A lot of the same thing. The highlight was my son Lance and his family coming to visit us. We have had a couple of smaller treks which were spiritual and awesome. I can’t believe I am missing the 24th of July celebration in Manassa. I always look forward to that. I love the pioneers and all they have done for us. Next week we will have the opportunity to serve at Rock Creek Hollow. This is where the Willie handcart company camped after crossing Rocky Ridge. I am looking forward to that experience.
Love you all and hope you are having a great summer.
Elder Sigmon
Read on for longer version:
I am not sure how long this version is going to be. Like Elder Sigmon said we have had Lance’s family come and visit us. It truly was the highlight. They were here for only a short time but quality was priceless! They arrived at noon and the hugs were awesome! Family just give the best hugs! It was fun to introduce them to our friends while we ate lunch in the barn with everyone. After lunch we headed out to do a trek into the cove. I gave them the option of not taking the handcart since time was limited but they wanted to take one. They were able to cross Pete’s creek. If you are good you can make it across on the rocks and not step in the water but it is tough navigating a handcart through the rocks and water.
The kids did pretty well for the most part. Kate and Jaelyn had a little trouble with the heat but I had some neck coolers and we reminded them to drink. They were troopers and it was so good to spend this time with them and share the scenery and the experiences with them in person. Pictures and stories are just not the same as being here and experience it. It was such a special experience to sit in the Lower Amphitheatre with them and talk about these people and their experiences and what they went through. Then to ponder why the Lord didn’t temper the weather which we know he could have. Lance mentioned there was a reason the pioneers had this experience as their refiners fire. We all will probably have an experience which will be our refiner’s fire where we come to a point where we just can’t do it by ourselves. We need help and the Savior can give us that help. Will we take it?
There was such a sweet spirit and I love the view from this spot. The meadow, some shade and benches to sit on. It is almost to the summit but gives you a chance to rest before moving onto the summit. We headed onto the summit and misted ourselves off and refilled our water bottles. On the way back down we were able to see a spotted fawn. It ended up being two of them.
We had special permission to eat dinner with them in Rawlins and bid them farewell as they were leaving in the morning onto other adventures on their vacation.
The very next day we went on a trek with the West Bountiful Ward with about 50 people. There was such a sweet spirit with this ward and I enjoyed visiting with some of the adults and the youth. They are great people and doing wonderful things. I wasn’t sure how I would do since I had just gone with my own family the afternoon before. So I had asked Elder Swingholm if he would be willing to go with Elder Sigmon through the cove and I sit with his wife at Handcart parking if I was having a hard time. But when I got to Handcart parking I felt I was doing fine and so I did end up doing the whole thing after all. I am very grateful for people who are so willing to step in and help and are more than happy to do it. I also had Elder Scussel our District Leader asking me if I was going to be okay before we even left because he knew I had been out the day before. So many kind people.
This group had their bulk of their program at the Rescue Statues and had 4 girls sing a beautiful song called “Bring them In.” The words are very moving and they did a great job.
Now I will tell you the rest of the story of the rattlesnake from the last post. After the snake was killed we had put it in the freezer for Elder Taylor when he got back from Rock Creek Hollow. Well he used his tanning kit and it came out quite nice! He plans to use it for a hat band.
Today is preparation day and after correlations we came out to a flat tire. We are in the wait and see mode whether or not they will be able to repair it or if we will be buying new tires all the way around. They were able to fix our tire! Yay!
We also finally found Bessemer Bend on our way into Casper today. This is where the Martin Handcart Company was found by the rescue party for the first time. The Platte River is behind me. This isn’t where they crossed the Platte. It was further back in Casper but it took them 4 days to go 10 miles from Casper to Bessemer Bend in subzero temperatures and in at least a foot of snow.
Love,
Karl & Monica
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