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?