Week 6 5/ 21-27/17

Elder Lynn L. Summerhayes was the Area Authority 70 who gave us our call to be DL&L missionaries in Augusst, 2015.  When he was released that next spring, the mission gave him a handcart wheel.  This spring, he donated it back to the mission, along with a memorial rock.  The Evanston Stake presidency and a High Councilman  came to plant them.

They were put right at the gate entrance to Missionary Village.  The stone was so heavy that it took a big boom truck to lift it into the hole.

President Lester and President Smith got it all leveled and then the missionary Elders put rocks and dirt around it and tamped it all in firmly.

The handcart wheel was mounted behind the rock in such a way that it actually spins.  Pictures were taken of some of us after it was finished--come as you are with our work clothes on!

There is still lots of water on the ranch.  A trail goes right through this stream.  I have been trying to convince the other missionaries that we could use kitchen garbage bags as a fast solution to not getting our shoes wet.  So, I had to try it out.  I tied them onto my legs above the knee, and they worked just fine.  I plan to take a roll with me on our trek in another week and a half in case anyone needs them.

We have spent a lot of hours riding the trails this week to learn them better, so as not to get the trekkers lost!  We were on our first trail and ran into a band of sheep that has been here on the ranch for several weeks.  None of them had lambs with them, so they must be babies from last year.

It was fun to watch this large white sheep dog handle them.  He guided them right over this cattle guard and wouldn't let them cross back over as we drove through them.

I think the prairie dog is my favorite animal on the Ranch.  He just pops up on his hind legs as if to say "hello."  Sometimes there is a whole town of them and they all pop up together.  We learned that the prairie dog is a key animal on the ranch, although the cowboys don't like them and their holes.  If they weren't here, some other other birds and animals would not be able to survive here either.

Riding the trails, we also saw a couple of mule deer.  There are not very many in the area of the Ranch that we trek on, but we get to see them once in a while on a couple of the trails.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, our Daughter Jill, organized a family get-together by renting a big cabin at Bear Lake.  It had six bedrooms, five bathrooms, two family areas, a big kitchen/dining room area, and a two/car garage turned into a game room.  It was fun.  All five of our married kids and their spouses were there, with 15 of our 19 grandchildren, and our great-grandson.  We had such a fun and relaxing time.

This is the view of Bear Lake from our balcony

What a great family we have.  This was the best family picture we took, even though it had the lights on above our heads.  We sure love all of these guys!  (A granddaughter and great-grandson are missing from the picture.)

We went to Bear Lake on Friday, but came back to DL&L for a route review on Saturday.  These fellows from Kays Creek Stake in Layton UT, are trekking our second week, which is June 14-17.  There will be about 275 people, with 21 handcarts.  Hopefully, some of the water crossings will be a little dryer by that time.  They will be a great group and we are excited to trek with them.

Now, it is back to Bear Lake for more family fun!  Not many missions would allow you to do this, but we are so glad that it works out with ours.

Week 5 5/14-20/17

It was Mother's Day this Sunday.  At the ward that we went to for church, the last hour of the block, the men took care of all of the classes and invited all of the sisters to go into the cultural hall.  There they served us wonderful deserts.  We just sat and ate and visited for the whole hour.

We also got some beautiful cut flowers.  I wish I knew the name of them, because after putting them in some water in a glass on our table in the motorhome, they lasted three weeks before they wilted.  The were beautiful and crisp-looking the whole time.  (I know this because I am three weeks behind on this blog and I just threw them out yesterday!)

For our missionary potluck after church, the Elders made us "breakfast" for dinner.  Elder Howard and Elder Wilson are cooking pancakes and bacon on the grills.

The sisters all got to relax and visit while the men did all of the work.  Here are Sisters Howard, Wilson, McDowell, Barton, Anderson, Moratti, Wilson, Call, Peart, and Ekins.

For some reason, all of the Elders ended up sitting at one table . . .

. . . and all of the Sisters at the other table.  What an enjoyable day it was.  That evening, all of our kids called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  That was the best of all!

The book that we get most of pioneer stories out of that we share in prayer meeting each morning is "Tell My Story, Too."  It was written by Jolene Allphin.  She came to do a fireside for us last year and signed my book, and she came again this year.  She has another book, "Follow Me to Zion," that she authored with Andrew Olsen and with art in it by Julie Rogers.  Jolene Allphin signed my new book, and in this picture she is signing Sister McDowell's book.  Andrew Olsen and Julie Rogers are both scheduled to come and visit us later this year.  It is so interesting to hear them tell the handcart and other pioneer stories.  The stories seem to come to life with them.

We always have desert after our firesides and family home evenings.  Elder and Sister McDowell made the most delicious pies.  I can tell that Sister Ekins is looking forward to a piece.  Lemon meringue is my favorite!

One of the jobs I did this week was to help make some more porta-john plugs.  These are put into the holes of the porta-johns and clamped down when they are moved from rest stops and campsites.  They are very important and if they are not put in just right---well, you can imagine!  I, Sister Theler, and Sister Peart are taking our job very seriously.

Parts and pieces of the porta-john plugs are painted and ready to be put together.

Sister Call and I stained some new pole bars for the handcarts.  These are the weakest part of the handcart and are usually the first part to get broken if not treated tenderly.  Elder and Sister Call are over the handcarts so they make sure they are in tip-top shape.

Elder Howard is under a porta-john trailer checking out the tires and axels.  It seems to me that is not exactly the best place to be.  Thank goodness, all of the porta-johns are clean and sweet-smelling right now.

Elder Moretti and Elder Howard have been so busy getting new trailers ready and old ones fixed!  Elder Howard keeps telling Elder Moratti that he is not getting paid "over-time hours," and Elder Moratti tells Elder Howard that he is still waiting for that "first check."  They have a lot of fun working together.

We were busy with two route reviews this week.  The one we did on Friday was for Salt Lake Jordan North Stake.  They will be trekking on June 21-24.  They will be our 3rd trek of the season and Elder & Sister Call will be with us.  This is the fourth time this stake has trekked at DL&L.  I am sure they will be able to teach us a few things!  We get to call a hoe-down for them and also do a mail delivery.  Since we are the lead missionaries, I think that Sister Call will do a really good job calling the hoe-down and Elder Call does a hilarious job of delivering mail!  Actually, we have done both of these, and if Elder & Sister Call do not want to do them, we will.  It should be a really fun group, with only 9-10 handcarts.

The route review we did on Saturday was for the Brighton Stake in Cottonwood Heights, UT.  Elder & Sister McDowell are actually the lead missionaries, but they asked us to do the route review because they had ended up scheduling two route reviews for the same time.  We were glad to do it for them.  This group has also been coming to DL&L every four years for the last 12 years.  They have some good leaders and will have a great trek.  They didn't need any special help from the missionaries, so Elder & Sister McDowell won't be asking us to deliver mail or do a hoe-down.  We are so sad!

I was so excited to get this close-up picture of a badger.  I was really brave getting this close to him!  (Actually, as you can probably tell, this is a stuffed badger.  He is in a restaurant that we missionaries frequent.  He does look really ferocious!)

Week 4 - 5/7-13/17

Our grandson, John (JT), turned 12 on May 2.  We are only about two hours from their home in Grantsville, UT.  So, we got to go down on Sunday and Grandpa stood in as he was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, and we had dinner with them before we headed back up to the Ranch.

The kids are raising three lambs, that will be in the freezer next winter!  They have done this for several years now.  The kids really like them when they are little, and don't seem too sad when they are gone.  It is just natural for them.  They are kept in their garage while they are little, but are being slowly weaned to the back yard, by way of a walk through the house!

Sarah, Jenna, and Lyndee are giving them their second feeding of three feedings a day,.

It is a little hard for Jenna to keep her two little ones back while Lyndee finishes feeding hers.  What a great time we had spending a few hours with the Ussings.

For Family Home Evening we had a special guest.  Michael Erickson writes songs and plays the guitar.  Most of his songs are about the pioneer treks, and some about his family.

Brother Erickson has helped to produce a movie about his pioneer great-great grandfather, Ole Madsen, who brought his family across the plains in the Willie Handcart Company.  He has also written a book, Upon Destiny's Song, which is the story of his great grandmother, Ann Marie Madsen Erickson, and his family to the present time.  He presented each of us with a copy of the movie, the book, and also a couple of CD's of his music.

We have been keeping very busy getting ready for our trekkers, who will be coming in three weeks.  It is still too wet to get out on the trails, but we have been riding most of the support trails.  When the weather is bad, we try to find work inside.  We got some new ropes for the handcarts.  It comes in a big roll.  We had to cut it into the right lengths and then we learned how to weave the ends of the ropes with an I-splice to make loops on each end. Sisters Call, Clark, McDowell, Anderson, and Theler are hard at work!

It took us most of the day to do almost 40 ropes.  Another picture of Sister Anderson and Theler, with Sisters Peart and Moratti. We we still have about 80 more pull ropes to make, as soon as we get more rope.

The weather got a little better and some of the Elders were able to dig a ditch so the Church Maintenance Facilitator laid pipe to connect the Depot to the rest of the Village, instead of using water from a (now) irrigation well.  Elders Call, Clark, Ekins, Wilson, Peart, and Barton are doing a good job of filling it up.

Several of us Sisters went back down to the freeway to gather more trash.  Sister Moretti worked so hard, she put holes in her gloves. 

Also with us were Sisters Clark and McDowell.  I think we must have the cleanest exit there is on I-80!

We planned an excursion to the Star Valley Temple.  It is a new temple that was dedicated last fall and is located in Afton Wyoming.  We circle together out in the parking lot to have prayer and to decided who will ride with whom (is that correct English?)  We missionaries clean up pretty good!

The Star Valley Temple is a very small temple. It is very beautiful--the building and the surroundings.  We made reservations to go because there were 22 of us and each session only holds 40 people total.  They did squeeze in a few chairs and we had a very full session.  I was very excited because I took three names of deceased people from my family tree who need their temple work done for them.  We were able to get all three baptized and confirmed members of the Church.  Now, next time we go to the temple. we will be able to continue their work for them.

We ate at a really good seafood restaurant and then bombbarded a chocolate candy store.  I think that between all of us missionaries, we bought half of the store out!  They have a very unique crossing in the middle of town, made out of elk antlers.  The sign says, "Afton Wyoming--World's Largest Elkhorn Arch."

One of the big jobs for the week was sanitizing the porta-johns and putting in the toilet paper and waste cans.  Sister McDowell and I are busy getting the job done.

We really needed to start getting out on the trails, wet or dry.  As you can see, they are pretty much wet!  We only have three more weeks till the trekkers start coming.  We are praying for dry weather and wind to make some of these "rivers" a little smaller so we can get across them.  The groups always seem to ask if there is a water crossing!  This year, we may be able to accommodate them.    

Elder Howard, McDowell, and another Elder are looking of a place we can get across.

We have sheep on the Ranch right now.  They are supposed to be just crossing, but the snow is slowing them down.  These two puppy sheep dogs keep coming into our Village.  Elders McDowell and Ekins are befriending them.  Elder McDowell even ended up feeding them some leftover prime rib steak!  No wonder they keep coming back!

Elder Howard's mechanicing work never seems to end.  He is going to have to stop a little more often so we can get out on the trails more.  It would be embarrassing to get lost on one of them, especially if we have new missionaries with us, or we are leading the trekkers!

I try and find things to do until Elder Howard finds a little time to ride the trails.  Sister Call and I oiled some new pole bars that were made.

Yup, that is Elder Howard, underneath a vehicle or trailer again.  It is good that he is wearing his bibs--keeps him a little bit cleaner.  But, it is hard to get them off of him long enough to wash them--they usually get dirty every day.

It was a cold, windy day and we only had a few more porta-johns to spray down and clean.  So, Sister Call and I got the idea to wear our rain gear.  It kept us warm and dry from the spraying water and the wind.  Although, we got some funny looks from the rest of the missionaries and the trekking group that had come for their route review!

Week 3 - 4/30-5/6/17

We went to the Elm Street building for Church on Sunday.  It was a nice meeting, especially attending it with three other missionary couples.

The McDowells brought a Traeger barbecue/smoker with them when they came from Mesa, AZ.  Elder McDowell loves to cook.  They say that they cook for their whole family (about 30 people) every Sunday at home.  For our Sunday potluck, he cooked prime rib--probably the best we have ever eaten.  We take turns doing the main dish, vegetable, salad, potatoes/rice, and bread/rolls.  It was their turn for the main dish, and they impressed us all.

We woke up to snow again this week.  We can't believe how different the weather has been, compared to last year.  It is making it a little more difficult to get some of our work done, and impossible to get out on the trails.  But, when the snow comes, it doesn't stick around too long.  We are praying for the weather to get better.

There are sheep on the Ranch right now.  They are supposed to be just passing through and belong to another ranch.  The weather is making it impossible to get the sheepherder's trailer through, so I think they will be here a little longer than they thought they would be. The baby lambs are so cute!

Elder Howard and Elder Moretti try to find some jobs to do inside while it is a little cold outside.  But, from the looks of Elder Howard, they have been rolling around in the mud!  They are so busy with all of the trucks, side-by-sides, and trailers that they have very little time to do anything else.  I think they are becoming good friends in the process.

In Church on Sunday, they announced that the Young Men of the Ward were doing a service project  in the town of Almy, of filling sand bags for the expected flooding of the Bear River.  The Evanston Stake is always doing so much for our Mission, we missionaries decided to help out.  Sister & Elder Clark are working hard.

Sister Feler, Sister & Elder Call are also busy.

Elder Howard packed so many sandbags, weighing 50-70 pounds, I finally talked him into getting a shovel and filling sandbags as I held them open.  It was still back-breaking work, but a little easier than carrying them.

Sister and Elder Peart showed us how it was done.

With the missionaries' help, and help from some of the others in the Ward, the Young Men ended up with over 1,000 bags that evening.  Then they fed us hamburgers, chips, and apples.  Here are Sister & Elder Howard, Sister Call, Sister & Elder Clark, and Elder & Sister Theler.  There were other missionaries there who didn't get in the picture. It sure feels good (at least mentally) after doing service.

Yeah!  Finally some nicer weather--nice enough to leave our doors open for the first time.  Now it is time to get out on those trails to refresh the 2nd year missionaries and teach the 1st year missionaries the routes.  We only have four weeks until the trekkers come!

We all went together on a trail that Elder Howard and I had never been on.  We took four trucks filled with missionaries.  Here are Sister Call, Elder Howard, Sister Ekins (with rabbit ears,) Sister Peart, and Brother Wilson the staging area of Trail 29.

We drove with Elder & Sister McDowell in the back seat.  It was fun getting to know them a little better.

What a beautiful little campground, called Kate Hollow.  We have one trek on this trail, but we are afraid we may have to change it because our group of 260 may be too large for some of the campsites and other places on the trail.

Even though we may not trek on this trail, it was fun to see it.  This is the top of the Women's Pull and it is a beautiful site looking down over this part of the Ranch.

We are starting to have our Route Reviews.  This its where some of the leaders of the Trek come and we go on the support roads and show them where their campsites and porta-john stops are, and then do a little training afterwards.  This is our first group, who also happen to be our first Trek this year.  They are from Hyde Park Stake.  They seem to be very well organized.  We were glad because their group of about 460 is the largest group we have had, or will have.  Last year, we had all pretty small groups.  It was fun getting to know them and we are excited to trek with them.

We ended up with two Route Reviews on the same day.  The second one showed up just as we were saying goodby to the first group.  These leaders are from the Brigham City River Ward.  What a crazy, great bunch of people.  They will be our very last Trek and I am sure we will have a wonderful Trek with them.  They will be a great send-off for the end of our mission!