Today we hiked several miles on the 12-mile Tony Knowles Coastal Trail along the "Knik Arm."   We started at Earthquake Park, created in commemoration of the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, which measured 9.2 on the Richter Scale!  With more earthquakes than any other part of the country, Alaska is considered one of the most seismically active areas of the world.  As you can see, Spring has still not arrived here.

28 April 2012:  Last night we had a lovely dinner at the Anchorage mission home with a big group of senior missionaries.  Here we are with President John Beesley and his wife, SuuzE. He was raised in Rexburg, and she in St Anthony.  They stay very busy keeping track of such a large mission.  Alaska is 2 1/2 times the size of Texas, plus they have the Yukon Territory in Canada as well.  Today they were flying to Barrow to check on the elders there. 

28 April 2012:  Several mornings a week we do exercise walking early in the morning up and down the halls at a local enclosed mall.  This stuffed bear is on display there and always gives us a little chill!  Some of the stores open onto a huge ice skating rink inside the mall!  Last week we got to teach a Institute lesson on Ezra and Nehemiah.  It was really fun to study hard on these scriptures, find principles in them, and share them with the students.  We also had a quarterly faculty meeting with Seminary and Institute leaders, and our senior-missionary-couple counterparts from Juneau and Fairbanks.  They are great couples doing a wonderful job supervising seminaries and teaching Institute in their areas.  In this photo, Elder Hawkins is standing with (l to r) Elder and Sister Spens (assigned to Fairbanks), Elder and Sister Powell (assigned to Haines), Elder Parker, and Elder and Sister Campbell (office missionaries). 

16 April 2012  Yesterday we had a special evening at the home of the Director of Seminaries for Alaska, Ralph VanOrden.  He and his wife hosted a lovely meal and visit for us and the Bacons and the Beams with Elder Val Johnson, Commissioner of Education for the Church. It was inspiring to hear Elder Johnson speak with us in that close setting about his vision for Church Education.  He was asked what he thought was the most important thing we could do to strengthen the youth of the Church, who are being raised "in enemy territory."  His response was that the media today are controlled by men incredibly skilled in marketing evil, and that in order to resist the adversary and maintain faith, young people need to feel the power of the Atonement in their lives and have personal experience with the Spirit in the forgiveness of sins. They may not be able to resist evil by reason and logic and debate, but their faith can be sustained by deep feelings of the Spirit that cannot be denied.   

As we were leaving the Institute building today, we encountered TWO MOOSE who were munching on the trees and bushes on the grounds of the ward building nearby.  One appeared to be interested in going into the church, as if he could read the sign posted by the door:  "Visitors Welcome."

Director, Eric Bacon, Elder Hawkins, and four members of the Institute of Religion Council

11 April 2012:  We have loved getting to know the group of OUTSTANDING  LDS young adults in the Anchorage area.  Saturday we attended a baptism of a young man who was taught by the elders in one of the two Anchorage YA wards.  (There is another YA baptism this Saturday.)  Then Sunday we attended a YA ward for Easter and were so impressed with the fine spirit there.  The talks and lessons were excellent.  The YA wards are led by fine, seasoned bishoprics, yet the  "kids" are handling all the leadership, as they should.  They represent quite a "melting pot" of backgrounds.  Some are working minimum-wage jobs; others are polished professionals.  Some come from solid, long-established LDS families; some are brand new to the Church.  Some are fresh out of high school;  others have graduate degrees.  TESTIMONY and LOVE are the common theme. Last night we attended Institute classes.  One of Mary's assignments is to prepare some kind of home-baked treat, so the students will be greeted with tantalizing aromas when they come to attend class.  She made some blueberry muffins which were a great hit! Last night  Mary attended a fine mission preparation class.  Curtis attended Eric Bacon's (the Institute Director) class on Ezekiel in the Old Testament, attended by about 25 students.  He is a charismatic, EFY type teacher but delivers substance and utilizes classroom technology.    The Institute also offers a couple of small day-time classes and a couple of additional small evening classes, and the Pathway class with about 7 students taught by a local radiologist and his wife.  In the fall, we will teach Book of Mormon and be facilitators for the new Pathway cohort group.  In the last few years, since the Church-wide establishment of YSA wards, the Institutes of Religion have given up most of their importance as centers for social functions. It is exciting to be part of the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion effort:  "Our purpose is to help the youth and young adults understand and rely on the teachings and Atonement of Jesus Christ, qualify for the blessings of the temple, and prepare themselves, their families, and others for eternal life with their Father in Heaven."  What could be more important!

7 April 2012:  Today we made our first visit to the Anchorage Temple.  It is only about 15 minutes from our apartment.  It reminded us a lot of the Newport Beach Temple in size and layout--a perfect little jewel with Alaskan touches.  Inside were beautiful murals of coastal inlets and mountains and even moose.  Patrons remove their coats (bulky) and shoes (gritty and slushy) right inside the front door.  Another first today was being a part of history here in Anchorage.  We had over three inches of snow which put us over the top in breaking the all-time snow record for the city; Anchorage has now had 134.5 inches this winter.  There are huge mountains (40 feet high) of cleared snow deposited around the city.  Some people predict they will not fully melt by next winter when snow starts falling again!  Yesterday we met with our mission president and his wife, President and Sister Beesley.  He was raised in Rexburg and she in St Anthony.  He was an Air Force pilot and test pilot.  We have many common Rexburg acquaintances; they hope to retire in Rexburg after their mission.

5 April 2012:  Yesterday we woke up in Tok, the dog-sled capital of the world.  (Locals claim there are about 6 dogs for every human resident.)  We drove south to Anchorage over part of the Alaskan Highway through the most spectacular scenery!  We encountered range after range of  snow-covered mountains and got a good look at the Matanuska glacier which flows for 27 miles out of the Chugach Mountains, with an average width of two miles.  We were eager to get our first glimpses of the Anchorage Basin as we drove down out of the mountains.  We skirted the fertile Mat-Su Valley (of giant-vegetable fame), by Wasilla (Sarah Palin's hometown), through Eagle River (large LDS concentration), and into Anchorage.  Here we are getting used to a confused layout of streets; many are one-way and have names that change from block to block.  Along the roadways there are still huge banks of snow from the winter's record snowfall.  Everything is encrusted with grit and gravel; we have never seen so many DIRTY cars--and ours is one of them!  We were welcomed so warmly by the senior missionaries at the Mission Office.  They had our apartment cleaned, furnished and ready for us--even with fresh flowers and a box of Alaskan chocolates!  We have a lovely kitchen (including dishwasher), sunny dining area, ample living room, bedroom (king sized bed) and study. One drawback:  A neighbor here cautioned us to watch out for moose in the apartment parking lot.  Today we met with the director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute, Brother Eric Bacon, who got us excited about his program and the potential for reaching out to young single adults in the area.  Tonight we will have our first opportunity to meet with the BYUI Pathway cohort group and sit in on their Pathway and Book of Mormon classes.  We are excited to get busy here! 

Our Alaska phone number is 907-306-7969      
Our address here is 7211 Meadow Street Apt B, Anchorage, AK  99507

2 April 2012:  We were welcomed at the dock in Haines, Alaska by long-time Rexburg acquaintances, Elder Don-David Powell and Sister Renee Powell.  They are currently serving as "member-leader-support" missionaries in the tiny branch there.  They keep busy helping the local members and promoting goodwill for the Church with community service.  Behind them is the chapel where, on a good Sunday, 20 will attend services.  To the right is the small cabin where they live.  Haines received 366 inches of snow this winter. 

On 1 April, 2012, we transferred ferries in Ketchikan, which has the best collection of totem poles in Alaska.  Mary is standing by historic Creek Street in Ketchikan.

Alaska Marine Highway ferry.  31 Mar 2012.

The sight of acres of daffodils in bloom was breathtaking!

30 March 2012:  On our drive north, we stopped to see the acres of daffodils that were blooming in the fields of the Skagit Valley in Washington.  Driving on to Bellingham, we boarded the Alaska Marine Highway ferry along with several hundred other passengers sailing to Alaska. This ferry route services the coastal communities which have limited or no road access to the rest of the world.  Most of the passengers were Alaska residents on their way home after spending some of the cold winter "in the lower 48."  We enjoyed visiting with some, salmon fishermen, campground owners, etc. who were eager to get back to work and prepare for the busy summer season.  While it was too COLD to spend much time out on the deck, we loved sitting in the forward observation lounge and watching the stunning scenery go by.  We passed hundreds of miles of green coastline, snow-topped mountains, vast glaciers, and tiny native fishing villages.