Ski Jumping and Prison...again

Here is an "old-timey" post card showing the Pine Mountain event.

 Today is the final day of the FIS Continental Cup Ski Jumping Tournament at Giant Pine Mountain. We dropped by on Friday to see what the venue was like. Turns out it was tailgating time even though the temperature was hovering around zero and the wind was such that the jumpers couldn't practice. People were building little ply-wood shelters to protect themselves from the elements. At least it was easy to keep the beer cold. It is the 73rd year the tournament has been here in Iron Mountain. That means it started here even before I was born. The local Kiwanis ski club  www.kiwanisskiclub.com is the main sponsor. Our branch president is the current Kiwanis president. One of his responsibilities is to help with the parking for the event so yesterday, he and the Elders were standing outside in the single digits and 20+ mph wind. He called late Saturday night after being outdoors all day asking me to teach the combined RS and Priesthood meeting on Sunday. His claim was, "he isn't as young as he once was". Who is? It was fine and turned out to be a good class.

 Bob Peters has been reading the B of M as he said he would and had some good questions to show for it. It is a truism that when we do things without focus or "intent" we don't pay the same attention as when it the result/payoff is personally meaningful to us. He was in church again today. We have high hopes for him.

 On Saturday we made the 2.5 hour drive to Iron River followed by Watersmeet and then on to the prison facility in Marenisco. We left a DVD about Jesus Christ in the door of the sister in Iron River who is the quilter that we met with last week. In Watersmeet we once again met the sister we have been reacquainting with the gospel after 30 years of no fellowshipping. She made us some very tasty lasagna for a quick lunch before I left to go to the prison facility. Sister Johnson then had a great time answering some of her questions and sharing some more of the gospel with her. She wanted to know about life after death...not, is there one; but, tell me all about it! Sister J. shared with her a video about Relief Society. Sister Anys was quite interested, it is a very nice video. She is sharing the DVDs we are leaving with a friend. She is also getting some push back about the Mormons from a local minister. It is good for us to be there often. (When you live 90 miles away often seems to be once a month) Sis J. also took the opportunity to practice the talk she gave in church today. It went well...both times.

 So if you have never been to prison and you need to go, this is the only way.  Show up with a minister's credential and you won't have to fill out all of the regular visitor paperwork. You will still have to go through the metal detector, be patted down and have the insides of your shoes examined. A small price to play to be able to visit the member I found in this very out of the way place. He has served 7 years of a 9.5 year sentence. He enjoys full membership in the church, whatever he did, (He will send me a letter explaining his mis-deed) was not serious enough for him to lose his membership. He is about half way through earning an Independent Studies degree from BYU. He really appreciated my visit. The last time someone had visited him was about 2 years ago. When he was 13 he sent for a free B of M advertised on TV. He read it and put it aside. Years later when he and his wife were going through a "rough patch" part of the decision they made was to see if they could find a new church they could both feel comfortable with. He found and gave the B of M, which he kept all these years, to his wife. His instructions were, "read this and see if this is anything we would be interested in". She came back 3 days later saying, "you've got to read this".  He did, for the second time, and then they called Salt Lake and had them send missionaries. Some sister missionaries came and as the say, "the rest is history".

 Speaking of missionaries, this is transfer week and we are losing Elder Church who came out the same time we did and Sister Brady up in Marquette. We will get some great new ones, that is they way of the mission.

Could life be any better,

Elder and Sister J