Memorial Day 2011 HVC

This morning we woke up early and went to the flag raising ceremony at 7:00am. All the missionaries were there in the snow and cold breeze singing praises to God and country. One of the sister missionaries played the trumpet as the flag was raised. It was a beautiful ceremony and a beautiful day. We love being missionaries. Our first group of families were here this week. We had 2 groups of about 20 come to our challenge course. I got to be in the nest at the top of the pole to connect them to the zip-line after they had climbed the cargo net and crossed the swinging bridge that is suspended high above the ground. Seeing the courage that some of them had, showed in their faces. It was a special experience. I tell them that it is their life-line and they are safe if they always stay connected to it. Think about the life-lines in your life that keep you safe and protected.
The sister who played the trumpet, Sister Jones, has served 4 missions. Two were in Nauvoo/Palmyra area. She knew Scottie Sherwood, and had such sweet memories of him participating in the pagaent. She loved him too. Sister Jones bakes 15 loaves of bread every Friday for the missionaries, and as you have a minute through the day everyone goes in for a slice of warm bread with jams or honey. That is called lengthening your stride. She is so sweet.

Elder Edwards on Course 4

Elder Edwards has climbed about 35-40 feet to the top of the pole. We need to do this so that we know and understand the challenges the YW face on this course.
This is a difficult course. Where else in the world are missionaries doing this? Quite a uniqe mission.
He is almost across the wire, being very careful.
Made it to the nest. Today was our last day of training doing what participants do. Starting tomorrow we will be on the job facilitating, helping families on the Challenge Coures. WE ARE READY!

Sister Edwards on Course 4

This was our first day on Course#4. It was so cold, and the wind was blowing making it feel even colder. Several people have fallen off of this one so I am a little leary of this one.
Course #4 is quite high. The challenge here is that you have to grab ahold of the dangling ropes as you walk across the 1/2" wire. Looks easy....NOT! The ropes get farther apart, and the wire you are walking on moves, jiggeling you. The closer you get to the middle the more you sway. I thought this one was freaky, but it was fun.

Finally I did get across.

I think I earned the fun zip-line ride to the bottom. YAHOOO!

Monday we got our Challenge Course that we will be working on this month all set up. This is Challenge Course #3. You climb up the cargo net then walk across the ladder bridge. Each step gets a little farther apart until you reach the other side. Then you fly down the zip-line. This is the longest zip-line and it crosses a little stream. Dale and I have both done this one, but only a few times. It is also higher than Course #2. The guy on the pole is setting up the net and checking it's safety. Participants don't ever go where he is.

Wednesday were were training on Course #5. This is a giant swing. The team pulls you up to the black square you see on the tree. Then you are released, and just drop and fly. This is so fun. We loved this one because you don't have to work so hard. Wow, this is a thrill and super fun!

The first of the week we had the courses pretty well dug out. Then the snow came and in 2 days dumped over 2 feet of snow. So we were out digging again. This time the snow was so wet, our gloves, coats, and socks were soaking wet. We were freezing.

On Friday we hiked up to Course #1, and were the first to discover that 3 Fir trees had fallen under the weight of the heavy snow. (yes Larry, they were Fir trees, flat, friendly etc.)

The benches above are where the girls wait in line to go on the course. Behind the tree in the center is a swinging log suspended parallel to the tree. It has little notches cut in it and the girls climb up then walk across a 1/2 " wire to the tree farther down the hill. That is where the zip-line starts, and down they go.

Can you see the huge boulder embraced in the root of the fallen tree? It really was a miracle that this course was not destroyed.

We love our mission

Dale is starting up the pole. He is attached to a belay line as he climbs to keep him safe. If he falls, he won't fall very far.

Notice the foot anchors (above picture) get really small and the rest of the way up the pole, there are staples (the little metal clips seen in the picture below)to climb with.

Not an easy task to get on top of the log. It is about 25+ feet to the ground.

He made it across. He looks like a true tree-hugger, doesn't he? He made it to the nest where he will be detatched from the belay line and hooked onto the zip-line by the nester.
The nester is the person on the little tiny platform who does all the work of keeping Dale safe. When the campers come, missionaries will take turns nesting. The nester could be up in this little nest for a 3 hour shift, hooking people up to the zip-line. Not much room for 2 people to be perched up there. You can see why mama birds throw their babies out of the nest after they get big enough to fly. THERE JUST ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM! GO!

Down, Down.....

down.....

....and finally at the bottom. Yeah, he did it!

Training inside the Smith pavilion

Today we were given a written test and also had to pass off knot tying, belaying, coiling ropes, and several other rope related activities. Brother Kartchner, our home ward Scout leader would have been so proud of us!(The sister missionaries in the front are our friends from the Boise area: Sister Whiteley and Sister Loveland. They are both so cute and fun.)
Missonaries learning belaying.

Sister Bastian from St. George is training on using her harness.

Our first Mother's Day as missionaries. This is my mom and sister Karen. We had lunch to celebrate Mother's Day. Mom and Karen have committed to go down the zip-lines at the camp. Mom is really excited to do it too. That's awesome isn't it?

The pavilion

This is what the bunkbeds are like in the cabins as well as in the pavilions. There are 3 rooms in the pavilion with beds like this that the stake leaders can stay in. The rooms are spacious.

The industrial kitchens are huge.

In the center of the picture is a large double warming oven.

May 4, 2011 Digging Out

This is a picture of me in the shade hat, digging the icy crust from the top layer of snow. The snow blower stripped a pin hitting a large rock. So we dug all of this path by hand. We dug all the way to the last cabin you see in the back.

This is Sister Keller, our Challenge Course leader standing next to the Sariah pavilion. There is still a lot of snow up here, don"t you think?

Dale is a workhorse when it comes to shoveling. We shoveled all morning, had lunch, then went back this afternoon and shoveled more. It is amazing that a crew of senior missionaries can do this, and accomplish so much so fast. The Lord is blessing us, and His work here will be ready when the girls come in just a few weeks.

Still getting ready

April 25, 2011

Today we met for the first day of training as the Challenge Course missionaries. The training will last several weeks. We studied the rules and proceedures as an overview today. Then we went into Provo to get fitted for our harnesses. We will spend most of the day tied to ropes once the campers arrive so it is important these harnesses fit well.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. Our first Easter as missionaries and the first Sunday meeting as our own ward group. In between Sacrament and Sunday School, the Stake President called Dale to be in the High Priest Group leadership. He will serve as the secretary. All the rest of the group are 2nd year missionaries. He is the greenie. They went into priesthood meeting, were set apart, and conducted the meeting. Isn't it amazing that the church organization can make order out of chaos immediately. The church is true. Now this group will organize our mission into Districts through which all our assignments will come. There is no such thing as VT and Home teaching. The Districts will be how we will be organized as far as church assignments and teaching. It will be interesting to see how all this works.

This weekend was our ATV training. I learned how to make sharp turns without tipping over. I drove winding around the cones without tipping the cones over. I drove over logs. (Actually I failed this part and had to do it again. I went too slow and the log just rolled in front of the tires pushing them along instead of going over them.) I did pass....finally.

Inside the cabin

We arrived at the Camp Thursday and started cleaning out 6 months worth of dust, dead flies,etc. Friday we had our interviews and got our camp shirts, jackets, hoodies and name tags. We have spent the weekend moving in and buying the few things we needed to settle in. We have already met the nicest people. Our neighbors in the cabin by ours is a couple named Randall. He is from Cedar City originally. He taught music at BYU, then retired after being the dept. head of Music there. He was a mission President in Canada. Really nice people. When he was a missionary, his mission president was President Monson.
Our first visitors. Todd and his brother John Blickenstaff helped us get an antennae for the TV set up. Dean and Lana came for dinner. (Todd and John had already eaten and we couldn't tempt them join us.) As you can see, I've already gained 10 pounds. The missionaries that are here year round made homemade bread and cookies, and are feeding us way too much. It is yummy, but it has got to stop. Starting Tuesday we have training all day, everyday. We won't get our assignments until the end of this week.

More Cabin Pictures

The loft is about 1/2 the size of the cabin. We use it for storage. The table is like a folding long church dining table. The bathroom is part of the bedroom area. The shower is in the area behind the wall the towels are on, but it is a nice sized bathroom and shower.

We both have a dresser and nightstand. Dale stacked his. I'm too short to see in the top drawer, if I did that to mine.

As you can see, the washer and dryer are in the bedroom, which is reall very handy. The closet isn't too small either. So you see we are set.

Heber Valley Camp

This is the Welcome Center at the Heber Valley Camp. Our cabin is located just past the Welcome Center and to the right. Great views from our cabin.


There's about 3 feet of snow on the level. It is melting, but there is so much more snow than normal, that we have been asked to pray for temperance in the weather...NO MORE SNOW, PLEASE.

This is home. There are 2 duplexes, ours is the first (closest to the dumpsters. Not a problem now, but come summer we will be hoping the breeze goes in the other direction.)
We are almost moved in, so tomorrow we will post pictures of the inside of the cabin. We had our interview today, and I think we passed. We also got our name tags and official camp shirts, jackets, and hoodies. We are so excited. We love it. We've met missionaries from Boise, St. George, and a lot from the Wasatch Front.

Dale and I both have new 4-Wheelers.

He gets around very quickly in his and is having a lot of fun.

This is my new 4-Wheeler.I get around very well with it. Not quite as much fun. I had surgery on my foot January 7th. I will be off my foot for a month-then I will be in a walking boot for another month. It sure beats crutches.

Back in the Carlsbad Caverns

We couldn't help ourselves, we had to go back inside the caves today. We walked down inside the main entrance instead of using the elevator. It was over a mile down, and we went down 850 feet to the Kings Palace. We toured with a Ranger through the Kings and Queens Rooms, the most beautiful part of the cave.

We were inside the cave from 8:30 this morning until almost 2:00 pm. It was awesome.

More pictures inside the cave.


In just a few thousand years these two may hook up.

Can you see the "Bashful Elephant"? He is faacing the wall, but you can see his rump, tail and hind legs. Of the 2 white bumps, the elephant is on the right.

On our travels westward today we stopped at Guadalupe National Park and checked out "El Capitan".