Jared's Visit

             Last Sunday, I was sitting in the MPR (Missionary Preparation Room) when I noticed some people outside the window.  I looked a little closer and realized that it was Robin and Brooke Shepherd.  I went out and pirated them away from their assigned tour guide and got to share the fort with them as well as find out what has been going on with them and the ward.  It was hard to believe that Brooke is already a senior in college.

            Our lesson for Sunday School was the martyrdom and I’d been asked to tell the group what most impressed me about Joseph Smith.  After I stood up there, I thought that I should mention about his willingness to advocate for what was right and persevere no matter what trials were placed in his way.  Since I thought that I could only choose one, I spoke about the little things that he did – his tenderness with his wife and little children, his enthusiasm for life, and his compassion for others.  It was a good choice since I was able to tie in the fact that Joseph would not have judged me poorly because I showed up at church in my tennis shoes but would probably gone to Emma’s closet and brought me something more appropriate.  (I’d walked that morning and forgot to throw in a change of shoes – not a problem usually but having to go up front to present made it a little more difficult). 

            We were pleased to be able to have Jared and Clara spend a couple of days with us this week.  It was great to finally get to meet our newest grandchild, Andrew Hyrum Nimer.  He and Elise are fourteen months apart so they demand a lot of attention from their parents.  It is nice to see Jared stepping up and being the kind of father that I always knew he could be – changing diapers, feeding Elise, and even cleaning up after his daughter when she is sick.  They had some interesting travels and got to visit two emergency rooms in just over a week’s time – that is a record for our family. 

"But I don't want to walk."

            While they were here with us, we were able to take them on the obligatory tour of the fort.  They had a lot of good questions which hopefully we did a good job answering.  We tried to give them the speed tour since we didn’t know how long the kids would be agreeable to go along with all of the talking and walking.  The original plan was to go hiking in the afternoon, but with time constraints and shopping necessities we only got to two of our three planned stops.  I’ve included some pictures of Elise at the Fremont Indian State Park do some lab work and trying to get a feel for the people. The picture with her and Jared shows her disdain to walk on the sidewalk.

            I was able this week to do some more research on the internet in regards to Cove Fort and the Hinckley family.  I actually was bold enough to contact Virginia Pearce, one of Gordon B. Hinckley’s daughters, to see if she might have pictures of Cove Fort.  The amazing thing is that I got a response from her.  She is too busy to help but forwarded my email to her brother, Clark.  It will be interesting to see if they have anything available in their family.  A week ago, Stephen took another Hinckley descendant on tour, and she emailed back to say that her mother is looking for pictures and information for us as well.  Things would be so much easier if Ira Hinckley had just been a journal keeper and amateur photographer.  Oh well – it is what it is.

Sister Field playing her phone

Sister C as Henry

The Taylors - Eliza from Bucket

            Friday was Cove Fort’s “Untalent Night”.  It was nice to go to a “talent” night that didn’t just showcase people’s musical abilities although we did have some people play the trumpet, accordion, and harmonica.  Our facilities maintenance (FM) missionaries did a song about all the things that they have found in the gardens here and had one of the men in the loft of the barn throwing down plastic bugs, spiders, and snakes on the audience.  Our director’s wife, played the part of Henry in the “There’s a Hole in the Bucket” song throwing candy out into the audience at the end.  Then we had an elder recite/act out “Casey at the Bat” and another do “The Cremation of Sam McGee”.  My favorite act was when one of the sisters played a song by blowing on her iPhone -- very impressive.  As for our talent, Stephen passed out plastic bags and I taught them all how to juggle scarves – it was definitely an untalent night.  I’m sending the link to a YouTube video that you might enjoy called “Count Your Wrinkles” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYHae9joeV8). 

            We had a surprise card in our mailbox this week.  Thanks for the card Charlene.  Hope you all had a great time at dinner at the Great Wall.

Love at the Demoliton Derby

The end of the week found us, with the Taylors, at the Beaver County Fair.  We got there in time to watch the

Elder Taylor helping the magician

magician, the hot dog eating contest and the green jello eating contest (where else but in Utah).  It was nice to go to a real county fair – rather than the commercial madness that we have in Fresno.  They only had one exhibit hall that was the size of a cultural hall where all their crafts and handiwork was displayed.  The big draw for the evening was the Demolition

Derby, which was the main reason for us going since we had

Burrito eating contest $100

never been to one before.  Before they started we had a surprise wedding proposal by one of the drivers.  It was like watching grown-up Bumper Cars – the object, for the uninitiated, is to be the last person able to move.  Very

interesting and noisy.  Then as an added bonus they had a

“mini” derby with smaller cars that drove around two huge 
tires in a figure eight pattern trying to be the first one to do twelve laps without crashing into the other cars.  Then there were the two eating contests between rounds which added to the entertainment.I’m glad that we went but don’t know that I would go out of my way to go again. 

            One of the things that I liked best about the week was the discussion at Family Home Evening about showing gratitude for what we have.  It gave me time to think about the many blessings that I’ve been given over the years.  One of the things that crossed my mind was that I had never thought about the blessing of being born with a strong body and all my senses operating.  Have you ever thought of that?  It is hard to imagine what life would be like with a handicap.  We really lead blessed lives.

           

Visit from Nancy

I have finally got someone who is willing to walk with me.  Sis. Hemmert joined me last week and this on Sunday morning for a fast-paced walk to church.  I thought that she was setting a very quick pace, but found out later in the week that it was only because we’d walked out to the corral once and she told herself that she was going to have to walk a lot faster if she was going to walk with me to the fort.  It is nice to have company on the walk, but I miss the silent time as well.

Last Sunday our lesson was on temple sealings.  The elder that presented it told the story of how his mom had been sealed in the temple to one man and had a child.  Both of them died.  Later she married another man in the temple for time only.  To that marriage was born five children including the speaker.  The children had always been uncomfortable with the fact that they weren’t sealed to their father.  The kids told their dad that as soon as they could they would go to the temple and be sealed to him.  The father died at two o’clock in the morning and the five siblings gathered at the temple that morning at 7:00 to do the sealing.  There are so many things that we don’t understand but it is nice to know that things will work out as they should when things are sorted out in the future. 

The missionaries in the Holler finally decided to have a get-together.  They were welcoming one of the couples for moving in and two of them that will be leaving for home in the next month.  It was nice to get to eat outside on a non-stormy day.

Monday we drove up to Fillmore so that I could do some research about the ownership of Cove Fort.  It was nice to clear up some of the issues surrounding the change of ownership between the Hinckleys, the church and the Keslers.  I made copies this week of the deeds so that I can include them in the appendix of my Cove Fort book.

Wednesday brought a visit from Nancy Osborn.  She arranged her trip so that she would swing by this way.  We had a great time visiting, eating, and playing games.  We spent Thursday morning checking out the sights in Beaver.  It was the first time that I’d actually gotten to look through the shops on the main street.  We went into one rather strange place with lots of candles and incense – strange at least for a small Mormon town.  Before we got out of there Nancy found a live bat crawling along the floor.  We were out of there rather fast after that discovery.

One of the tours I had this week was with a family with five children.  The youngest little boy had Downs Syndrome and was very cute.  At one point he put up his arms to be held so I picked him up with the parents’ permission.  It was so nice to hold a little one again.  It wasn’t until later that I was reminded that we are not to be holding children – there is always a question about liability for the church.

We posted a sign for game night for Friday and had twelve people show up.  Stephen was excited because he got to introduce Qwirkle to everybody that night.  One of the ladies liked it so much that when it was time to switch she wasn’t willing to change games.  There seems to be a core of people who show up on these nights.

Went to Richfield when we got off our shift yesterday.  Got our shopping done (luckily we seem to be cutting back) and had time to see a movie.  We were one of only three couples in to watch the show Paranoia.  We both liked it and would recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet.  It is not a "chick flick" or an "action film" -- nice middle of the road with some suspense and lots of technology.

Visitors Galore

 

  The week started off well with a great visit from Wayne and Libby Clarke.  It was so good to be able to sit and talk with them about things at home and their plans for their year in China.  We were able to take them on a tour of the fort and then have a nice lunch that our directors put on for the missionaries with the left-overs from Cove Fort Days.  Libby told us that the Harts had stopped by the fort twice to visit with us and we managed to miss them both times -- thanks for trying.


   
Wednesday brought us not only Curtis but also Cory and his family. 

Curtis had flown in for a week's vacation visiting his siblings and parents.  The three of us met Cory's family in Meadow and drove out to the hot springs there.  There was lightening and thunder in the hills to the west so Cory wouldn't let his kids get in and swim in the pools, but we cheated by putting in our feet.  It was the first time that we saw someone actually swimming and diving in the pool.  By the time we got them all fed, they were all ready for bed and an early start the next day on their way to Texas.

Curtis drove us to Bryce Canyon on Thursday.  He had never been there before and we thought that it would be the most memorable of the parks to visit.  We hiked down into the floor of the canyon along the Queen's Garden and Navajo Loop Trails.  Going down is really quite pleasant, but the hike up, especially on the Navajo Trail, can be a killer.  We were very happy that we'd gotten an early start that morning and were not hiking in the heat of the day.  Stephen was a good sport and hiked with us the entire way.  We then drove over to see Kodachrome State Park.  It was about half an hour away and I'm not sure that I would go there again.  We did a quick hike while we were there to the Shakespeare Arch.  I think Curtis must have forgotten that he was hiking with his mom because we literally ran back to the car where Stephen was waiting.
     We had to say goodbye to Curtis on Friday afternoon and get back to our day jobs as missionaries. After a full day of sharing the fort and the gospel, we celebrated a successful turnout for Cove Fort Days (3965 people in two days) by having a social that evening to commemorate everyone's "unbirthday".  The best part was the making of the homemade ice cream in the bags and eating everything that was from the Cove Fort garden.

     One of the best tours for me this week was with a couple from San Remo, Italy.  They were members of the church and were traveling to many of the sites in Utah.  He did not speak English but was very busy snapping pictures with his iPad while his wife translated for us.  I enjoyed talking to them about their expectations of the opening of the temple in Rome.

     Ashley called last night to say that she and Kevin's picture were in the Fresno Bee yesterday (Sunday).  Be sure to check them out on page two of the Business Section.
      Shirley Kirk sent me a picture she snapped of Andrew at Relief Society this week.  Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with things at home.
   
     We are so blessed to enjoy your friendship.

Cove Fort Days

             One of the drawbacks for serving a mission is that you sometimes have to miss family milestones.  Jared blessed Andrew Hyrum Nimer in Clovis 7^th Ward last Sunday.  It was the first blessing that we have missed (we’ve missed quite a few births), but were happy to know that Curtis was able to be there for support as well as Clara’s brother and Richard Larsen.  I’m hoping for some pictures of the day.

           

There were still a few problems this week with water in “the Holler”, but they were finally resolved.  It included the owner/manager using a backhoe to dig a large hole to reach the pipes.  He got it fixed, and then the very next morning there was
some sort of electrical problem (never did find out what it was) so when we got up there was no water again – funny thing about being on well-water is that when there is no electricity there is no water.

           
 For Family Home Evening this week, we did a service project in preparation for the Cove Fort Days.  The missionaries cleaned up the road in front of the fort from the I-70 intersection to the I-15 intersection.  The road   While we were cleaning the roadside, I came across an intact skeleton.  Once we counted the number of upper leg bones (4) we knew we didn’t need to call in CSI or anyone.  One of our farmer missionaries identified it as a deer.  All the bones were there except for the skull.  The missionary pointed out this round mound of dirt in the middle of the bones as the deer’s stomach. It was probably the most exciting thing found that night.

looks a lot better especially at the on and off ramps.

           The mission office dropped off copies of the August Ensign this week, so we had a chance to read through some of the articles.  Stephen and I both enjoyed the ones called “Ten Dollars” and “Mother Duck”.  They were good reminders of what we need to be doing and of the great gift that Jesus Christ gave to us through His atonement.  If you haven’t read them yet, be sure to make some time to do so.

            Our one visitor from home this week was Anna Lisa Barrus.  She was just stopping to show the fort to their youngest daughter and had no idea that the Nimers were serving here.  She mentioned that they’d been traveling for a few weeks and actually had the opportunity to spend time together with all of her children and grandchildren.  I’d post a picture but we took it on her phone and she hasn’t sent it yet.

  

          Tuesday night we decided to check out some of the local culture and drove over to Junction in Paiute County for their Butch Cassidy Days celebration.  It was like there county fair so they had community activities everyday of the week, including swimming pool activities (lined up all along Main Street), sports, rodeo, exhibits.  We didn’t do any of those things. Instead, we took the Taylors with us and went to watch their Outhouse Races.  How fun

is that?  I’d never seen anything like it before.  They had six entries and so they ran five heats so each team raced all of the other ones.  They seemed a bit tired by the end of the races.  Besides it just being a speed race, they had three stops that they had to make: 1) exchange toilet paper rolls; 2) search for a corn cob in the middle of a kids’ pool filled with mucky brown water; and 3) a bean bag toss into a toilet seat.  It was fun to watch and to see all the people who turned out for it.  They had a nice community BBQ rib dinner after that and then entertainment by a band called Muddy Boots.  They were very entertaining and good compared to some of the performers we’ve heard.  I was willing to stay until they stopped playing, but we left so we could return the Taylors so they could get to bed before midnight.

          

  Our directors have been busy this week getting ready for our big event, so they put up a notice asking if anyone wanted to go up to Fish Lake and use their cabin.  We were fortunate to have our P-day fall at the right time.  We left here early on Wednesday and met up with the Rodockers and Hansens for breakfast at the lake.  We had time for a walk along the lakeshore and some games before they all left to come back to Cove Fort.  The lake sits at about 9000 feet and the temperature was wonderful.  At 9:00 p.m. I was sitting out on the porch and it was so pleasant without the need of a coat or anything.  The next morning I was out on the porch at 7:00 and again I didn’t need a sweatshirt or anything.  It was wonderful being nestled up amongst all the aspen and pine trees.  We feel very
blessed to have been able to spend time at Fish Lake.

            We got home from P-day just in time to report to the fort.  There wasn’t time to walk so I hopped on the bike and rode down.  I learned a valuable lesson from that experience.  One should always check the strength and direction of the wind before going on a bike ride.  I was tired and sweaty by the time I arrived at the fort after pedaling into a strong headwind all the way.  I rode the bike home in the evening, but took the Hemmerts up on their offer when they stopped part way home to see if I wanted a ride.  I was so glad that they stopped.  

            So Cove Fort Days finally arrived this weekend.  Things were hopping most of the time.   We haven’t gotten a final count, but I think it will be a little less than 4,000.  Not bad for just two days.  I think that we will need to come back some time in the future to actually experience Cove Fort Days from a visitor’s standpoint and get to go to all the booths and listen to the entertainment.  We were stationed at various rooms around the fort and site and shared information about that room with our guests rather than taking the same group all the way through the fort.  Luckily, we changed rooms every hour or two so we didn’t get too tired of saying the same things over and over again.  Our director mentioned today that one of Gordon B. Hinckley’s sons was there on Saturday and was impressed with what he saw and heard.  Pres. Hinckley’s son asked the director to tell the missionaries that his father would be very proud of the way the fort was being cared for and staffed.  I thought that was pretty nice.