Fairbanks, Alaska
June 1993 to August 1993
When
I arrived in June the weather was already beautiful. The summer solstice soon came and the
days were long and sunny. I awoke to sunshine ad went to be to sunshine. Fortunately, we
had aluminum foil over the windows so our bedroom was dark. Our living accommodations were
the basement of a house owned by George Dornath and situated on Fidler road, just off of
Farmer's Loop in Eastern Fairbanks.
The
inside of the apartment was simple, but functional. We had to get our water from the other
church members, which is in the blue container, because our well had iron deposits. We had
the use of a washing machine as well but it would leave red rusty stains on clothing due
to the iron in the water.
We had a fake fireplace that we could plug into a socket and get a rotating light that kind of looked like fire, if you were a kid from the city. ;-) Assorted pictures hung on the walls and the couches were only used in the evenings when we sat down exhausted, or when we made phone calls.
Our
backyard was huge. No other houses could be seen and there was always an abundance of
wildlife. As missionaries we were too busy to ever enjoy the wide open spaces, although we
did toss around a football once or twice. Our neighbors had an airplane landing strip in
their yard, but I didn't ever see them use it. They also had a wood burning hot tub that
my companion, Elder Scott Blake, had told me they used once the previous winter.
Missionaries
spend lots of time out "tracting" where we go door to door. In Fairbanks this
was often spend walking long stretches of road between houses. It was a good chance to
discuss things with a companion and get to know each other. This is Elder Kelly Peterson
and I.
Several
times while I was in Fairbanks we had to travel to Anchorage on the Parks Highway. It was
beautiful scenery and we saw several moose and an occasional bear.
The
Parks Highway runs from Anchorage to Fairbanks. When I first arrived in Fairbanks we had a
mission conference soon afterwards back in Anchorage. Between back and forth trips going
and coming from Fairbanks I saw this road several times. It was always beautiful.
Alaska
is also famous for its pipeline.
