. and sister Wood spoke of their mission to Africa and their pending assignment as mission President in South Africa. They talked about the explosive growth of the church in Africa and of the faithfulness and missionary zeal of the new members there. They said the YSA branch in southern Africa had 30 baptisms during the year they were there compared to the 12 or so per year that our YSA branch in Fairbanks has averaged. Pres. Wood said he was sure a lot of the difference has to do with the distractions of prosperity we have in the USA. We continue to have young people return from college and others coming to work for the summer in Alaska so the branch continues to grow. We are going to have to learn a whole new batch of names for the summer institute that resumes this week.
     Being with the Lund family makes us  more aware of how much we love and miss our grandchildren.

Love,
Jim and JoAnn

                                                      "Hello" to all our family and friends.

                                   We had a very clear day to catch a glimpse of Mt. McKinley.

                                               This is known as the "mosquito  trap." 
                                               The mosquito is often called the "state bird."

A quilt for Kendra and Stephen.

                         One sure sign of spring.  This robin was gathering moose hair to make a nest.

This evening we had a wonderful Institute and Seminary graduation.  I'll admit, it was a bit crazy getting everything ready.  We had students qualifying at the last minute and printer issues in printing the certificates.  However, things went rather smoothly in the end.  We had all the seminary students practice singing "We Thank Thee, Oh God, For a Prophet" in their classes.  Tonight all of them came together for one rehearsal just before the meeting began.  There was a wonderful spirit as they all bore their testimonies together in song.  We had two speakers from the Institute and two speakers from Seminary.  It was a two hour drive for many of the students to get to Fairbanks.  They are great kids and have a good foundation to build upon.  It was a great opportunity for us to see some of the seminary teachers again that we have only met once before.  They have great commitment to prepare every day to teach at 6:30 am.  I'm proud of the kids that are willing to get up early every morning to attend seminary classes.  That includes my grandkids in Ely.

Life in Alaska is definitely different.  We keep hoping to see some new leaves on the trees.  The only flowers you can find are in nurseries and greenhouses.  We did see some dandelions at Fort Wainwright this week.  I never thought I would be happy to see dandelions.  Jim helped Pres. Olsen put up the greenhouse in the back yard here.  We have purchased a few tomato plants and some squash.  We'll see how they do.  Gardening here is very different.  We have seen mounds in yards in preparation for planting.  The soil stays too cold for some plants with the permafrost underneath.  The light is interesting to get used to.  I woke up at 2:00 am last night and it was just dusk outside.  It's hard to tell what time it is!

With Seminary and Institute classes over (at least for a couple of weeks) we are now planning for summer.  I hope to be able to make progress in cataloging our library.  Kendra Day and Stephen Tibbs from the Branch are getting married in the Anchorage Temple on Friday and have invited us to attend.  That will be a nice trip.   It's a blessing to see their commitment to becoming an eternal family.  (I'm grateful to Sister Olsen for her wonderful stash of fabrics that she has shared.) 

 We love being here in Alaska.  It's quite the adventure.  May the Lord continue to bless you as he has been blessing us.

Love,
JoAnn and Jim

                          This is a picture of Denali (Mt. McKinley) in the distance with one of it's glaciers
                          flowing to the valley below. This view from our airplane at 20,000 ft. was
                          taken on our trip to Anchorage.

                                                  Giant mastodon at the Anchorage museum.

                                                 Eagle and the giant clam totem in Anchorage.

                                                      Raven stealing  the moon and the stars.

                                         This picture was taken at 11:00 pm, and as you can see it is not very dark.
                                         The days continue to get longer as we move into summer. Also notice that
                                         the snow has finally melted.

     This past week we spent three days in Anchorage for CES training at the institute in Anchorage that is an exact duplicate of our building in Fairbanks. We met the new CES missionary couple in Juneau. They are the Schindlers from San Diego, California.  We spent a day training each other in the policies and procedures of the seminary and institute programs. With all of the business items completed, we then had the opportunity to teach a little doctrine to the group and focused on the Godhead.  While in Anchorage we also attended the temple  a couple of times, went walking and visited the Anchorage museum. We are getting used to the city of Anchorage and it actually resembles the Salt Lake Valley because it is a city with snow capped mountains on the east and the waters of Cook inlet to the west. We stayed at the mission home for the first time. It is located in a very nice neighborhood and is spacious and comfortable. We stayed in what is affectionately known as the " General Authority room."  It is just an extra room in the home for guests.
     We had an interesting experience there in Anchorage when we were a little bit lost. We had stopped at a shop on a frontage road then drove south to an unknown exit on the Seward highway.  JoAnn needed a drink so we went looking and found a Safeway store to go in and buy a beverage. While inside the Schindlers called and said they had arrived and we would meet them for dinner. We had noticed a Chillies restaurant across the street from the Safeway so we told them we would meet them over there. JoAnn and I went over to the the restaurant and went in to get a table for us and the Schindlers. The girl who took us to our table noticed JoAnn's missionary name tag and  asked what it stood for. JoAnn proceeded to explain to her what it all meant and who we were. Then the young lady said she was looking for a church and we told her about the YSA branches in Anchorage (there are two) and gave her some contact information.  It like we were meant to go to that specific restaurant at that time. When we return to Anchorage in two weeks for the sealing of a YSA couple from our branch we are going to stop by to follow up with that young lady.
     While we were gone the YSA had a service project to help the town clean up trash on the highways around town. Every one here seems to be cleaning up the town in anticipation of the tourist season.
     Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers in our lives.  We love and appreciate all of you.

Jim and JoAnn

                         Home Evening at Sister Maynes home.  Part of the group having refreshments.

     Creamer's Field Wildlife Refuge.  Spring is here when the Canada Geese start to return.  Thousands of them will return to this field.

                                           A barbershop quartet serenade at the Branch Prom.

                                            What a strange house!  It's tricky to get up to the door.

                                                               Branch Prom picture.

We have been enjoying the warmer weather.  Spring is beginning to poke it's head up and the snow is mostly melted.  We have had a chance to take a couple walks after Institute classes and have found some very interesting things.  At Creamer's Field, thousands of Canada geese return.  They plant barley in the field so that the geese will be out of the flight path of the airport.  It seems to work.  The first person to spot a goose wins a prize.  There were swans and other birds as well.  Lots of parents and children were there to see them, too.  On Saturday we found the strangest house we have seen yet.  We only scratch our heads at what we find here.  There are two metal towers holding this house up.  I guess they have a great view of the aurora in the winter, etc.  Right now the sun sets about 10:30 pm.  The mosquitoes are starting to come out.  The word is that the mosquito is the state bird.  Fun times.

Friday was the Branch Prom.  It was a fun affair and the students worked hard to prepare for it.  There were several students that came alone and all of them had a great time.  We were impressed at how often they changed partners and danced with everyone.  Our elders quorum president sings in a barbershop quartet and asked his group to come serenade us before the dance began.  They were really good.  It was a nice treat.

Today our Sacrament Meeting almost doubled in size.  There were new people here to work for the summer and students returning from school as well.  We have been so impressed with their desire to live the gospel and be strong in their testimonies of the Savior.  Tonight we had the CES Fireside with Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, the Church General Primary President.  She gave a wonderful address encouraging the audience to gain testimonies and direction in their lives through living the gospel.  We had a really good group come.  It was the largest group we have had.   It's such a blessing for us to get to know these young adults.

Classes are ending this week for this semester.  We have really enjoyed working with the students and our other classes.  Summer will be a little different, but we will enjoy the challenge to keep busy.  We have had four boxes of books donated to the library.  I'm getting excited about the opportunity to better organize our library this summer.

We love and miss all our family and friends.  May the Lord continue to bless you.

Love,
JoAnn & Jim

                                    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