1 August 2018 - Wednesday

1 August 2018 - Wednesday

Don't look now, but we are now in August 2018!  This is the last heavy week of trekking for the summer.  Mom and I have one of the largest groups, tomorrow, with 230 trekkers.  We will guide them tomorrow afternoon into the Cherry Creek campground.  Then on Friday we will take them on the complete trails here at Martin's Cove.  And on Saturday we will guide them out to their buses, and they will end their experience at Rock Creek Hollow on Saturday afternoon.  The total trek for us will cover almost 10 miles over the next three days.

Today was a work day for mom and me.  We went to the Cherry Creek campground and measured the perimeter of the camp for some repair work, that will include adding barbed wire, to help keep the cattle out of the campground next year.  The distance around the campground was a little over 5,000 feet.  We walked the perimeter with a 100' tape measure and a snake catcher.  Fortunately, there were no visible snakes!  

The fence had previously been equipped with electric wire that has long sense been removed.  What was left were the wire attachment brackets.  The FM folks wanted these removed before we begin stringing the barbed wire.  This project will take place after the campgrounds are no longer needed for the season.  Here is what the brackets look like;

Heavy rubber attachment brackets for electrical wiring

I suggested that we leave these brackets on the posts, and string the new barbed wire through the heavy rubber spacing.  The brackets are at the perfect height, and the units are still very strong and resilient.  The suggestion was accepted, and we were released to go home and relax for the heavy trekking day tomorrow.  

We welcome the trekkers, in the morning, at 5:45am until 8:30am, at the Welcome Post, and then we come back to the Welcome Post from 1:00pm until 3:00pm.  Our group that we are the Trail Guides for comes in before the 3:00pm time slot, and will be the last group in tomorrow.  We will then walk them into the Cherry Creek campground a little over three miles away.  It will be a long day, and we were grateful to have the rest of the afternoon off today.

When we got home we did some yard work around the trailer.  The snake grave is still in place for the Lasher grandchildren to observe when they get here in less than three weeks!  We are so excited to have them come and be with us here in the mission field!  Then we have our dear missionary friends from Nauvoo coming the following week, Beverly and Keith Ramsey.  August will be a great month for these two senior missionaries!  We also received word that Sister Goodman has her second mission call to the North Carolina, Raleigh mission.  She will serve 23 months as a women's auxiliary specialist.  She was so excited to begin this new chapter in her life! 

We continue to see the Lord's Hand in the work being done here.  All of the missionaries have been kept safe, and many of them have experienced miracles in their lives while serving here.  Health issues have been corrected, blessings of safety and comfort have been administered, and we are very grateful for the privilege of serving here, and being front row witnesses to these precious experiences.  Just today we heard about one of the work assignments where an additional light was to be installed next to an existing light fixture.  

As the worker were drilling the hole to place the fixture in place, he felt impressed to stop drilling.  When he looked into the hole, he had just stopped short of drilling through some romex wiring.  The fixture was to be installed about five feet from the existing fixture, and they then had to pull some wire from one very small hole in the ceiling to another very small hole.  The project seemed impossible as they began the threading.  Then the worker quickly noticed that the threaded wire was faintly visible right above the second hole and easily pulled down with a pair of needle nose pliers.  It is apparent Who is in charge here!

And we have heard numerous stories about family blessings at the home of many of the missionaries.  Just for our family we are very familiar with the safe delivery of our precious 21st grandchild, to the protection of our family members in a variety of situations, both seen and unseen.  Are you sure you want these two senior missionaries to come home??  We are so indebted to the Lord for everything we have and everything we have been given and blessed with!  But still, we are coming home!