30 June 2018 - Saturday

30 June 2018 - Saturday

Mom and I had one busy day, today!  We were up early to begin our day of service.  I was able to take my three mile walk after we had our morning prayers and scripture reading together.  The morning air was hinting of an upcoming storm, and the clouds were already forming.  

Our assignment was to clean the campground restrooms with the power washer.  It was quite a sight as we were hurrying to finish the work before the storms hit the area.  Even though the weather patterns change quickly, we knew with the thunder and the lightning, that we would have quite a soaking!  Here are some pictures;

The clouds over Martin's Cove

A little preview of the coming storm

Wilma and Granny preparing for the storm

This is a storm coming at us on the second to last restroom

We had to wait out the downpour in the truck as it passed through our final two stops.  It lasted about ten minutes and we were able to finish up the assignment.  We then headed back to the Homestead to have lunch together.  We were then able to begin our district cleaning assignment at the Trek Center;  

The best of the "A" team restroom cleaners

Wilma and Granny bracing for the storm!

After our work assignment for the restrooms, we took a few minutes, and had our lunch at the Homestead.  We then began our weekly fast, and headed over to the Trek Center for our district cleaning assignment.  What was interesting to us was four of the eight missionaries assigned to this district cleaning project had other work assignments in other areas of the mission.  That left the Lasher's and the Gilliland's to perform the cleaning assignment.

Moving 260 chairs to sweep and mop and reset the chairs for Sunday services

We were able to complete the project by 2:00pm.  We then went back to our trailer at the Missionary Village and got ready for some precious visitors!  Mom got some washing of our laundry completed, and I took a very welcomed nap.  I love naps!  We heard from our Sathre Family at 4:00pm that they were about 45 minutes away.  So mom and I walked out to the main road and waited for them.  The walk was only 1.5 miles and they came driving up within 15 minutes of us getting there;

Precious payload of family members

Tom was pulling the trailer and Josie had the van

It was so much fun to have the arrival of our family!  This time we had the wonderful opportunity to anticipate their arrival.  We were able to walk up into the Martin's Cove area with them this evening.  The walk totaled about 3 miles, and it must have felt good for the travelers to get out and stretch themselves!  Mom and I were grateful for the time together.  We will get to spend the Sabbath Day together tomorrow, after mom and I have a short Visitors' Center assignment from 11:15am until 2:30pm.  We will then have the balance of Sunday and all day Monday together!

Trekking together this afternoon

A fun shot of the family tonight

Sister Criddle and Hayley this afternoon.  Malia Criddle is coming later tonight!

29 June 2018 - Friday

29 June 2018 - Friday

Oh what a day we have had today!  Mom and I received separate assignments.  I went to Sixth Crossing with four other Elders for a hefty work project, and mom was on the work crew at the Homestead.  We had our morning prayers and scripture study before breakfast and then we each went our separate ways. Mom's assignments went through noon today, and I got home at close to 6:00pm.  

Our work assignment at Sixth Crossing was to set up coverings for 17 port-a-potties along the Historic Trail from Rocky Ridge.  The agreement with the BLM is to have these restroom stops as natural as possible along this trail.  The group trekking schedule, as approved by the BLM, is for a six week period beginning July 1st and ending the second week in August.  These restroom stops must be put up within 5 days of the opening of the season, for hiking Rocky Ridge, and must come down within 5 days of the season ending date.  Here are some action shots and explanations;

Elder Taylor driving the first load of potties

Our location for the potties is on the National Historic Trail

The actual Historic Mormon Trail

Each of these portable shelters are six large and heavy panels

These potties will be every three miles along the historic trail to Rock Creek

Each of those panels weighs about 100 pounds.  It took four men to put them in place and one man to bolt them together.  We installed 18 panels and 17 port-a-potties.  As we were putting on the roof timbers, Elder Bruce Hafen and his family came up over Rocky Ridge.  Elder Hafen is an emeritus member of the First Quorum of Seventy, and he was being escorted by President Scott Lorimer, who began the entire process of the Second Rescue back in 1992.   I did not seek pictures of these men for the blog, but I did get to talk at length with Elder Hafen.  

The girls in the Hafen Family were wanting to use the potties still on the truck, so I got the brethren to get two of them set up for immediate use.  Needless to say, this senior missionary, and his brethren, became immediate missionary heroes!  

Unloading the potties

Thank goodness for a lift gate!

Port-a-potty rescuers!  

Our finished project!

The mission presidency expected to have this project take two days.  Oh how they underestimate the senior missionaries on this detail.  Today was hard work, but it was so much fun working with these men and sharing mission stories with them throughout the day.  It was a great team effort, and we were so ready for the hot tub!

I have enlarged this picture to show a portion of the 20 miles we had to drive to get to the trail

We took two full size flat bed trucks, loaded with port-a-potties, one heavy duty truck and 24' trailer filled with the building panels, and the tool truck I was driving, over these roads.  This is all BLM land, and we have the permission of the authorities to drive these roads.  About 10 miles in from the main highway, and while driving on these dirt roads, there was a sign that said, "4-wheelers recommended beyond this point".  I should have taken a picture of that sign!  After I passed the sign, the ruts in the road became deeper and deeper and very hard to navigate.  It took us over an hour to drive the 20 miles to the restroom location.  

I cannot help but think about the challenges the early 1856 emigrants faced coming through this area on their way to Salt Lake City, and their "Zion".  They came through at the extreme time of year with snow and wind, and no supplies, to get to their destination.  We just spent a hard day toiling here that represented a drop in the bucket compared to their sacrifices.  I hope we never forget the faith and the determination of these early Latter-day Saints.  It is a pleasure to serve here in remembrance of them.

28 June 2018 - Thursday

28 June 2018 - Thursday

Today we got the assignment to do the restrooms with Wilma, the power washing truck.  We had a very interesting schedule this morning where we could only do part of the process today because one large stake made the decision to stay at the Cherry Creek campground all day.  That meant we had the two sets of trail restrooms and the two river crossing bridges and the rescue statues to deep clean.  The catch here was we needed to be done by 8:00am and the assignments is usually 3 to 4 hours.  

Wilma assignment at 5:00am this morning

So you all know what happened!  We were up at 3:30am and on the road by 4:20am.   But before you feel sorry for the early hour, there are some benefits!  The moon was full and the sunrise over Martin's Cove was spectacular!  As seen in these photos to follow;

This photo opportunity greeted me as I walked out of the trailer! 

This was taken on our way to Martin's Cove

Check out the coming sunrise through Devil's Gate!

The first rays of sun this morning as we were finishing up the first set of restrooms

Both mom and I love the early morning hours.  There is no traffic to speak of on the roads.  And there is not radio chatter from the senior missionaries.  We just have each other and the beautiful surroundings here in the Wyoming Mission field.  We were able to finish up out work by 8:10am, well in front of the trekkers.  We got the truck back to the Homestead, and then got it restocked for our Saturday assignment.  Yes we have Wilma again on Saturday!  It appears that mom and I are on the radar for this cleaning assignment.

I got a copy of the trekking schedule, this evening, for next week and mom and I were not given any  trekking assignments.  The groups are smaller next week so other senior missionaries are getting this sweet opportunity to trek.  We will find out tomorrow what other assignments we will have.  Mom will go into the Homestead for her work assignment, tomorrow, and a group of Elders from our area are assigned to go to Sixth Crossing for some work  projects that need healthy bodies there.  Our mission has limited Priesthood that can perform most of these types of projects, so I will get to report on this assignment tomorrow!

Two large Cranes that make the Sweetwater River their home!

These two baby antelope represent about a dozen or more babies we see each day!

There are so many wonderful experiences mom and I share together here in this mission.  But our most favorite times are when we can come home, and be together after our service.  Today we got back home around 9:00am.  We celebrated our return home with our favorite breakfast meal.  We did not take time to eat anything but our fruit, this morning, so we celebrated!  Then, another benefit to getting an early start to the work day is the opportunity to take a nap.  I took that sweet opportunity, today, and mom and I had a very quiet and restful morning, and afternoon, here in our little home away from home.  

And in just two days, we have family coming!  Yea!!!  We can't wait to see them and stock up on lots of hugs and kisses!  Thank you for joining us tonight!

27 June 2018 - Wednesday

27 June 2018 - Wednesday

It has been a long day for two senior missionaries!  We were the Trek Hosts for one of the Utah Stakes.  They were divided into two groups of 195 each.  Mom and I led the second group through the trek areas here.  They brought with them some serious audio equipment.  They had speakers and amplifiers and sound mixers and personal microphones and the programs were all choreographed!  The only thing missing was a portable stage!  

Their support equipment was brought in with two loaded handcarts.  We continue to see some rather extensive electronic equipment as the treks continue from various wards and stakes from Utah.  This group we met at the Outfitting Center this morning at 7:30am.  One of the first people we met was a man who first commented that we reminded him of his senior missionaries in his mission where he was the Mission President.  

Over the course of the day,  he let us know he was Elder Rasband's home teacher at one time.  Then we had the owner of Mrs. Rhodes frozen pastries and cinnamon rolls.  We were offered a dozen of these sweet cakes in exchange for the use of our car for the bus drivers;

Come on Little Bobby, let us use your car to drive to Casper and have fun...

I almost lost the will to resist right here this morning...

Mom was not tempted in the least but offered a great smile!

I had fun talking to the bus drivers!  They were quite the negotiators!  I'm not sure if they were serious, but the answer was a solid NO on using our car!  But those cream frosted cinnamon rolls were sure tempting!  We also found out that President Ballard had two grandson's on this trek.  Here are some pictures we took that I think included them singing in one of the soon to be Broadway Productions;

This was the most choreographed presentation we have had at the river crossing 

This group was so well prepared that there was really no need for mom and me to be their trek hosts. In fact, I am sure they would have sent us home if that had been an option!  They had specialists at the River Crossing, specialists at the Statues and specialists at Dan W. Jones Cove.  There was not one person trekking with this group that really knew the entire program because they were all specialized  out.  The individual who organized the river crossing told me this was his 4th trek in 16 years, (trekking as a stake leader every four years), and that he knew what he wanted to accomplish when I made a suggestion or two.  I did not have the heart to tell him this was my 4th trek in four weeks.

How do you tell a seasoned trek group about the snakes when they get off the trail?

Here they are at the river crossing - off the trail and in the tick areas

At the river crossing they had the "Sweetwater" boys, (Valley rescuers in 1856), carry all the girls across the river, and then the adults came back and pulled the handcarts across.  We spent about 90 minutes here as part of this production, where we normally spend about 30 minutes.  But it was quite a production!  They actually spent a little over nine hours on the 6 hour trek and discovered they had to forego a program at Veil Bridge and the final closing video at the trek center because they ran out of time....   

I felt really sorry for them as they left behind a couple of adults who could have used some help coming down out of the cove.  One of the adult sisters took over the group as they left for the restrooms and would not listen to this crazy senior missionary who tried to give them the opportunity to finish together by helping each other out.

The beginning of their day here at Martin's Cove

Mom and I are so thankful for the opportunity to serve here.  I am amazed at the things we have learned from our time here.  We have so much to share and there are some sweet opportunities where we can enhance the trekking experience for the various groups.  This was the hump day for the treks.  We are now on the last half of the trekking season and there have been so many wonderful experiences to date that we continue to report on.

My thought here is that you don't have to have a Broadway production to feel the Spirit of the Lord in settings like this.  There are simple ways to make the most of your time and efforts to insure that the youth go back to their homes with feelings that will help them want to help others.  This life is not about serving yourself and forgetting those around you.  

President Nelson has taught us that ministering is best done without assignments, and that there are people all around who need us now.  Today, there were missed opportunities in the midst of some tremendous group productions.  We just pray that the youth will remember that this is not about their personal performance, but that it is about recognizing the Spirit to act and not be acted upon.  

Isn't it marvelous that all these things will give us experience and will be for our good?  We just need to sort through those things that will bring us eternal joy and not temporal recognition!  We love our mission and the opportunity to serve!  Thank you for joining us tonight!

It has been a great day because we got to serve together!  Isn't Granny beautiful?

26 June 2018 - Tuesday

26 June 2018 - Tuesday

Today we were assigned to the Visitors' Center from 11:00am until 6:00pm.  That gave us a very relaxing morning to prepare for our day's work.  We took advantage of the extra time this morning, after our morning prayers and scripture reading, to take the three mile walk together.  The early morning temperature was in the very low 50's and was quite invigorating.  

We left the house at 10:15am for the 11:00am assignment.  We had the casual ride to Martin's Cove, as we watched carefully for the antelope that love to run in front of cars along the ten mile stretch of roadway between Missionary Village and Martin's Cove.  We have seen several antelope along the road that have been hit by cars or trucks.  I keep thinking that I do not want our car to hit one of these animals!  So we take the ride a little below the speed limit to give me some additional reaction time.

Once we arrived at the Visitors' Center there was a lot of chatter about the reenactment of the Pony Express ride from Sacramento, California, to St. Joseph, Missouri.  For the last 40 years, they have held this reenactment by riding the horses as close to the original Pony Express Trail as possible.  That trail went through seven states between April 1860, and November 1861.  

The Pony Express was a mail delivery service that ran between Missouri and California. Using the Pony Express, mail could arrive in California in as few as 9 days rather than the weeks it took to arrive when sent by horse carriage. 
How did it work? 

The Pony Express used a planned out route with a number of stations along the way. Riders would carry the mail from station to station, switching to fresh horses at each station. Every hundred or so miles the rider would be replaced. This allowed the mail to be constantly moving at a good speed. 
The Route 

The route used by the Pony Express went from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. There were 184 stations along the 1,900 mile route. It followed the Oregon Trail for a ways, and then used the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City. The trail traveled over the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and finally to California. 

The Riders 

The riders of the Pony Express made $100 a month, which was pretty good money for the time. They worked hard, riding in bad weather, rough terrain, and in dangerous situations. In order to keep the weight down that the horses had to carry, the riders had to weigh less than 125 pounds. A lot of the riders were young, tough, skinny, teenagers who were willing to face the dangers of the ride for the excitement of the job and the money they could earn. 

When did the Pony Express run? 

The Pony Express was a business. Despite its place in American history, it didn't stay open very long. It opened on April 3, 1860 and closed on October 24, 1861. At the height of its business it had over 400 horses and around 180 riders. 

Pony Express Poster 
by Unknown

Why did it end? 

The Pony Express was forced to close after the opening of the transcontinental telegraph. Telegraphs could be sent much faster and with less expense. In the end, the business venture that was the Pony Express lost a lot of money and became outdated fairly quickly.

Interesting Facts about the Pony Express

• The first riders left from Sacramento and St. Joseph on April 3, 1860. They each arrived around 10 days later.
• In the winter, the trip generally took around two days longer than in the summer.
• The most famous of the Pony Express riders was Buffalo Bill who earned fame putting on Wild West shows.
• The initial cost to send a ½ ounce letter was $5. That was a lot of money back in 1860. Prices were lowered to $1 for a ½ ounce letter by the end of the Pony Express.
• Only one rider and one shipment of mail were lost during the running of the Pony Express.
• Riders would travel 75 to 100 miles a day, switching horses every 10 to 12 miles.
• The fastest delivery in the history of the Pony Express was seven days and seventeen hours. It was to deliver President Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address.
• The Pony Express was started by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors.

The National Historic Trails include the Pony Express Trail, the California Trail, the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail.  They all go through Martin's Cove, and the emigrants all used the same trails back then.  So when we got to work this morning, at around 10:30am, they were just getting organized to switch riders right in from of the Visitors' Center, and continue on through Rattlesnake Pass.  Here are some pictures I took on this exciting event, that mom and I knew nothing about until the brief announcement yesterday in the correlation meeting;

The lady on the left was the next rider on the express trail

Two Senior Missionaries with some long term cowboys on this reenactment

Lee Anne and her Mustang ride, Finn

Mom and Lee Anne (who is riding the next part of the trail)

The exchange of drivers at Martin's Cove

The dismount and the transfer of the mail pouches

Loading the mail pouches on the fresh horse

Lee Anne ready to mount Finn

The exchange is almost complete

The next leg of the trail is started!

Mom and I had never heard of the Pony Express reenactment.  It was quite by chance they even mentioned it in the correlation meeting.  So when we were assigned the Visitors' Center today, and scheduled to be there at the same time as the transfer of riders, we were excited.  Most of these riders are not members of the Church, and they know so little about Martin's Cove and the history here.  

I had a chance to talk to Lee Anne about this history and the significance of it to the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She politely listened, but I am not sure what she may have retained.  However, I did find out later that one of her close friends, who is LDS, rides horses with her back in her home town in Nevada, so maybe another seed was planted????

The balance of the day was spent sharing the history of the area to visitors from all over.  Mom and I had a good day, but there were no significant stories to share other than the Pony Express story.  And that is such a great part of the United States history so I hope you enjoy this brief!  

Thank you for joining with us tonight!  Mom and I are the Trek Hosts for a group from the Sandy Crescent Stake in Utah.  We will host 195 trekkers and we start at 7:30am tomorrow morning at the Trek Center at the Homestead!

25 June 2018 - Monday - Cody's 11th Birthday!

25 June 2018 - Monday

Today mom and I noted the celebration of Cody's 11th birthday.  He had an outing with his boy cousins and got his knee injured at the water park, and was taken to Community Care for an examination.  We understand he is able to walk on it, but he is not able to stretch it completely out.  Cody, Granny and Grandpa love you so much and hope you feel better real soon!  Happy Birthday!

I was able to get in my three mile walk this morning.  Mom and I had our prayers and scripture reading, together, and then I was able to welcome the sun rise on my morning walk.  We were both excited about this being our P-day, and the upcoming visit with the Sathre Family!  We have a busy week ahead of their arrival, but we are so excited to see them!

We left for our correlation meeting at 7:45am this morning.  It is always so much fun to be early and get our days started together.  Granny and I then drove to Casper for our groceries, and to have our car washed at the car wash near the restaurant we had lunch at.  It was definitely not the detail car wash I intend to give our car when we get home, but it looks and feels so much better!  And as we drove to Casper, we got the best gas mileage we have ever gotten with our 2017 Honda CRV!

Highest gas mileage yet in our CRV! 

We had a great time shopping and collecting supplies for the week.  We even picked up some milk for the grandchildren when they arrive Saturday.  On the drive home, my eyes were so heavy, but we finally pulled into Missionary Village and I got to take a very nice nap!  That felt so good to stretch out and rest in the recliner chair.

Tonight our district was responsible for the Family Home Evening.  We had a fire at the fire pit right outside our trailer so that the missionaries could roast marshmallows and make s'mores.  Then we shared testimonies of our experience so far in our mission assignments.  Mom and I started it off with some experiences that I have shared here in the blog to kind of prime the pump.  Then we had an hours worth of really neat experiences that the missionaries have had with the groups they lead on these treks,  Here is one of my favorites;

An awesome fire to roast marshmallows over!

Senior Missionaries sharing stories about their experiences thus far

A stake group trekking over at Sixth Crossing was involved in a women's' pull.  As the girls were pulling the handcarts up through the line of young men, they were grateful for the young men who were singing two songs, "As Sisters in Zion", and "Come, Come Ye Saints".  They were so impressed with them singing, that they gathered around the boys, after reaching the top of the hill, and thanked them for their kindness and thoughtfulness.  

When the boys and their leaders heard the young women expressing their gratitude, they had to admit that none of the boys, or the men, were singing as they passed by.  The young men were absolutely and reverently quiet as they passed by, and yet a majority of the young women heard the songs being sung.