President Hinckley, written by Jennifer Mullis

Sunday, January 27 the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Siants passed away at age 97. President Gordon B. Hinckley was the 15th president of the church. To "non-Mormons" he can be described as the "Pope" of this religion. President Hinckley, was president for nearly 13 years. He took over as president and prophet on March 12, 1995 and oversaw one of the greatest periods of expansion in church history. The number of mormon temples worldwide more than doubled, from 49 to more than 120 and church membership grew from about 9 million to more than 12 million. He became by far this church’s most traveled leader in history. And the number of Mormons outside the United States surpassed that of American Mormons for the first time since the church, the most successful faith born in the United States, was founded in 1830.“His life was a true testament of service, and he had an abiding love for others,” said U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and fellow Mormon. “His wit, wisdom, and exemplary leadership will be missed by not only members of our faith, but by people of all faiths throughout the world.”-LDS Living NewsI am LDS. I woke this morning to this news and I was understandably upset. Through out the day I have noticed that not many people know of his death. This man, who has exhibited vitality and energy as he has traveled about the world meeting and speaking to members of the Church, changing lives, seems to have gone unnoticed within the media. Last week, Heath Ledger died unexpectadly and his death was front page news in every newspaper and magazine and was brodcasted on every channel. How sad is it that in this day and age, an actors death was more televised and more people were affected than by the death of the man who served those people, loved them, and prayed for them every day.

Sorry, it's been a while

Sorry, it's been a while since we have written anything. We have been busy, busy, just working and getting past Christmas.

Christmas was fun. John was a kid in a candy store. He basically picked all of his gifts, only a few surprises. Jenni's gift was her mom for her birthday. She came for a few days. We had fun showing her the area and taking her around Anchorage. Not much to do in the winter months. I think the biggest complaint was the cold (and it wasnt cold yet!).

Genny and Scotty moved back to California. We are pretty sad about that, hope they can come back. Jenni is having a hard time with out her friend. Not looking forward to the summer without Genny. Hopefully she will be too busy with the house plans to be sad.

Jenni is getting ready for a trip to Seattle in February, for a business meeting. Hopefully she will be able to visit some friends in the area.

We are off the the Lodge for a week at the beginning of March to help out during the Iditarod. The lodge has about 70 guests this year!!!

Not much else to report. We will write about the Iditarod, it should be tons of fun!!!