Elders and hiking and bears. Oh my!

On Friday we went to meet a former Duluth Ward Bishop and his wife.  They live in an old neighborhood with large houses on the hill and views of the lake. They have done a lot of restoration on their house built in the 1900's.  He told us that there is a lot of old money in Duluth, money made from timber and mining. 

They are the Young Single Adult advisers in the Duluth ward.  Every Sunday they invite the YSA over for an activity at their house.  Sometimes it is a speaker, sometimes games, sometimes they watch a hockey game on TV and sometimes a Church broadcast.  His calling is in addition to YSA is high priest group leader and her calling in the RS presidency. They are converts who joined many years ago when they were young marrieds. She grew up in a Catholic family. She said that she always wondered what about the "heavens being closed".  She felt something was missing., even as a young girl.  But this Sunday, instead of attending the Duluth ward, they are going to a priory in Wisconsin where her sister is celebrating her 50th year as a nun.  She is the prioress there.  Interesting contrast and similarities in the lives of these 2 sisters.  He said they had been there for other celebrations and one time he was seated at a table with all the Catholic Bishops, which turned out to be okay because he was a Mormon bishop.

I admire the elders who live below us.  They are always busy doing their assignments.  Their car is hardly ever home.  They are always smiling and are not afraid to talk to anyone.  We asked them to help us move a heavy TV stand since we had been to yard sales and got a replacement for our crappy, rickety one. They came right over and moved in the new stand.  Then Ron told them he was going to break up the old one because it was falling apart anyway.  They had the great idea of tossing it over the balcony.  Great success!  Both tossing and destroying!  Very satisfying. We asked them for ideas on what we should add to our schedule as volunteer assignments and they had some good ideas.  This was Saturday when they had helped to move a family in the morning and were moving another family in the afternoon.  And Friday they had dinner with a member family and when they asked if there was anything they could do for them, were shown a pile of tile that needed moving.  About 6000 pounds!   They are such good young men.

hursday we went exploring Tischer creek.  There are lots of creeks that run down the hills and into the lake. The city has not done any improvements, just left them. So it almost feels like you're in the wilderness.  Our hike started near the lake and went up.  So we had read an article about hiking Tischer creek and made that our plan. We started out on a trail and it went up and up along side lots and lots of waterfalls.  Very beautiful. 

After hiking awhile, I turned back to sit down and rest my sore legs while Ron went on.  I returned to the truck which was parked in a regular neighborhood of houses and was reading when I looked up and saw a bear cross the street right in front of me.  My mouth actually fell open!  Then I jumped out of the truck to get some pictures.  By then several motorists stopped to take pictures also.  A homeowner opened his door to come out but we told him to stay inside because there was a bear on his patio. He was a little startled.  The bear just kept walking, paying no attention to any of the people gawking at him, except when he sat down on the patio.  Eventually he worked his way down into the creek canyon and we don't know who else he may have surprised.  Pretty amazing personal bear experience.  He was huge!  Apparently many good garbage cans in his life.

Last Sunday we went to visit the Askov branch (a branch is smaller than a ward) about 30 minutes south of Duluth.  Askov was settled by Danish people.  We are visiting a different ward each Sunday to meet bishops, seminary teachers and youth. Not many members in that branch but they were sure happy to see new people, even on a temporary basis.  I'm pretty sure I got introduced to every single person there.  It seemed like everyone we met was related to someone else.  "This is my mom."  " He is my dad."  "The branch president (like a bishop) is my brother."  I would like to live there.  Really.

  Today we went 2 hours south to visit North Branch (city) which is a ward, not a branch. Such wonderful, friendly people.  We met a current seminary teacher. A young guy with 4 little kids who were so dang cute, I wanted to hug, them and bring them home.  He teaches in his home and he is obviously really busy.  Another teacher teaches an online class of students who are so far out in the country, coming to a class before school would never work.  I am so impressed with the teachers I have met so far.  They have busy lives but believe in the  importance of seminary and make big sacrifices to be able to teach.

I don't know if you can read this menu but I wanted you all to know where you can get some interesting food you are not offered each and everyday.  I am interested myself to try to fried pickles and Walleye tacos, fried cheese curds and also smelt (no hint of how it is served) and crunchy crawfish!