It has been a busy week. We got back from Jill's on Saturday and then on Sunday, our missionary choir sang at two Sacrament meetings. We are a very popular choir (although we only know one song) and are pretty much booked solid the rest of the time we are here. In fact, one Sunday we are singing in three Wards! Thank goodness the third ward is feeding us lunch afterwards!
On Monday, Scott McFarland, the ranch biologist, took us on a tour of the part of the ranch that we don't trek on. A big money maker for the ranch is the outfitter group. They pay the Church a lot of money each year to be able to bring hunters on the ranch and take them on guided hunting trips. The Church has to allow 9% of the tags to go to public draws, and those people get to come on the ranch for free and get all of the perks that the others pay big bucks for--lodging, meals, and personal guides. Scott took us up to the old lodge. It was quite a trip up there.
They still use the old lodge once in a while for different gatherings. In the top are bunk rooms and the bottom is a large kitchen and living area. We just loved it and thought it would be just the thing for a family cabin.
Then, we went about 10 miles further to the new lodge that the Church built for the outfitters program. It is really nice. There are about 20 hotel-type rooms and each one has a name on it. One of them is named "Howard," so I guess sometime we may just go claim it!
The living area downstairs is really something, especially all of the taxidermied animals. I think that most of them were found on the ranch property.
I am not sure the buffalo was found on the ranch, but they said that there used to be buffalo here.
Elder and Sister walker are in a little sitting area on the top floor, admiring a nice elk.
Sisters Ekins, Cowan, Higginson, and Brinkerhoff are standing, looking into the dining and kitchen area. They told us that the lodge can sleep about 35 people, but they have had as many as 50 spend the night. Some of them had to sleep on the couches and the floor, but I guess all of the meals are just amazing--they feed them well!
This is a really nice lodge, and it would be fun to stay there, but I kind of liked the smaller one better, especially for a family cabin.
We saw this big bull elk on the way to the lodge. The picture is a little fuzzy because I had to zoom in quite a ways to get him.
We were excited to have our last trek of the year with Elder & Sister Ekins. We were with them on our very first trek, as newbie missionaries (with no seasoned missionary helpers.) And, we couldn't have chosen a better ward to trek with for our last one. It was the Cedar Hollow 2nd Ward from Lehi UT. When Brother Horsley and Bishop Larsen came in April for their trek review, they were the ones who rescued the antelope from the fence. Because of that, we, as the missionaries, told the store of Ephram Hanks' rescue of the handcart people, and we then gave Brother Horsley and Bishop Larsen rescue certificates for saving the antelope. It was so fun. There were only around 40 people in their group, so we got to know them well as we trekked with them, laughed, cried, played, and built stronger testimonies of Christ with them.
One unique thing that they did, was carry a portable, pop-up, porta john in one of the carts. It was pretty interesting. But it took a while to pop up and down, and to use it one at a time. I think that after the first day, they just did the regular old cowboy/cowgirl stops!
A water stop for a devotional shows their very practical water bottle holders on their three carts. Yes, they only had three carts--pretty easy to keep track of this group and not let anyone get lost!
They had a really fun talent show one night. The leaders and the families all gave skits, as the Bishopric threw in one-liners between acts. It was hilarious and they all did so good.
Elder and Sister Horsley sang a song that was a parody about trekking. It was hilarious! They sprayed bug spray, deodorant, sunscreen, and ended up with spraying water all over the audience.
As usual, the women's pull was one of the most life-changing activities of the trek. The boys leave as the girls get a very spiritual talk from one of the Ma's. She talked about how God orchestrates her life (as she calls it.) She said that if she ever wonders if God is in her life, she just takes one, two, or maybe three steps backwards from where she is, and she always finds him there, following the steps to where she is now. It was a very inspiring devotional.
It was hard to say goodby to some of these kids, especially when a couple of the sweet girls brought me a little bouquet of flowers. The Ekins and we will remember them always.
The roads and trails were still dusty, but the last full day of our trek, we got about ten minutes of drenching rain--just what we had been praying for. What a way to end our trekking season, with this Cedar Hollow 2nd Ward!
After we sent all of our trekkers home on Saturday, Shay & Heidi, Tyson, and Emily brought their 5th-wheel up and spent two nights with us on their way to Bear Lake for a reunion with Heidi's family. They pulled one of our new handcarts around the Missionary Village just to get a little bit of a feel as to how they pulled. We went on a 4-wheeler ride and went up and checked the well. Everyone got dusty, but it was fun. Afterwards, we played with the stilts and other pioneer games for a while.
Sunday afternoon, after Church and potluck dinner with the rest of the missionaries, we went to the Depot and played Mexican Train. It was really nice to play it with the "Howard rules" for a change. It seems that everyone has their own rules for Mexican Train!
Monday morning, before Shay's family left, they came and critiqued at our practice for singing our anthem, To Those Who Came Before Me, at our missionary reunion we were having that night. Shay actually gave us a couple of good suggestions. Thanks, Shay & Heidi and kids, for sharing our missionary experience with us!
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