A Spoonful of Sugar

This was a great week at Cove Fort. We continued to try to squeeze as much into every day as possible. A lot of our time was spent in the office doing computer things. Stephen updated their data worksheets and built formulas for their spreadsheets for next year. I on the other hand spent my time burning picture DVDs for all of the couples of all the pictures used in the yearbook as well as several hundred others. It didn't seem like too big of a project, except that Sis. C said to only burn enough for those that wanted them. We put out sign up sheets and people continually added their names. Every time I finished and thought that I was done there were a few more to do. As it wound up everybody wanted a copy of all of the pictures -- what we are all going to do with 1700 pictures of Cove Fort is beyond me. I promise you that we will not be showing all of them in a slide show anytime in the near future.

We had several great tours this week with people who wanted to know more about the church. One of the groups I took through was a couple from England. We took two hours to look just at the inside of the fort and to answer their questions. One of the other unusual situations this week was a lady who was planning to write a children's story about something that happened at Cove Fort in the 1960's. Evidently one of the people working across the street, Granny Stone, was out in the morning opening

up Cove Fort and sweeping the walks. While doing that she came upon a small hummingbird that was lying on the ground. She put it in her apron pocket and took it back to the store where it stayed for the day. It flew away when it was rested and revived. Sounds like a cute story and she had come to the fort to see it so she could illustrate the book accurately. I was able to show her around some of the outlying areas and go through old photographs that I had available. It will be interesting to see if she gets this published.


I spent my time on Tuesday getting the clues all set for the activity that evening -- a REGNEVERT Hunt.  Perhaps some of you may remember hunting for this elusive creature many years ago in Clovis. The hunters at Cove Fort were no more successful at this activity than the Clovisites. The missionaries that came had a good time enjoyed the thrill of the hunt.

Stephen opted to celebrate my birthday this past week in St. George, Utah. He had bought tickets for us to see Mary Poppins at the Tuacahn Theater which is an outdoor amphitheater located in Snow Canyon. It is a beautiful area with lots of red sandstone cliffs. We had been hearing all summer from the visitors to the fort and the other missionaries (as well as from the Stokes in the past) how great this theater and the plays they put on were. The sets were probably my favorite things as they moved things around and "magically" changed things. It was nice to watch Mary Poppins flying overhead but the fireworks at the end was a complete surprise. We were very glad that we went. The temperature was perfect sitting out at night in just a long sleeved shirt without a jacket. We were lucky since the next day a cold front came in and the temperature dropped dramatically.

While we were in St. George area, I looked up my internet genealogy buddy that I had met and with whom I had traveled to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois several years ago. I was impressed that she was still so involved in the work. Even more impressive was the genealogy room she had included when they had their home built a couple of years ago.  An entire wall of books on one side and a closet filled with shelves covered with binders for every family. I was amazed. It was good to visit with her again and to finally meet her husband. Thought that I would share a plaque that she had hanging in her room-Genealogy -- Life in the past lane."

We were also able to take in a session at the St. George Temple. It was our first opportunity to see the new film. As usual, Stephen and I had different opinions on it, but it was definitely a timely improvement.

On our way back to the fort we made our third attempt at seeing Kanarraville Canyon. The weather was beautiful with clear blue skies and occasional breezes. We met a couple at the end of the road who told us that the falls were probably another hour on real trails. I was afraid that Stephen might balk at this, but he was a trooper and went all of the way. I hadn't realized that it would be part of a slot canyon which was like a bonus for me. We actually had to cross the creek twenty-four times each way -- lucky for us we were wearing water shoes. The water was a little brisk so on the way back we tried to take the higher trail but it didn't seem to keep us from crossing the creek any less. The falls were wonderful. They are not extremely high but being in the slot canyon made them loud. To get up beyond the falls there is a old tree that they have built a "sort of" ladder on top of and then they have ropes on the right to hang on to. I climbed up the ladder and went past another smaller falls, but had to turn around to meet back up with Stephen. It was definitely a great way to spend my birthday.

The weekend was busy as we attended the Women's Broadcast on Saturday night down in Beaver. I was surprised at how few people were there at 5:00 and the fact that they only set tables for 120 people. By the time the broadcast began the chapel was about half full. They were not watching it over the television lines but were streaming it from someone's iPad I think.  Anyway -- did anyone else have their broadcast stop and start. It was a little annoying to watch it that way. The funny thing was when the congregation stood to sing the intermediary song. We would be singing away and then the broadcast would freeze and then unfreeze -- it was great trying to follow the conductor and stay with the choir. There were sixteen of the missionaries at Cove Fort that attended. It was fun to show up as one large group.

Last night there were about a dozen couples that drove to Fillmore to listen to a stake fireside featuring Glenn Rawson. Here is a clip about what he does. "Following the completion of The Joseph Smith Papers TV series, the same team that produced that series began work on the History of the Saints. Season one began airing October 10, 2010 on KSL-TV." He is a very good speaker, but doing what he does it figures that he would be. He basically told stories from LDS history for 75 minutes. It was great. I'm very glad that I went and am looking forward to listening to more of his programs.

Yesterday was Fast and Testimony meeting. Elder C had planned for our Sunday School lesson to be canceled and allowed the testimony meeting to extend for another hour. As it was it went for another 90 minutes. There are eight couples leaving in the next two weeks so he wanted to be sure to give everyone an opportunity to bear their testimonies. It was a glorious (one of the sister's terms) meeting. It is amazing how in six months you can form a very tight knit community. We will be sad to leave our new friends and the opportunities to serve others at Cove Fort.