Nome, AK

Nome is located on the Bering Sea just about a 30 minute flight south of the Arctic Circle.  I know this because that's how long it takes to fly from Kotzebue, just north of the Arctic Circle, to Nome, and the flight goes first to Kotzebue, lays over for all of 20 minutes and then onto Nome.  One of Rick's responsibilities on the High Council is to audit the Branches in our Stake.  He was assigned to go to Nome this month (which means an automatic speaking opportunity) and I went with him because many, many men in suits sitting around a big, big table thought it would be a great idea.  I have three Seminary students who live in Nome,...and wouldn't it be nice if I could go and meet them...oh, and since I was going I could speak too.  So I went, and since my topic was finding true Happiness, I tried to keep my murmurs to myself.

We got up at 3:00 am, dressed in our Sunday best and drove to the airport where we boarded a Combi (cargo in the front and passengers in the back).  It felt a little weird to be flying in our Sunday clothes but I reminded myself that missionaries do it all the time.  I don't think we stood out too much, there was a high school group, miners, native Alaskans, and the Branch Pres. and his wife coming back from a trip to Utah (still in their vacation clothes).

The airport in Nome has two runways, a long one and a short one.  The long one has a big sink hole in it so it was shut down waiting for repairs.  The short one is...well, short.  Nome had been socked in with fog all week and so many of the people on our flight had tried to get in several times.  Apparently there is only one pilot who will make a landing on the short runway when visibility is low.  There was a lot of cheering and clapping when we landed.

We arrived in Nome 30 minutes before church started, caught a ride with the B.P. and his wife, they dropped us off at the church and went home to get ready themselves. We walked into the building and waited for someone to come all the while listening to the Elders who live in the apartment above the chapel banging around....maybe they were doing exercises, finding a favorite tie, or their shoes.

We did have a wonderful day in Nome.  It is a community of about 3500 to 4000 - depending on who you ask, bigger in the summer because of the fishing and gold mining.  We were invited to dinner by a couple who had just moved to Nome and another couple invited us to see a little of the landscape.

Nome Meetinghouse

The chapel, there are partitions to the left that are stored against the wall, the chairs are moved and the room is divided up for R.S. and Young Women of which there are two.

I loved the landscape, it was breathtaking.  Not so sure I would feel that way in the middle of winter.

Topping off the tanks - this after Rick's talk on keeping covenants.  This couple was kind enough to take us on a ride and outfit us for it too.  I know it looks like we are cold, but for a summer day in AK it wasn't all that bad.  We were just preparing for a ride along the beach.

  There are about 75 miles of road that can be driven three different ways out of town - in the summer.  I don't know how long a tank of gas would last, but at these prices it might be a good thing no one can go too far.

These are the rigs used to dredge gold from the floor of the Bering Sea.

There were camps all along the shore.  The miners will dig the banks of the beach to find gold.  There were streaks of dark red dirt that sparkled in the sunlight.  I wished I would have had something to gather some in.  These men will work all summer along the beach and my get only $1500 worth of gold.

More camps.

Musk ox.

The docks are full of these cargo containers, there are lots full of old cars and junk.  Everything that goes to Nome is shipped in by air or boat.  I think it all must come in but not much goes out.

Museum of mining equipment...
or another bone yard.

Our Missionary

Five months ago we were in the dark days of winter, on our way to setting a new snowfall record, sitting all together in the living room.  Bryan was on the laptop and Rick and I were lending our suggestions, wanted or not, as he finished up the last of his mission papers. Bryan had been dragging his feet up to this point, but once he pressed send he wanted those mission papers in hand and to be on his way.  He dogged the bishop and stake president, getting in to see them as quickly as possible and making sure they punched the send button.  He started watching the mailbox after a  week and after another week, made phone calls to find out where his papers were in the process. (held up at church headquarters)


Finally his call arrived and although it didn't say Africa, he was happy to get them here and start counting down the days.  Truthfully, he was a little disappointed to be going to Lubbock, TX and had a few days struggle with it.  We had just gotten home from church and was enjoying a rare day of sunshine, hanging out in the living room when he made a comment about the Sunday School lesson that day.  Brother Rose our teacher said that we should not so much be praying for what we want, but what the Lord wanted for us.  Bryan said he realized he had been praying for the wrong thing.  From that moment on he looked forward to going to Texas.


Bryan and I almost immediately started making plans to go to St. George so he could go through the temple there.  Rick kept reminding us that we have a lovely temple here in Anchorage.  We pointed out that this was true, but that it did NOT have family close by.  (We also pointed out the benefits of the missionary clothing package at Adrians - never mind that we had to pay airfare to reap those benefits)

We had a great time in Utah.  It is always good to be with family.


We had three weeks after we came home before Bryan had to enter the MTC.  I hung on to every day for as long as I could, but for Bryan it couldn't go by fast enough.  I happily did all his wash, made his bacon and eggs in the mornings and even made a lunch or two when asked.  I would have cleaned his bedroom and packed up for him too if he would have let me, especially since he left it all until the night before.  (Not sure why I expected him to be any different than the other boys)

I had initially planned to fly to Utah with him, spend a couple of days in Salt Lake and then drive him to the MTC.  It was an ongoing battle with myself of whether to go - stay - go - stay.  In the end we said our good-byes to him at the Anchorage airport.

It was easier knowing that he had brothers and a sister that wanted to be there for him when he got off the plane.  

Five months ago we were well past our heads with mounds of shoveled snow out side our door, the temperatures were in the teens or lower.  Night came on in the late afternoon and didn't leave until midmorning.  We now go to bed long before the sun sets and are up usually around 5:00 or 6:00 (depending on the day) and don't need to turn the on lights to see our way around.  Five months ago we were a family of three (four just a few weeks before that) here in Alaska and now we are a family of two.  Life never stays the same!


We have had some great emails from Bryan while he was at the MTC...  "It's such a thrill to just be learning so much, I love that you can constantly feel the spirit, and the Holy Ghost is constantly testifying of the truthfulness of everything that is taught here, I can honestly say the last week has been the best of my life..." I have never sang so many hymns, said so many prayers, and felt the spirit so much."  "I am loving it...I am learning so much, the term drinking from a fire hose couldn't be any more applicable than it is here..."


To wrap this up I am going to quote Heather:  "ummmm - who wrote that and what did they do to Bryan"


***Bryan is in his first area now, Roswell, NM...hanging out with the aliens :)

Bryan's Adventures

Bryan decided to put the missionary hours to the test and woke up at 6:30 am.  This is considerably earlier than his normal get up and go time.  I think with a few extra morning hours he was desperate for something to do, so he went for a hike up Baldy a mountain peak just north of our home.  These pictures were taken at about 9:00 this morning.

 Lights of Eagle River

 Just a little windy!

The weather has been crazy this winter:  snow, rain, wind, temps as low as -11 and as high as 42.  It certainly hasn't been boring.  Bryan caught a few pictures of our lovely windstorm this afternoon.

Just a little snow blowing to and fro.

New Year's Eve

We had an invite to spend New Year's Eve playing games and eating the standard goodies with some friends, ...but we let Bryan talk us into driving to Alyeska Ski Resort to watch the torch run.  And we were glad we did.  It was a perfect way to watch the New Year come in.

At the base of Alyeska...lights on the ski runs.

Starting the descent.

And they are down!  There were maybe 200 skiers and snowboarders.

 

And of course the fire works!

 

This was one of those spur of the moment ideas... "What a cool thing to do, shall we go? shall we not? what do we tell our friends?  do you think we will be cold?"  It also involved looking at the weather, and finding out the conditions of Seward Highway, which can be treacherous in bad weather.  Rick, who hates driving in the snow (ha! ha!) was not too keen on the idea, but he pulled on his snow gear with a "if I have to" face and got behind the steering wheel.  I am sure the thought crossed his mind that we would go with out him...and we might have... We stopped for a nice holiday meal at Wendy's and we were off.  I do recommend hand warmers and toe warmers for this kind of activity (or non activity - since it involved standing in a single spot) a must.  It was great to be out with just the family, as few of us as there are, we still enjoy spending time together.  

-- and just so you don't think we are flakes, it was a fairly large group of friends getting together, so we weren't leaving any one high and dry...