Week 13

We had visitors this week!!! Yeah!  talk about that in a minute

Monday - Cathy went grocery shopping with sister Bunnage to buy food for a dinner we were going to put on. Selby worked on the new pump house.  In the pm we worked the visitor center.  It wasn't too busy until it was time to close and then we had 2 different groups come in and so we stayed until 8:30.  It is fun to visit with people from all around the US and Denmark, Vietnam, Brazil, etc.  We missed FHE.  But we have such a good time with each other and love when we can call the family. 

Tuesday - Cathy spent most of the day working on parts of the dinner for our visitors.  The visitors were men from the missionary dept. and the facility manager for the church.  After dinner we were trained by the missionary department.  It was amazing.  We can see how much God wants all his children to have the peace and happiness that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Selby had worked on making facades for the porta-potties during the day.  

Wednesday - Selby worked on the facades again.  Cathy worked on little chores here and there after putting together lunches for the visitors.  We went Square Dancing in a freezing wind.  The dancing helped to warm us some and the kids were delightful.

Thursday we worked up at base again.  It was really freezing all day.  The kids did well in their treks in spite of the cold weather. Square Dancing again in the evening,

Friday We went to RCH to do more repairs. It took most of the day.

Saturday - I did preparations for the arrival of the Dydiws and Selby worked on the water system again.  John and Susan arrived by 1:00, we fed them lunch and then off to Casper we went. Had a nice visit on the way and then took them to the National Historic Trail Interpretive center.  Dinner with many of the missionary's at Guadalajara's and then off to the national College Rodeo finals.  IT WAS GREAT.  So interesting and so well done.

We made it home before we turned into pumpkins.    

Sunday - Dydiws went to church and our potluck with us.  We then took them through the Visitor Center there.  We came back to our site and gave them a tour of our historic places.  We came back to the trailer and watched Ephraim's Rescue. 

Monday - Dydiw's came to our correlation meeting. And then we took them on a tour of our other areas of historical significance. We ate lunch in Lander and then took a drive that has been closed until about 10 days ago.  It was so nice, it reminded us of the sierras.  It was so delightful to have our friends here to visit with but more wonderful was the fact that people we care so much about were able to experience the power and spirit of this place.  That's all folks

A stone snow wall for Andy

A badger home for Andrew

Wyoming skyline

Reminds me if the Sierras

Week 12

Week 12  This week the wild Iris came out with a splendid bang and the
mosquitoes came out with a flurry.  The iris are already gone but the
mosquitoes are here to stay.  Its the only good thing so far about the
wind picking up, it blows them away.
Monday- Visitor Center in the AM.  We had 3 groups all from Colorado
and they didn't even know each other.  It's fun to tell people about
this site and tell some of the powerful stories from the history of
this place.  There is nothing for 30 miles around us except right
across the highway there is a small ranch run by a gal named Polly,
she sells eggs and the other missionaries have started buying from her
so we went across and met her and bought fresh eggs. We went to River
Camp after dinner and met the Lehi 19th ward which was a group of
about 90.  we arranged with them what stories they wanted and told
them we would meet them on Wednesday at 8:00am for their trek, as they were going to take a day trip on Tuesday to Martin's Cove. We had FHE
with the missionaries.
Tuesday - No treks today so we went back to Rock Creek Hollow (RCH) to
do more work on the equipment .  Didn't get back to camp until 3:00.
We invited the Hall's to dinner so I made dinner and then had a
meeting with the food committee because we have guests from the
Missionary Department next week and will  be feeding them while they
are on site.  The Hall's came to dinner and we had a delightful visit
with them.  They are very cheerful and even playful.  We had our trek
group  come back from Martin's Cove so we went down and did Square
Dancing with them.
Wednesday - First Trek of the season for us.  Our group didn't get out
of camp until 9:00.  We had several spots along the trail that we had
to cross a small amount of water.  The kids had fun jumping the spots.
We got to our river crossing and I gave the story and info on the
importance of rivers along the trail. The weather was still cool as it
was still morning but after the stories more than 30 kids decided they
wanted to cross the river on foot. They said it was soooo cold. We
treked to Willie Meadow next, which is the site where the company in
1856 had run out of food completely and were in the second day of a
snow storm.  Captain Willie and Joseph Elder rode ahead to try and
find the supply wagons and through that storm.  By a miracle they
found the wagons 27 miles away and arrived back at what we now call
Willie Meadow to save the people from complete starvation.  As was
recorded in one of the journals of October 21 “Just as the sun was
sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence
immediately west of our camp, several covered wagons, each drawn by
four horses, were seen coming towards us.  The news ran like wildfire,
and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see
them.  A few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our
faithful captain slightly in advance of the train. Shouts of joy rent
the air.”  Nine people had died at this camp but truly the miracle was
that people, that had no food for so long and that had walked 1000
miles and had spent days in the freezing weather had lived. They had
no doubt that it was through God's hand.  When we tell the story we
can feel the power of these words.       We got back to camp after a
12 mile trek and were invited to dinner by the group.  Great day!
Thursday – We were working at base which is the lookout for the treks
to keep them organized. Nice weather today without any wind, until the
evening and then the wind and rain came for a short time.
Friday – Was a work day for us, scheduling for me and installing a fan
for Selby.
Saturday – was our P-day this week and we got to talk to several of
you.  Love our family and friends!!!  We took a site seeing trip to a place called Castle Gardens.

 It is a nice section of rocks and petroglyphs.  It was a 84 mile drive from one little town to another
and we only saw 1 car in those 84 miles.  Wyoming is indeed the wide
open plains.  We made a big circle in our route and went through
Riverton to do our errands.

Sunday - Father's Day.  Very good day in church, touching Father
stories.  Elder Bunnage, our district leader, gave a great talk on the
responsibilities of Fathers.  He went over the Proclamation to the
Family, then told a story of his father being killed in WW2, and
closed with a quote from the movie "Courageous".  It is a story of a
father that had a hard wake up call and at the end of the movie there
was a ceremony where he gave the follow speech."I now believe that God
desires for every father to courageously step up and do whatever it
takes to be involved in the lives of his children.  But more than just
being there providing for them, he is to walk with them through their
young lives and be a visual representation of the character of God,
their Father in heaven. A father should love his children, and seek to
win their hearts. He should protect them, discipline them, and teach
them about God.  He should model how to walk with integrity and treat
others with respect, and should call out his children to become
responsible men and women, who live their lives for what matters in
eternity.  Some men will hear this, and mock it, or ignore it.  But I
tell you that as a father, you are accountable to God for the position
of influence he has given you. In my home, the decision has already
been made.  You don't have to ask who will guide my family, because I
will.  You don't have to ask who will teach my son to follow Christ,
because I will.  Who will  accept the responsibility of providing and
protecting my family?  I will.  Who will pray for, and bless my
children to boldly pursue whatever God calls them to do?  I am their
father.  I will.  I accept this responsibility and it is my privilege
to embrace it.  I want the favor of God and his blessing on my home.
Any good man does.  So where are you men of courage?  Where are you,
fathers who love the Lord?  It's time to rise up and answer the call
that God has given to you and to say I will.  I will.  I will !"  

I feel this is what my son and son-in-laws do and feel.  I'm so happy and proud of them.
But it was the Fireside that was the best thing since we have been
here. Elder Don Clark of the first quorum of the 70 assigned to the
Missionary Dept. was with us today.  He and his wife put on a 2 hour
fireside.  Elder Clark was incredible.  He taught through the spirit
in such a powerful way that no one wanted him to stop teaching.  He
taught about the purpose of missions.  He spent a lot of time about
the importance of relationships between husbands and wives and
families.  He taught with humor but more importantly he taught with power.  He gave us several challenges that we are going to try to live up to.
Again a great week.  Love you all, Selby and Cathy

Our chuck wagon 

Week 11

Things just get busier!  Monday was P-day, and we went to Riverton again and did our shopping, phone calls and errands.  We got back to the village and went with the Woodbury's to Martin's Cove to pick up 2 tons of hay for our new horses.  They had said we were picking up two bales of hay so we had both thought that that meant the regular rectangular bales that a man could lift.  

As you see from the pictures it was the 2 tons we ended up with.  There was a FHE program at their trek center that we stayed for.  Richard Benedict showed the movie, Ephraim's Rescue.  Brother Benedict was the older Ephraim from the movie.

He talked of the impact the movie had on him, he bore testimony of how the Lord helped in the making of this movie and how the real Ephraim had a true gift of healing. He said everything shown in the movie was documented by 2 or more sources.  One of the things that he said changed him was how Ephraim always washed his hands to be as clean and pure as he could to be a worthy instrument in God's hands. He said he didn't think he will ever be able to give another blessing without thinking of that symbolism and wash his hands first.  Cool thought!

Tuesday - Had more itemized training for this weeks treks that are starting.  Selby went to RCH again because the generator wasn't working (remember RCH is 1 1/4 hours away).  He brought back the lawn mower because it wasn't working.  The 2 couples there were frustrated that things weren't working and were happy someone came and "saved" them.  

Wednesday - I helped with a deep cleaning of the kitchen and then worked on preparing next weeks schedule ( its very complicated).  The cattle have been moved out this week from our site to be ready for the trekkers.   Selby went out and helped scope up the hundreds of cow pies that were in the area where the kids will be.  He also worked on upgrades to the Sixth Crossing Country Club.  

Thursday - Selby went to RCH again, this time to convert the generator to propane to make the unit more efficient. And I mowed for 6 hours again. The first 2 groups of trekkers arrived and caused a lot of excitement with the missionaries.  We have been preparing for 8 weeks for this day and now we are off and running for the next 8 weeks of trekking!  

Friday we arrived at the base lookout to help keep the treks on time and help with any problems that they may have.  Things went great.  In the evening Selby and I were in charge of doing a vignette of Ephraim Hanks and Thisbe Read.  We were both nervous (me more than Selby) but I've really realized how good Selby is at memorizing and presenting stories.  I study twice as much and do half as well.  All and all it was good.  

Sat. - had another P-Day because of Stake Conference being held in Casper which is 2 hours from the village.  We got to make phone calls and ran a few errands.  Had dinner at Olive Garden with other missionaries. then went to the evening meeting.  Selby was asked to speak on the subject of how people helped in his conversion.  He talked of how they taught correct principles but more importantly of how they showed Christ-like love.  He is so witty and spiritual at the same time.  Stayed at a hotel for the night, enjoyed the long shower the next morning.  

Sunday, Stake Conference was all about the youth in the church.  We heard from 8 young people between 14 and 18 about how they strengthen their testimonies of Christ.  One young girl shared her story of abuse from her father growing up and how she worked her way through these nightmares by focusing on her commitment to Christ. They were powerful talks.  This Stake has a strong feeling of family and a great spirit.  The Stake President said that the young people were great and that they needed to take responsibility for their own success in life and in the gospel. 

We love our life.  Selby and Cathy

arrival of first trek

view of the Sweetwater River

First trek of the season, woman's pull

Cathy at the base lookout

Week 10

Monday-  PDay we went to Riverton and spent most of our time on the phone with everyone we could.  Love talking to you all.  Best Wishes to Amonda for a speedy recovery XOXO.  Came home early because we had a big FHE with a nice dinner and a thoughtful lesson on the Light of Christ by Elder Bunnage.  Finished with brushing up on our Square Dancing skills.  Oh Johnny Oh went through our minds all night.  

Tuesday - work crew day  Back to Rock Creek Hollow.  This time to take up new log benches that had been made on Monday and the 2 trailers owned by church that missionaries will stay in when its their week to supervise that site.  It is 65 miles from sixth crossing.  We did more painting, Selby installed solar panels for the restrooms. and we came home to have the Bell's as our guests for dinner.

Wednesday - Cathy mowed lawns for 6 hours, not bad because we have riding lawn mowers, but the ground isn't smooth so by the end it felt like a workout.  Selby went back to Rock Creek Hollow again and finished up the projects there.

Thursday - The Sisters had a day in Casper to shop and visit.  Selby worked on the repeater and on the watering system for the grounds here. He also surprised me with doing the dishes and laundry.  He was rewarded with another good golf game.

Friday - selby redesigned the watering system for the lawns because they weren't working. This is one of the many things that he has done that has shown me how capable he is.  If he doesn't know how to do something he is able to figure it out.  I worked in the office and did what i do best which is clean and organize.  In the afternoon we had our first opportunity to work the Visitors Center.  I'll try to get pictures.  We had 17 people visit during our shift and it was a wonderful chance to share the marvelous stories of the heroic people we are honoring at this site.  

Saturday we washed the very muddy trucks(7) and then I worked in the office again. Selby put together his new water system and we spent the evening listening to Wyoming's #1 cowboy singer.  He was a crack up.  He had brought us horses that the church had leased for the season so we can have a pony express reenactment for the trekkers.  He makes his living doing music, horses and movies for the church that need animals and cowboys.  I'm realizing that was Friday night, oh well.  

Sunday was church in Martin's cove.  We had the 2 girls that we had met in the visitors center to teaching Sunday School and I assisted in YW.  We had a nice dinner with our group in the evening followed by our district meeting.  We are getting better at our stories, good thing as the kids are going to start coming next week (Thursday).

Maybe we have been here to long already, but we are finding so much beauty in this place.  Flowers are blooming, the grass is green  the sage brush smells so good.  The river is very high as they have had so much rain fall.  It can go from being sunny one minute and hailing and raining with high winds the next, and then back to sunny again all in a matter of a couple of hours.  There is an amazing feeling at this place.  These wide open spaces give you a feeling of peace and an interesting feeling of things being enormous.  We are happy to be able to serve here. We loved Eric's High council letter to the missionaries, he did such a good job letting us all see how we are each serving Heavenly Father and his children. Our family is so amazing, we love you all. Elder and Sister Bearry aka Selby and Cathy.