Week-end Adventures

Panoramic view of the Bighorn Canyon

We hope you all have had an enjoyable week, and maybe even some nicer weather.  The weather here has improved a bit in the last few days and promises to keep improving this upcoming week.  There’s a lot to be said for nice weather.  

It’s taking some getting used to be inside most of the time.  We are grateful to be needed and have some where to go besides just at home.  Week-ends are our favorite and that is usually when we get into the most trouble/adventures.  

Looking back over my journal, it’s hard to believe Easter was just last week-end!  I think I pretty much covered that day in last week’s letter.  Monday was pretty cold here - felt like winter.  We keep busy at the office.  We never run out of things to do; especially Walt.  I think his job is the most complexed.  Missionaries never stop running out of a need for a car or other things related to it.  Whenever I seem to have caught up with everything, something changes.  We had transfers and departing missionaries last week, and then this week, there were more changes.  I won’t share details, but it keeps things hopping.  

Walt gets training on a regular basis; which is really nice.  Except for the 2-3 hours of training on my first day, I figure things out or call the help desk.  I found a manual for my position this week, and have discovered several things I didn’t know I should be doing.  So, I’m getting there.  Most people are quite understanding about our lack of knowledge and training.  As we’ve heard before, the Lord has to run things with imperfect people, or something like that.  

We were able to FaceTime with Emma on Monday.  We FaceTimed the other grandchildren on Easter.  Some children need prompted with questions and such to get the conversation going.  Emma does a great job all by herself.  I think she talked the entire time!  After about 30 or so minutes, she says “Are you done with this?”  She makes us laugh so hard.  We sure miss all our grandchildren and are looking forward to giving them all lots of hugs and kisses.

We also had a Medcheck with our Dr. in PA through FaceTime on Monday.  They are doing lots of those because of the COVID-19, but it works even better for us.  Walt and I did ours together and just did it in his office, since he has an office with a door.  Our Dr. said things are definitely different in PA than Wyoming or Montana.  Not sure how things will be when we get home, but she wanted us to be prepared.  We’re ok being in a state with very few cases of this virus.  We do still get notifications from Delaware Country PA from our days in Glenmills and see the changes PA is making.  Crazy times.   We do have some face masks on their way to us.  So grateful for the Ruggles to take care of us.  

Tuesday, we had a bit of fun with the AP’s (Assistants to the President).  There are two Elders from each mission that help the mission president with all types of things.  They travel with him when he has conferences and handle a lot communication and training of the other missionaries.  We have two new ones, because the other two went home.  On Tuesday when we got to work, the AP’s had parked in the spot we normally park in.  There aren’t assigned spots but it has just turned out that we park in the same spot every day.  Walt teased them about parking in “our spot.”  Since he has keys to all the vehicles, he moved their car to the street and put our car in that spot.  I was supposed to let Walt know when they were leaving for lunch.  Lunch came and went, and they were still there.  About 2 pm, they decided to go eat and I was worried about these two new guys going out to find their car gone and not have a clue where it might be.  I forgot about calling Walt.  I just said to them that their car wasn’t where they left it and I didn’t do it.  I wasn’t sure how they would react.  They took it all in stride.  Then when they got back, I noticed Walt’s drink on my desk.  He had left it there a bit ago.  So I took it to the AP’s to hold on to for payback.  Then when he found it, they threw me under the bus!  I had to beg Walt not to hide something of mine.   As the AP’s were leaving that day, they said - Bring it on Elder Vann.   He was prepared for some shenanigans on Wednesday, but there wasn’t.  Guess they know now what kind of guy Elder Vann is.  It made things fun!

With so many missionaries going home and none coming in, we have some empty apartments in our mission.  Elder Wild is charge, and he and Sister Wild went to check on a couple of them on Wednesday afternoon.  He just wanted to make sure there was no food that would be going bad in the fridge and that the heat was up sufficient to keep pipes from freezing.  Since the weather was getting nicer, I volunteered us to check on the apartment in Red Lodge.  It’s only about 1 1/2 hours away and is in a pretty location.  It’s a popular ski area here.  At first, Elder Wild say that he  wanted to go there himself, but after asking again, he finally agreed we could go.  So after lunch on Thursday, we headed to Red Lodge.  It wasn’t a super warm day, but the sun was shining.  We also got to take one of the mission cars since it was mission business.  I didn’t take the red truck I love, but the RAV4 was a nice ride.  

The following are pictures from our drive up to Red Lodge and a little passed

It was a pretty drive up there.  Red Lodge is usually colder than Billings.  It is higher up in the mountains.  We expected colder weather but not 8-10 inches of snow.  For once, we were not prepared for colder weather.  I had on my church shoes, not any kind of boot.  I had a good enough coat, but nothing appropriate for my feet.  Walt did a good job making a path with his hands.  Lots of sidewalks were already shoveled, but since no one is living in that missionary apartment, nothing had been shoveled there.  It all makes for a great adventure.  The apartment was in good shape.  There were only space heaters there, so we verified with Elder Wild that he wanted them on.  He didn’t want any frozen pipes so we made sure they were on and closer to the pipes.  We also took all the condiments and such that were left in the fridge.  Afterwards, we stopped at a shop in town that had bandanas.  Walt found one with a Yellowstone Park map and I found some Huckleberry jam!  

The snow at the Elder's Apartment in Red Lodge

Not quite the weather we were expecting.  There was NO snow at all in Billings

By the end of the week, we are usually pretty worn out from our routine.  There doesn’t seem to be much time between getting home, having dinner, have some down time, and then get ready for the next day.  It’s like having a real week-end again.  When we were in Newcastle, it was hard to keep up with what day it was, except for Sunday.  We tried to make plans for a place to check out on Saturday.  We were looking for some kind of trail that wasn't too far away and was going to have decent weather.  We had found a good place and then when I checked the weather that morning, it was going to rain.  Walt decided Lovell WY might be good, and found their weather was supposed to be sunny and in the 50’s. So off we went to Lovell.

It was a great day!  We did have sunshine nearly the whole time, and the temperature was great.  It was only about a  1 1/2 hour drive.  We didn’t have a specific place in mind, but figured we would find something.  The first place we stopped was just a pull off place where we found people must go to shoot guns.  Walt took a hike up the cliff while I put together some sandwiches for our lunch.  He likes climbing way more than I do.

Views from Walt's first climb

The mountains in the background are the Gallatin Mountains   That is where Red Lodge is.

The second place was called Pryer Mountain.  We followed the dirt road that headed to the top.  There were several places we weren’t so sure we could pass.  I think most people ride their 4 wheelers to the top of the mountain.  We were happy with 1/3 of the way and saw a nice place to hike.  Quite a bit of up and down the mountain, but the views were pretty amazing.  I think it was the Gallatin Mountains we could see far off in the distance.

The walking poles might look lame, but they are so helpful up and down the hills/mountains.

That small person is me.  Love seeing so far away

Saw some pretty flowers.  Spring is coming!!

The last place was the most amazing.  We drove on to Lovell, through the town and then past there, the road was closed for the season.  So we went down the scenic 14A.  That road went about 20 miles and ends at a lake.  We stopped at a trail called Sullivan’s Knob trail.  The place we were was part of the Bighorn Canyon National park.  We strayed off the trail after a bit (surprise) to see over the edge.  WOW!!!  We just couldn’t get enough of the view.  We kept walking around the rim and it just got better.  For a while we just sat and watched a hawk flying above us.  He kept swooping down, closer and closer.  I told Walt, there is nothing man made that is prettier than this.  

Selfie in front of the Canyon.  We look a little rough.

Notice the hawk flying in the middle of the picture.  So fun to watch

Saw these Big Horn Sheep.  Hard to get close so a little fuzzy

We were pretty tired and worn out by the end of the day.  We stopped at Maverick in Lovell to check out the ice cream selection, and ended up meeting a guy that Walt talks with in his new office job.  Quite the coincidence.  He noticed our PA license plate and struck up a conversation.  What a small world.  Lovell is quite a nice place.  It is smaller than Newcastle, but has 4 wards in this one town.  There must have been a group of Latter-Day Saints that settled that town.

Today was a nice relaxing day.  I was thinking this afternoon how busy our Sundays could be - back in the good ole days.  Lots of us have much calmer Sundays right now.  We got together with Abe, Anya and the kids, Kate and Drake, and a little later, Kristy, Mom and Barabra - for church.  We’ve seen lots of families doing get togethers on Zoom.  Kate got us connected. It was really nice to see everyone.  What a blessing our technology is right now - helping us stay connected.  

Our weather was really nice today, so we took a walk before dinner.  There is a college across the street from us and we walked around the campus.  Normally it would be filled with people.  It’s almost like a ghost town in some parts here.  We’re grateful this virus has not affected very many people here in Montana.  We do keep the rest of our country in our prayers, especially those of you living in areas with many more cases.  

Ace gave a talk this morning about the Holy Ghost.  He did a very good job.  I knew the topic last week and when Abe asked if anyone wanted to give comments during our service this morning, I volunteered.  I am so grateful for the Savior in our lives, and the Holy Ghost that testifies of Him.  The Holy Ghost is a wonderful gift from Him.  Many of you have felt his influence at some time in your lives.  I know that the more we listen to and feel the Spirit, the closer we are to Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  

We keep you all in our prayers and miss you all so much.  We have 11 weeks left of our mission - unbelievable.  We are grateful for the service we could be to the people here and to our mission president.  Many missions were cut short, but we were able to keep serving and we are grateful.  We will see you all soon enough!  We love you!