Keweenaw and the "End of the Road"

 This has been an interesting week. We have visited and inspected missionary apartments as per a request from Elder and Sister Foutz. What a challenging job they have. We were happy to assist. The Elders (and Sisters) in our district are the best, most committed we have yet had the opportunity to work with. The apartments were adequate and a far cry from some of the ones I "enjoyed" on my first mission. Like the one over the pub that always smelled of of urine or many that required you to get up early and build a fire in a little stove if you wanted any heat. These apartments even had showers and laundry facilities so that you didn't have to go into the village for your weekly bath and laundry run. Ahhh, the good old days...which were not so good after all.
 On Saturday we visited the Elders in Houghton, our District Leader and his companion. They live on the Keweenaw peninsula, that little finger of land that points north to Canada. They are great Elders with several baptisms in the last 5 months. While we were there they shared with us information about two interesting letters one their new Chinese convert received that encouraged her to learn everything she can about the church and when she returns to China to be sure and follow all government rules and regulations; the other sent to the Branch President encouraging him to give her all of the training and experience possible. It feels as though we are getting very close to being allowed into mainland China as an officially recognized religion, so start teaching our grandkids Chinese. After leaving the Elders, since we were so close, we decided travel to the end of the road (US 41). This is one of the most scenic parts of the Upper Peninsula. As we traveled north we were able to travel along the coast in many places (See the following pictures and video). Mining was the big industry here on the Keweenaw, especially copper. This is one of the only places in the world where copper occurs in "float" form which are huge chunks of pure native copper. It's called "float" because nuggets some weighing up to 1700 pounds or more are carried by water or ice from the places where they first appeared, often in the Keweenaw. Interestingly this copper was known to Native Americans. Big nuggets frequently show signs of being hacked and sawed on by enterprising individuals.

The snow-mometer north of Mohawk on US 41

Here is a close-up of the sign explaining the massive snow falls in this area.

West coast of the peninsula.

 Here is a short video showing the end of the road. Like I always said, "It's not the end of the world but you can see the end of the world from there". This time it is so true.

 We are continuing to teach Bob Peters. He is still reading the B of M and we take the weekly lesson from his reading with some additions from talks and videos to help make our point. His prayers are not as sincere as they could be so with Enos coming up we plan to address that issue. We are getting there and we can feel the spirit more often. He confessed he was learning more about the bible and the Book of Mormon than he has ever known. He attends church regularly. One Baptismal date has passed already, he is not yet on board with a new date. When that happens he will be a strong member. (As a non-member he is already stronger than some of our members)

We love you all and are excited to share our "doings" with you,
Grandma and Grandpa J