March 15, 2021: Up 2 sNOw Good

 "O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people." (Alma 31:31)

Do I have patience and faith enough to trust in the Lord through every challenge in my life? Do I have that needed heavenly perspective? 

It takes effort to live in Alaska! Especially with the snow! But the Lord loves effort, so that's a win!!

Angela, an oldie, is staying here with her son as he goes through some family trauma! We go on walks often with her on the icy, steep roads. She designs jewelry for Tiffany &Co in New York. She grew up in Germany and speaks it fluently. I wish I would have paid more attention in my Mother's German class so that we could speak German together... 

We play card games with this 93 year old woman to bring her some joy. I said "we" play but it was basically just her smoking us at every game! I was very impressed. Me and Sister Turner are working on our card skills to beat her some day.

SO MUCH SNOW. Tuesday night we went to bed, then woke up to THREE FEET OF SNOW. NO JOKE. The snow was taller than the bottom of our car, past our knees. I've never seen or dreamed of so much snow? I think it was a wake up call from God saying "HELLO, YES YOU ARE IN ALASKA!". 

Our food was frozen shut every day this week. Our landlord had to bring out the big guns to unlock it... aka he kicked the door a ton of times until the ice broke! 

Every service opportunity we had outside, I would jump into snow pits that were deeper than my height! The snow at the church is plowed into big mountains of snow and during "pizza at the temple" I climbed up to the tallest mountain and surprisingly found some kids playing on the other side! They made an igloo and gave me their sled to hit the slopes;) (keep in mind I was in a dress and was fully covered in snow. #fullsend)

A finding opportunity I have thought of is to offer free photography sessions to families, couples, and individuals! I shot with 6 different families all in 2 days. It was such a great experience to get to know people, hype them up on how beautiful they are, and share why I'm here in Alaska! 

On an exchange with Sister Anderson(MY FAV), we chose to go to the Flattop trailhead to see the sunset. On the hike we met a man from Poland, 2 women from China, Sister Anderson's high school friends, and some cool snowboarders! The snowboarders asked us out on a date to McDonalds but we told them we were busy... Hahah!!

Choose JOY,

Sister Rex