9/17/13

Friends,

Hello from Alaska.  We pray this finds all of you well.  We are fine.  But we are also getting cooler.  Today the high is in the mid 40's.  There is a possibility of snow over much of Alaska.  We are probably too low in altitude but the mountains around are to get snow today/tomorrow.  Ear muffs, gloves, and lighter winter coats feel good today.

We recently took pictures of a couple things tourists usually see.

This is the antler arch.  It is a bunch of moose antlers.

Fountain celebrating 25 years of statehood, erected in 1984.

An interesting bit of information about the Anchorage Mennonite Church.  It was started in the late 1980's.  There have been two pastors.  Neither one has had a funeral for a member.  The first pastor had a few funerals for community members.  The second pastor, who has been there 12 years (if I remember correctly) has never done a funeral.  As a former pastor that sounds almost unbelievable.

Around the Arctic Circle there are nine nations/states/provinces that participate in the Arctic Winter Games.  These are Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Alberta North, Nunavut, Nunavik-Quebec, Greenland, Sapmi, and Yamal.  I had never heard of some of these places either.  They are being held in Fairbanks this year in the middle of March. To host the games they need about 2500 volunteers.  We have both signed up to help.  We have already helped once.  Last Friday they had a rally to get more volunteers.  We handed out information and directed people to various events going on at the rally.  You can find out more about the Arctic Winter Games by going to www.awg2014.org  At the rally was Holly Brooks.  She is a member of the USA Olympic cross-country ski team.  She is from Alaska and was here to promote the AWG.  We talked with  her for a couple minutes and got her autograph.

People often talk about prices being higher here.  Last week Elva bought a can of Wild Caught Alaska Pink Salmon.  She purchased the cheapest can and it was $3.69.  She thinks for the same salmon it would be about a dollar higher around Wayland.  Washington, IA might have a cheaper salmon but it wouldn't be pink salmon.  This was very good salmon. The next priced canned salmon at Fred Meyer was about a dollar higher.  So far Elva hasn't found farm fresh eggs for sale.  Eggs in the store start at about $2.60+.  Also the eggs are not from corn fed chickens making the eggs look pale.

Last Saturday night was supposed to be a fair chance to see the northern lights.  They were supposed to be out from midnight to 2:00 a.m. Sunday.  So we set our alarm for 11:15.  Got up.  Drove about 10 miles north of town to a dark spot.  Unfortunately the moon was shining.  We stayed for about an hour.  Unfortunately we saw no northern lights.  We have found what we hope will be a better spot to look for them.

God's blessings to all

Larry