Week 17 - 8/15-23/16 Activities & Trek Training, End of 1st Year

We can't believe this is the last week of the first summer of our mission.  It has been amazing beyond words!  But, in about eight months we will be back! The member of the Quorum of the Seventy who is over our Mission, Elder Mark Durham, came this week to interview us and we were invited to come back next summer.  It is kind of a formality, but we were a little nervous meeting with him.  I don't know why we should be nervous--he is a very kind and loving man, along with his wife.

We have the very best Stake Presidency in the Evanston Stake.  They bring us flowers, come to our firesides, invite us to dinners.  Stake President Lester's family has an amazing ranch.  They have a special place on it where they have family get-togethers.  They built a large gazebo and it has a creek running next to it.  There is a swinging rope into the creek, but we have yet to see water in the creek because we only go there at the end of the summer.  They fed us a delicious dinner there our last week.  They won't let us bring anything to help with the meal.  Elder and Sister Durham were still here and they came to the dinner with us.  We had a wonderful testimony meeting afterwards.

There is a cannon on the Lester property that was built by one of the family members.  It shoots bowling balls.  We got to see it last year, so Elder Howard collected old bowling balls for the past year.  He got some at yard sales and our local bowling alley gave us some old ones.  I think we ended up taking nine bowling balls to give to the Lesters.  Because of that, they let Terry light the first one!  It was so fun shooting them off.  They drilled holes in some of them and they whistled as they shot out of the cannon.  You could hear them going up, then the noise stopped, then you could hear them coming down.  What a fun evening we had.

On our P-day we went for a ride with Elder & Sister Brinkerhoff and left the ranch on a different road that went through another ranch.  It was really pretty.  The other ranch mostly followed a big canyon and there was water that flowed through most of it.  There are some really cool beaver dams that naturally make watering places for the cattle.

There were several really nice summer homes.  We assumed that is where some of the employees live when they kept the cattle there during the spring and summer months.  It would be a great place to live, but a little remote.  It was a fun drive, but we were glad that we were in the Brinkerhoff's truck--the road was a little rough in areas.

There is a large building on the ranch, about eight miles from Missionary Village, called the Dairy Barn.  It has been used for some storage of the mission's ports-johns and handcarts.  It was really getting in bad shape and needed some major repairs done if we were going to continue to use it.  Our wonderful Stake Presidency heard about it and volunteered the Stake to do the repairs.

After a couple of the missionary couples spent a day cleaning the upper part, they were able to store almost half of our handcarts, plus some ports-johns in it.  The building is on a hillside and the entrance to the top level is right off of the road, so it was easy to roll the handcarts into it.

The building looked so good when they were all done.

There were some major holes in the walls that needed patched--what an improvement!

The brethren volunteers from the Evanston Stake put the last screws in the building repair.

President Smith, one of the councilors in the Stake Presidency, even had a couple of his grandsons there to be "gophers" to get tools and to keep things cleaned up.  They all worked so hard for several days.  We took pizza and drinks out to them to try and show them how much we appreciated all of their help.

The big day at the end of the summer is Trek Training.  Leaders from all of the treks for the next year are required to come to this training.  We can have people from as many as 45 different trek groups show up.  I think we had over 150 people there.  We missionaries do all of the training.  We are each assigned a different topic to train on.  Elder Howard was assigned "Key People on the Trek" and I had "Trek Clothing."  We had a practice run on Thursday, and another one on Friday for those who needed it.  The training lasted from 8:00am until about 1:00pm.  Then we fed them lunch and sent them home until next summer.

Elder Howard was also assigned to show a way to deliver mail to the youth, if that is an activity they want the missionaries to help with.  He does a really good Pot Gut Express routine.

I played the part of Susie Trekker.  I borrowed one of the pioneer outfits that Sarah had gotten at the DI.  It was a lot of fun.  In fact, at the training, I was the only one who got an applause!  Our fellow missionaries are very kind--they were probably just trying to make me feel like I did a better job than I really did!  The training went really well.

Elder Howard and I were asked to do a little mini-trek for any of the leaders who wanted to stay afterward the meeting, for about an hour or so.  We ended up with three handcarts going on the mini trek.  I asked Sister Cowen to come with us and do a vignette along the trail about  Elsie and Jens Nielsen.  Sister Cown does such a good job.  This is a story about a handcart pioneer couple whose children had died along the trail and then Jens was hurt and couldn't walk any further.  He told his wife, Elsie, to leave him along the trail to die and for her to go on to Salt Lake.  She refused to leave him and pulled him in the cart by herself.  She testified that she had angles helping her push the handcart when she could pull it no further.  This vignette can be a life-changing experience for those involved and it ended up being really special for all of us there.

One of the best parts about our mission were the other missionaries we served with.  We will remember them forever.  Our directors, the Cowens were the best!  We have had experiences with all of them that we will never forget and the memories will always be a part of our lives.

Elder Jeff & Sister Debra Cowan, 3rd year missionaries from Cedar City UT,  2016 Directors.  

Elder Dennis & Sister Jan Peart, 2nd year missionaries from Heber City UT, will be 2017 Directors.

Elder James & Sister Cara Mae Brinkerhoff, 2nd year missionaries from Emmett ID.

Elder Steven & Sister Dolores Higginson, 2nd year missionaries from St. George UT.

Elder Kelly & Sister Roseanne Johnson, 2nd year missionaries from Evanston WY.

Elder Bob & Sister Debra Barton, 1st year missionaries from Mesas AZ.

Elder Spencer & Sister Gaylene Call, 1st year missionaries from Spanish Fork UT.

Elder David & Sister Linda Ekins, 1st year missionaries from Hinckley UT.

Elder Terry & Sister Susan Howard, 1st year missionaries from Emmett ID.

Elder Mike & Sister Marlene Hutchings, 1st year missionaries from Draper UT.

Elder Bryce & Sister Fay Walker, 1st year missionaries from Emmett ID.

We loved our mission and those we served and those we served with.  We are looking forward to returning the Deseret Land and Livestock Trek Mission in April, 2017.

Week 16 - 8/8-14/16 Activities & Family Trek

We worked all Monday morning getting ready for our guests coming for the first DL&L Missionary Reunion.  It was a big success.  We had about 60 previous missionaries come.   

We had a great meal with them and then had everyone stand and introduce themselves.  Then those who wanted to, told us a little about their experiences at DL&L.  It was so fun listening to their stories.  There have been so many changes since the first trek on the ranch.

We were so excited to have Christie Huff be with us.  She was still in school when she started working for the Ranch as an intern.  She and her brother would organize and lead the treks, without set trails with markers to show the way, without porta-johns or water buffalos, without nice side-by-side 4 wheelers for emergencies.  Each week she would be so exhausted at the end of the trek that she would just fall on her bed and sleep 24 hours!  She and her brother lived in the Depot at the time. She lead treks for 12 summers.

There is a painting in the Trek Center of Christie and the pavilion is named after.  We sometimes still find some of her trail markers as we trek and we bring them back and nail them to the pavilion.  We could have listened to her stories all day.  We are so grateful for the part she played in beginning what is now the DL&L Trek Mission!

Sister Julie Rodgers came for a fireside the night of our Missionary Reunion, but it got so late that she set up everything the next morning, even though it was our P-day.  She is a fabulous artist and has painted many pioneer pictures.  It was really special to get to hear some of her stories and how she was inspired to paint pictures of the pioneers' experiences.  We have several of her paintings hanging in our buildings at Missionary Village.

Because we had the Missionary Reunion on Monday, Tuesday was our P-Day, so we headed to Bear Lake to see our great-grandson for the first time!  What a cutie he is, and such a good baby.  His name is Aiden and he was a little leery of Grandpa Howie for a bit.

But, it didn't take long for him to warm up.  Later, I got to hold him in my arms until he fell asleep.  Our granddaughter, Marissa brought him to Bear Lake for a family get-together on her Mom's (Heidi) side of the family.  Shay and Heidi were also there.  We were glad they let us intrude on their family for a couple of hours.  Hopefully, we will see them again without so much time passing.

 We had a couple of excursions planned before we started getting ready for Trek Training the end of the week.  The first one one was to go to the old tabernacle in Brigham City, just across the road from the Brigham City Temple.  It is a beautiful old building and is still used on special occasions.  We got a tour from the attic to the basement (where a creek flows and used to provide power to run the organ.)   We got to see in places where most people don't get to go.  It helps to have some missionaries (the Pearts) who grew up in Brigham City and know people in high places!

The inside is just beautiful.  Some of us actually sat up in the choir seats and sang our Missionary Anthem (To Those Who Came Before Me) so we could say that we had sung in the tabernacle.

Elder Howard wanted to see what it would feel like to preach from the pulpit of the tabernacle!  He said it wasn't too bad because all of his friends were in the audience (we missionaries.)

We are standing in front of the tabernacle.  In front are Brother & Sister Cowen, Brother & Sister Higginson, Brother & Sister Brinkerhoff, Elder & Sister Walker, Elder & Sister Ekins, Sister and Brother Barton; back row are Brother & Sister Call, Sister & Brother Hutchings, Sister & Brother Howard, Brother & Sister Peart.

The Brigham City Temple is just beautiful.  We would have like to have gone to it that day, but it was closed for cleaning, so we went into Ogden and went to the Ogden Temple instead.

Ryan Richens, the seminary teacher in Evanston,  took us on a tour of Echo Canyon and other pioneer history sites.  He grew up in this area and knows it very well. 

The rock formations are amazing in this area.  We are all standing in front of this bridged rock formation.  We are the Pearts,  Bartons, Hutchings, Calls, Howards, Ekins, Cowans, and Higginsons.

We took off on a hike that was pretty easy, but it changed drastically as we got to the top of a very high mountain. 

 At the top of the mountain, the pioneer saints built the embattlements on the edge to protect themselves from a group of men (Johnston's army) who were following them.

  

A few of the more brave of our group got to the top, Elders Higginson and Call waving.  This is a special place for Elder Call to hike because his great-great- grandfather, Anson Call, helped to build these battlements to protect the saints against Johnston's army.

We and Elder Ekins opted to go back down to the bottom after climbing up all the way but the ledge.  We had to take a picture of Elder Ekins with his "Bud Light" in his hand.  He found this empty can and was collecting empty rifle shells in, or so he said!

A really cool place we saw, which we have passed many times on the freeway going to Ogden and didn't ever notice, was the Temple Rock Amphitheater.  The rock formations in the area were really amazing.

It is always fun to walk on the original pioneer trail.  There is always a special spirit there.

This is Big Mountain where the pioneers could see all the way into Salt Lake Valley.  It was called Heartbreak Hill because they had come so far and could see the big mountains they still had to cross. 

We went to a different area and stopped at this campground to have lunch.  Some of us hiked up the hill to some more battlements that had been built by the saints to defend themselves from persecutors who were following them in an army group.  The battlements were basically piles of rocks to hide behind, but it must have taken quite the doing to find so many rocks and gather them together.  It was a great day, getting to see all of this pioneer history, and we had such a knowledgeable guide in Brother Richens.

The rest of the week was spent in getting ready for all of the families coming for the Family Trek.  Sister Ekins and I went down to the gate and put a welcoming message on the signboard.

Sarah's family and Jill's family both came to our Family Trek.  Sarah and Ryan brought their camp trailer so there was plenty of room for everyone to sleep, since the addies (little hotel rooms) were already spoken for.  Jill, Dan, Kamber, and Boe are trying out the pickle ball court that we painted on the floor of the Treck Center.  It is lots of fun playing there.  We played games with them that evening in the Depot and rested up for the "big" trek tomorrow.

Sarah and her family had shopped at the DI and found some really cute pioneer clothes, with some alterations she made.  They brought clothes for Kamber and the rest of Jill's family had straw hats, and Boe borrowed Grandpa's suspenders!  We gathered together with all of the other families on Saturday morning and went on a short trek, with the kids doing most of the pushing and pulling and we adults walking along with them. We are in the middle of the back row, with Dan & Jill on our right and Sarah & Ryan on the right, and with the kids in the front, Luke, Lindee, Kamber, Jenna, John, and Boe.  What a great group!  We are so glad they came.

The boys, Boe John, and Luke, start out in the back pushing, with the girls, Lindee, Kamber, and Jenna, pulling in the front.  They did a good job, and didn't get too tired!  

Some of the missionaries didn't have any family come for the trek, so, Elders Barton and Call are in front pulling, and Sisters Barton and Call, and Brother Higginson, pushing the cart and followed us.  They said it was the first time they had pulled or pushed a cart and it was a lot harder than they thought.  We missionaries don't usually help push and pull handcarts when we go on the youth treks.  We would get too worn out doing it for nine weeks in a row--at least that is the excuse we use.

We had time in the afternoon, after the trek, to go in a couple of side-by-by sides (only the missionaries can drive them, so we took two of them) and ride a couple of trails.  We went on Trail 6 that passes some of the little lakes on the ranch.  They were really pretty at the beginning of the summer, but without much rain, they don't have a lot of water in them.

The grasses were really tall around the lakes.  Jenna is pretty tall and the grass is taller than she is!

Before we finished our ride, we went to the top of the hill to check the well holding tank (which Elder Howard and I do twice a week.)  We sometimes walk up there, but we were in the side-by-sides this time.  There is a great view of Missionary Village from the top.

We fixed dinner and just sat around during the evening and visited.  What a fun day we had!

Both of the girls and their families had been to see us this summer.  Sarah and her family stayed the night with us once and Jill and her family just stopped by for the afternoon on their way to Dan's sister's house.  So, it was fun to have them stay a couple of nights (especially when Sarah & Ryan brought their trailer for more room) and get to do all of the things we did.  Hopefully, they can come again next summer, along with some of our other kids.  I love showing off our family to our fellow missionaries!

I think our missionary choir sang in most every ward in the Evanston Stake, and then some.  This past Sunday we got to go to Woodruff and sing in their old church.  It is really beautiful and looks more like a tabernacle than a church.  Then, they even fed us lunch afterwards! 

Sister Barton has turned our missionary group into quite a choir.  She says we sound really good, but if we do, it is because of her.  Because some of us really don't sing very well.  The missionaries with good voices help to carry some of the rest of us!  She has sure made it fun for all of us, and I have learned a lot from her--how to hold my mouth and tongue and how to breath, for a few.  She is so patient!