Week 12 7/2-8/17 5th Trek, Perry First Ward, Perry UT

We had a great Sunday!  Except that at the beginning of Priesthood meeting, the Bishop's Counselor  told Elder Howard that he would like to talk to him after the meeting.  So, when the meeting was over, he caught up with Elder Howard and asked him if he and his wife would talk next week in Sacrament meeting.  It is not going to be a good week, having to worry about a talk all week!

We changed our P-day (preparation day) to Tuesday this week because Tuesday was the 4th of July.  When the McDowells were on gate duty, they made time to make everyone these cute patriotic decorations.  It was a lot of work.

I do most of our laundry in the Depot laundry room and then I hang them out to dry.  It seems to shrink our clothes more when I dry them in a dryer!  We really like the smell of air dried clothes.

We went to town on the 4th and saw this really big flag flying at O'Reiley's.  Evanston has a lot of patriotism going on.  There were flags flying all over town.

The fireworks in Evanston were really good. Several of us missionary couples went together and watched them from the top of a hill by an LDS Stake Center.

This week we trekked with Elder and Sister Theler, from Draper, UT.  The group we had was from Perry 1st Ward, Perry UT.  It was a fun, small group.  There were only 62 people, with 5 handcarts.  This will be our smallest group this year.

One of our trail markers.  There are some crossings that have 4 & 5 different trails crossing the same place.  They usually cross at different times or different days.  But, sometimes we get to see other groups.

The trekkers are crossing over Crane Reservoir.  It is really pretty as they come off of a big hill to see the red mountains and the water.  It is especially "pretty" because we can see the porta-johns and water buffalo, knowing that there will be a stop and lunch!

We picked out all of our new handcarts we made last year for this group, because we only needed 5 and there were that many new ones in the handcarts at our staging.  It was fun watching them being used (and getting dirty!)

Because this was a small group, and being a ward, everyone pretty much new everyone else.

They would all gather together under pop-up canopies when they stopped for lunch and in the evenings.  They would then separate out into their trek families at night.  Because of this, we felt like we were part of their ward family, always sitting under the canopies with them.

I have never seen clouds more fluffy than here at the Ranch.  And usually, as you turn and look in different directions, there are different looking clouds each way.  But, the fluffy ones are my favorite.

Brother McKay, who was the medical person on this trek, and his son saw our McKay Ridge sign and had to have a picture of it.  They were convinced that the road was named after them!

One of the families decided to try to pull the handcart, one at a time, and see how far they could pull it.  They did pretty well.  Their Pa told them to not get too worn out and then not be able to pull their share when the whole family pulled.

Even some of the girls in the family tried, but most of the kids didn't last too long on their own.  Having a family help is much better.  It is hard to imagine pioneer moms pulling by themselves, often with small or ill children in the cart.

Elder Howard got to do his impression of a Pony Express rider and deliver the mail (letters from their parents and their leaders.)  It is always fun seeing him ride into camp on his trusty horse, Sliver.

In some of the trek groups, the adults do almost everything but push the carts for the kids--all the cooking, cleaning, devotionals--but it is always great to see the kids giving a hand.  This group from Perry 1st Ward were great.  Every meal there was a different family of kids who did all of the clean-up and washing of the dishes.

The best smelling porta-johns are the ones the kids help keep clean.  These kids cleaned them very willingly and did a great job.

In small ward groups, most every knows everyone else.  It is fun to see the kids interaction with the adults during some of their free time.  They also tend to invite us missionaries into their activities more.  By the end of the trek, we felt that we were members of their ward.

As always, the skies here at the Ranch are amazing--always different and beautiful!

This picture does not truly show how beautiful this evening sky was.  The moon was beautiful!

Every day on the trail the group encountered this "cow's skull."  It always had messages attached to it with messages from current day prophets.  They were really good messages and it was fun for us missionaries to zip up the trail in the side-by-side during a break and find a fun spot to place the next message.  This little pile of rocks was just perfect.

We had to go over several water crossings.  Thank goodness the missionaries put down these little bridges for some of them, even though they were a little narrow.  There is only a couple of spare inches on each side, so the wheels on the handcarts had to be watched very carefully or they would slip off.  Some of the other missionaries' groups lost handcarts into the water, but none of ours ever did, thank goodness!

Bishop Walker, bishop of Perry First Ward, happens to be the son of Elder Walker who is from Emmett and was a missionary here at DL&L last year.  It was so fun to get to know him and his family a little on this trek.  They are great people.

Hats off to the Perry 1st Ward!  We had such a good time with them and thank them for their friendship.  We hope to go down to their Sacrament Meeting when some of the kids and leaders will talk about Trek.

Week 11 6/25-7/1/17 4th Trek, Magna East Stake, Magna UT

Elder Moretti is our "mission photographer" and is always taking pictures of everyone.  He wanted us in our Sunday clothes and with this picture in the Trek Center.  Elder Howard is getting more obvious "raccoon eyes"  and I am getting fluffier hair (from a perm.)  Not our best picture, but it will do.

This week's trek was with the Magna East Stake, from Magna UT.  During staging, this brother walked up to us and asked if we knew who he was.  Elder Howard was not sure, but I recognized him right off as being a Saxton from Emmett.  His name is Drake and he was one of our son's, Shay"s, friends.  We know his family well.  It is always a small world, especially in the Church.

As the trekking group left staging, they had a kneeling prayer, which is always awesome to me.

Each family had a "flour baby."  They tried to take good care of them, but some of them had a lot of duct tape around them by the end of the trek, from "injuries" that occurred on the traill! 

They did a vignette about the Jens & Elsie Nielson story, where Jens could walk no longer so Elsie ended up pulling him many miles in the handcart by herself.  In her journal she says that when she could go no further, she felt someone pushing from behind.  When she turned, she saw no one.  Here, the "angels" are running over to help her.  It is a very emotional vignette and always brings the Spirit.

We had a great medical team on the Magna East Stake Trek.  They did such a good job.  It is really nice when they wear something that shows they are medical.  Their aprons were great.  At each camp, they had a medical tent and area all ready for those that needed them.  They were super people.

Sometimes the trek groups ask that the missionaries call a hoedown for them.  The first several weeks of our mission, before the trekking starts, we practice dancing and calling hoedowns.  I was a little nervous calling this one because I hadn't done one since last year.  But it turned out fine and the kids had a great time.

The girls had an unusual activity after the boys went up the hill before the Women's Pull.  They had a watermelon seed spitting contest (very lady-like.)  Their leaders said they had a very hard time finding watermelons with seeds in them, since most places sell only seedless watermelons these days.  I was standing across the road from them and they promised they wouldn't hit me with a watermelon seed, which they didn't.

The first round winners of the watermelon seed spitters had a "spit-off"  to choose the ultimate winner.  It was a fun, even though an unusual. activity.  And, the watermelon was very refreshing before the girls started their devotional.  The theme for the devotional was "Doubt Not, Fear Not."  They had two girls come up and were each given a short rope, one end in each hand, and were told to try to tie it in a  knot.  Of course, they couldn't, without letting hold of one end.  Then they were told to fold their arms as if praying, take a rope end in each hand, then unfold their arms.  A knot automatically formed.  They were told that they could always do hard things, to fear not and doubt not, if they pray. They had a great women's pull.

We train the trekkers to put brake ropes on the backs of their carts.  When they go down steep hills, no one is in the front except one guide person on each side (no one in the kill zone, which is the middle front) and the rest on the ropes in the back.  This family is all set to go down the hill!

The last night of this trek, they served Hawaiian haystacks for dinner.  It was fun because the food crew dressed up and we all got a lei.  We had a fun time and the dinner was delicious. 

This was a fun trek with Elder & Sister Moretti.  They are from Lyman, Wy, and this is their first year as missionaries at DL&L.

There are beautiful flowers on the Ranch, but these looked like they were a little out of place.  Cacti like these should be in Arizona!  I don't know how they survive the cold, snowy winters in the mountains of Utah!

Now this little flower belongs in Utah.  It fact, it is the state flower, the Sego Lily.  It is always just a single flower, but is very dainty and pretty.

Week 10, 6/18-24/17, 3rd Trek, Jordan North Stake, West Valley UT

As we start our 10th week of being on the second summer of our mission, we realize the time is really going fast.  We will have our 3rd trek this week, with five more to go and then a week working on the gate, and two weeks after that.  We are enjoying the time we have left because we know it will go fast.

The sunsets are still beautiful here on the Ranch.  They always happen whenever there are a few clouds in the sky.  In each direction in the sky, there is a different scene.

Elder Mark Durham, our Area Authority Seventy, has been given a new responsibility and is not over the Deseret Land & Livestock Trek Mission any longer.  We will miss him.  Our new Area Authority Seventy is Elder Raymond A Cutler.  We had a short afternoon meeting with both of them to introduce us to Elder Cutler, and to tell him a little about ourselves.  We are excited to work with him.

Our Monday family home evening was with Micheal McLean.  He is a popular musician, song writer, author, and performer.  One of his most well known performances is "Forgotten Christmas Carols."  He also produced "Mr. Kruger's Christmas." He told us a lot about his life and the struggles and successes he has had.

It happened to be Sister Clark's birthday and they had been having problems with a plugged black water line in their RV, so Brother McLean made up a birthday song for her about her sewer problems.  It was hilarious!

Our 3rd trek was with the Jordan North Stake from West Valley, UT.  There were about 135 people, with 9 carts.  It was on trail 7 and they came in busses.  They were a great group, and very well organized.  It was nice having a smaller group. 

The Calls were our support missionaries.  This is our second year serving with them, but the first year we were never assigned to do a trek together.  So, it was fun trekking with them this week.

After the woman's pull, one of the support vehicles ended up with a flat tire.  It looks like it took at least four men to change it!  We were kind of glad for it, because they were ready to take off trekking again soon after the pull was over.  We like to see at least an hour's rest before we start again after a women's pull.  Sometimes the adrenaline its there, but the bodies sometime poop out soon if they don't rest long enough.

At camp one night, they played some fun games.  There was a relay where the girls had to "shave" the boys . . .

. . . and then the boys had to tie a ribbon in the girl's hair. 

 Another relay had them walking three-legged, jumping in a gunny sack, carrying a pinecone in a spoon, and walking with  a Book of Mormon on their head.

Archery was one of the most popular activities that afternoon.

One night the group had a hoedown, called by Elder & Sister Call.

One of the three dances that we learn to call is the Heel-Toe Polka.  It is really fun and everyone changes partners often.

Another favorite dance is The Virginia Reel.  A lot of kids learn it in grade school.  It is always a fun one, and is also one of the three songs we missionaries learn.

Our last campground was a large one and had plenty of room for our small group.  They put up their tarp city, which, after three days of practice, they did a good job of making their tarp tents!

They come up with some pretty ingenious ways of stretching out their tarps, most of the time using the handcart as the central support.

It is pretty cozy in this one, although they don't have room to stand in it.  This tarp tent will be used for the whole family of 12-14 with the Ma and Pa in the middle and the boys on one side and the girls on the other.

Brother & Sister Harmon did a great job as Committee Chairmen!  They are getting a well deserved short rest in the cook tent.

They had plenty of room to play soccer at this campsite.  There were some pretty avid soccer players in this group, with at least one girl!

Elder Howard is delivering mail for the group on the last night.  He alleges to be from the famous Pony Express riders and comes galloping in on his stick horse.

He states that he doesn't see to well and gets confused as to which group he is supposed to be delivering mail to.  After he pulls out his "glasses" he sees better.  Afterwards, he takes off on his beloved horse, Sliver, whose mother is Splinter and father is Two-by-Four.  They do come from a family of thorough boards, however!

The last day, at staging where the trekkers will board the busses for home, their leaders sing a touching farewell song to the youth.  All the while, the ever present drone records it for posterity!