APRONS , FLOCKED TREES, AND SUNSETS

The sisters in the office are helping the mission president's wife prepare food for zone conferences so much that someone decided to buy them matching aprons. They are kind of snappy --Not bad for ladies over 60.

The ladies in matching aprons!

left to right: Sister Neff, Sister Campbell, Sister Parker

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Now, for Mother Natures flocking job...

It looks like the limbs are about to break.

These are crossed the street from the post office.

I found this and the following trees in the parking...

lot of a competing sect. What the heck?!

This is on the north side of the Strawberry Chapel

looking southwest.

This is looking southwest from the parking lot

of the mission office.

Alaska can serve up a beautiful sunset.

Another shot...

Same, with the zoom lens.

Another night, same subject.

These small trees are just at the entrance of the Anchorage

Temple, as you drive in from Brayton Ave.

The ominous looking background must have been condensation

on my camera lens.

A BALD, 75 YEAR OLD MISSIONARY WITH HAIR -- SORT OF --

I probably shouldn't post the following two pictures. But, Elder Neff, who is as bald as a billiard ball, looks kind of cute (as Sister Campbell puts it) with a head full of brown hair. Actually, it's a cap made of Beaver fur. There is a member here in North Anchorage who will make them if you bring her the Beaver. (Now, where to find a beaver??)

Sister Neff is tieing on the bonnet.

Not a bad look for a native Arizona boy.

ANNIVERSAY NUMBER 36!!

It was 36 years ago today that Sister Campbell and I marched into the Manti Temple to tie the ETERNAL KNOT. Those 36 years have brought seven children and four granddaughters.Now we are serving in the cold Alaska Anchorage Mission.


By the way, yesterday was our nine month click mark here in Anchorage. Technically, we are half way through with the mission here -- assuming that we don't extend. It's kind of up in the air, at this point. It depends on whether I survive the long winter's night. (The winter solstice is still a month away -- it ain't fun getting up in the dark and driving home at the end of the workday in the dark.)

The Misses and I in front of the mission office door.

That's sister Parker in the window taking a picture of 

herself taking a picture.

A little closer

Still closer. It's kind of hard to read the sign on the 

window -- and, Sister Parker is still there...

HERE COMES -UH, NO! - THERE GOES THE SUN (OR, THE YEARLY LIFE OF SOL)

I took this picture last summer late at night from our apartment front door. As a matter of fact the time stamp on the picture indicates the following: Thursday, ‎June ‎23, ‎2011, ‏‎12:18:10 AM. The sun had just gone down (more or less) and the angle of the sun from "true" north was somewhere from 15 deg. to 20 deg. west. This was taken just a day or so after the summer solstice.

Now look at the following three pictures:

 This was looking southeasterly at 10:00 AM

 This was taken at 12:00 noon.

Pretty well looking due south -
The sun obscured by clouds.

This was taken at 2:00 PM looking southwesterly.

The three last pictures were taken November 14, 2011. The sun is so low on the horizon that it is obscured by the trees outside the mission office door. Fun! I can hardly wait for the winter solstice! We're already driving to the office in the dark (even after going off daylight saving time). The sun is close to being down when we drive home NOW. Soon we will be driving both ways in the dark. I really don't enjoy a 25 minute drive in the dark twice a day. (BIG SIGH!!)

11/11/11 11:11:11 AM AND PM

This is just too unique a date to let pass without commenting upon it. The day of ELEVENTY-LEVENS. And, it happens twice today -- once in the AM and once in the PM. It's so unique that it should be an Apocalyptic sort of day -- at least filled with such sort of events.

11/11/11 11:11:11

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ON ANOTHER NOTE

We senior couples celebrated the Ante Meridian occurrence 11/11/11 with pictures and goodies and the like. Oh, and by the way, it was also Veterans' Day. We have four vets in our office.

 Our vets: Elder Parker, Elder and Sister Neff and Pres. Beesley.

 again!

 And, again!!

 It was a weird assortment of food, but there was 11 of everything--
befitting the day, I guess.

 I think that Sister Beesley was throwing something into my trash can.

Sister Campbell taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.

"HOW TO FRY A SUBARU" BY I. B. STUPID

Last week, I was awakened by my cell phone about 3:45 AM. I staggered to answer it, but I'm not too bright at that time of the morning -- so, the phone switched to message mode. I finally woke up, turned on a light (then I was bright), got a pencil and a note pad, and listened to the message.

"Hello, Mr. Campbell, This is the Anchorage Police Department. I'm trying to let someone know that is affiliated with the LDS Church building located on Strawberry. We had a neighbor report a car fire in the parking lot of the building. If you or someone else could call us at muff muff muff six. Have them refer to case number xxxxx."

Well, That certainly woke me up. And, I woke up Elder Parker, who is in charge of the car fleet and let him know. He responded to the chapel and let the President know. He came over, took some pictures and both he and Elder Parker talked with the fire department and the Police. Do you know how to spell "arson?" Do you know how to feel after a brand new $16,000.00 car with fewer than 500 miles on it has been totaled? Have you ever wanted to geld a human?

Well, all the cars are in a safe, locked-up, supervised place now. You can buy a lot of storage space for $16,000.00.

Elder P with the deceased Subaru

Mmmmm! Yummy! Fried tire!!!

The one mighty engine -- now toast!

The once luxurious interior --

Well, at least it didn't explode and burn up 5 other

new cars -- or the church.

How do you rotate the image?", he painfully asked.

ZONE CONFERENCES, CONFERENCES, TRANSFERS, AND SUCH

We've been privileged to attend some zone conferences while here. They have all been a sweet spiritual experience. We even had Elder William R. Walker from the First Quorum of the Seventy at one of conferences. That was a large zone conference. We had five zone worth of missionaries here at the Strawberry Chapel.

Here are some pictures from some assorted conferences

This first set of pictures wasn't exactly a zone conference. It was a sisters meeting for the sisters in the Anchorage area. (Sister Campbell was the photographer. So, if you don't like the pix, you can blame her.) Also, remember that you can click on the images to ENLARGE them.

This little sister is a small package of plastic explosives.

With her, it's lead or get out of my way.

One of the sister's singing --

Here's the whole "gang."

Sister C. is on the back row in a red sweater

LAST TRANSFER

Here is some of the bedlam at the mission home last transfer.

This is in front of Sister C's desk, looking

toward the front door.

Two elders on their way home. Good men! I'll miss them both.

The small strips they are holding are their names taken from my

housing board - their name strips have been there for 2 years.

A comedian! Good missionary!

The elder in the blue jacket spoke with me at his farewell

as my companion speaker when I was on the high council.

More Elders of Israel.

Jake, as it were --

Two more on their way home.

An Arizona boy!

They are on their way to Barrow - our norther-most city.

It will be dark 24 hours a day there soon and the temps will be

in the -60's for months on end. One of the elders is happy

to be going and one is not. Guess which. (by the way, they 

are tearing up the place. We've had to send them more supplies.)

The "home bounders" at the Mission Home.

This next set of pictures is from the Five Zone Conference when Elder and Sister Walker visited the mission. He is a member of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy and was President Packer's former Stake President!

Some of our senior couple missionaries

A Navajo and two Polynesians.

Interestingly enough, there are three Polynesian wards and one Tongan ward in the Anchorage area. So, what's up with that??

Named after a member of the Twelve.

Some of the sisters.

More sisters.

MORE sisters!

This is a picture of one of the zones with Elder and Sister Walker
and President and Sister Beesley.

The Relief Society who did the large meal.

Great food!

A surprise picture of President Beesley

A great missionary with an interesting past.

Oh, dem elders.

President and Sister Walker

Walkers and Beesleys