Chapter V -- Family

 CHAPTER V

Family

(March 2022)

 Some seniors fear a mission means abandoning family.  And some of those fears be legitimate.  Responsibility for aging parents, grandchildren and others may be too great.  Leaving home for a full-time mission just won’t work.  But it needn’t always be either or.  The Church has great need for senior missionaries.  And is eager to help balance mission and family wherever possible.

 In coming to Alaska (as with London), we’re urged to be diligent in our missionary labors.  But told we need not apologize for time spent with family and loved ones.

Thus, when our Kristen had a meltdown during our London mission, it was okay that we fly to Michigan to be with her for a couple of weeks.  Just as it was okay that we host in London a stream of guests that included Mother Sharon, James and Karin and their spouses and kids, four of my siblings (Tony, Kathy, Amy, and Rob) and spouses, several nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.  Some stayed for weeks, and even months.  And it all seemed to work out fine.

 

A.  Adam and Kylee Nuptials.  It’s a similar happy pattern in Alaska.  We try to be faithful in our calling — and hopefully we are.  But when Adam and Kylee were married a few months after our arrival, we flew home for the wedding.

 We’d had splendid views of Mount Rainier flying north to Alaska in July.  And here’s the scene flying homeward in October:

One of the engagement photos we received while serving in the field:

The Adam and Kylee wedding extravaganza has been photographed in great detail on many fronts.  But here a few scenes from our trip.  Adam and parents at the Snow Basin event:

Me with Ashley.  And Doll with Kristen and Ashley:

For some of our grand-darlings and their friends, the wedding day was all about goofing off in the Earl’s Lodge elevator.

Twas a lovely change from scorching summer we’d left for our mission.  An Autumn now crisp and fresh with rain and snow.  A few pictures from my hike with the dogs up Bues Canyon.

B.  Family Flores.   We requested  Alaska on this mission.  Partly in hopes of being near Karin, Ronny and kids — aka Family Flores — stationed with the Coast Guard in Kodiak.  We’ve not been disappointed in that regard.

When Karin gave birth to Isla, this past November, Ronny’s mother Ligia flew out from Virginia.  She spent a night with us (after missing her connection in Anchorage), then journeyed on to Kodiak.  After a couple of weeks, Ligia returned home.  Doll then replaced her, spending several days with our Kodiak bunch.  Here is sweet Isla on the day of her birth, and on the day of her blessing:

A month or so later — on New Years Eve Day — Doll and I had an adventure.  Nay misadventure.  In flying to Kodiak.  Or we at least flew over Kodiak.  Our 737 left Anchorage in a major windstorm and blizzard.  We climbed to 30,000 feet where the sail was silky smooth.  But things got crazy when we tried to land.  Winds battered the plane.  We bounced and fishtailed down the sky as if it were an icy mountain slope.  The flight attendants were white knuckles, gripping their seats, like nothing I’d witnessed in all my previous years flying.

 We jolted and hurtled past the small landing field, then circled Kodiak Island a couple of times.  (A spectacular aerial tour.)  Before returning to Anchorage.  With every soul on board glad, I believe, that we didn't force the landing.  Our touch down at the much larger Anchorage airport was itself pretty rough.  All flights to Kodiak were cancelled for the rest of the day.  And Doll and I nearly froze to death, chasing down a taxi in the zero degrees and 90-mph winds.

A week later — first Saturday of 2022— Doll and I made another run at Kodiak.  This time landing happily.  To spend a mad and joyful three or four days with Family Flores.

 During our visit, I was the main speaker in the Kodiak Ward Sacrament Meeting.  Which, due to the latest round of COVID (this one called “corona virus”), was conducted via Zoom.  I’m not sure how my talk went.  It felt disjointed to me —from the ruckus and shouting from Grandson Lincoln in our background — as I tried to speak.

Kodiak itself was amazing even in winter.  At least what we saw of it.  (Only small portions of the island are actually accessible by roads — and many of them were now closed til spring.)  But here is Fort Abercrombie Sate Park.  With Ronny and me out walking Bairn.  The Saint Bernard pup they acquired last summer.

And out with Doll on the Coast Guard peninsula.

A month after our visit to Kodiak, Family Flores returned the favor.  Spending eight days with us in Anchorage. 

 Three-month-old Isla is a dear and tender soul.  And she’ll be lucky to survive her elder siblings.  When they first reached our apartment, Karin lay Isla to sleep on the front room floor.  And just a moment later, Ena had the baby by her ankles, as if in a wheelbarrow race.  Then hoisting her more vertically, as she struggled not to topple over.  And all the while yelling, “Hey Mom!  Mom!  Look what Isla can do!”

Merely one example of the treatment poor Isla receives at the hands of Ena, Kyrie and Lincoln.  The three of whom who are — shall we say — never short on fighting spirit.  This picture of them here, in Sunday best, is misleading.  For I tell you (with both trepidation and pride) that they are fiends to rival the wildest of Allreds.

Indeed, it’s this next picture, with Lincoln slipping into a devious grin, that begins to reveal their real nature.

Living with them for more than a week in our two-bedroom apartment, I had to ask myself.  “Do I love these grandkids?”  And my answer was always the same.  “Of course I do.  I love them with all my heart.  But warily.  I love them warily.”

The Flores visit involved that balance of mission and family I mentioned above.  There were times when Doll and I broke away for Church things on our own.  Sometimes we enjoyed just family together.  And often we combined —Family Flores joining our missionary efforts.

 One day, I took Ronny cross-country skiing on base:

Another day we joined a guided climb of the famed Matanuska Glacier.

We had hiked a mile or so to reach the Glacier.  And after our climb, the guides gave us snow machine rides back to camp.  (Note.  In Alaska they’re not snow mobiles.  Unless you’re an idiot, like me, who slips up now and then, it’s snow machines.  Here you call them snow machines.)

We took the kids to a reindeer farm.  Where, in addition to about 100 reindeer (domesticated Caribou), they had Scottish Highland cattle, moose, elk, and alpacas.

You could “smooch a moose” if you wanted.  By feeding it a grain pellet between your lips:

Or you could feed them the standard way:

The Scottish calves and the alpacas were friendly to anyone with food:

And of course, we could never go anywhere without Grandma Doll feeding treats to the grandkids.   Though in this instance one of our girls— who refused to wear gloves, or zip up her coat when asked to — had taken a chill.  And was pretty bummed at feeding time.

But notice the cool hats they wear.  Favorite cartoon characters — crocheted by Mama Karin.

 Here we are with the Sister Missionaries (Bodner and Lamoraux).  And Karin, Ronny and Isla (the other grandkids off playing).  At our weekly Book of Mormon discussion with Krista Smith, and her husband John (who was recently baptized).

Here Family Flores joins us for the pizza dinner we helped put on at the USO:

Some of the wives on base wanted a Valentines Dance.  We decided to make it a family event — kids welcome.  Doll outdid herself with balloons, decorations, finger food and treats.  And Family Flores added to the good times.

Family Flores also joined us and about 70 of our members at our monthly GetAir event.  (Notice in that first photo the wee boy -- Lincoln -- semi-buried buried in the foam cubes beneath his parents.)

C.  Family Centered and Church Supported Gospel.  

For years I’ve heard that the Church should support the Family in Gospel growth and learning — not the other around.  That has become, however, a far greater reality as President Nelson has preached the doctrine, and as Zoom and COVID have pulled us that direction.  And it all relates to how we, as senior missionaries, now connect with family.

 Via Zoom, we have Come Follow Me discussions with our family on Sunday evenings.  Our most regular participants are Mother Sharon, Karin, James and Jessee, and Ashley (with Israel, Brigham, and sometimes Hiram).  A scene from one of those gatherings:

The time zone of our beloved Paul in Germany doesn’t fit with these gatherings.  Much to the joy of his old father and mother, however, he’s been discussing the Book of Mormon with us on Monday evenings his time -- Monday mornings ours.

Paul has many good insights as we study and discuss.  Though our conversation often goes like this:

       The Old Man:  Are you just tellin' us what we wanna hear? 

Paul:  No, sir, no way. 

The Old Man:  Cos we just wanna hear the truth.

Paul:  Well, then l guess l am tellin' you what you wanna hear.               

The Old Man:  Boy, didn't we just tell you not to do that.

Paul:  Yes, sir.

The Old Man: Alright then.