Skagway - Week 9

Hello,

I am confident that this reaches you all doing well and busy. I am sure you are looking forward to the special weekend program in connection with the US Branch visit. We out here in the Wilderness are as well. The Branch office has lovingly made arrangements for each team here to receive the special program remotely with the rest of the Branch Territory on the live transmission Saturday. I can't tell you how happy I am to share in this with my entire "Branch family". A real privilege and honor to feel united with each of them and you all. I am confident each of you will enjoy the wonderful program that has been prepared.

This week here in town went by rather quickly. Because we were returning from the assembly, it was somewhat of a shortened week. We also moved from the place we had been staying in for the last month and a half. Why? Well as you may or may not be aware of, I haven't had Internet for the past 3 weeks or so. This obviously poses a bit of a problem. We are unable to communicate with the Branch via email and haven't been able to partake of anything from JW Broadcasting as of yet. (including the Annual Meeting) One of the unique issues that this assignment presents, is that many things that are usually standard and basic for the typical publisher or even a person in the "lower 48" (I have used that term before. Lol but if you don't recall, that's what Alaskans call the rest of the continental US) are somewhat of a luxury. What do I mean by that? I will use 2 examples to illustrate.

1) Barbershop/Haircut-If you know me then you already know where I'm going here...lol Barbershops and Haircuts are pretty normal, basic things right? Even for a smaller town. And then if you are in a larger city that just kind of comes pretty standard with the package. And then regarding prices. They range at times depending on the service and the area as well as the establishment but usually nothing that would be of a talking point. Here in Skagway there are absolutely no Barbershops. Lol There are no haircuts obviously, so that means for me improvisation is the name of the game. And as far as price is concerned, in Alaska the average price of a haircut is $27 to $47. (Google)

2) WiFi/High Speed Internet-This one is a bit trickier. The reason being, while it's a rather basic utility and service for most, if a town doesn't have the capacity or the  infrastructure to support then it's not really even going to be possible. In some places (and perhaps even in our next and subsequent assignments) there is a "cap" or threshold on the  amount of internetb that an individual user can use in a town or the entire town may be subject to this "cap". Now while this isn't the case where we are, there is a cap on the data that can be acquired in an area. This is what prompted the move. We didn't realize that this was the case, so the Internet was just disconnected for the last few weeks. Hopefully we have resolved this issue in our new place for the last and final month here in Skagway.

We will soon be preparing another final report for the Branch. In this report we will make a recommendation to the Branch as to what should be done with this territory and what will need to be done if there is further cultivation that is necessary. We have heard of quite a few options that may be used as our next assignment. They range in location and size, so you can imagine my anticipation and excitement as I wait to find out where the next few months of my life will be. I am looking forward to sharing it with you and having you be apart of the Journey. I will let you all know once the new assignment has been confirmed and locked into place by the Branch Office. Truly exciting times.

There have been quite a few wildlife sightings as of late. The Grizzly Bear that was here in town was shot by the Police and the National Park Service. This has sparked a bit of a debate among the locals here in town. Not your everyday conversation piece huh? Lol

Well, that's the latest and greatest here in the great wilderness. Thank you for your continued prayers and love. Warm love and best wishes to you all.

M. J. Penfield

Alaska Fact of the Day: Alaska is as big as England, France, Italy and Spain combined.