Today we attended a Samoan Flag Day celebration at a park in downtown Anchorage.  There are many Island people in the area; our North Anchorage Stake of 10 wards includes 3 Samoan Wards and a Tongan Ward.  Here the Diamond Samoan Ward is performing for the crowd.  It was touching to see them so joyfully and skillfully perpetuating their heritage in song and dance.  This group of 80 or so included all ages from Primary kids to great-grandparents.  One white-haired man came out with his walker to perform!  The Islanders are gracious, warm and loving to us, even though to them we must look quite scrawny and pale. 

Here are some of the Young Single Adults with whom we are privileged to work.  We have just completed a session at the Anchorage Temple which was part of a "summer of service" coordinated with other YSA groups in the Northwest Region of the Church.  The young adults here in Alaska are particularly faithful in their temple attendance.  Many serve each week in the temple as ordinance workers or as office staff as well.  

Here we are at a beautiful viewpoint on the Seward Highway heading back to Anchorage.  The summer foliage is in its glory.  The ground cover seems to grow every day with our extra long days.

We met this cute little puffin at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.  Alaska has more shore line than all the rest of the United States combined.  Because of the warm ocean currents that flow up into the Gulf of Alaska, the state also has unusually rich and diverse sea life.

Last Saturday we joined the two mission office couples, the Campbells and the Palmers, in driving down to Seward, 127 miles south of us on the Kenai Peninsula.  Here we are at the "Exit Glacier" in the Kenai Fjords National Park.  The compacted ice of the glacier was a stunning blue color.

Here are some of our darling YSA girls after their D&C class eating our home made bread.  One way we are keeping our summer class attendance up is by filling the Institute Building with the aroma of home made goodies.  These young people are fun to cook for because they are so appreciative. 

Flat Top

Here are our YSA hiking partners for the trek last week. 

 Behind Curt you can see Flat Top.  It is a popular hike in the mountains which rise above Anchorage on the east. Curt conquered it with some scrapes and bruises, but Mary was too chicken to make it to the top.  We all enjoyed sliding down the snow on the way down.

Today we hiked another lovely stretch of the
Turnagain Arm Trail.  The wild lupine are in their
glory right now.  A bonus was catching sight of a
Dahl Sheep which inhabit the rocky cliffs along this
trail above the Seward Highway. 

We try to feed missionaries every week, and have loved getting to know these wonderful young men.  Their spirit gives us a boost.  Here is this week's batch; each has an interesting story, precious testimony, and unique gift for the missionary work.  Elder Yang on the left is Hmong, from Minnesota, and is working in the Anchorage Hmong Branch. 

On Saturday we drove to the Kenai Penninsula and visited Hope, which was a mining boom town from1896 to 1900.  Along the roadside we noticed clumps of precious little wild forget-me-nots, the Alaska state flower.