Adventures and the Ranch!

This week wasn’t very eventful.  But a calm, low-key week is just fine.  

We are finding out the “closeness” of a small town.  Although several of the towns near us are only a third as big.  We volunteer at the Senior Center twice a week serving lunch and helping in the kitchen.  We try to sit at different tables to get to know more people.  Most of the seniors have lived here for at least 30 years or more.  They know everyone!!  Don’t mess up around here, everyone will know about it.  It’s great to hear stories of the senior’s lives; how things have changed around here over the years.  Most of them have such interesting lives and enjoy sharing their memories with us.  

We had our weekly trip to Gillette, no District Meeting with the other missionaries, but gave April a ride back after she visited her sister.  Her husband was very grateful.  He barely made it home before his truck completely died after dropping her off at her sisters when April went to the temple.

Walt was having some trouble with back spasms.  Not really sure what made it act up that way.  So I have been doing some of the small errands without him and letting him save time in the car for the big stuff - like dinner at someone’s house.  :)  We have been very fortunate, at least once a week someone asks us over for dinner.  It’s a great way to get to know someone, a less formal atmosphere - more relaxing.  

We have a sister, Joyce, in a Senior home that grew up eating game meat (deer, elk, moose, etc).  She really misses it.  Beef is lousy, she says.  We had dinner with a couple one of our first nights here and they eat mostly elk.  So I asked if the next time she cooked elk, if she could cook a tad extra, so I could take it to Joyce.  They said just to come for dinner and we would have country fried elk steaks.  Perfect!  It was quite tasty - very lean.  They served it with a ketchup and worschisire sauce, also good.  We also had corn fritters and mashed potatoes, salad, green beans and ice cream.  We are always so stuffed when we leave their house.  Joyce was in heaven when we brought it to her for dinner.  We love making people smile!

Cows on the road to the Bishop's ranch

We had our usual volunteering for lunch and Bingo night on Thursday.  We had an even bigger crowd at Bingo this time.  The word must be getting out there about us.  They were all impressed how well we remembered their names.  Now there are more to learn.

Friday night, the Elders and the two of us got the opportunity to go the the BIshop’s ranch.  It’s about an hour outside of town- half of that is a dirt road.  What an adventure!  We say antelope, a porcupine, a coyote, cows (of course),  a big herd of elk, and eagles.  One of our elders has grown up hunting and was so excited to see all these animals.  Although he really wanted to hunt them.  The cows see a vehicle and think it is feeding time, so they get pretty close.  Some of them, we could have reached out and touched them from our car window.  Becky (BIshop’s wife) gave us a tour of the ranch.  It’s about 55, 000 acres- he has 700 head of cattle.  In the spring, it’s calfing and branding season and we are invited to come out for the adventure!  Love getting to know the local stuff.

Saturday night, a 17 year old guy was baptized.  We were so happy for him.  His girlfriend is a member of the church and he has been learning from the Elders for a couple of months now.  I was asked to speak at the baptism on the subject of baptism.  I prepared a nice talk, but then it seemed awkward to keep reading from it instead of just speaking.  I really felt the Spirit was guiding me in what to say.  Most of it was not in my written talk at all.  I love that!

There is another young man, 20 yrs old, interested in learning more about the church.  His journey is  just starting and he has really no knowledge of our beliefs at all.  Walt and I love making those connections with people.  His grandmother had passed away years ago, and they were close.  I asked him to imagine how happy he would be to see her again when it is his time to return.  He smiled and said, He would be so happy.  Now think of how happy we will be to return to Heavenly Father and see Him again.  Words can’t describe our joy at that moment.  I know how very much I love my family and miss those who have already gone ahead.  Heavenly Father is the father to all of us, and great shall be our joy at seeing His face and the face of the Savior.  How wonderful it will feel to have Him wrap His arms around us and embrace us.  The tears are going to flow.  I also think of our loved ones who have passed away and have already had that experience for themselves.

We love being here and serving the Lord.  He blesses us with lots of good friends, beautiful country views and lots of adventures!   Thank you all for your love and support.  

Road to the Bishop's ranch.  You can see for miles!

Finally got a decent picture of a herd of antelope.  They really blend in!
See how many you find - send us your answer!

A large herd of Elk on the Bishop's property.  They're wild - all of them are.

One of the Elders and Tal (Bishop's son) chasing a porcupine

Our District before Transfers.  We weren't there because we stay in the same place the entire time.

Turkeys up in the trees at one our our member's house.  Never seen turkeys in the trees before!