i know that my Redeemer lives

we biked to church today, a little sore from yesterday but we made it. the beautiful scenery makes the ride quite enjoyable. we arrived a little earlier than expected so we rested for a second and made our way into the log chapel. the only people there was a member of the stake presidency and his pilot, yes pilot, they flew to our ward house from juneau! our stake covers the entire state of alaska. our ward house it beautiful, it is a straight up log cabin, everything is log inside and out, it smells just like the redd cabin in sundance and i loved it. everyone wanted to know all about us, so many kind people introduced themselves and askes many questions about us and the store, we loved it. i love how genuine the people are here, they really want to get to know us and it feels nice. sunday school was awesome our teacher was really fun and taught really well. in relief society they passed a candy jar around and kept passing it and passing it, i ate like 15 macadamia nut kisses i was in heaven. there we had a great lesson about missionary work and i shared the experience i had on the plane to seattle where the two people sitting directly behind me randomly started up a conversation about mormons and the lady said to the man "if they could show me those golden slabs i would become a mormon" i searched desperately for a book of mormon that i usually carry with me but could not find one. i wish that i had turned to her and shared my testimony to plant some small seed but did not find the courage to do so. i will try never to let a missionary moment pass me especially one so easily put before me. the teacher ended with her testimony of the gospel and her testimony of eternal marriage, she lost her husband last year in a helicopter crash, she says she gets through each day by looking at thier temple marriage certificate. i have much to learn from the amazing saints in sitka. i met my maura-lee, her name is margot, she grew up in delta utah with anna reeves au. we were instant friends, she invited spencer and i to her house for dinner knowing how much groceries cost here was a huge blessing. dinner was a blast, another couple picked us up so we didn't have to bike and the relief society teacher was there with her beautiful children, margot's husband held her youngest the whole time and i just knew he was a gem. oh life is good from this point of view, the gospel is true. i know that my Redeemer lives.

over and out.

olivia and spencer swalberg "the del sol people"