Freezing, Tracting and North Pole

Alright, so this week we have been going a little crazy; probably because it cold and you guys know how I get hyper when I get cold (haha). It has been like -20, which is cold. For like one day it was like 20 on Friday. Anyway, we took advantage of that and went tracting. The houses on the street were close together, but they weren't (haha), so we ended up walking through a ton of snow. There were a couple people that answered their door; literally just a couple out of like... twenty. It probably just because nobody was home. But that's okay, it was fun. I have a really good coat.

This is the last week in the transfer. Come to find out we are actually not going to go to Huslia this week. They are going to do the trip just after Thanksgiving. That will work best because then the member up there will be off work, so he will be able to go out with us and help us teach. It will be really good because he knows everybody there. It will help people think about the message a little harder, and honestly put the effort into finding out if it's true or not. It's always nice when that can happen.

Questions:
1. Will you open Huslia up as a new area?

Yes, the fact that there are currently no missionaries up there, and again we will probably only be there a couple days.

2. Is there a branch there?

No, they are a part of the Fairbanks 3rd ward and video broadcast in. [NOTE: Huslia is over 250 miles away from Fairbanks, accessible by plane.]

3. Will you keep Fairbanks as your assigned area and just travel to Huslia to teach?
Yes

4. Will you be able to communicate via email in Huslia?

I know they have email capabilities, but I don't know if we would access them.

The Huslia trip won't be happening until the 23rd or 24th probably. It probably won't be any longer than a week either. The member out there is a school teacher and would be going with us to teach just about everywhere. That way it would be more effective. We will organize cottage meetings where the community can come and learn our beliefs. We would also want to do some community service.

Elder Record: Let's see, freezing, tracting... what else did we do Elder Beirne? We worked hard, I promise (haha).

Elder Beirne: Yeah, we did work hard. But I guess when you are working hard in the Spirit, you forget a lot of things. Because you are so diligent that it really doesn't hit you unless it's extremely powerful. It wasn't really extremely powerful this week, but it was still powerful; but not powerful enough to help us remember. Either that or we just watched Trumen Madsen for a while, so it's hard to think because that man was very intelligent.

Elder Record: True. Very true.

There is one person we are teaching. We are preparing him for baptism in a week or two. He is really progressing. I mean, he's grown leaps and bounds since we first met him. He came from not much of any religious background at all to really knowing that his Heavenly Father loves him and cares about him. So that's always fun to be a part of. He is right now working on listening to the Spirit and discerning answers to his prayers. We are excited to see what happens there. We have been seeing a lot of different people. So as far as stories that stand out, that is kind of the one that stands out to me.

There are a lot of good members up hear, a lot of good people. It's fun to rub shoulders with them.

Today for P-day we are going to North Pole to take pictures of all the Santa Claus stuff. You can't come clear up to Fairbanks and not take a picture of the north pole. They have like a legit north pole; like it's a pole that was a North pole. I think there is a story behind it. They have one that got dropped off up there at the North pole, but this was one of those but somehow they got it. But anyway, it's something like that; it's a North pole, and it's in the city of North Pole. Everything is decorated in candy canes. Even the McDonald's sign – the tower – it's colored like a candy cane. They have elves running around everywhere – just kidding, they don't.

I look forward to hearing from you all this week. It's exciting to see what might happen here in a week after transfers. Good luck to everybody. Have fun in school, if you're still in school; yeah, you're still in school. Just thinking about it, is going to be kind of weird seeing Annelise graduated when I get back. Chris will be taller than me and probably stronger than me. Eric is going to be tall too. Yeah, it's like the RM when he comes back and sees little Joe and little Joe is not little anymore. Anyway, good bye.

Love, Elder Record