So it's winter in the U.P., we think. Just like in much of the country it has been unusually warm here with one day last week getting up to 50. I've enclosed a couple of photos that prove we do still have some snow and ice to deal with. This photo was taken in the parking lot of the chapel in Marquette. New Years Day we had a snow storm that turned into a lake effect monster with some areas, along the coast, getting 2 feet or more. Marquette received about a foot. This photo was taken at our District meeting on Wednesday. This was a transfer week in addition to a holiday week.
New to our district and new to the mission field is Elder Serrano from Orem. He was sent to Houghton on the Keewaunau peninsula, the farthest north city in the U. P.; it literally snows there every day. We have two other missionaries who transferred into the district. They seem like great missionaries. One, Sis. Bastian, "got" to come to Marquette where she replaced Sis. Maughn. The new missionaries are well trained and enthusiastic and we are always excited to get them.
This week we moved some of our regular lessons around and began new teaching cycles with Br. Peters and the Kopskis. People make progress at different rates. Also I was finally able to talk again with the young man who had requested a B of M and a Bible. Lucas is a very busy young adult so it may be awhile before we can connect. He said he needs to go Marquette for some training. That is a good thing. While in the city where Lucas lives we shared the "Bible Videos" with a sister in her 80s. We have them loaded on the I-pad, she became fascinated with the miracle that is the tablet computer. We agreed, it seems like a miracle for sure. The I-pad has given us an extra dimension to our efforts. Some have heard rumors that the missionaries in Japan have I-pads issued to them. I don't know about that but I can see where they will become a part of missionaries' futures. (Thanks again to our wonderful families for their thoughtful gift of our I-pad, it has made a BIG difference!)
In a place where the winter temperature rarely is above freezing you would think a refrigerator would have a easy time of it. But nooooo, ours figured it was time to go on vacation. We tried everything including plugging it in several different outlets. No luck, it kept tripping breakers. Our landlord came and replaced the breaker to no avail. Turns out the repairman couldn't come until Monday, 4 days later. So, we have taken our food from our refrigerator to an empty one at the church. We have eaten out more (found at least one good restaurant), eaten stuff that comes in cans and boxes and reduced our grazing. Turns out that living where it is cold in the winter does have one advantage, we are able to store perishables outside on our deck. In spite of the afore mentioned warming trend it is still cold enough at night to keep our stuff cold.
Speaking of cold, below is a picture of a circular depression just 3 blocks from the house in Kingsford. When we arrived in September we could not figure out what it was for. Now you can see that it is used as a skating/hockey rink, and has been for years. By the way it is across the street from the only Mexican restaurant we have found in the area...Maria's Cantina.
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| Can you find the hockey pucks, there are at least two? |
We had a great Testimony meeting today with one member giving thanks and credit to a faithful home teacher who stuck with her and helped her back into activity. I was also asked to give a blessing of comfort to a non-member who is having some real challenges at home. She came to church with her member friend. It felt great to be on the Lord's errand and to help provide comfort to her that only the Lord can give His children.
With love from the U.P.,
Elder and Sister Johnson
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