Kotzebue February 15, 1983

Dear Family,
It sure sounds like you had a great time on yoru vacation, plus that television set in the camper must be nice!
This past week they had 'Inupiaq Day' that is just a day set aside every year for the Eskimo people. They had workshops given by, you'll never guess how . . . the "Elders", but that wasn't us because I don't know the first thing about whale hunting. Plus they had dancing and games again that we did participate in. I must be getting out of shape because some of those guys made those games look easy but when I tried them I really chocked it!
but there was one game that I didn't do too bad in, that was the one foot high kick. I had the advantage over most of them because of my height, so I was one of the finalists. But still it wasn't anything compared with what they did at the end, one guy kicked 8 feet high!!
Now that Elder Salabiye is here we are going to be focusing more on the Eskimos and getting them into the church. Sometimes it's hard to contact them because we need to get in good with them first and get their confidence. That is where the volunteer work, playing basketball and participating in the games comes in. So far we haven't had to much success in the way of getting them to commit to a discussion or baptism.
I am constantly reflecting on what we did in Nome, we had success and the baptisms were starting to come so I am trying to get that same spirit and routine going here. The members are great and are getting going in this missionary effort. This is perhaps the best branch or ward that I have been in so far. So things are bound to change.
When Elder Hartshorn left he left me some caribou leggings and told me to do something with them so I have been spending a lot of my p-days sewing on those leggings and making me a pair of muk luks.
I never thought I would have a pair because they cost somewhere between $150 to $400 but so far all I have spent on mine is $20 for the oogruk bottoms or the hard bottoms made out of the skin from bearded seal. So other than that we are starting to teach a little more, except for Dolly, she had an interview with Pres. Goolsby and said that she wasn't ready to be baptized yet, so we haven't been seeing her except for once a week to teach her. We gave her a good shot when I first got here but after a while you start to get burned out and that is the way I feel about Dolly right now. Wen she decides she is ready, well, then we will baptize her, but not  until.
Well I sure enjoyed all of your letters. Keep them coming!
Love, Daren