15 May 2018 - Tuesday

15 May 2018 - Tuesday

Mom and I were in for a new experience today, in our service here, in the Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission.  First thing this morning, we awoke at 4:45am and began our morning preparations for the day.  We had our personal prayers, and then our family prayer together, and then read our Scriptures together.  As mom continued her preparations for the day, I went out in the cold, fresh Wyoming morning air and enjoyed my three mile walk.

On my walk this morning I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise.  I thought about the association we are having with some choice senior missionaries who are sacrificing their time away from loved ones to be here.  We are all united in our efforts to give the most meaningful and spiritual experience to all those who will be coming to visit this sacred historic site.  I feel the power of the Holy Priesthood that has consecrated and dedicated this land of sacrifice that was given by those precious handcart pioneers in 1856.  What a privilege it is to serve as a full time missionary, in this capacity, with my sweetheart.

One of the new experiences we participated in was the restroom cleaning.  Somehow the "RR" designation for restroom cleaning became the "Rah Rah" assignment.  Who could have guessed that such an assignment would generate such a euphemism!  Well, of course you need to see an action shot!

Its all about the blue rubber gloves and the smile!

In the area called the "Homestead", we have four major bathrooms to clean.  Two are small missionary bathrooms like this one, but the other two are large bathrooms that facilitate groups of up to 300+ trekkers and visitors.  This was our first assignment to train in this area.  We found out that this work can be done as early in the morning as we desire.  After our cleaning is done, we are free for the rest of the day.  This morning we started our training about 9:30am and, by that time, the restrooms had already been in full demand by visitors and school groups.  Mom and I have decided we want to have this work done before 9:00am on the days we are assigned.

After this training was completed at 11:00am, mom and I looked around for other projects.  Although we could have gone home, we wanted to put in more time since it was just a training day.  Mom had been working on some souvenir medallions a few days ago, so we went to the sewing room to see what more we could do.  The room was empty, but we soon lined up some medallions to assemble.  Actually, mom did the assembly and I took a very uncomfortable snooze in the adjoining chair.  I woke up just in time to snap her picture and then went right back to closing my heavy eyes.

Each child will get one of these medallions this summer!

Then we had our lunch together with about 20 other senior missionaries in the "Barn".  That is the large gathering room on the Homestead where we have our Sunday pot-luck dinners and our mission assemblies and dinners.  It is always fun for me to watch the interactions of the missionaries and listen to their assorted and fascinating life stories!

Once we completed lunch we took a hike along and through Rattlesnake Pass.  We were on guard for snakes since one of the senior missionaries got a picture of a bull snake this morning at the entrance to Martin's Cove.  We walked along through this pass, which is part of the Oregon Trail, that parallels the Mormon and California and Pony Express trails. It is along this path that over 500,000 emigrants traveled between 1840 and 1869!

Devil's Gate is on the right just on the other side of the mountain.

There are thousands of these ant hills that are about 30 feet apart along the trail

We walked about two miles and then headed for home.  Notice in the above picture the white mound of dirt.  This is actually sand that thousands of ants have built their home in. I have heard that these ants like to bury old arrowheads in their mounds.  I have not made the attempt to dismantle one of these hundreds of mounds along the way, yet.  But maybe some of my grandson's might want to help me?? 

We got back to our trailer about 2:30pm.  This has been so fun to come home to this trailer!  We can't wait to show you this living space that has been provided for us.  It is very comfortable, and is our refuge for coming home to, and recharging, after some very busy days!  

Thank you for checking in with us tonight!  We love you, and we hope to see you this summer!  And please leave a comment on the blog!  I love hearing from all of you!