Inspiration By Telephone

Every Sunday morning, we get up, get breakfast, and get ready for church. Once the girls are ready, we prepare the sacrament on one of our end tables and call our church. There are two other members in the village, both teachers, and one of them is a priesthood holder. He actually had the sacrament trays and white table cloth that we use.

Our conference call church is an interesting experience. Talks and lessons are given, and people participate over the phone. During Sunday School, people often cut each other off because it's hard to know when other people want to talk. Our biggest obstacles to enjoying the service no longer have to do with an overactive 18-month-old and a newborn. Sunspots and bad weather are now the biggest problems. Both of these can make it so we only catch every other word.

We actually aren't sure what we should do at this point, though. We found out that we really are supposed to be a part of what they call the "Bush Branch" which is run entirely by conference call, but the returning teacher that's a member has always participated in the Barrow Branch via telephone. We will probably get our records transferred again to be in the Barrow Branch because the returning member knows people and is comfortable there.

Chalyse collecting rocks

Life at Point Hope

We finally got our internet and phone set up, so we will start updating our adventures.

I know a lot of you have been wondering, so here is what Point Hope is like. It’s usually around 50 F, but there is almost always a stiff breeze coming off the ocean. Everyone wears their coats everywhere, even inside, which is really odd because the natives like to keep the inside of buildings really warm.

There is gravel everywhere, but even so, Chalyse never seems to tire of collecting even the most common of stones. She’ll run here and there picking up every rock that catches her eye, getting only briefly frustrated when she runs out of room in her hands. She uses her pockets and parents to carry the ones that don’t fit. It takes half an hour to go two blocks and we have more rocks than we would like floating around our home, and Chalyse likes to randomly stick them in her mouth. Pretty sure she does it just to push our buttons.

The homes are generally small here, and nearly all made from wood. Some buildings use those large metal storage containers from barges to expand their floor space. The buildings often have several different styles of materials and construction, mostly because of the cost to get materials. Everything is expensive here. To illustrate, milk costs us about $13/gallon. I wish I were exaggerating.

We went to the south beach last Sunday. It was a really beautiful day. The ocean was calm, and the water was so clear. You could look out and see the rocky bottom of the ocean for several yards. When the waves retreated off of the shore, it caused the gravel to flow down, making a sound like rain on a metal roof.

Yesterday, the weather got a bit chillier than it has been, with a little rain and the usual wind. We all broke out our new coats. That night, the vice principal put on a party at the school for the staff. We had a ham, fresh vegetables and fruit, pies, and other goodies. We volunteered to bring rolls. Everyone made a big deal about them. Between the weather and the food, it felt like Thanksgiving.


Our new home

At the Beach


All the natives carry their babies under their coats to keep them warm.
Chalyse in her new coat

Playing With My Sister

Chalyse and Ellora

Chalyse likes to pretend to be the baby. When we got home from the blessing, she climbed into Ellora's carseat and pulled her blessing blanket over the top of herself. She also likes to use Ella's bouncer. We try to not let her, though, because we're afraid she'll break it.

Picture Update

Ella posing in her pretty pink dress

All the girls sleeping in the Anchorage Airport

When we first got here, Chalyse refused to sleep in her new bed and ended up sleeping on the floor most times. She's also not wearing pants because it was so hot in our apartment that first week.


Waiting for dad to come home.

Polar Bears

When I first got to Barrow, it was nice and warm, but the weather has turned and the fog has rolled in. Barrow is an interesting place, and much of the local economy is based on tourism (besides the tax revenue from oil). On Tuesday, they took the teachers who wanted to to do a polar bear dip. The site for doing it was just outside my hotel. I didn't really want to do it, and I didn't bring my swimsuit. The bus driver didn't accept that, though, and handed me a loner swimsuit (that was a little small) and sent me in to pay the fee. I also didn't really want to pay the $10 to participate. The family that organizes the polar bear dip makes a killing. When I did it, there must have been at least 50 people with me. I figure that in one season, they probably have several hundred people stupid enough to jump into the Chukchi Sea for a little patch.

Well, when we got to the beach (don't think sandy California beach: it's very gravelly), we stood out there for a little bit and waited for our entire group. We got in in a few waves. When I ran in, I was met by some of the coldest water I've ever felt. I ran out a few yards, and dove in after a small drop off. By the time I got back to the beach, my feet were nearly numb.

Leaving for Barrow

Six hours after getting into Point Hope, I had to get onto another plane and start back towards Anchorage and then up to Barrow.

They had us stay in Anchorage overnight. By the time we got in, I had been awake for the better part of two days. I slept so well that night. The next morning (Sunday), I woke up at 9:30 and somehow found the strength to get out of bed to get breakfast before church, which started at 10:00. I attended sacrament meeting in my new branch for the first time. I know you're thinking, "But I thought you said you were in Anchorage?" I did. Our church is via conference call and includes all of the members in the little bush villages from across Alaska.

We got to Barrow that evening with a stop in Fairbanks. It's amazing the difference a few degrees in latitude make. We got off the plane and it was a little chillier than Anchorage. As I looked north over the Chukchi Sea, I saw amorphous objects floating in the water. In the dim light, I assumed that they were trash, but as I continued to watch, it dawned on me that it was sea ice. Over the next couple of days, however, the sea ice disappeared. (I would have pictures for all of this, but I left it in Point Hope)

Whale Bones and Crosses

A lot has happened over the last week. I don't know where to start.

We left last Friday for our village after Camille got off work at 5:00. We tried to get things done before we left, but there was just not enough time in the day (p.s. Thank you moms and dad and all others who helped us!). Our flight was scheduled to leave from SLC at 7:35, and we made it there with plenty of time to spare. When we got situated at the gate, though, we noticed that our tickets didn't say that we would be riding with infants on our laps like they should have. When I went to get that remedied, they offered to put us on a flight that hadn't been oversold like ours had that would also be flying directly to Anchorage instead of stopping over at Seattle. We were thrilled with the thought of not having to switch planes and find our way through the Seattle airport with two babies and two bags.

Chalyse flew very well, and Ellora did well too, besides a little discomfort from the change in pressure. When we got into Anchorage, though, Chalyse was wide awake and a little ornery. All she wanted to do was eat fruit snacks, and neither Camille nor I had the energy to fight with her, because to us it was 2:00 in the morning. She probably ate 6 packages of them.

After a five hour layover we were on our way again. When we got to Kotzebue, we met a family that was headed to Point Hope on the same flight that we were. We got to know them a little as their niece played with Chalyse. The wife, I found out later, is on the Board of Education.

As we continued on the last leg of our journey, we had a hard time staying awake, although the occasional jerky motions of our small plane woke us up. The clouds were thick, and we had little warning when the land appeared underneath us through a break in the clouds. As we landed, I caught sight of the graveyard that is not far from the airport. Tall whale bones marked some of the graves of the traditional burial sights mixed with crosses. Small purple wildflowers added gentle accents to the green sod. Beyond that was gray. The roads and town were gray from the natural abundance of gravel, the sky was gray, and the ocean was gray. It had, though, it's own kind of raw beauty.

We were picked up by the maintenance guy and he took us to our apartment and then on a tour of the village. Our perishable foods had all gotten there before we had. We couldn't find any of our other bags, however, and for all we knew they weren't anywhere in town. This was a big concern, because we hadn't been able to fit many clothes, any bedding, or any utensils into our carry-ons. We were able to find our first four boxes at the post office (thankfully the post office opened for four hours on Saturday) which contained all of our bare essentials.

To Be Continued...