Two in one week...WHOA!

Kati here..not sure if this was supposed to be part of the previous post or what. AND who knows if I've mixed up the pics.  I'm not the best at managing the blog or coordinating with my mom.  Take it at face value...they had a great day :)  

 

It was our p-day today and we headed up to Kolob lake.  We tried a couple of weeks ago and was stopped by snow.  There is another road from Zion Natl' Park so we decided to try the back way.  But when we turned off the highway, it was under construction.  Maybe the third time will be the charm. So we decided to keep going and drove up over Zion through the tunnel, then came back and went to Grafton, a ghost town.  From Grafton there is a road called the Smithsonian Back Byway.  It was the first road into Zion and goes over the mountain into Colorado City.  It was a lot of fun.  There is a hill called "cry baby hill".  Very steep and very rocky.  I didn't cry, but I yelled.  I think it should be  named "mad as he-- hill."  But as soon as you reach the top of the hill, the road was great.  Just that darn hill.

 

Here are a few pictures of our fun day.  Not sure why this part of the country holds so much magic for us, but we love it and love discovering more and more fabulous places to visit.  We are headed to Kodachrome Canyon next p-day with the Burt's.  Stay tuned for the narrative and pictures. 

 

Glorious

Dear Family and Friends,

This is very dangerous to write this tonight.  It is very late and I am very tired, however if I don't get this done another week may fly by and I run the risk of not remembering what happened yesterday, let alone 14 days ago.  But as my really close friends know, when I am tired I have a tendency of saying very inappropriate things. But here goes.  Close your eyes if you see anything sketchy.

This has been a crazy two weeks.  It started out with a snow storm on Monday, February the 23rd. Bruce got up and ready for his early morning meeting with Elder Cleverly and opened the door to the white stuff.  He called to me to come see and as soon as I saw it I threw some clothes on and grabbed my camera.  By the time I got out the door, Bruce was picking himself up off the pavement. He was moving very slowly and was soaked.  The snow was wet and slushy, the kind that makes it impossible to walk on.  Well long story short, he cracked a few ribs, plus was badly bruised.  Lots of pulled muscles as well.  After X-rays he's now on pain pills and not laughing, coughing or blowing his nose.  Hopefully this will be a better week for him.  The weird thing is, his counter-part, Elder Clark, fell about 1 month ago while hiking and broke 4 ribs, pulled muscles and hurt his hip.  I guess Bruce didn't want Elder Clark to feel lonely.  Elder Cleverly better be very careful with both of his Assistants on pain pills, who knows what they will do or say.

But my snow storm was glorious.  I drove to the Visitor Center and there encountered the Sisters who were in heaven.  Several of them had never seen snow before and couldn't believe their eyes. Sister Clark from South Africa ran out in her pj's and made snow angels.  She came to the center soaking wet, but didn't care.  I lined them up out in front of the Temple and took pictures. I had the Sisters who have never seen snow raise their hands.  I posted this pic on Instagramand they loved every minute.  I then drove to the Tabernacle to get some snowy pic's and there met a reporter for Fox news.  He interviewed me and said it would be on TV that day.  It aired at 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm, and 5:00 pm.  He said it would be on at 9:00 pm but all they showed at 9:00 was me taking pictures of the Tabernacle and not from my best side. (yes it was my behind)  My 3 minutes of fame not so famous.  But I did have a wonderful morning taking pictures of red rocks with white snow.  It was Glorious.  

 We took the Clarks' to Kanab to Julie Roger's art studio on Friday, February the 27th.  If you haven't seen any of her art work, I strongly suggest you go to her web page and take a look.  It is glorious.  It is very different for an artist who paints religious figures.  Her paintings are very impressionistic with bright colors.  I am totally in love.  I purchased two of her paintings and I could have purchased a lot more.  I just may have to buy a few more before I leave.  We had a wonderful day with Julie and her husband. She is a remarkable person who is so talented and so willing to share her talent with all.  Plus we loved being with the Clark's on this field trip.  I'm not sure if I have written and told everyone that Elder Clark was in the mission field with Bruce way back in the 60's. Who has served two missions with the same missionary?  Bruce and Ron, that's who.  "Small World!!"

Both Bruce and I had great missionary moments this week.  We are both working with people who are investigating the church.  Bruce received a referral and has been working to get the missionaries who live by him to visit.  I gave a tour to a gentleman by the name of Mark along with his two children.  I showed them "Gods Plan For His Family" and he wept through the whole thing.  He has been baptized but didn't realize what was still available for him.  He didn't realize he could have the Priesthood or go to the Temple.  I am in contact with him and arranging for the missionaries to re-establish contact to teach about the Priesthood and Temple ordinances, plus teach his 12 year old son.  He just kept saying, I want this, I want all of it.  So excited for him and his little family.  Glorious experience

And then there is P-Day.  After meeting my sister, Julie and her husband Ken for lunch on Thursday, we took off for Arches National Monument.  Very last minute, but what a day. On Friday morning we started out at Arches and hiked to Landscape Arch, then to Delicate Arch, and onto Double Window Arch.  There are over 2000 arches in this park and I want to see all of them. We then headed to Dead Horse Point.  This is the park with the big Horse Shoe bend in the Colorado River that has been in every National Geographic picture of the Grand Canyon.  It is simply Glorious.

Then Saturday, the sun came out and the snow melted and I looked out the window and what did I see, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree"  Couldn't resist taking pictures of the beautiful blossoms that are appearing all around town, but these of the Temple are truly Glorious.  (shamelessly pitching David Archaletta's beautiful song)  

So this is the end of my Glorious two weeks. (except for Bruce's ribs)  My hope for all of you is that you have a Glorious day, week and month.

Sending Love to all,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS Happy Birthday this week to our handsome, funny, strong grandson, Oliver.  We so miss our grand kids and want all of them to know how much we love them and pray they will be safe.  

My Oh My

Dear friends and family,

I'm not sure where to begin this week.  It has been crazy.  We get up at 6:30, leave the house around 8 and return after 9:00 pm.  Its all a little fuzzy, or I am just getting so old that I can't remember from one day to the next.  Between training meetings, Hi-Goodbye parties, collateral duties, and teaching a little family, we haven't had an extra minute to catch our breath.

The sites have been extremely busy.  It was Fall Break for Utah and I've decided that everyone in Utah has bought a home, condo or Park Model in St. George and then they all talk to each other and head for the historic sites.  On Saturday in our 3 1/2 hour shift at Brigham Young's we gave over 300 tours.  By the end of the day it was over 600.  It was a record for Brigham's.  The only negative, is if we have non-members, we don't have much of a chance for teaching or exposing them to the principles of the gospel.  We do good to give a short history and then lead them through the house.  Bruce had a group of over 50 and I had a family reunion who made a reservation for 20 and ended up with 35.  Our average group was 20 guests.  By the time we finished, Bruce was totally hoarse and I lost my voice all together.  Good Times.

But what truly amazes me are the strong, confident, devoted little families who want to teach their children about the history of the church, or about Brigham Young, Jacob Hamblin and most importantly about the Temple.  So they come to St. George and instead of going golfing, or hiking, biking or any of the other incredible activities that are available here, they come to the sites and want us to tell the stories, teach gospel principles, and help their children understand the importance of these Pioneers who sacrificed so much, to not only make St. George succeed, but to build the Kingdom of God on the earth.  Pretty impressive members.  I love their example and feel a little sheepish that we weren't that diligent in exposing our girls to these Pioneer's experiences.  Maybe they can move back in and I can have a do-over.  Or maybe I can do a better job with the grand kids.

P-day was fabulous.  We took the roof off the jeep and headed for Zion.  We headed up the trail to Emerald Pools, which is a 3 1/2-mile hike, that ends in the back of a canyon which has water falls and beautiful views across the park.  The weather was perfect and we are convinced we were the only ones on the trail who spoke English.  Again, it was very busy, to the point that you can't drive up to the Lodge, you have to take a shuttle with all the French, Germans & Italians, who end up at the Visitor Center in St. George.  Bus loads of them, but its great for missionary work.  They have to drive through St. George on their way to Las Vegas and we have the best potties.  Lots of French, German and Italian Books of Mormon are given to these visitors.  You never know who will read it, believe it and get baptized.  Bring on the Buses!!!!

 

One of the hard things to do on this mission is say goodbye to those Sr. Couples who we work with.  We become close very fast as we serve together at the sites.  We have two couples who finish their mission this month.  The Drolet's will be returning to Canada and the Collins to SLC.  The Drolet's were are French speaking couple who helped with all the French tours that come through the center.  They will be missed and remembered always.  The Collins have been our Party chairman's and have done a spectacular job.  We hope to see both of these wonderful couples in the future.  At our Hi-Goodbye party we were entertained with Native American Dancers.  What a wonderful evening. Good food, good friends and great entertainment.

We had surprise visitors this week.  Wonderful, dear friends keep stopping by to check and see how we are doing.  We love it.  We were able to have dinner with Cless and Shari Alvey on Wednesday night.  It was wonderful to catch up with these darling people.  I just have to apologize to them and you that I forgot to take a picture.  I have been trying to keep track of all our visitors by taking pictures of each and everyone.  But I totally forgot.  Shame on me.  Today, Bonnie and Alan Costley stopped by while we were working at Brigham's.  So fun to see familiar faces from home.  We can't thank all of those who have taken the time to come see us enough.  Our friends and family are our greatest treasures.  Thank You!!!

Well, its time that I stop and get to my weekly cleaning.  (My least favorite thing)  But if I want to play tomorrow (p-day again) I gotta do it.  We send our love and pray all is well with each of you.  Til next week.

Love, Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

PS  Happy Birthday to our fabulous Grandson, Caleb.  Sure wish we could be there to share soft-serve ice cream with sprinkles.  No cake for this boy.  Have a fun day at Disneyland.