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.

New Grandson Finally Arrives

Andrew Hyrum Nimer

Jared called us on Wednesday morning to let us know that little Andrew Hyrum had been born at 11:47 the night before.  He weighed in at 8 pounds and 5 ounces.  He finally got to come home on Saturday, June 1, 2013.  We are so happy to finally have our newest (number nine) grandchild here safe and sound.  Congratulations to Jared and Clara.

Memorial Day weekend was the busiest that it has been at the fort so far.  Monday we had 489 visitors.  There were people everywhere, but it was great being busy. 

We had the opportunity on Tuesday to invite two of the couples from “the Holler” over for dinner.  It was great being able to spend the evening socializing with our neighbors and playing games.  We are hoping to invite everybody over at some point since Stephen and I both socialize better in small groups than large.  While we were walking home on Wednesday from the top of the mountain, one of our neighbors suggested that we get together to play games sometime so they came that night.  We learned how to play Kings Gone Wild, a card game with a special deck. 

                                                                                                                                 Wednesday we got to see what Cove Fort Days might be like.  We had 200 youth from Ivins

Room of Light

Bible and Book of Mormon

Stake (near St. George) stop for a tour.  We were all assigned to different rooms and the youth moved from room to room with their leaders.  Stephen was assigned to the Bunk House that is at the end of the tour.  He said that most of the groups that came through were running behind, so he had to give an abbreviated tour.  I, on the other hand, was positioned in the Women’s Room or Room of Light.  I had 15-20 chances to get the three-minute presentation down right.  We talked about the Light of Christ and how we can receive it from the Bible, but if we never open and read our scriptures then the light can’t penetrate our souls.  The Bible is literally supported on the table by a Book of Mormon.  We know that the Book of Mormon supports the teachings of Christ found n the bible and that it is a second witness of Christ.  We want to study both of these books of scriptures so that we can gather up as much light as possible so that when we are overflowing with this light it will radiate out to others.  The Hinckleys understood the importance of scripture study and called the family together, morning and night, to read and ponder the word of god.

Thursday we worked in the morning and then went to Richfield in the afternoon to shop for food for when the grandkids came.  We treated ourselves to a movie at the local theater, or I should say that they treated us.  The theater there lets the missionaries from Cove Fort come for free and they even provide popcorn and soda for them.  Stephen was in heaven (almost) since the show they were playing was the newest Star Trek movie.  It definitely was an action movie.

Cory and Suzanne and the grandkids arrived around 10:30 on Friday morning.  As soon as we packed a lunch we were on the road for a day filled with adventures.  Our first stop was at the Fremont Indian State Park.  It was hard to move the kids out of the Discovery Center where they got to live the life of Fremont Indians and play at being scientists including donning lab coats for experiments.  Lila even had time to weave an entire rug.

We of course included some geocaching in the afternoon.  I gave the GPS to Suzanne and put them in charge of finding the sites.  We went past one of them so I told them to take the second dirt road.  The problem with that plan was that Cory didn’t see the first dirt road and went sailing past the second one.  After a tour of an unknown area, they finally turned around and found the right road and the geocache. 

Then it was on to Marysvale and the Miners’ Park.  It was a great place to explore but it was about 10 miles from the highway and about six of those miles were dirt road with lots of loose rocks.  Stephen was ready to turn around but luckily we finally saw the sign at the end of the road.  We were able to walk around the mining area and learned a lot of things about the mining industry in the area.  There was a creek running through Bullion Canyon so we spent quite awhile there looking for rocks and then throwing a lot of them back into the creek.  There was a bit of excitement when Lila let go of her newly acquired pink geocaching turtle and it started floating down the creek.  Cory attempted to get it but it continued past him even with him going into the stream a bit.  He and I tore off downstream trying to catch up to it.  I went further downstream but was happy to be signaled that Cory had caught it above where I was.  Lila was happily reunited with her toy and her dad got a big hug for all of his efforts. 

Bullion Waterfall

Cory's family in front of Bullion Waterfall

 

It had been a long day but we had one more stop to make before leaving the canyon.  Several of the missionaries had told us that we should go see Bullion Waterfall because it was just as spectacular as Yosemite Falls.  Being the relatively snobbish Californians that we are, we wanted to see if their claim to fame was accurate.  We had to park our cars at the trailhead and then walk into the falls.  Now we have to say that we never saw another car and/or hikers on the trail, but there were quite a few ATV/OHV.  It was “just” a mile to the falls, but it was a LONG mile.  Poor Cory had the added disadvantage of having to carry his youngest son, Christian, up the mountain and down.  The falls were worth the hike, but it would have been nice to ride up to them on an ATV.  There were some people at the top of the falls preparing to rappel down them, but after twenty minutes of waiting and the sun starting to set, we finally had to start down the trail without seeing them dangling from their ropes.  It was a great day, but I was definitely glad to get home.

Geoff, Christian, Lila, and Alex

Christian, Cory, Stephen doing hoop game

Saturday morning, Cory, Alex, and I went on a five mile hike to fulfill one of his Scouting requirements.  The three of us hiked up to Cove Creek where the Hinckley boys would have to go to get water for the fort.  It was a great walk with great weather, temperature, road conditions, and company.  During the hike back and forth we saw quite a bit of wildlife: a velvet ant, several types of lizards, a snake (that I almost stepped on), swift nests under the freeway, and a coyote.  As soon as we got back it was time to gather up the family and head for the fort.  It was fun taking everyone through the fort and sharing the life and times of the Hinckleys with them.  They had a great time playing with the hoops at the bunkhouse.  We only got half-way through the fort, so we hope that they will come again while we are here so we can finish the tour.

It has been a great week with blessings pouring into us from all areas.  Serving a mission allows your family, as well as yourself, to receive blessings in their lives.  I am so glad that we are here and that we chose to “Catch the Wave” that Elder Russell M. Nelson referred to in his conference talk in April.

Week of Firsts

It seems like it has been a long week, but I checked and it has just been seven days.  I don’t know how to explain it but we have kept ourselves busy.  When we aren’t at the Fort we are home weeding the yard or working on computer projects.  This morning one of our missionary neighbors came over and said that we would win for the cleanest yard.  He is a rancher from the next valley over and I think he and his wife must sit in their trailer and just laugh at the “city slickers” trying to clear the weed patch.  We are at least doing our part in filling up the dumpsters with bags of weeds.

This week for P-day we drove over to Hwy 89 and drove down along the Sevier River.  There were a lot of geocaches along the way so I had to find as many as possible.  They were on the sides of mountains as well as on the banks of the river.  We stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain that seems to be eroding away.  Back in the day, when the song of the same name was popular, the locals stuck a sign out in front of their hill/mountain and the name stuck.  They even have a Lemonade Springs along one of the trails.  We also drove into Marysvale that is an old mining town, but now seems to be a hub for ATV enthusiasts since the town is basically one huge RV park.  When I went into a craft shop, I got to talk to the clerk and it turns out she knows Brian and Carla Thompson who she grew up with in Phoenix (her and her husband are Lynn and Tracy Armstrong).  I am amazed how connections are made between people.  Speaking of that idea, one of the tours Stephen and I did this week was with a couple that had been visiting their grandchildren in Clovis, CA. 

We also had time one morning to ride bikes up to the top of Cove Creek.   It was a couple of miles ride on a dirt/gravel road.  Luckily we ran into a guy driving a grader who gave us more exact instructions. We had a nice conversation until he asked if I’d worked outside the home and I said yes and then he proceeded to tell us how having his wife at home all the time made all the difference in his family.  The good news is that we found the creek.  On the way back to the Fort I saw a white spot on the hill so I said I was going to go look at it – I thought it might be the limestone quarry I’ve been looking for.  It was strange in that the area looked like there had been some excavation and it smelled like sulfur.  It made for a long bike ride.

Possible lime kiln in the limestone quarry.

We were getting ready to close the fort Tuesday night when a guy stopped by and asked if he could video a song in the Fort.  I went down to listen to him and he was pretty good.  He wrote the song that he recorded.  It is called “This is the Place”.  Take a moment and go to this link at YouTube to listen to the performance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iVgklu4a40)

Stephen and I were out walking Friday morning when we saw a really strange bus pull into the Chevron Station.  We walked back quickly so I could get a closer look at it.  It turned out to be part of a German company called Rotel Tours (look at their Facebook page for some of the places they go).  Check out the 

pictures – the bus is ½ tour bus and ½ sleeper.  I actually asked the 

driver if they were planning to stop at Cove Fort but he said it wasn’t on the itinerary.  It gave me the idea that perhaps we should be contacting the various tour companies that drive by on I-15 and I-70 to see if they would like to bring their people to Cove Fort.  When I shared the idea with the Christensens, our site directors, they liked it, so now I am charged with trying to find

tour companies that would have tours passing through our area.

This week we got to take our first, and probably only, school tour through the fort.  Stephen had ten girls in his group and I had ten boys. It was fun to take them through and try to answer all of their questions.  The best part was when we went to the barn and I was showing the boys the salt licks from the Redmond area.  The next thing I knew they were over there licking them with their tongues.  They couldn’t hurt the salt but I could barely imagine the number of germs that they were ingesting.  Our other first for the week was that we both got our first referral cards.  Stephen actually got two, but I just got mine yesterday.  It was unexpected since the guy just wanted to walk through the fort.  He wound up going through all the rooms, all of the outbuildings, and when he was finally headed for the restroom, I mentioned that there was a movie and he wanted to see that as well.  It was a great feeling being able to answer his questions and share my testimony with him.  He even said he plans to return with his two teenage sons later this summer.  He gave me his contact information and now I get to follow up on it via email and make sure that he gets his questions answered. 

That’s it for now.  We still have just eight grandchildren but are hoping for word this week that the number has been bumped to nine.

Springs and Snakes

The week started with a surprising Mother’s Day for me in that every one of the children called me on Sunday.  It was great hearing from all of them even if the reception in the trailer park was bad.  Sometimes Curtis forgets the day but he said he couldn’t have forgotten this year even if he’d tried.  He, and the other customs agents, had been confiscating flower arrangements/bouquets all week from Mexican that were bringing them across the border to their moms.  I felt bad for the moms who didn’t get flowers from their children, but I was excited to have Curtis call me. 

           

Clint and Jane Moffit

The other good thing about Sunday was a visit from Clint and Jane Moffit who were on their way home after a wedding and a graduation in Utah.  It was good to be able to take them on a tour of the fort and to hear about their family and how things are going in the ward.  We have one senior couple here that has only been here for two and a half weeks and twenty-five different friends and family have visited them.  He was a dentist in SLC so they have had a lot of former patients and children stopping by.  I don’t think that we can catch up to them, but it is great having friends from home stop by.

           
                                                      Saw our first two snakes this week.  The first one was up in the hills while I was searching for the limekilns.  I’d tell you what kind it was, but by the time I landed from my jump it had slithered away.  A couple of the elders found the other one around the MPR.  It was fun to watch as the guys talked a good story about liking snakes, but then they had to call Elder Burr (our most elderly elder) to come and pick it up.  They called it a blow snake, which is supposedly harmless.  They moved it across the road, but I must admit I’m always on the lookout for it when I’m outside reading.

           
The fort had quite a few fieldtrips this week by schools in the surrounding counties.  They even had a service project from a class at Millard HS where the kids came and dug out and sprayed for thistle weed.  The local ranchers bought them lunch and the Cove Fort missionaries cooked it for them.  All the activity helped the day go by fast. 

           
We took one tour through this week where we discovered that the couple and us were both living in the Turlock Ward in 1980.  The world just keeps shrinking.  Another good tour was one that I had with a newly married couple who were starting their honeymoon at Cove Fort.  They were taking their time so we got to do the entire tour and at the end I gave out my first “prairie diamonds” – horseshoe nails in the shape of a ring.

           
The buzz in the MPR on Friday morning was the news of the death of Sis. Monson.  When we tried   In retrospect, I thought about how little I knew about Sis. Monson.  I’m so glad that Pres. Monson made the decision to spend her 85^th birthday with her rather than attending the cultural event prior to the Calgary Temple dedication.
to get more information we couldn’t due to the windstorm that was attacking us at the Fort.

           
We had a couple of visitors to the MPR this week.  One gentleman was looking for a cemetery around Cove Fort thinking that he had an ancestor buried in it.  Other people were giving him directions to local cemeteries, but I found him on findagrave.com.  It was nice to be able to help someone they were looking for.  The other person that popped in was a lady who stopped to rest in the parking lot.  She came in to thank all of the missionaries for providing a safe haven for travelers.  She commented on how her daughter drives the I-15 frequently and often stops at the fort to rest and how the missionaries have watched over her and even taken her to their homes to give her something to eat.  She was in tears as she was thanking all of us.  It is nice to know that one of the original purposes for building the fort is still happening as the Church provides a way station for the tired and weary as they journey past Cove Fort.  

Met a couple of returned senior couples that had served as FM missionaries at Adam-ondi-Ahman in Missouri.  That sounded like an interesting mission as the men worked on the road, mended fences, did the landscaping, and moved the grass.  The women, on the other hand, worked four hours per day for four days each week doing indexing in an air-conditioned room.  I continue to be amazed at the variety of mission possibilities – there is definitely something for everybody.

Overlooking valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman

Hot Springs in Meadow

This week for P-day we stayed close to home since we needed to be back for FHE that night.  We finally found the hot springs in Meadow.  Of course with directions such as “turn at the big tree” and “go about 2 or 3 miles”, it was rather iffy whether we would find the place.   On our second attempt at asking directions, we stopped at the Post Office.  The postmistress called home and the next thing we knew we had a personal escort to the hot springs.  Now if any of them had just said that they were “at the end of the road” we could have found them on our own.  As you can see from the pictures they were very nice and worth the trip.  I think they are a hometown secret because there were no signs posted any where on how to get there.  The funny thing about the experience was when we stopped for lunch they had a map posted on the wall that actually pinpointed the hot springs location.  The locals swim in the springs and actually scuba dive in them as well.  We settled for just soaking   our legs.  Also made a visit to the Old Statehouse in Fillmore.  Interesting place especially since you can get up close to the exhibits and displays.

           
Well, that is it for another week.  Hope all is going well with you.

Mothers' Day at Cove Fort

Happy Mothers’ Day to all of you back home.   Because Church is early I did not get my typical breakfast in bed, but that is OK.  Last night we celebrated the special day at Cove Fort by having a social that was planned and put on by the Elders.  It was a nice event with all of the sisters just being waited on.  The men ended the evening by presenting all of us with long-stemmed red roses and chocolate just prior to serenading us.   

Probably the best tour that I had all week was last Sunday.  There was a mom traveling with her three sons and her two twin sisters.  The brothers were about my age all recently retired or soon to be.  Mom could walk but they had her in a wheelchair and the “boys” took turns pushing the chair.  I loved some of their comments in regards to that – “I’ve always wanted to push you around” and “I’ve always wanted to take you to the barn” – all said with love and affection.  They were all members of the church but the oldest son had “found science” and given up on his testimony.  The brothers got along so well and enjoyed each others’ company that it made it very fun to be hanging out with them.  I just hope my boys/children can be this good of friends as they grow older.  The family was not in a hurry at all and so I had lots of time to answer their questions and share information about the fort.  It was two hours later that I finally said goodbye to them. 

We had a surprise visit on Monday from John and Carol Wright.  What a treat!  We had a late shift so we were there working on the internet in our casual clothes when a couple of the missionaries came in and mentioned that someone was in the fort who had been looking for us.  Not wanting to miss someone else, I sprinted down to the fort to find them.  John and Carol were half-way through the fort, but I was able to take over the tour and take them through the north side.  It was so good to see someone from home.  They seem to be “first” kind of people.  When we first moved to Clovis thirty-one years ago, they were the first people in the ward to invite us over for dinner and now they are the first from the ward to pay us a visit.  It was nice to chat and the visit was over way too soon.

Things were slow during the week, so one day we even approached one vehicle as it was slowly crawling past the fort. They were taking pictures of the front and we were able to entice them to come in.  The next thing you know we may have to stand on the road flipping an arrow and dancing around to get people to stop on the slower days.  They say things should pick up once school is out in a couple of weeks.  We did have a Shelby car club stop by the fort this week.  They added a bit of excitement to the day and it made for a good photo op with all of the cars lined up in the parking lot. 

We learned to play Kings in the Corner this week from one of the missionary couples, the Hemmerts, that came over for dinner.  It was fun to cook for someone other than ourselves and to have something to do in the evening.  I’ve been busy at night working on going through marriage records from Illinois looking for my dad’s family and typing up notes about Cove Fort.  So far, I haven’t run out of things to do.

Jared and Clara win the prize for being the first of our children to send us a written letter through snail mail since we have been at the fort.  It is really nice to get mail.   

We went on our first bike ride this week up behind the picnic area.  The Christensens loaned us their bikes so we could go explore a bit.  Stephen did alright, but I was envisioning exploring the dirt roads for a couple of hours.  We were back within 45 minutes.  I guess we will just build up to the longer experience.

 

P-day found us in St. George.  We were able to take in a temple session and also take care of our basic errands.  Friday we spent most of the day exploring Zions’ National Park.  We followed the Wrights’ idea and hiked up to the Emerald Pools. I was a little surprised that Stephen agreed to climbing all the way to the upper pool but glad that he did since it was my favorite. The pools were not too full but still nice to see.  We tried to find Menu Falls but were unsuccessful so it will give us another reason to come back in the future.  The coloring of the cliffs was spectacular.  If any of you are planning a trip there and need a good place to eat, be sure to check out Blondie’s Diner just outside the park in Springdale. 

Insights

There have been lots of good things happening this week at Cove Fort.  It is always great to be able to share some of them with family and friends.  Now I know the length of some (most) of my posts may seem a little long, but I really do not share everything that is happening here.  With that in mind, let us begin.

             

Our speakers on Sunday were the Millard Stake President and his wife.  She talked about her mother who was a convert and how she had written a letter, years later, to the family of the girl who had been her friend and shared the gospel with her.  Then the stake president changed his talk and spoke about testimonies.  He said it was important to share your testimony with your children about what you believe.  But he went on to say that most of us stop there.  What he thought that we need to do is tell our children why we have a testimony.  What brought us to that point of knowledge.  I was impressed by his comments.

On Sunday, Stephen and I were put out of our misery by actually finally getting to present the Sunday School lesson that we had been preparing for about two weeks.  It was on Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.  It was a great topic and one that we were able to find lots of material on – perhaps too much.  It was fun to be teaching again and to be energized by the responses of the participants.  It was good to have the PowerPoint work without problem – yes, I do love to use PowerPoint for lessons especially for the visuals that can enhance any lesson/presentation.

          

Spring may be officially here as there were lots of nice days at the fort this week.  It was so nice that one morning I determined that I was going to go out and dig up all of the dandelions in our yard.  After digging out just a few, I realized that I might need to change my plan of attack since I was leaving three-inch holes wherever I removed a weed.  Then I thought that I would take Stephen’s advice and just pop the heads off of them.  I thought that I could win that battle, but alas and alack I was taken aback as the numbers were too overwhelming.  Just forty-five minutes into the battle I had to surrender and wait for another day to fight again.  The good news is that the park manager says that they will be spraying the dandelions soon.  I guess we will just enjoy those perky little yellow blooms until they die a well-deserved death.

             

I love being at Cove Fort and being away from “everyday things”.  It makes for a very peaceful existence.  It also causes people to be more concerned about others.  The other day I had just finished a tour and decided to go down to the fort to look for candles and to try to draw out some of the quilt patterns.  There were LOTS of missionaries in the preparation room so I really didn’t see a need to tell anyone where I was going besides which there are huge windows in the front of the MPR where we can see everything going on between us and the back of the fort.  Anyway, I must have been down there for thirty minutes just enjoying the solitude.  When I came out I ran into Stephen who had been sent down by the shift supervisor to see if I was there and that I was OK.  It is nice to be cared about but the short leash is a little hard to adjust to sometimes.

            

 During the week I have had several insights into the things at Cove Fort and been able to develop some other gospel messages that I can share when we take tours.  In the Telegraph Room, it dawned on me that we can draw parallels between the telegraph and communication with worldly things and the communications from God through his living prophet (there is a picture of Brigham Young in that room).  The other idea came when I took an eighteen-year-old missionary (he reports on Wednesday to the MTC to go to Bulgaria) and his siblings on a tour.  We were talking about the Hinckley clock (remember it was the first of the three original artifacts that I told you about) and how it allegedly still works but that they are trying to preserve it by not winding it regularly.  I mentioned that sometimes if valuable things aren’t used that they will be lost anyway.  I was so amazed when he turned to me and said, “Like a testimony.”  What a powerful message.  It is important that we share our testimonies as often as we can to preserve this valuable possession.  Luckily, at Cove Fort that is not a problem as we do it several times on every tour.

             

I’ve been enjoying my morning walks to the fort.  It was a little cold earlier in the morning so people driving by were treated to the styling look of sweatpants under my skirt.  Not exactly missionary attire but it did keep me warm.  One of the mornings this week I was almost to the fort when I noticed three cows on my side of the road.  I switched sides and so did they.  I walked a little closer and realized that what I’d thought were cows were actually bulls.  At that point I turned around and started walking home looking for Stephen to come along in the car and give me a ride past the bulls.  Luckily that has only happened once.  Although, last night on our way home there were more escapees from the fields, and the owner was out on his ATV herding his cattle back to the corral.

             

This week we had a Friday night social to honor the Mission President who will be leaving in June.  It was a very nice event with lots of time spent on decorations by two of the sisters and some delicious pot roast (at least that is what people, including Stephen, told me).  One of the missionary couples lives in Beaver, so we were able to have them come over to our mobile home after our shift and spend some time just visiting.  They even helped us put together part of our 1000 piece puzzle.  We now have a nice picture of the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park laying on our dining table.

Tomahawk throw

Big time trappers

Yesterday for P-Day we went to the Fremont Indian State Park that is on the way to Richfield.  That was a great place to visit.  The rock formations were so interesting and colorful.  The park has preserved a lot of petroglyphs and pictographs.  I thought that we might get to go hiking but no such luck.  That is OK because we have the whole summer ahead of us.  One of the things that we found while we were there was a rendezvous.  It was a gathering of mountain men who were camped together to do some competitive events.  We got to see them shooting black powder rifles and arrows and throwing tomahawks and knives.  It was an interesting side trip.  We met up with eight of the other missionary couples to have dinner at The Cowboy Corral in Elsinore.  It was such a fun place.  They had a BBQ steak and fried chicken buffet that was made on the BBQ outside.  They also had a local country group come and play music, which was very homey.  They say that they never lock the door so if you are hungry you can come in and fix what you want, clean up, and then leave your money on the counter.  I just love that small town feel.

During the week I was reading about the life of Nicholas Paul who was the chief mason in the building of Cove Fort.  He was an English convert from South Africa who gave up everything when he joined the church.  He had a strong testimony of the gospel, but wound up with all sorts of legal and interpersonal issues with his neighbors.  He finally stopped attending church and associating with church members.  It reminded me of how easy it is to let others influence our relationship with our Heavenly Father and cause us to drift away from Him.  I hope that we will always be careful to remember that the church is true whether the people are or not.

I’m glad that we are serving here at Cove Fort and have all of these opportunities to bear and share testimonies with those who visit.   It truly is a blessing in our lives.