May's Missionary Moments

 Institute--
  A few pictures of Institute activities in May.  On Friday nights we have SASWAFN.  I probably mentioned that before.  The first two pictures are from two different service projects that we did.  Stuffing pillows to go to children who are in the hospital.  I love it when the guys get involved in stuffing and sewing!  The next picture is sewing some quilts together for one of the ward Relief Societies.  No young men wanted to get near the sewing machines.

This is a picture of one of our Missionary Preparation classes.  Love these young adults!  This is a 15 week course that will finish up in August.












Every Tuesday and Wednesday we make cookies for the students to eat before/during class.  I am very grateful for Costco frozen cookie dough.  No matter how many we make, they all disappear.

We love Sundays

 I knew I would miss being at home on Mother's Day.  It helped to be able to FaceTime with my kids.  I was surprised at Church with a plant from Joanne.  She gave each mother there a plant she had started.  We also sang primary songs, I'm sure you can guess which ones.  It felt like Mother's Day after all!

There are two YSA wards in Anchorage.  Each Sunday we alternate attending one at 11:00 and one at 1:00.  We try to attend at least a Sacrament Meeting in one of the Polynesian wards at 9:00.  Asenath and Maddelynn are just two of the wonderful YSA women we have gotten to know and love.  The first time we went to one of the Polynesian wards I wanted to take a picture in Sacrament meeting, but resisted the urge.  It was still rather cold and dreary in Alaska and I fell in love with all the vibrant color we see in those wards.  The picture below is right after a YSA Sunday School class we attended.

This past Sunday we went to dinner at Dijay and Aijay's house.  Dijay was baptized just before we got here.  His twin brother Aijay is on the left.  Their friend Lloyd and the missionaries from their YSA ward were also there.  

 Two of Our Favorite Missionaries

Elder Hinatsu and Elder Bailey serve in the Cook Inlet YSA ward.  We have them over for dinner quite often.  Dinner wasn't quite ready one evening and so they are patiently waiting.  We are in their district.  Elder Hinatsu, on the left, is our District Leader.

 Summer in Alaska

Everyone kept telling us to be patient because summer really would come, and they were right!  It was like one day trees were just budding out and within a few days everything was green.  Can I just say I love it!  There are so many trees and it is beautiful.  On Memorial Day we hiked to Thunderbird Falls.  These are pictures we took along the way and one when we got there.  The falls aren't that big, but the hike was wonderful.  It was raining a little but was still wonderful.

I took the bottom picture on a recent Friday night as were getting ready to leave the Institute.  It was around 10:20.  About 19 hours of daylight right now!  Looking forward to the solstice celebrations on June 20th.