Monday, October 13, 2014

100 Days

Dear Family and Friends,

We have now passed our first 100 days in the mission field.  It has been delightful, hard, spiritually uplifting,spiritually depressing, wonderful, exhausting and all together better than our expectations.  But it seems like we just arrived a week ago.  The time is flying by so quickly that we feel anxious to do better every day.  We still continue to study the church history of the St. George area, however, it is so intertwined with Kirkland, Nauvoo and Salt Lake City that sometimes it is overwhelming, but just convinces me more and more, that these men and women could not have accomplished the things they did without the help and guidance of Heavenly Father.  The more I learn, the more I realize that the church could not have survived if mere men were in charge.  

The church sites continue to draw hundreds of visitors and we continue to try and figure out to give tours to 30-50 tourists at a time.  There is a tour group by the the name of "Rhodes Scholars".  They advertise their tours to be educational and a chance to see behind the scenes.  They have tours all over the world, but one of the most popular tours, is here in Southern UT.  The visit all the National Parks, including the Grand Canyon, but they also want the tourists to learn the history of the area.  

We had a Rhodes Scholar tour come to the Tabernacle this week.  It included 2 Benedictine Nuns, teachers, all different religions including the Jewish Faith.  We actually were able to have great conversations with several of these people and gave several Books of Mormon to them. The two Nuns promised to read it.  Pretty exciting.  Bruce also had a conversation with a woman who came into the Tabernacle who told him she was a pilgrim.  She explained to him that she has no permanent home, she just travels around the world and finds people to pray with her.  She told Bruce that she had never in her travels met people who were so happy. She asked Bruce why we were so happy and peaceful.  Bruce told her, that if she knew where she came from, her purpose on earth, and where she was going, she could find peace too.  He pretty much gave all six discussions and sent her on her way with all the information we have.  Pretty great week.

Our entertainment for the week was attending Meet the Mormons with the Sr. Missionaries and going to The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.  Oh my, both sooooooo amazing.  Meet the Mormons beat every expectation that I had.  If you have not seen it, go now.  And the Little Mermaid was a masterful piece of special effects on the live stage.  It rivaled anything we have seen on Broadway. Great entertainment.

P-day was today, Sunday, which is not supposed to happen.  How do we go grocery shopping, clean our condo, or more importantly travel to fabulous places and do fun things?  And to top it off, we were given an assignment to speak in a Branch this morning.  But we did go for a drive this afternoon and found a spot that we have heard about since coming to St. George.  The locals all talk about "Little Jamaica".  There is a spring that comes out of the mountain and flows into the Virgin river.  It is located right before you enter the gorge from the Vegas side.  The exit you take off the freeway is Dessert Springs.  It is a nasty hike down to water falls, pools and the river, however, its a favorite of the locals.  We hiked down to it today and took a few pictures.  I don't think we will be swimming or jumping into the pools.  It is for the young and agile, or monkeys who can hold onto slick rocks.  But a very fun unique place.  The pictures don't do it justice.




We hope all of you had a wonderful week.  We love hearing from you and your visits are priceless.  May this week find all of you happy, healthy and safe.  We love and miss you and think of you everyday.  "Keep the Faith"

Love, 
Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

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