I can't believe we have been here on our mission for only three weeks. The experiences we are having are amazing. There are four Ward buildings in Evanston, so we missionaries rotate around on Sundays and go to all of the meetings that start at 9:00 in each building. It has been fun getting to know people in each ward. Then, when we go to town for anything, we run into the members at restaurants, Walmart, and other places and they recognize us. If I don't recognize them, I just fake it. That has become my motto--fake it till you make it! There are so many things we have to do, from fixing spray nozzles, putting together port-a-john plugs, leading scriptural discussions in prayer meeting, knowing the difference from Route 6, 7, 14, 23, 28, 29, and knowing how to square dance, that we just act like we know what we are doing and rely on Heavenly Father to help us learn all of these things. Amazingly, it is working!
Elder and Sister Kennedy have served two missions on DL&L--one year earlier and also the last two years. They are both great people. We got to know them a little last August when we came for training. We were sad that they were not going to be here this year. Elder Kennedy if an avid outdoorsman and hunter. They came last Monday for our FHE (Family Home Evening) and brought a lot of horns, antlers, skins, and other things he has collected, mostly all from around this area.
Elder Kennedy had some really interesting things to show and tell us about the animals on the DL&L Ranch. It was a fun evening.
Since we finished up with all of the old handcarts (we are now building new ones) the Pearts and Higginsons painted a pickle ball court on the cement floor. They have had some pretty rousing games of pickle ball. We haven't joined in yet, but hope to soon. There are not too many times the floor is empty enough to play, but it will happen once in a while.
Yes, this is the Virginia Reel (we are the very end cople.) I can't believe that Elder Howard is learning to square dance! He has even begun to enjoy it! He and Elder Brinkerhoff have tried to get out of practicing, but only Elder Brinkerhoff has managed to do so once. Besides the Virginia Reel, we learned the Heel/Toe Polka. As missionaries, we are available to the Trekking groups to help with their hoe downs by teaching and calling the square dances. We just happened to get a request to do so for our first Trek group on June 8-11. We better not miss any practices!
We are still learning our Trekking routes. We have gone on four of the five we have to learn. They are all criss-crossed in our minds. Thank goodness Elder Howard has a better memory (most of the time) for them than I do. It rains here about every other day, but by the next day, the trails and roads are dusty again. This one was not quite as bad as the first one we went on, thank goodness!
Sister Cowen and Elder Howard are checking out just how many gopher holes are in this camp site!
Elder Cowen found a nice shed on this trail. Even though we, as missionaries, are not supposed to gather them (a disappointing new rule this year), he ended up taking this one because he was sure it would cause problems with the trekkers on this trail in a few weeks. They would all want to take it.
There are some really beautiful places on the Ranch. There are some small reservoirs. This one is along a Trekking route, and the largest one that the trekkers get to see. There are several much larger ones closer to the ranch headquarters.
To keep the kids out of the water on the hot treks, we tell them there may be leeches in the water. I think there may be leeches in some of the watering holes, but I am not sure there would be any in this pretty water. Some of the missionaries say there are fish in the reservoirs, but there is a catch-and-release policy, with no live bait and barbless hooks. I wonder how the missionaries know?!?
The trail rides are lots of fun and we are slowly learning them. It sure is nice if there is not much dust!
We are still putting up trail markers. Elder Howard helps with a lot of these. They just had to take a picture of him getting his glove mixed up in the nut he was tightening. Everyone thinks he can do about anything (which he pretty much can--except square dancing--which he is learning.) I am glad he didn't catch his finger in the nut, along with the glove!
Our first Trek Review!!! We were so nervous. Usually, one of the 2nd year missionaries come out with us on the first one, but they were not available. So--fake it till you make it, again! This is Bishop Wilcox, Trail Boss Stewart, and "PA" Hansen, from the Lakeside Stake in Kaysville UT. On Trek Reviews, we take them out on the support roads where the port-a-john, water buffaloes, kitchen crew, and other support people pull trailers to port-a-john stops and campsites. They see where the trails intersect the road (and sometimes travel the roads) but they don't get to go on the cross country trails. As we travel, we visit about their trek plans, give suggestions, answer questions, and get to know each other. Heavenly Father must have been with us, because we seemed able to answer any questions they had and had a great time. They are very excited and we can't wait to trek with them and their youth.
Elder Stewart shared with us an experience he had on a previous trek at DL&L. They mixed all of the kids up in the stake and put them in "families" they didn't know. There was a young man in one family that had a pretty bad reputation as a "bad boy" in his own ward. But, when he was in his new family with no one he really knew, he became one of the leaders in that family, gave devotionals, and was able to get away from the reputation he had in his own ward. Now, three years later, he is waiting for a mission call, but is coming back on trek, unless his departure date is sooner than that. We are asking all of our trek leaders to share these little miracles from their trek with us so we can keep them in our journal.
Every morning in our prayer meeting, a couple are asked to share a pioneer story and then lead a scripture study on any scripture they want. We all have this great book
Tell My Story, Too. It is written by Jolene Alolphin. In 1999 she was called by her Stake leaders to find a biography for each trekker to take on his or her re-enactment trek for the summer of 2000. So, she took all of those stories, and many more, of the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies and the Hodgett and Hunt Wagon Companies of 1856, and their rescues, and put them together in her book. This is where we get all of our pioneer stories from.
Sister Allphin spent the evening with us and was very kind to spend time signing all of our books. We are very grateful for her.
This is our whole missionary group, except for the Johnsons, whom we are anxiously awaiting to join us: Elders and Sisters Hutchins, Cowans, Higgisons, Bartons, Howards, Brinkerhoffs, Jolene Allphin, Calls, Ekins, Walkers, and Pearts.
Another "fun" job completed! If anyone needs a plug for their port-a-john, let me know. I am almost an expert at putting them together. Another sister missionary is the designer. They go into the port-a-johns whenever they are moved--a very important procedure when you really think about it. We get to train the port-a-john support person on each trek how to use them. Who knew what valuable things we would be learning on our mission!
After our first trek review, we were looking forward to our next one. This is Elder Cook from the Sandy UT Stake Presidency, and Elder & Sister LeCheminant, the Trail Bosses. They were a great and well-prepared group. They actually taught us some things. They were excited to see all of their campsites and they have some wonderful things planned.
We talked about some of the weather there may be on their trek and shared with them that we were told by our Director, Elder Cowan, that each Trek group would have the kind of weather that their group needed. Elder Cowen had told us that there was lightning and rain with one group, while another group just over the hill didn't even know there had been any rain. Elder LeCheminant shared a trekking experience he had with a group of kids that were disgruntled all the first day because they hadn't been put in "families" with their friends. When they got to their first camp, the rain began pouring down before they even got their tents all the way up. They all got into their family tents and spent about three hours in them before the rain stopped. Some of them wanted to stay in the tents longer because they were having so much fun. All of the families bonded and they had a great Trek, with nothing but sunny weather the rest of the time. Another miracle!
We had a special FHE/Fireside on Sunday. Painter, Clark Kelly Price, came and showed us some paintings and told us amazing stories about them. He is mostly a western painter, but he also paints religious pictures, many that the LDS Church has purchased from him. He told us that at one point, he lost his talent to paint, then realized that he had forgotten a promise he had made to do a special painting for the Church. When he remembered and started to do it, his talent "flowed" back into his body--he felt it from the top of his head to his toes. He told the story much better than I can. He has a website with all of his paintings shown on it.
We bought these small 5x7 prints of three of his paintings of the handcart pioneers. The top left is called "Rescue at the Sweetwater." The bottom one, "Martin Handcart Company - Bitter Cottonwood Creek, Wyoming, November, 1856," depicts the burial of his great-great grandfather, with his great-great grandmother standing there holding their 1-year-old baby. The upper left one, "Trail of Sacrifice - Valley of Promise," depicts his great-great grandmother reaching the Salt Lake Valley. Brother Price signed all of them for us. Elder Peart is going to help us make frames for them out of some old barn wood from a barn out by the cattle corrals behind Missionary Village.
Elder Peart tells the story that when he is on a Trek and it looks like it is going to storm, he just has to put on his rain gear and the storm goes around them. He says this has actually happened! So, we found some good (and inexpensive at $12 each because we hit the store on a 25% off day) raincoats that we can send all of the storms around us when we are trekking! I believe in miracles!
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