Why did the Lamanites all get knee replacements?

Feeding the bears.

Because there were too many Nephities!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Hey everyone!!!

It's been a great week!!! The Sister Training Leaders from Anchorage (Sister Burbank-Bishop Sorensen's niece, and Sister Ashbrook) came down and went on exchanges this week and we were able to get so much done!!! Sister Claspell and I were talking about it and if the work continues at this pace there might be a need for four missionaries here in Sitka which is a MIRACLE considering how slow it has been in the past!! This area is certainly seeing some miracles and it's great to be a part of this work!!! There have been lots of less active families who have had their hearts softened as we've visited them and they've been receptive to the gospel again-I know I say it a lot but I can't say it enough- I love Sitka!!

Funny story this week, Sister Ashbrook and I were walking one of the days and we passed this lady and started talking to her. She asked where we were from and Sister Ashbrook and I mentioned we were from California and Utah and she said, "oh that makes sense, you're both dressed like girls from the lower 48".. both of us had gotten pretty much all of our clothes we were wearing that day from Alaska! hahahaha but apparently I'm still Utahn enough that I look like I'm from the lower 48 still.. give me a few more months though.. ;) hahaha :)

Everyone in Sitka has colored hair! Okay, maybe not EVERYONE.. but a lot of people! In the same day TWO different people mentioned how much they liked coming to "the mormon church" because people don't judge them for their pink hair and tattoos. That made me happy that the ward here is so loving and it was still just kind of funny.. Love this place. :)

Well thanks so much for the love and support! Enjoy the sunshine and summer weather!!

Love ya!

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Sisters on Sisters Lane! :)

Back in Sitka... it's good to be home. :)

Hi!

First of all-it was sooo good to see ya'll on Monday!!! Thanks for coordinating so I could see you, that meant a lot to me! You can always count on Jacob for being the funny guy too, that was no surprise.. ;) haha 

SOO- Zone Conference was so amazing! I got some great insights on my role as a missionary and the huge blessing and responsibility it is! Cool story- Elder Zwick's construction company was the one who worked on the Manti Temple back in the 80s! I didn't know before, but apparently the trusses between the two towers were full of rotten wood and so they had to fix the roof from inside the temple in the priesthood room to preserve the building from collapsing! They worked all through the night, and 24/7 to fix it and make sure the whole temple didn't collapse. Gave me a greater appreciation for the beautiful building it is, as well as an insight on our own lives-everything may seem okay on the outside, but if we have "rotten wood"-past sins etc. buried inside us, we need to fix that so we can be solid and strong! 

Wednesday we hiked up to the glacier in Juneau as a zone! That was a blast!! It was such a blessing I had my trusty BOGGS or I would've died.. it was super wet! But that was fun. :) 

Thursday we came back on the Ferry and we were sooo busy from Thursday through Sunday, being busy as a missionary is such a blessing! :)  

We volunteered to help a lady we tracted into on Saturday! They were having a fundraiser for the preschool she's a teacher at! It was tons of fun and she was soo grateful! We gave her a Book of Mormon when we met her tracting and she wants to talk to us about it so--yay! 

Mom asked about the weather, it's been pretty good! Today is actually really sunshiny but it's been mostly rainy since we've been here! It's great! I like don't ever have to dry my hair because there is no point! ha haha ha ;) 

Well life here in Sitka is dandy! Love it! Love being a missionary! Love ya'll!

Sister Hedelius

Raise your hand if a bear licked your finger this week!

Hey all! 

Sitka is great! I'm loving the work.. it's certainly different and it's certainly work... but it's good and I like it. Being a missionary is the greatest thing in the whole world! Being able to do missionary work in such a beautiful place is an ever greater blessing. ;)  

So we do service at a place called Fortress of the Bear as well as the Raptor Center. At the bear place we help unload food for the animals that have been donated and at the raptor center we pick up the dead mice thing that the eagles spit out! When we were volunteering at the bear place the guy in charge let us feed the bears through the fence and the bear licked me! AHHH so cool. :) So service is certainly different!! :) 

We found a lady while we were out tracting! It was really neat! She was on the phone and so at first we thought she was just blowing us off but she handed the phone to someone else and invited us right in! She wanted a Book of Mormon and had a lot of great things to say about the members she knows so we're thinking there's some great potential there!!!  

I was a little bummed I didn't get to chat to ya'll yesterday but I'm excited to talk to you in a few minutes!!! The ferry ride was really neat! Saw lots of trees, some beautiful mountains and.. wait for it... a whale!! Yep. Well, it was just the tail, but it was still pretty neat!! Also, there is a guy that we met at the DMV when I was getting my Alaskan licence (I'm officially an Alaskan now...) and we talked at the DMV, and then he was on the ferry with us to Juneau! He wanted to talk to us and we gave him our number so we could meet up with him sometime!!! He did a medical mission to Africa so he was really interested in our work... how exciting huh?? :) 

Well I'll see you all in a few minutes. :) Love from Juneau! 

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Greetings from Sunny Sitka!

Hey ya'll!

So it's been quite the week here in Alaska! Leaving Anchorage was hard, but the more time we spend in Sitka, the more I realize how much Sister Claspell and I need to be here. What a blessing to know that Heavenly Father knows exactly where to send us when he needs us! Saying good bye to some great missionaries this week at transfer meeting was hard as well but I feel so blessed to know them and learn from them over the past three months!

So this week was as follows:

Monday-PDay..packed, said goodbye to people, shopped, got ready to leave. Had a lesson with Audrey this night and took the brand new sister missionary, Sister Faupula on her "First Harvest" (first missionary experience) to Audrey's lesson with us. We each bore our testimonies to her and the spirit was so strong! She wrote in our people journal (basically a big journal that everyone we meet on our mission signs-kinda like a yearbook) and she mentioned her desire to continue to read the Book of Mormon and learn-she's going to Stanford (which is awesome) and she's already looked into institute and staying in contact with the church-yay!!

Tuesday-Transfer day. We had transfer meeting and then went to the temple afterwards with all the missionaries that were going home or going far away from Anchorage this transfer. It was very bittersweet but so cool to see how much those missionaries loved their missions-inspiring!

Wednesday-flew to Juneau and got to meet some people in Juneau! At the Anchorage airport one of the workers there is originally from Sitka and his sister lives here now but is less active with a nonmember boyfriend! That was cool, definitely a divine intervention for me to meet him. We have an appointment to meet with his sister this week. We also found the plaque ( in Juneau) with the dedicatory prayer that was when Alaska was dedicated for missionary work! (that's what the pictures are of) That was fun! Also met Sister Claspell this day! She's SO great! Such a hard worker, such a sweetheart and I already just love her so much. She's from Southern California (15 minutes from Disneyland!) and has been out Since September. We get along really well and already have a lot of fun! It's been a blast serving with her. Stayed the night in Juneau (the ocean is seriously in their backyard-so cool!)

Thursday-flew to Sitka. Sat by a less active on the plane actually! He was born into the church but married a nonmember and kind of fell away but he mentioned that "the mormons" are the ones he agrees with the most. haha It was good to talk to him and bear or testimonies to him. It seriously kills me to see people become less active after being baptized. There are a lot of people here in Sitka that are less active and I just don't understand it.. either these people don't understand the significance of the atonement or the significance of the restoration. Either is just so lonely and depressing, I can't imagine living without a knowledge of the power covenants have to lift our burdens completely!

We met the Ady family this day-they are seriously like our favorite people! (we'll be skyping from their house next week) Sister Ady came and got us a few hours after we arrived and gave us a tour of the town. (which is pretty small, about 8,000 people) she fed us dinner and then bought our groceries (she insisted on it) and she has just taken us in. She's incredible and has a heart as big as Alaska.

Friday-got to meet some more people! Met with two less active families and two people from the ward council.

Saturday-Continued meeting people here in town meet with most of the rest of the ward council. Mostly the same as Friday.

Sunday-Ward council and church. The ward here is pretty tiny but there are some really incredible people here in the ward. People were so willing to give us anything we need and several people teared up when we talked to them because they were so excited to have sister missionaries! It's been about ten years since sisters were in Sitka.

It's great to be a missionary. I love it so much and feel so blessed to serve in Sitka at this time! I love you all and really appreciate your love and support! Look forward to Skyping next Sunday!

Love ya!

Sister Hedelius