Howdy Doody Hoo-Doos

Stephen and I were happy to see Monday come and go, as it was our job to teach the Family Home Evening (FHE) lesson that night.  It was on the topic “Not my will, but Thine be done”.  We enjoyed doing it because we were able to demonstrate that the lesson doesn’t have to be given just by reading out of the manual.  One of the activities we had them do was to put themselves in chronological order according to their birthdates.  They couldn’t talk or write notes and only had five minutes to get all 40 of them in order.  There were six mistakes, which wasn’t bad.  It was great to see them out of their chairs interacting with each other.  We’d also gone up to Cove Creek to find some small chunks of pink rhyolite to pass out – we related the movement of the stones in the creek to the way we go through life following the will of the Father – that as we travel along we have our rough edges knocked off and we become smoothed and polished through our various experiences and trials.  We even had a scripture for them to take home and put up.  It was fun doing the lesson but it was also great to have it over.

We were waiting for the wife and family to join the husband for a tour on Monday afternoon.  In our “get-to-know-you” conversation we told him we were from Clovis and he mentioned that his wife had lived there.  When she finally came up to us, she read our name badges and asked if we were from Clovis.  It turned out to be Lindsay Thomas, Eric and Debbie Thomas’ second daughter.  It was fun to be able to take them and their three children through the fort and catch up on what her parents and siblings had been doing for the past twenty-five years.  She asked about many of you to see if you were still living in the ward.  I was kicking myself after they left since I didn’t have my camera with me to take a picture.

While I was walking to the fort on Tuesday, I noticed a car had pulled over to the side of the road and the guy was out taking pictures.  As I got closer I saw what had caught his attention.  There was a guy  in the field mowing his hay/alfalfa. What made it unique was that he was doing it by pony power.  It was fun to stand there and watch the process for a little while.  As I walked past the field for the rest of the week, I observed that the hay was swept into rows and then just yesterday it was sitting there in small bales.  It makes me wonder if he did it all by pony-power or if used something more modern. 

Since we didn’t have room to bring bikes with us, our directors have been nice and let us borrow their bikes to go riding.  This week, Sister C let us know that they had bought new bikes for themselves and that we could take their old ones down to “The Holler” (trailer park) so that anyone that didn’t have bikes could use them.  That was very nice since there are about a third of us that don’t have bikes. 

This week I finished working on my Trivia Game about Cove Fort.  It took a little while to do, but now I can move on to other things.  Heaven forbid if I shouldn’t have something to do to keep me busy.

Ira Hinckley home in Fillmore, Utah

Thursday we drove up to Fillmore so that I could do some research at the county recorder’s office.  I wanted to know the actual amount of land that the Hinckley’s bought back from the Kesler family in 1988.  I was excited to find what I was looking for and to get my answer – 11.25 acres.  Stephen went exploring around town so I could have the time to myself.  I was surprised when he arrived and told me that it was closing time.  There is just something about searching through old records that makes me lose all track of time.  We’ll have to go back again so that I can get back to the original deeds with Ira Hinckley’s information on them.

We were up early on Friday and on the road by 5:45

We drove a  couple of hours to get to Bryce Canyon National Park.

. Stephen was sure that we’d wind up with about 200 pictures on the camera since around every bend there seemed to be another formation that was snapshot worthy.  It is truly a spectacular place to visit.  We started at Inspiration Point to get a full view of the amphitheater area.  We went to Sunset and Sunrise Points as well – Stephen drove and I walked the Rim Trail since I couldn’t get enough of the “fins and hoo-doos”.  At Sunrise Point, we walked down into the formations until we got to Queen Victoria and the Queen’s Garden area.  I’d have liked to have hiked more but I was counting my blessings that we got to do as much as we did.    We stopped for lunch at Ruby’s Restaurant just outside the park.  It is hard to imagine not stopping there since the entire town seems to be owned by Ruby.  We had a great lunch and then were pleasantly surprised to find out that the owner always buys lunch for the missionaries. 

We were searching for a geocache at Mossy Cave so we got to do another one-mile loop after lunch.  The trail we followed was right along the Tropic Ditch that the Mormon Pioneers dug in the 1890's to provide irrigation.  They dug the waterway for two miles.

                                                      On the way home we stopped in Panguitch to look at their quilt show.  They had classes going in all the classrooms and a big display of handmade quilts in the gym.  It was interesting to see all of the old Singer Featherweight machines that the ladies were sewing with since that was the machine that I learned to sew on when I first started in 4-H in the 1960s.  Just before we left, we saw a short video about the actual Panguitch Quilt Walk.  In the 1860s there was a very hard winter and the families in Panguitch were going to starve if they didn’t get more supplies.  Seven men were sent to Parowan, forty miles away, to get more food for the people.  They had only gone ten miles when the snow became so deep that they couldn’t get through with the wagon.  The men knelt down on a quilt on the snow and prayed for what they should do. The answer they received was that they should walk on the quilts, which they did.  It took them a lot longer than expected, but the seven men were able to get the supplies and return in time to save their families.  For more information about this historic walk check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DLnIEVOsUE.  The people of Panguitch actually have a Quilt Walk Park dedicated to the memory of these seven men.  There are seven benches in the park with each one dedicated to one of the men and with information about his life.  I’m very glad that we stopped.

This morning I started to head out for church and got to the main road before I turned around and went back home.  The cattle herds around us had somehow managed to get loose and there were   I decided that the safest thing to do was to walk home and call the owner of the cattle.  Then, being the great husband that he is, Stephen drove me down the rode past the cows so I could finish my walk to church

about a hundred cattle moseying around on the road including some bulls.

We just read Elder Neil L. Andersen’s Conference Talk, It’s a Miracle.  He said, “If you are not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart – painted, as Paul said, ‘not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.’  And returned missionaries, find your old missionary tag.  Don’t wear it, but put it where you can see it.  The Lord needs you now more than ever to be an instrument in His hands.  All of us have a contribution to make to this miracle.”  I am glad to be able to wear a missionary tag and to share my love of Jesus Christ and his gospel with those that visit Cove Fort.

One last thing – I want to share a scripture that seems to keep popping up in my life. It is found in 1 Peter 3:15, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.”  There are opportunities everyday to share our testimonies – I hope that we don’t miss any of them.