Outcelts, Copper and THE "Gay" Bar

 We enjoyed a different kind of week, which included appointments being re-scheduled, illness-caused cancelations plus our focus is ever so slightly changing back to those things we must begin to think about upon our arrival back home. What things you ask? Things like doctor and dentist visits, what did our house really look like and will we be able to recognize our grandchildren? 

 We were, however, able to spend some productive time with a local judge and his wife, the Outcelts, who we met at one of the Mormon Next Door presentations. She is a very inquisitive and knowledgeable person. They invited us to have lunch with them at their picturesque cabin by a lake. It will be a cherished memory. We think he even eventually enjoyed our visit because, it seems in the beginning, it was her desire and her desire only that we stop by. She serves on the Marinette (WI) County Library Board so much of our discussion centered on that. We peppered our conversation with some talk of religion but we are confident it was our examples and spirits that interested them the most. In our estimation these two are most definitely, at this point of their existence, terrestrial quality individuals (also taking part in the first resurrection) who, in many ways, were examples to us. We will stay in touch.

 On Saturday we concluded our missionary apartment inspections by visiting the apartment in Houghton.  It looked only slightly different than when we first saw it. All of the missionaries we have met seem very conscientious about their apartments and cars. This visit to Houghton got us to thinking and we realized we have been assigned, without ever moving, to the following districts: 1^st Escanaba under Elder Harper, 2^nd Houghton under Elders Calder, Bryer and then Fergo, 3^rd Marquette under Elder Horne and finally 4^th Iron Mountain under Elder Trout and currently Elder Christensen. All great young men with outstanding leadership qualities with albeit different styles. We are interested to see what changes, if any, happen at our “last” transfer. 

 After inspecting the Elder's apartment and truck we took one last opportunity to take in the beauty of the Keweenaw peninsula along with the local flavor. What follows are some pics:

Native copper that, in solution, percolated into cracks and fissures in the rock and gradually
precipitated into these interesting shapes. In this part of the world was found great deposits
of this pure copper. I was noticing the "coincidence" of this happening around the time
electric power was rapidly expanding across the continent and copper was an
essential metal for the wires that carried that power. A placard stated that
this one large sheet weighed approx. 850 pounds.

If you take time to read the placard in this picture you will find that these are Petosky stones; the Michigan
state stone. This and many other displays, including the copper above, were in the Seaman Mineral
Museum on the campus of Michigan Tech in Houghton. All we can say is, "if you are into
rocks this is the place you absolutely need to see".

The day was murky and cloudy but none the less beautiful. This photo does not do the muted tones justice.
This is the same Lake Superior but this time we are on the Eastern side of the Keweenaw peninsula. We
went from here into the clouds driving through misty, winding, hilly roads. All we could think
about, after the obvious beauty, was, "where is our Corvette when we needed it?"

On our way we drove through the town of Gay Michigan. Gay was a thriving mill town in the late 1800 and
early 1900s. It is right on the shore and was named after one of the Mill's Vice Presidents. One time
boosting 1500 inhabits, competition closed mill. The schools and the railroad shut down and
even the Post Office left. There are now fewer that 100 residents in Gay and the sur-
rounding area, but fortunately we still have what may be the original Gay bar. 

 Sunday there were 51 people attending church. The Elders had two different investigator families there. What a blessing to have been here long enough to see such growth.

Elder and Sister Johnson