1 week to go! Can you believe it?
This week was rather adventurous. Monday turned out nothing like we anticipated. We went to work at our usual time and after about a half hour later, we took one of the mission vehicles to get an oil change. Walt has been thinking about getting a truck, and was thinking now might be a good time to look around since almost all trucks here are 4-wheel drive and there are LOTS of trucks here. We had driven around a little on Sunday; looking at used trucks in used car lots. None are open are Sunday. There was one that looked like a good possibility not far from the Tire Rama, where most of the mission vehicle services are done. We dropped off the mission truck and went to check out this truck for us. We were looking for one with a shell/cap, so we could camp in it and be able to securely fill it with things to go home (instead of renting a small trailer). So we gave it a test run.
First we just drove down the regular road, then turned to a road with a 70 mph speed limit. Then Walt wanted to find a dirt road, and then wanted a better chance to test the 4-wheel drive, and especially the 4-wheel low. That is pretty essential for driving on the beach and getting through the soft sand and dunes. Walt’s parents live in that kind of area and we visit them often. He finds a road/path along a fence line with some serious hills. He gets going, needs to kick it into low, and then says “Oh, yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” I think it passed the test. To end this part - we were able to get a good deal and bought it Monday afternoon. I had been praying several times that we would find something, it be a good deal, and not be a lemon. It’s a white, Dodge Ram 1500 STL. It is a Big Horn and from a Montana dealer. So it will always be a Montana truck. Talk about a great souvenir!
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| Our new truck |
Right after we bought it, we wanted to get it insured and had to drive back to Tire Rama where my car was getting an oil change, for the insurance card. I left the keys in it, since I just needed to grab the card. Walt took the keys out a little to stop the beeping noise, shut the door, and it locked. We had only been giving one key. Nice!! I got it insured, we called AAA and then Walt also called a locksmith that he has done business with before for getting duplicate keys made. The locksmith arrived first, got us in, and made a second key right there. It only costs us an hour or so. I felt like we were barely at work that day.
We are excited about the new truck. It has a 6 ft bed, so plenty of room for putting in a mattress for sleeping and camping. We love to camp and have really missed that opportunity. People love to camp here and do a lot of “off the grid” camping. People just find a good spot out in the wilderness/mountains and park their camper. No cost and there are some amazing places to camp. We had one last week-end here in Montana, so Walt thought since we bought the truck, we should go camping. I first I thought he was crazy, then thought - that sounds like a great idea! So Friday we left early from work (we did go in early and told President Larson why we would be leaving early and he didn’t seem to mind,). Walt had talked with President Bailey, who loves the Big Horns and does a bit of camping there with his family. He said a place called Porcupine Falls was quite a nice place and a hiking trail near by.
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| A beautiful view on our way to the Big Horns, Wyoming |
He also told Walt about a sweet, quiet place he has discovered. Hopefully no one would be there. So we packed up camping stuff, put in our mattress on top of an air mattress and headed to the Big Horns (Wyoming). We didn’t need a bunch of supplies, since we would just cook on the fire. We had some things from camping at Girl’s camp last year. It is so beautiful up there. The grass/meadows are so green and flowers blooming every where. We found the road/almost dirt drive way like place. There was a fence and gate. I said, is this it? Can we just open the gate and go in? That was the plan. The road went down pretty steep and then on the right was a beautiful area with a grass hill on the right and a river on the left. A dense wooded area was on the other side of the river. Flowers were blooming along the hillside. It was so amazing. It’s about enough room for one family to camp.
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| The rock formation - view from our camp |
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| Flowers at our camp |
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| Looking toward our camp. Me in orange on the left |
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| Looking over the view from camp. You can see our shadows |
We thought it was great and started setting up camp. We really had a fun time. We heated up some stew I had brought, on the fire for dinner and put our watermelon in the river to get cold (President Bailey suggested that). We loved the music of the river there. So we had dinner, wrote in our journals a bit, walked around the area to check it out, played cards and just enjoyed the fire. Then about 8:30, Walt spotted a moose. We’ve seen them before but they were always so far way. We had just been talking about that area just down from our camp would be a great place for a moose, and Walt had spotted some tracks that were pretty darn big. So we snuck down closer to the moose to get a better look. We got about 60 yards away, and we realize we should have brought our binoculars. They were back in the truck. So I quickly, but quietly went back and got them. I wish we had a camera with a zoom lens. That would have been awesome. How fun to finally get to see one so close.
We closed up everything about 9:30 and crawled into our comfy bed to sleep. We had been concerned about it getting too hot in the back of the truck. That wasn’t a problem at all - just the opposite. Up in the mountains it was about 20 degrees cooler. We ended up a bit cold, even with blankets. About 3 am, I had to go to the bathroom and couldn’t get out of the truck without some help. Walt had brought a folding stool to make it easier to get in for me, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the back window open and climb over the tail gate in the dark, without falling out. He was not happy with me! He was sweet though and helped me out. When I got back in, my socks were wet. After successfully getting back in the truck with Walt’s help, we noticed a sky full of stars. What an amazing sight that was. I wish we had thought of that before we went to bed that night. At least we had an extra blanket, and so slept better being warm. It wasn’t the best nights sleep we’ve gotten, but now we know where to improve it. It was still a lot better than sleeping in a sleeping bag on the ground. We’re too old for that!
The next morning we had bacon and eggs cooked on the fire, and that nice cold watermelon for breakfast. Then we broke camp and headed for the hiking trail. The road there was dirt and quite bumpy. So glad we have a truck now. We found the trail - Porcupine Falls and headed out. We never know what to expect, but were told it wasn’t too bad a hike. It was down hill to get to the falls, but it was pretty steep at times. People coming back kept saying, it’s not too bad, but worth it. We made it down and it really felt so worth it. It was a beautiful waterfall, with a small one on the side. There was a couple of families with children that were getting wet in the small fall. We found a place around the corner of a rock to sit and just enjoy without being in the middled of everything. It was quite a popular place. Then we found a shady place on the right side and sat and enjoyed that area for a while. Walt climbed down near the river looking for rocks. I love watching him in his element like that. That’s one of the times, he reminds me of a 5 year old. He loves being out in nature; especially near rocks, more than anything. Wyoming and Montana were a perfect area for us to serve our mission.
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| Walt at the bottom of the right side of the river at the falls. He's looking for good souvenir rocks |
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| Walt is at the tope of that big rock hill. Quite a climb |
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| View of the Falls from the high rock hill |
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| Me getting ready to hit the trail |
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| The tall rock hill I wanted Walt to climb for a good picture |
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| The view from one of our stops on the way up. Pretty steep |
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| The big falls |
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| Me coming down the last part of the trail - rock steps |
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| The big falls |
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| The little falls to the right |
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| The river past the falls |
There was a very tall rock that looked like the kind of place Walt would climb. It would make a great picture. So I suggested he climb on up so I could take his picture. He went on up there, which was quite a climb, and I got my picture. He said, it had awesome views from all around up there.
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| First view of the falls |
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| Me looking down at Walt looking for rocks in the river |
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| River at the Falls |
Getting back up the trail was not easy. We took lots of breaks to let people pass and catch our breath. It was definitely a cardio workout. We were all too happy to finally the reach the top. Then we went to check out the campground; hoping to find a place to cook our lunch. Most of the sites were full, then we found two open ones. We pulled up, got out our lunch and fire stuff and had our weekly hotdogs with beans.
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| Cool pinecones growing along the trail |
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| View from our lunch camp |
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| Our camping lunch. I am enjoying cooking marshmallows for dessert |
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| View from our lunch camp |
We went the other way home. We went through Ranchester, but drove on to Sheridan for gas and a free pizza from Little Caesars. The drive home was only two hours and we were home by 7:30 pm. Enough time to unpack, get our bed back together after washing the sheets, and just unwind a little before bed. It was so fun!!! We can’t wait to go camping in our truck when we are back in PA. We’re not sure if “off the grid” camping is allowed but we will try.
This week, President Larson decided to start having Zone Conferences again. He has really missed seeing the missionaries in person, and needed some important conversations with them. To keep within guidelines, he and Sister Larson only met with each Zone separately. Usually he tries to only have 3-4 Zone Conference and have several Zones meet together. He had a lot of traveling this week - we have 14 Zones. He finishes this Tuesday. Just in time to say good-bye to us. We attended one of the Billings Zone Conferences on Tuesday. It ran from 10 am - 1 pm. At most zone conferences, missionaries that are leaving during that transfer get to bear a departing testimony. I really didn’t think we would have that opportunity with not meeting together for so long. He asked Sister Taua and us to bear our testimonies after his remarks. I was happy that we were able to do that. I mostly talked about how I know each missionary is sent where God needs them in particular, and gave examples of how I knew that to be so true for us. I also shared how the promises made while President Hurley (our Stake President in Greencastle at the time) when setting me apart as a missionary. Kate had taken notes for us, and I had put mine in my journal. About 6-8 months into our mission, I ran across those notes and read over them. Everyone of those blessings/promises had been fulfilled. I never cease to be amazed how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us, and use each of us to help someone else. We are His hands!
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Zone Conference. Social distancing by companionship. Front Row - Sis. Taua and Sis Synder. Sis Anderson and Day-Gomes. Elder Glover and Mumford
2nd Row - Elder Black and Christensen. Elder Walsford and Pickett
3rd Row - Elder Lewis and Risenmay (at piano). Elder Zarecor and Matthews, Elder Lough, Stirling and Tuckett |
Walt bore a wonderful testimony about our Savior’s love for us, and the amazing blessings of the Atonement. The Savior is alway there to help us along our journey back to Heavenly Father. He wants us to be happy and make right choices. . . but His atoning sacrifice enables us to repent and keep trying, how ever many times it takes to make that progression. I really felt the Spirit as he shared his testimony. It was a side of him, not many of the missionaries have gotten to see. The ones we served with in the Newcastle district have, but not any since we have arrived in Billings. I was happy we got to share our testimonies with them.
Today, we got to participate in a devotional with Zoom in our Chambersburg 2nd ward (our ward in Greencastle PA). Our previous Stake president, who was also the Bishop in that ward before becoming a Stake President was called right before we were leaving for our mission, to be the Mission President of the Idaho, Idaho Falls mission. It is the mission right beside ours. He and his wife have been serving for a year now. Their second oldest son is getting ready to leave for his mission to Arkansas (I don’t remember specifically which one). So they gave a devotional with Jacob (Elder Hurley) and President Hurley speaking. I was so excited to be part of that. President Hurley is one of the kindest, most loving and spiritual man I know. When he told us he would be serving as a mission president, I was so excited for that particular mission. Jacob shared about why he wants to serve a mission. President Hurley shared how strong his testimony is of God being in control. He shared some wonderful examples from serving in his mission. He reiterated by thoughts about God sending us where he specifically needs us.
Another sweet thing about getting to hear these fine gentlemen speak, was the connection of Jacob and Michelle. Jacob grew strawberries and sold them every year to make money to save for his mission. He started when he was about 12? Not really sure. I remember Michelle asking did I want to buy strawberries from this young to help his mission. Then Michelle was the Sunday school teacher for his age youth group right up until her surgery - three years ago. I know she thought so highly of this young man. I think how proud she is of him getting ready to serve the Lord, just like he has been planning and saving for for years. Yesterday was 3 years since Michelle has passed. I know this past couple of months our family has been a bit emotional in missing her. Walt shared with Beth - how people say “time heals all wounds”, but we’ve decided it just makes it hurt a little less - but is always there. What a blessing she has been in our lives. We miss her dearly.
We also have cause to celebrate the day she passed and the following day. One year ago, on June 28 - our dear friends, the Aylesworths, went to the temple and were sealed. Then the following day, the Smith family was sealed in the temple. (We miss Renee so much) We were so privileged to be a part of their journey getting there. That was such a significant thing to be blessed to do. They are only two of the individuals/families we felt Heavenly Father sent us to help and support in Newcastle Wyoming. It was meant for us to be there at this particular time.
I’ve written a lot for the week. Our last week is here and we will be quite busy, packing and finally training the missionaries that will be replacing us. It will be two sets of the young missionaries since no Senior Missionaries are back out in the field yet. We sure love you all, and it won’t be but a short time until we can see you again!
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