Well we have been here two months. We have been very busy! I think last month we started to mow our lawns, pick up cow pies, clean campgrounds and I think we painted every bench and railing in the Cove and anything else that takes BLM brown. This week we had to put in a new pump in a well although I’m still not happy with the way it works. It’s still pretty sandy and I need to get more air in the pressure tank.
L-R: Elder Ward, Bowden and Sigmon
We finally have all the missionaries here that will be assigned to Martin’s Cove. Some days I have 15 couples that I assign jobs to. But after trekking starts this weekend that average will go down to 3-4 couples a day. On a real busy trekking day maybe none. I think back when I was in the Bishopric and was over our chapel building which really only consisted of a plugged up toilet, a hornets nest in the ceiling light or someone lost their keys. I thought wow this is keeping me busy. Little did I know I would be taking care of up to 20 building, 5 acres of lawn and miles of trail, plus all the vehicles, equipment, and all the facilities like water, sewer and electricity but I absolutely love it. I see the Lord’s hand in many of the temporal duties. I am reminded every day that he knows who I am and is aware of my needs. I would not be able to do this without my wonderful wife beside me. She has such a great personality. I once said I wish I had a business where I could work with my wife every day and now I’m doing the Lord’s business with my wife beside me every day. I love you all and am so thankful for your love and support.
Elder Sigmon
Longer Version:
There has been a lot happening. One Sunday we were working at the Visitors’ Center and we both saw this black cat walking by the Sewing Center. I thought to myself, self I wonder if one of the ranchers has a black cat that hangs out around here now. I didn’t see one like it at all last year and we have been gone for 6 months before coming back so we aren’t familiar with the animals hanging around now. Elder Sigmon also saw it but we didn’t talk to each other about it. The next morning there was an announcement over the radio that a family lost their cat while they were at the Visitors’ Center yesterday and its name is “Batman.” Both Elder Sigmon and I looked at each other and I said “I saw that cat. I wondered if it was a rancher’s cat.” And he said “I wondered it if it was someone’s cat and I hope it wasn’t coyote meat.” We both headed off to Correlation and then after the meeting everyone went off to do their various assignments. I went off to the office and Elder Sigmon and Elder Bowden were off to do something but on their way they found Batman. Sister Bowden called the owner and they were so happy Batman was found and alive. They had prepared themselves for the worst and were relieved it wasn’t the case. It was going to be a 5 hour drive to retrieve Batman.
This was the coolest cat ever!!! It was nice to go in and check on
Batman periodically throughout the day. It’s favorite place to hang out was on
top of this cabinet which was very high up. All I had to do was go in and reach
up. It loved to be petted and slid forward until eventually it was in my arms,
snuggling and purring. At one point I think some thought I didn’t remember
Batman wasn’t mine. But I did remember but it was so fun to have a black furry animal
to pet and hold for a bit. Batman’s family did show up and they were all
reunited. I’m glad it was a happy ending.
Okay now I have to tell you a funny story. We were shopping for
groceries and I mentioned to Elder Sigmon that I would like a few little bananas.
Sometimes it is nice to have a banana sandwich for breakfast. We do it every
now and then so I didn’t think any more about it and Elder Sigmon was getting
some of the produce on the list while I was busy getting other items we needed
for the week. Then at one point I looked down in the cart and I see these
bananas. I had to take a double take and pull them out to look at them. Elder
Sigmon sees me and says “What?” and I say “What are these?” He responds with
“Well you said you wanted some little bananas so I got them.” Yes these are
little bananas. I put the package of oatmeal so you can have some perspective
on the actual size of these bananas. If you know my boys then you now know
where they get their little antics from. It isn’t me! I never knew there was
such a thing as a mini banana! Apparently there is.
Here I am in the back office working with Sister Ward on the weekly
scheduling for the missionaries. It is an interesting process. We have a magnet
board we set up in the gathering room. It has magnets with all the missionaries
names and then all the jobs which we need for each particular week. Then we
have to make sure it is fair in rotation of who does the jobs. We can’t decide
Elder Sigmon gets RRA (cleaning the toilets) every day because we don’t want to
do it. lol The same goes for leading the music in correlation, playing the
piano, etc. Even Visitors’ Center we keep track of who had the early shift or
the late shift. Who worked a Sunday, etc. It is definitely a puzzle each week.
As you know the Crists have left and so it was decided we should move
from Missionary Village (10 miles away) to the Homestead. This way we could be
on site and see to taking care of the facilities a little more effectively. We
loved being over at missionary village and the small town feel. It was nice to
look out the window and see the people walking about, returning home after
their day, stopping and visiting or running over to a neighbors to visit
because Elder Sigmon was being boring and taking a nap. lol
They each have their pros and cons. It is nice to be right here and not
have to drive over every morning but I also don’t have that drive time to give
my mom a quick call every morning. Sometimes she doesn’t get a call until the
evening. The view from every window is beautiful! These pictures were taken our
first morning there from our bedroom window in our new place.
That is the Trek Center and around that rock in the background is
Martin’s Cove. The Trek Center is where the kids will begin their trek by
watching a video and then taking their handcarts out and down the trail to
Martin’s Cove after they cross a small creek called Pete’s Creek. The orange
thing is a wind sock. It is amazing I have a picture of it in this position. It
is a rare occasion. No wind! The white thing to the left is a teepee.
This next picture is just looking the other direction to the left from
the same window. There are some picnic tables there where the school groups
might eat their lunch. Just beyond that is Fort Seminoe and what we call
Outfitting. This will be a hustling, bustling place in another week. This is where
the Trekkers will come in, get their handcarts, get organized by families and
learn a little bit of what happened here at Fort Seminoe before heading off to
the Trek Center to begin their trek. Our First trek will happen on the 31st
of this month. Elder Sigmon and I will take out our first trek on Friday, June
1st.
The road to the right is the road which is called the Sun road will
lead you out to Cherry Creek campground where the kids will stay if they spend
the night here.
I have drawn signs to where each couple lives in the building. Under us
is the Gathering Room. This is where the special visitors will stay when they
come to visit such as a General Authority or an Area Seventy.
Sister Erekson is in charge of having fun activities for the
missionaries and so there was an activity planned for Cinco de Mayo. It ended
up being cancelled because it was the eve of Fast Sunday and we were going to have
a dinner. For those of you who do not know what Fast Sunday is I will explain.
It is usually the first Sunday of the month and we are asked to Fast for 2
meals and the money those 2 meals would cost we donate as Fast Offerings. These
Fast Offerings are used
to help those in need. Most people begin with their evening meal for
Fast Sunday.
As such Cinco de Mayo was changed to 10 de Mayo. We decided we could
have twice the fun. Well Sister Erekson and Sister Ward got to talking and
decided a piñata
would be a fun addition to the party. To their benefit it happened to work out
that Elder Sigmon and 2 other missionaries were in Casper for Mosquito spraying
training and Fog machine calibration. So it was my good fortune to text Elder Sigmon to give me a
call so I could ask him to stop by Party America on the way home and buy a
suitable piñata
and something to go inside it. When he repeated “you want me to go to Party
America and buy a piñata?” I could hear a little roar of laughter over the
phone from his companions. The next statement was “You know that is all the way
on the opposite side of town, right?” Poor guys, they were ready to come back
home and now they were waylaid.
I do have to report Sister Erekson and a few others created quite the
wonderful atmosphere.
And Elder Ward created quite the most ingenious rig to move and dangle
the piñata
from. The funny thing was they did not use any blind fold and so Sister Pace
was the first one to hit the piñata and start the flow of goodies and
then it was Sister Peterson’s turn and let me tell you that women went to town
on that piñata
and it didn’t stand a chance!
Here is a picture of the piñata. Sister Erekson modified it by drawing on it since there were no Chilis or Cinco de Mayo appropriate piñatas to pick from.
Here is Sister Peterson hitting the jackpot! I can’t believe I actually
got the picture timed just right to see the candy spilling out of it. But there
it is!
The very next day we had some special guests arrive from Montana for a
visit.
The Scussels! Jeff isn’t in the picture because he’s taking the
picture. lol But it was really good to see them again and spend time with them.
They were able to go out the next day trekking when Sixth Crossing came over so
that was fun for them and for us to have them here with us. She brought me some
of my favorite flowers that seem to last forever. So they were added to the can
that Sister Crist had left me with some beautiful pink flowers. So my can is
fuller and I love it!
This next picture is a small snippet of what some of our day entails.
Elder Sigmon being called to investigate how something currently works and is
there something we can do about it. In this situation the center TV does not
turn on when the switch is flipped with the other TV’s. You have to use another
remote control to turn it on but you have to come and stand directly in front
of it for it to work. We were also in the process of repainting the Trek Center
floor so all the chairs are stacked in front of the TV on the stand. They
trying to assess the situation (Elder and Sister Ward along with Elder Sigmon)
Elder Sigmon was actually laying across the chairs on his stomach but by the
time I got my phone out to take a picture he had moved and came in from the
side. You can see the chair in the front leaning more than the others. That is
where he had started and was laying across to the front from there. It would
have made a much better picture but I was nice and didn’t make him recreate it
for me. J
For Mother’s Day the men lined the sidewalk to the barn so after Relief
Society they were there with a rose for us. It was quite a nice surprise.
My little can of flowers just keeps growing.
Last year we remember having to have the cow pies picked up in the
campground to get it ready for the kids who would be staying in them. It is
just part of having an active cattle ranch and it wasn’t terrible. There were
just areas here and there which needed to be addressed. The cowboy has a system
of how he runs the cows to keep the grass in good condition and the cattle fed.
They usually don’t stay in one place for very long.
One of the things we did was drive by Cherry Creek campground on our
way in this year. I do have to say it was quite the sight to see. I think the
cows had a party in there! I had not seen so many cow pies. I wasn’t sure how
we would be able to get the campground ready with just the missionaries trying
to pick them up. We would be there all summer and maybe get ½ of it done! It
was finally decided maybe the Cowboy and his wife could bring their tractor and
harrow it. We aren’t sure how long they spent working on it but when we went by
later and took a look it was night and day! They weren’t able to get into some
places and so we would need to take care of the rest but compared to what it
was….this was doable! We were very grateful!
The funny thing is now with this new system of how we do work crew and
our tickets of assignments we have to report how many people and how many hours
it took to the Casper FM guy. Of course it isn’t something we got done in a day
and it took a bit to get it all done and I send a cc of the file to FM guy in
Casper. I think one week we had 52 hours. The FM guy emailed me and asked how
we could minimize the cow pies so we didn’t have to spend so much time cleaning
them up. So now maybe we can get something set up that will minimize the cow’s
access to inside the campground and will be beneficial on having fewer cow pies
to clean up every summer. Here is a picture of the pretty green grass with NO
cow pies! It looks so beautiful! I should have taken a before picture for you.
Later that day we went back to Sister Bowden’s office and unbandaged it
to see how it was looking and decided to super glue it. It wasn’t in the best
of places since it was right across his palm and so he had to be careful every
time he tried to open or close his hand but it actually did quite well and I
don’t think he will have much of a scar from it. That super glue works pretty
well too.
Elder Sigmon tried to find the barb to file it off so it wouldn’t
happen to someone else but he couldn’t find it again. The crazy thing was he
had the prompting to take his gloves with him this morning. He did follow the
prompting and put them in the truck. The only problem was he forgot to put them
on his hands while working.
I do have to say we see tender mercies every day in all that we do both
temporally and spiritually and I love it. I love being here and serving with
such wonderful people who have set aside their daily lives and have come to
serve the Lord for 6 months. Everyone is just like us. They have left family,
animals and responsibilities behind to serve. I feel so blessed to be in such a
special place where others have walked before and have had such faith,
obedience, charity and sacrificed to have the blessings of being an eternal
family. It was what was important to them and they were willing to do whatever
it took to have those blessings in their lives. I often think of how blessed I
am and how I don’t want to take it for granted. But also what am I willing to
sacrifice to have the Lord and his blessings in my life? It is easy to get
complacent and into a routine and I want to be more aware of those daily
blessings and do those things which are asked of me willingly and with a happy
heart.
I enjoy talking with Elder Sigmon and finding out how his day went and
what projects he watched get done. Sometimes there are a few jobs he would like
to see how they turned out or some things he needs to go investigate before assigning
them the next day. That’s when I say “Shall we go for a ride?” and off we go on
the rover side by side in this beautiful country. It doesn’t get any better
than this!
Here is one of the many tender mercies. These are the landscape timbers
we had to return after buying them 1 ½ years ago for an Eagle project which did
not come to fruition. There were 376 of them and we were pretty sure we might
get maybe 50% of what we paid for them in store credit. When we got to Mennards
to take care of it they were so wonderful to work with. First we had to count
them and then go to the back. When we got there we stopped someone to ask where
we should go and the gentleman we talked to said “oh some of these aren’t very
green anymore.” We had to agree and he was in the process of saying he needed
to go get someone when he looked at me and said “Did I talk to you about this
on the phone not too long ago?” I answered yes because I knew Elder Crist had
called about it. So he did not have to go get any one he just took care of it
himself. What are the chances of dealing with the person who already knew and
explained how to return them? Not coincidence. Then how they were loaded was
not the best trying to get a fork lift in there to unload them. Elder Sigmon
did apologize saying he didn’t do them any favors the way it was loaded. The
guy again said “If this is the worst thing we have to deal with today…it is a
great day.” He was so kind. To get the back bundle off it actually took 3 fork
lifts to do it. Another coincidence. They called their most experienced fork
lift guy over to asses it and he decided he wanted a particular other person to
help and radioed him. He said he was with a customer. In the meantime another
girl showed up and then that guy he radioed showed up. It wasn’t even 5 minutes
of waiting and we had 3 fork lifts right there working it. The girl was at the
back and lifted the bundle then the other two fork lifts came in from each side
and put their forks under it and lifted it up until it was high enough for
Elder Sigmon to pull the truck out from under it. Here is how the last two bundles
were taken off and they all stayed together and came off quickly and a lot
easier than we all thought.
Last but not least when we went back in to get the paperwork on how
much credit we would be getting….they gave us full price for every one of them
in store credit. We couldn’t believe it! God is good!
We are so grateful to all of our family and friends and those who make
it possible for us to be here and serve! Thank you for all you do and it does
not go unnoticed. The same goes for all those who are serving with us in this
mission. There is always a smile and willingness to do what is asked of them
and things get done.
We love you,
Sister Sigmon
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