Hello From the rainy wet tundra,
It is our first week in Juneau Alaska. We have seen it snow at 37 degrees and I am astonished. I thought it would only snow at 32 or less. Not so. I have seen it. In this first 5 days I have seen snow and rain every day. One day we saw the sun. Our first. It is so beautiful around here it takes your breath away. Beauty comes with a price of wet weather. I saw women wearing those rubber fishing boots up to their mid calf and wondered at it. Now I am looking for some I can wear. They wear their boots and often carry shoes (or not); never do they wear shoes in someone’s home. So you have to have clean socks with no holes. (Sad) The pools of water outside our apt. are 4 inches deep with slush mixed in. Thus, Boots! Today I saw a woman with red rubber boots. A lady told me that in Alaska they felt it appropriate to wear them with dresses. Yuk! So the best name brand is Bogg so I am going to go out and find some. Not to wear to church but I will change when I get there. The weather is so sloppy. It is water slush. Again today.
Our Apt is about 800 sq feet. Built in the 1960’s. We have a small kitchen (falling apart and dirty, which we are going to clean and repair today) a fairly large living area with some couches that when you sit on them you are 1 foot from the ground. I am going to find pillows to bolster them up and make them suitable. Bathroom is workable now that it is cloroxed from top to bottom, toilet seat changed. (It must have been the original toilet seat, with wood chips in it. We were afraid of slivers). It reminds me of those old collage days when we had plastic shelves over the toilet for storage. We have one. Our bedroom is definitely large enough to have two twins because our twin air mattresses fit fine. We are sleeping happily and comfortably. Mostly exhausted so it doesn’t matter were we sleep. I wanted to describe it to you and then I will say we are making it comfortable and clean and it will be a good place to live for 18 months. We are not at all unhappy. The flight of stairs makes it a little difficult but in 2 weeks our lazy bodies will adjust to that also. So tomorrow I do laundry (in a washer and dryer downstairs that all use). I hope you all appreciate your own washer and dryer in a convenient place. Say a thank you prayer. We can’t find a Laundromat. There is only one in town so the immediate assumption is the ones here will be better. So I will try to get it done during the day when few are home.
We do not live in the dark ages. We have a Costco, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Safeway, Fred Myers, so how can we complain. Fred Myers is good. It even has organic. I have found some who care about what they eat. But by in large the people here are really sloppy fat. I have a new motivation. I don’t want to look like that. They call it the Alaska 40 lb s. They say all missionaries gain 40 lbs. Starting tomorrow---Not me.
Now to the important part: On Monday (the day we arrived) we went to Family Home Evening with the Young adults (18-30 in age) This is a night in the church that all families take time to be together and have a small lesson, play games and just be together. We met a lot of the young people we will be working with. When I say working with, I mean that we will help bolster their confidence, make them feel loved and help them with their self worth. No small job in that age bracket as the world kind of comes down on them and says, “you are and adult now, face up to it”
As I was sitting there, I noticed a young woman who was sitting alone and no one was really speaking to her. I made my way to her and tried to get to know her. She was heavy set, wearing all black and being very quiet. So in my noisy way I got to know her. She has a master in library science and is working for the Alaska library here in Juneau. She is an “observer “ she says. She actually is the President of the Relief Society (women’s group). So I obviously read her somewhat wrong. We will see as I see her function in her responsibility. She said she doesn’t fit in.
I also met a young man (19) who just joined the Church. He told me that he had about 5 deaths in his family and had decided, “He was just done”. He was walking down the mountain and met the young missionaries. They helped him out of his despair and taught him the gospel. He was doing well and I will stay in contact with him and help him. He is going to the lower states and meeting up with a cousin he had not seen for 10 years. That will help him with his losses
The branch is full of Tongans Our ward that we would normally go to is 30 percent Tongan. It has an amazing spirit and every meeting was fabulous with the spirit. Today we attended 3 wards some of the time. We meet at 9:20 the 2nd ward meets at 9:00 so we picked up some of that ward, all of ours and then Sacrament meeting of the 3rd ward that we would normally be in. Last one was on Missionary work and they had the members raise their hand if the knew someone they would like to be members and then passed a piece of paper with a pen out to the members and they were to fill out a referral card. Great! The missionaries collected them at the end and they have more than the entire mission gets in a month to work on. They were riding high. We are requested to attend the leadership meeting in the morning with the branch. 8:00 am. Oh, my. Saturday is becoming more and more wonderful.
We spoke today and it went fairly well. I prepared a talk and then knew it wasn’t right. I just kept working on it and this morning I really knew. So I got up with no prep and spoke mostly about honesty.
We had Zone conference on Friday. It was a very long day. We got up at 4:30 am and went to get bagels and did some scripture chase with the kids. Basketball. Our object was to model the beginning of Seminary to the teachers, who walk it in on the dot and no music, no greeting, no happiness. Instead they were just plain angry about the whole thing. I had one teacher tell me that we were not allowed competition in seminary and that was by the book and he was not going to do it. Well I had the manual stapled to the evaluation paper they were supposed to fill out so I was covered on the opening but I never thought someone would zero in on the fun. So I went home and read the manual and it does not say that only heated competition. He is a very difficult boring teacher. Defensive because in his heart he knows he is not cutting it. He only has 6 of 15 there. Sad! The other one is a little softer but still not so teachable. He at least has the younger kids who come because parents make them. Sad seminaries.
Institute is wonderful. Very intelligent young adults. We love being with them.
Zone Conference was great. They made me roll play again which I hate but I did it. I was so exhausted by that time I couldn’t even think. Lots of pressure in Seminary that morning to perform so I was really wiped. But I enjoyed the spirit and the beginning of the new member Internet missionary program. There are new pass-along cards that leave the back blank for a personal message. They are nice cards for VT or HT as well. Really a neat program. You’ll all get it I am sure. We have only had it in our mission for 2 weeks. So I think it is new. I don’t know if that’s only new to our area or what.
We are just beginning our service to the youth. We love them. They are the same everywhere with the same needs. We know God loves his children and we can easily share that with them. What a blessing to be able to experience this at this time of our lives. It seems that what we have the opportunity to do has great worth verses our daily joys in Encinitas.
We love sharing the Gospel. We love you and miss all of you.
Love,
Elder and Sister Schindler