The mission comes to an end

We were released from our mission by President Snow at 7:15pm. Both of us shared our love of our mission to him. We report to the High Council at 7 am on Sunday.

When we got home I ran across a note I had taken at the MTC. It was from a clip we had watched by Elder Bednar about teaching by the spirit.  I reviewed these notes a couple of times on the mission. The notes say, “ we don’t know when we are doing it ahead of time, we’re prepared and doing what’s right - it happens- follow the good ideas that come to us- don’t talk yourself out of it. As a missionary- say those things that pop into your head during the tours”.

 It did happen that way on the mission and in reverse. Sometimes I forgot to say things I usually included in the tour. As I thought about the tour later, I realized that it wasn't important to the tour. So it works both ways. The Lord is in charge and he uses the missionaries to give the message he wants each person to hear.

I feel that is good advice for life and following the spirit. Often times we must step forward into the dark before we are sure we are taking the correct path. As we look back we realize that we were guided even though we didn’t feel it at the time.

I am grateful for our mission to Cove Fort. It was a special experience to know that you are an extension of Lord’s will. We were in a special bubble for six months, protected from the worldly worries. I know that we were protected. I know the blessing of health that George gave me had an impact on my overall health as well as the health of my eyes. Dr. Mehr was surprised my eye was doing so well and commented that I had been blessed because of my service on the mission. I know the Lord blesses us when we are obedient. I love the Lord.

 President Snow, Sister and Elder Ross

Indigo

My last tour for the day was Indigo and her grandmother. Grandmother introduced herself as a member but that her granddaughter, Indigo, was not. Indigo is 13. Indigo’s mother is inactive and says that it is for Indigo to decide for herself about religion.

We had a great tour. At the Book of Mormon display I asked Indigo if she wanted a Book of Mormon. She already has one so I offered Finding Faith in Christ to be delivered to her. She has read a little of the Book of Mormon. I suggested that she invite one of her LDS friends to be with her as she sees the video so she will have support and be able to discuss her questions with her friend.

 Grandmother was very touched with the sharing toy as well as the fact that Indigo referred herself to the missionaries. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. As we were leaving the Fort I told Indigo that my parents were inactive and that I was baptized at 13. I felt the spirit as I told her how important the church was in my life. I told her to be prayerful about her decision. She and her grandmother gave me a hug before leaving.

An interesting side note. I was sent out to greet a car but I couldn't find it. I noticed a couple walking toward the MPR from the other parking lot. Elder Ross went out to greet them not realizing that it was my car that had gone through to the other parking lot unobserved by any of us. I was then sent out to meet Indigo and her grandmother. This tour was meant for me because she needed to hear my testimony. 

Rawlinsons

For my birthday a friend of mine, Nancy Coon, who is a cousin to Sister Rawlinson sent me a card. Nancy told me that her cousin would be servicing as a missionary at Cove Fort. I had heard the Rawlinson name once before when I was in the Manti Temple. Sherleen Juassi, a temple worker, had approached me and asked if the Rawlinsons had arrived at Cove Fort yet.  A couple of weeks ago Elder Dye asked Elder Ross and me if we would be their mentors. Coincidences? I think not.

A few months ago, I took some pictures of the recorded genealogy written in the back of the old Bible in the women’s room. The names belonged to Elder Rawlinson’s ancestors.

Two Amazing Tours

What a busy day! We went for a walk before going on the swing shift at noon. We were in the MPR 30-45 minutes before were assigned tours. My tour was two women from England. Evidently I was supposed to have this tour. Elder Hale had met them and told him they wanted to eat lunch first. By the time they were ready, he had gone out on a tour so they were assigned to me.

The ladies have been here for a couple of weeks doing sessions in the Oquirrh Temple, and the  St George Temple. They have visited many church sites. The crowning experience for them was attending two sessions of conference. They took pictures of everything in all the rooms. They wanted details in each room as they photographed. It took us nearly one and half hours to complete the tour. It was such fun to exchange information and teach them about the Fort and feel of their spirit and testimonies.

I returned to the MPR and I had to go back out after about five minutes.  I met a car with a couple from Indiana. Wendy greeted me with a hug. They, too, took pictures of everything. They have visited Nauvoo and many other church sites. They are converts, baptized in Mesa in the Alma 5^th ward at age 29 in 1987. They have been unable to have children. Wendy has been very sick for the past four years. She is feeling somewhat better just now. They want to serve a mission in four years when he retires. She feels she may not be here in four years. I forgot to give them the sharing toy as we left the Fort like I normally do. They wanted to see the barn and I remembered the sharing toy while we were there. They loved it, of course.

 I walked them to the car to get an address for their referral card. He spoke with me and told me about her illness while she was talking to the Ences. Elder Ence had given them a carrot from the garden while we were in the Fort and looking out the back door at the garden and the buildings in the back. He gave her a few more carrots to take with them. She had shared with him as she had with me about heart to heart hugs.

Such a spiritual day! Two tours that took about three hours! 

Australia

I went out to greet a big white van and three little kids greeted me and read my badge and one of them said, “That is what we are.” I could tell from their accents that they weren’t from Utah. The father John Rea comes from a family of eleven and parents came from families of over fourteen. And almost all of his family lives on the same street in Brisbane, Australia. Half of their acquaintances are family members.

We started with the video and the six children were so well behaved. They asked lots of questions, especially the two little girls. We took a long time in each room so it was good the Fort wasn’t too busy.

When we arrived in the room of light, I asked about the four sources of light and before anyone could say anything the five year old girl said, “The scriptures.” Wow! Most people get it as the fourth source and most of the time with prompting. I’ve only had a couple of people choose the scriptures as the first source of light. In the prophet’s room, the youngest boy said, “My dad is a bishop. “John said they have been to visit Nauvoo that the Nauvoo Temple is his favorite temple. They were an amazing family. I asked permission to take their picture to post on my blog.

The Reas are in Utah because one of his brothers lives in the town of Benjamin and one of her sisters lives in Salt Lake. They have been here about two weeks.

George's Birthday

George is 72 today. We went on shift at 3:00. The Baileys had prepared a birthday gift for George. They gave him a left handed golf club in a big tube with a golf ball like thing one end and a shoe to couch the club head on the other. Each missionary had written comments on the outside of the tube. They sang to him just as we were coming on shift. I was able to take a couple of pictures and had to leave in the middle of the presentation because I had a tour. He was supposed to go with me but he had to stay to finish reading the instructions for the uses of the tube.

We were waiting for our next tour when Elder Despain came in and said someone wanted to see us who had been to Disneyland. We both remembered the family who had been here about two weeks ago. The family came out of the main video room and we recognized them immediately. Sister Despain had mentioned it was Elder Ross’s birthday when they told her who their tour guides had been when they stopped on their way to Disneyland. We had tried to show them the cabin and/or the video but the sites were all busy after we had toured the Fort. They promised they would return for the rest of the tour. They sang to George. Elder Despain took a picture of us with them. 

We came home and had a piece of birthday cake. There was a plastic flower on the car that played the birthday song over and over. We couldn't get it to stop playing. I broke it trying. 

Solo

We went to Richfield to the Verizon store. My cell phone was not working at all. The store was pretty busy with only one employee to handle the customers. She did her best to work on my cell phone/computer issues and take care of incoming customers.  It was almost 10:30 when a lady came into the store and immediately asked me questions about the couple coming to Cove Fort in October and about the Atwoods. I realized I must have met her when I was in the Manti temple. We started chatting after George left to go sit in the car. He was getting frustrated that the store employee kept waiting on each person who came in instead of focusing on our problem. At 10:50 the clerk said she was making progress but it would be several more minutes. Sherleen Jaussi (my new friend) jumped up and said she would deliver it to me at Cove Fort as soon as it was finished. Surprised, I agreed and we headed to Wendy’s for lunch to eat it on the way to prayer meeting which starts at 11:40. We were a couple of minutes late. Sherleen brought everything to us about 1:00. My phone is working!

Later I found out that Sherleen is the main character written about in the book Solo. I later read the book, by Patricia O’Brian King. It is about Sherleen Jaussi’s adventure when her plane went down outside of Grand Junction.  She was from Price where her husband was a doctor. They both decided to learn to fly to be able to make trips to visit Sherleen’s mother in Idaho. She was taking a three legged flight including Blanding, Price and Grand Junction. This was a requirement for her to have a three stop solo flight to get her license. Her plane lost power and crashed. We learn how she survived until she was rescued.

She now lives in Richfield and she serves in the Manti Temple.

Brazil Visitors

The tours today were sporadic like they have been lately. No one for an hour or two then six cars show up. We had one awesome tour with three women, two were from Brazil. The mother spoke only Portuguese but understood some English. Her daughter spoke fairly good English and she had served a mission in Brazil. The third woman was from St George and she had served her mission in Brazil and had been befriended by the older woman as a young missionary. Her Portuguese was excellent and she translated all the way through the tour. The older lady was touched by the video before we even entered the Fort. She was taking pictures in the stage coach room and the others went ahead, she spoke to me in really good English. We seemed to have a bond. We received hugs and kisses several times before they left. They took a card to fill out for a referral since they were missing all the information they needed.

Elder and Sister Luke

Tonight we said farewell to five couples who are headed home because their time of service at Cove Fort will come to a close on Monday. I wanted to pay tribute to the Lukes.

Elder and Sister Luke best represent service of all the couples in the mission. I noticed that about them the first month we were here. She was always making treats for the sharing table. She is the one who always cleaned the fridge on Fridays. Both were willing to be of service in any way needed and they went about it quietly. Sister Luke fell down when she tripped over an orange cone in the road a couple of months ago. Elder Luke would drive her to the handicapped parking space, carry in her treats then help her into the MPR. She would cover for others on the chair to keep busy while she was there even though she couldn’t go on a tour. They were both sensitive to my needs when I was feeling dizzy during their time on the chair supervising the goings and comings of the missionaries. Elder Luke was our favorite supervisor. Elder Luke assisted me when I was touring a child who started bleeding from a recent tonsillectomy. He shared with me that he had been an EMT after he had cared for the child. As a scout he learned to sign each letter of the alphabet. He has taken a few deaf people through the Fort and has been able to communicate with them by spelling out each word. They are both short in stature but they are giants in humility and service. We are sad to see them head home to Tooele.

Birthday Wishes

Sister Brown makes a cupcake for each person who has a birthday. You get to blow out the candle while everyone sings to you. 

I received a ton of birthday wishes on FB and some texts, plus a few phone calls. All were appreciated and enjoyed.

A Special Family

Today thoughts about 9-11 are prevalent. We have our flag at half-mast that flies over the Fort.

It has been a dreary day so the traffic at the Fort was almost nonexistent. To pass our time, we watched a series of three church videos. The first was about Moroni and the Book of Mormon, the second about Parley P Pratt and the third about the Italian pastor who found a Book of Mormon without the cover. He read it and knew it was true. He refused to burn it as instructed. He was cast out of the priesthood of his church. He eventually was able to be baptized.

About 11:30 a van full of people arrived. We were greeted by a man ( he lives in Sun City in Phoenix) and his nephew who had been to the Fort yesterday. He loved it so much he brought back another niece and her husband (lives in Missouri) with their 6 children who are home schooled. All eight of them live in a 42 foot 5^th wheel. They travel a lot. They love the feel in Utah and the value that is placed on families.

They loved the tour and soaked up the gospel messages. They asked several gospel questions. They didn’t fill out a card but they were eager to get the literature. One of the older girls sought me out on the way back up toward the parking lot and asked me about Jesus and his relationship to God and about baptism by emersion. I gave her a card with Mormon.org and my gmail so that she could ask me questions if she chooses or go online for her answers.

Jan and Michelle

Jan and Michelle arrived right at 1pm as scheduled. Earlier in the day I got involved in helping Sister Parry upload all the pictures for our Memory Book for our mission. I was at Sister Parry's apartment with Brad on the line trying to help us work through our problems, so I left my cell phone with her so Brad could continue helping her. As a result, I didn't get to take all the pictures I had intended while we were at the Fort. I was bummed we didn't get some better shots with Elder Ross's phone.

After our tour went to the Freemont Indian State Park and saw the sites. The "blanket" shown above was awesome to see. We did some hiking around the area and then went to dinner at Big Rock Candy Mountain. We came back to the 5th wheel and chatted until 9:00pm.

Jack & Lynette

A surprise visit from the Youngs was enjoyed by us. They are friends from the Cottages. We received an update on the events that we have missed in the past four months.

Brian and Elizabeth

Elder and Sister Evans stopped by for a quick visit on their way to Wasco, California to serve the second half of their mission. We spent some time catching up and enjoying each others company.
 Our friendship goes a long way back. Elizabeth was instrumental in my becoming active after my baptism at age 13. We became good friends all through high school  and we attended BYU together.  She was instrumental in George and I meeting each other after graduation from BYU. Brian's parents befriended us when we lived in Prescott, consequently, we feel part of the Evans family. We have remained friends and Brian and Elizabeth continue to set a good example for us. We are grateful for their friendship.

Busy Day!

A text message alerted us that Lori and her mom, Emmy, were planning to stop at the Fort on their way home from St George. Their target time was about the same and Kim and her family. Lori came about 20 minutes before the Hannays. I had fun taking Lori and Emmy quickly through the Fort. We had two rooms left to explore when the Hannay family arrived. Luckily, Elder Ross had just finished his tour when they arrived. 

Lauren & Devin Cantwell, Kim, Ty, Eric, Steve, Nate Hannay, Elder Ross

Eric, our grandson, reports to the MTC on Oct 3 to learn Portuguese so that he can serve in Angola, Africa. This is the last time we will see him for two years. We will not be able to go to his farewell because we aren't released until October 29. We are delighted we were able to see him for a few hours and share the Fort with him and his family. We are proud of his choice to serve the Lord.

Mysterious Coincidence

Our afternoon tour consisted of two families, one couple from Idaho and the other from Layton, each with one child. They asked interesting questions. The couple from Layton came to the Fort two years ago before their son received his mission call. The tour guide had the young man spin around three times in front of the Book of Mormon display with his eyes closed, then point to a Book of Mormon. The young man tried to point to the one in French because he wanted to learn French, but instead he pointed to the one in Dutch. The young man is currently serving in Holland!

Sunsets

Cove Fort Cinder Cone

Toward the Fort

Toward Beaver

The sunsets at Cove Fort remind me of the sunsets in Tobago.

Todd and Debbie

The morning shift starts right after church. We were sent to greet a car and Elder Jones came out of the main and said his tour group knew us.We took over his tour and Elder Jones greeted our car. We greeted Heidi (daughter),Todd and Debbie Maihofer  and Elizabeth (granddaughter of Debbie) from Page.  It was fun to visit with them and share the Fort with them.

Big Rock Candy Mountain

We had ribs and pulled port at the restaurant, delightful. It is located about 5 miles off I 70 on Hwy 89.

The Seiver River was beautiful and we followed it back toward I 70.

We drove through rain on the way home.

Llamas

On the way to our shift, two llamas crossed the road.

 About 7pm we saw the llamas eating our lawn.

The llamas belong to a rancher near the Fort. They were loose for a couple of days before Mr. Peacock captured them and returned them to his yard.

Cove Fort Days

During the two days, August 3-4, we had each room manned with a missionary so that the guests could go through at their leisure. Missionaries were stationed in the out buildings and near the video viewing rooms. We had about 3500 visitors to enjoy the free hot dogs, chips, drinks, wagon rides, stage coach rides, Joseph Smith video, Cove Fort video, reenactment village, soap making, bee keeper, bands, musical entertainment and more.

On Saturday, I had just finished covering the older girls room 5-6pm. We started cleaning up.

We stopped counting the visitors who drove in and started our usual pattern of giving tours to the guests. I went up to the MPR as my shift had ended. I was assigned some people who were walking toward the Fort. I found out it was a family with two teenage boys. They were from Belgium and they spoke Dutch. Their English was good and they seemed to comprehend my explanations well. They are traveling around the US. They have been to Las Vegas, Yellowstone and Salt Lake among several other places. They are headed to Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon. They stopped at Cove Fort for a break.

 I started teaching about the Church in the Telegraph room and continued on through the rest of the rooms. I talked about tithing in the Boy’s Room. In the Best Room we talked about how one becomes a prophet which continued through the last room. The father initiated the question. In the parents room I told them how I had participated in the sustaining of President Monson. The wife was ready to fill out a referral card as were the boys. The father said we (meaning him and his wife) have a difference of opinion about having a Book of Mormon delivered in Dutch. I told them that each person needed to decide for himself about the truthfulness of what I had shared with them. I told them that they didn’t come to the Fort by accident that the spirit had brought them here. I gave them the literature packet to read and study. I told them to mail the card if they changed their minds. She really wanted to fill it out right then. The spirit was strong. They loved the sharing toy and its message, including the father. What a neat family.

Visitors Galore

Craig and Gail Larsen from our River Ridge 9th ward stopped by the Fort and I was able to take them on a tour. Their son is the bishop of Carol and Merle Allen's ward in Gilbert. Gail has attended Relief Society where she and Carol became acquainted.


The day before the Larsen's visit, the Porters came to visit the Allens. Elder Allen was ready to take them on tour as I passed by. Sister Porter turned out to be Jane Ball from the Mesa 20th ward who is now married to a Porter! They have their papers in to go on a mission. We were able to visit for a couple of minutes. Her oldest daughter, Jennifer, lives in Highland and has two small children.

Sister Allen called tonight and asked if we knew some Redhairs from Page. She had just taken them on a tour. We hurried up to the Fort to visit with them for a few minutes. Brother Redhair is a counselor in the New Mexico Albequerque Mission presidency. They had some children and grandchildren with them. OJ lives in Lehi and he is married to a red headed belagona (white) who has a doctrate in Special Education. They have two children.

George's Five Tours

Today has been a special day in many ways.  On an average day, giving three tours is the usual.  Rarely are we blessed with the opportunity to give four tours.  But, today I gave five!  Not only that but these tours were some of the most spiritual I have been involved in.

The first tour I conducted was with a Catholic man who had a “mild” interest in antiques.  He was from Ohio.  After going through two rooms, he exclaimed, “My wife has got to see this!”  I assumed his wife was somewhere else, but in fact, she was resting in their van.  We hurried back to get her and began the tour again.  Her love of antiques was even greater than his.  By the third room they were feeling the Spirit of the Fort and wanted to know more about why the Hinkleys were willing to work so hard and yet were so happy.  I explained as carefully as I could that they were called by Christ, through the prophet Brigham Young.  They seemed to understand.

As we continued through Fort, they were more and more impressed.  Their questions came in rapid-fire order.  When we finally got to the display of Books of Mormon, she said she wanted one.  You see, she was a Buddhist from Thailand.  I agreed to have one sent to her in the Ti language.

As we walked back to their van, the questions kept coming.  I virtually gave them the First Discussion.  Will anything come of our meeting?  I can’t say, but we all felt the Spirit and at least a very important seed was planted.

All of my other tours today had special meaning to me and my guests.  I met a father and son; the son was soon to depart on a mission to Lansing, Michigan.  I met three history teachers who gained a strong and personal testimony of the faith and sacrifice of the pioneers.  I met a sweet family with three daughters.  They all loved the spirit of the Fort and before we concluded the parents were (almost) ready to sign up as missionaries when retired.

Being a missionary at Cove Fort is so much more than being a mere tour guide.  Mom and I have become tools in the hands of the Holy Ghost as we talk about the lives, sacrifices, dedication, joy, and accomplishments of the Hinkleys and other pioneers.

We and our guests are blessed every day.

July 24th

       

Today we dressed in period costumes to celebrate the 24th. Many people came on their way to other celebrations, a few to celebrate their pioneer heritage and their ties to the Hinckley family, others just happened by like the four people came to look at the Fort who spoke only Italian. In the interest of time, they took a couple of pictures of the Fort and of us and went on their way to Las Vegas. Elder Ross did a great job communicating with them through gestures, Spanish, etc.

Carriage

President and Sister Hinckley rode down the road to the dedication of Cove Fort in 1994 in this carriage.

Cove Fort Cinder Cone

The areas to the west of the freeway from Fillmore to Manderfield is known as the Black Rock Desert. It is covered in dark red, brown, and black basaltic lava flows, the oldest being around one million years old, and the youngest being 600-800 years old (the Ice Springs lava flow, youngest in Utah). The prominent hill east of I-15 near Cove Fort is a basaltic cinder cone, less than 12,000 years old, known as the Cove Fort Cinder Cone. Basalt is an iron-rich volcanic rock, which can erupt in lava flows (as in Hawaii) or spatter out of a vent and create a cinder cone. Basaltic rock often has numerous rough edges that look like popped bubbles. These "bubbles: were created when small pockets of gases were trapped while the rock was cooling from a liquid (lava) to a solid (the basalt as you see today).
Thanks, Keryn, for this information!

Lava rock is all along the highway that was used to build the Fort.

Fruits from Haiti

My last tour of the day was an elderly couple from Delta (who had been on a couple of missions before adopting four Haitian children) with two of their adopted children. They have two boys, 13 and 14 who are at scout camp. The boys are siblings with one of the girls. The darling girls were about 15-16.  The girls had been to Cove Fort a couple of times a few years ago. They were going to give me the tour, but after the first room they were caught up in the spirit of the Fort and asked me lots of questions. I was able to bear my testimony of tithing, reading the scriptures, the Book of Mormon, etc. It was so fun. They loved the sharing toy. We went to the out building and on the way we looked at each of the vegetables in the garden. They knew many of them. The parents didn’t say much and let me interact with the girls. We covered the blacksmith shop, the ox lift, the Jackson rake, the barn and the bunk house. In the bunk house we talked about being born in the era we belonged and the challenges for them in theirs. They didn’t seem to want to leave. We ended with the prairie schooner and I walked them back toward their car. We then had to name all the flowers in the beds. Sister Ayers cut them some flowers to smell and play with like the snapdragon and the lavender. We talked about making dolls out of the hollyhocks. They just may come to Cove Fort days.

An Old Friend

We met Bill Duckett an old friend of ours from Page at the Canyon Breeze golf course in Beaver at 10:30am for a round of golf. His eye sight isn’t what it used to be so George had to watch the flight of his ball for him because he is developing macular degeneration. Bill is about 10 years older than we are. We took him to the Crazy Cow for lunch. He then followed us back to Cove Fort for a quick tour. It was fun to share the Fort with an old friend.

Friday the 13th

The 13^th has always been my lucky number and add a Friday, awesome! The day started a little slow at the MPR. We were there at 8am and finally got a tour at 10am. The tour was a combo family of 14 on their way to a family reunion. We split them in half and took them on the tour. They were delightful!

About 11:30 the Ogden family arrived. Michelle and Dan are good friends with Kim and Steve. Michelle is also in the quilt group I attend. Dan’s brother and his wife, Julie (who used to cut and color my hair before we went to the West Indies) and their children were all on their way to Duck Creek for their family reunion. We kept them as a group to see the video and tour the Fort. It was a super fun tour.

Brad and his family arrived about 3:30pm while it was pouring rain. We talked for a half hour while the weather cleared and then took a tour of the Fort. They were on their way to a Tobler family reunion at Marysvale.

The day ended with a fish fry put on by the Baileys. Elder Bailey’s three brothers and their wives came and did the cooking of the salmon and trout. The salmon was deep fried and it was excellent. We also had Dutch oven potatoes, salad and rolls. We said our farewells to the Johnsons who need to return home for medical reasons.

4 Wheeling in a Toyota

A trip to Beaver to drop off cleaning, pick up some videos at the library and have lunch ended up in a 4 wheeling in a Toyota Camry adventure. The Toyota preformed like a hummer, not. We took the Sulphurdale exit and drove through the abandoned sulphur mining town. Instead of returning to the road at the entrance of the town (which we didn’t even think of) we headed on a dirt road toward I 70 to find another road that connected to an entrance to the road to Cove Fort. We wandered around on rutted, rocky, grassy, dirt roads at crawling speeds much of the time trying to find our way to I 70. We saw and heard the interstate many times but couldn’t get to it. I walked one half mile to see if the car could traverse a road that looked promising. After panicking George (who was certain I had been attacked by wild animals)  during the 20 minutes I was gone, we retraced our tracks up and down the gulleys and hills back to Sulfurdale. Taking the correct road, we were at Cove Fort in 5 minutes.

Two diverse tours

My first tour was a woman, Miranna, from Poland who now lives in California. She was traveling alone to see some of the sites in Utah and Arizona. She is Catholic. The tour was different from the beginning.  I was able to talk about prophets, tithing, missions, families, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and prayer. She had tears streaming down her face as I did the sharing toy. She kept saying how wonderful it all was. I know it was the spirit she was feeling that she was referring to and not the artifacts in the fort even though they provided the tools to talk about the gospel. She didn’t want to have the missionaries but I still gave her a card. I talked about prayer and the Savior. On the way back to the MPR we talked about no coincidences. I challenged her to pray about the things we had talked about and to send the card in.

My second tour was also a group of members of another faith. Two vehicles came in with 10 German people and a driver. Someone else took half of the people to make the tours more manageable. I had the driver. At the end of the tour I found out he was a missionary in Germany several years ago. These people were members of a family he had kept in contact with since his mission. They have visited the US six times and he and his companion, who live in Centerville and Farmington, respectively, have hosted them each time. It was these kids’ grandparents who had been kind to him on his mission by having them over for dinner. These people never joined the church but love feeding the missionaries. The tradition of feeding missionaries has continued even though none of them have joined the church. They are not interested in religion.

Special Visitors

Friday, July 6, 2012

 Nicole, Bowen, Corbin and Rex arrived about 4:30pm. We took them on a tour through the Fort and the out buildings. We had dinner and went for a walk. The boys hiked to the top of the hill across from the hollar.

The boys slept in a tent on our lawn.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

After pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast they headed for Page to visit friends and family. It was great to visit with them for a few hours.