No Longer the "Newbies"

Dear Friends and Family,

I am sure all of you are basking in the glow of conference weekend, as we are.  There is no way I can pick a favorite talk, all of them were so wonderful.  Now we have our spiritual power boost until next April.  We hope all of you enjoyed it as much as we did.  We did have to work both days, however, we were able to record all the sessions.  We actually listened to the Sunday afternoon session on the radio (that's a blast from the past) while we were working at the Tabernacle.  High Five to the men and women who gave such fabulous talks.

This week we have 3 new couples who are starting their missions.  We are no longer the "newbies". We are excited to get to know them and work with them in the Historic Sites, but it is hard to say goodbye to the couples we have worked with over the last 3 months.  The new "Newbies", have the "deer in the headlights look," that I am sure we walked around with for weeks.  There really is a lot of information that you have to learn in a very short time.  But I am sure they will do a great job and be a great asset to the mission.

In addition to our work at the Historical Sites, we also have collateral duties, i.e. I submit all the events that we do at the Tabernacle to the St. George Visitors Center Facebook page.  I coordinate with SLC any human interest stories that would be appropriate for the page as well.  Bruce was given the assignment of all the statistics for the sites.  He has to collect all the log sheets from the 4 sites and combine them into a report that is submitted to Elder Watkins, President Center and again SLC every week.  But this last week both of us received new assignments.  Bruce is the new assistant to Elder Watkins and I was assigned all the Christmas decorations for all the sites [lets hope they have a big budget], plus I'm helping Sister Watkins with the Missionary Christmas Fireside.  I'm getting a little nervous. (really a lot nervous)  but they tell us that Christmas is magic.  I hope I can find some magic to complete this assignment.  Its really hard without my peeps (my people).  Maybe it would be a good time for some of you to come visit and help me.

We had visitors this week, which always makes us happy.  Dave and Marilyn Watts came to enjoy conference weekend, along with Janet Hancey.  We always have such a fun time when they are here.  There were bike rides, hikes, movies, eating good food, and eating more good food.  How blessed we are to have such wonderful friends.  

Also, last week at Brigham Young's I walked out to take a tour and there were wonderful friends from American Fork.  Mike and Mary Jo Greenwood were visiting St. George and stopped by to see us.  What a joy to be able to visit with them.  Last but not least, today again at Brigham's, out on the porch was a darling family, the Christofferson's.  They were on their way back from conference in SLC to CA.  They are great friends with our daughter Kristi, and stopped by to say hi.  It made our day.  

 

Mike and Mary Jo Greenwood

The Christofferson kids

Well its time to forward this to Kati so I don't get scolded[she acts like I'm a tyrant] for not getting her our weeks adventures.  We love and miss all of you and hope all is well and good where ever you are.  Keep safe!

Love,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister Borchert

The Borcherts are Bikers???

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope you enjoyed a few facts about the Jacob Hamblin home, last blog.  This week we will highlight the Brigham Young Winter Home.

Brigham Young owned a number of properties in St. George and actually owned three homes.  The home he choose to winter in the last 7 winters of his life were in the home pictured below.  It really is a very charming New England-Victorian piece of architecture.  The colors are original and yes, Brigham had these saints learn to Faux Paint.  All the lumber in the home is pine and there are several different finishes on the wood.  The door/window casings are painted to resemble Oak.  There are several other pieces of furniture in the home that have been finished to resemble, Walnut, Mahogany, Marble and Birds Eye Maple.  Really quite remarkable since they had to use pine cones, feathers or any other choice little implement they could find to paint the grain they were trying to imitate.

OK, yes, one of the most asked questions is, "How many wives did Brigham Young have?"  Well, I think it will surprise some of you that he had 56 wives and 57 seven children.  Now-before some of you fall off your chairs, he shared a household with less than half of these women.  He had children with 16 of them.   He colonized hundreds of settlements and most of them still exist today. They run from Calgary Canada, to San Bernadino CA,including Las Vegas and Mesquite NV.  For a man who had 11 days of formal education, I would say he "Done Real Good!"  By the way, the three major Universities in Utah owe their beginning to Brigham Young.

As you can see in the pictures of his home, the Sisters were able to have a field trip to visit.  We actually trained the Sisters on giving a tour of the home.  Sometimes when we are swamped we call upon these very capable Missionaries to come bail us out.  This last Saturday we were short a Sr. Couple at Brigham's and we had 224 visitors.  The Sisters were unable to come, so we ran around like hamster's in their little wheels.  We just ran from one tour to the next and the funny thing is, Bruce and I will go all day without seeing each other.  He will have a tour in the house and I will have one out side or in the office.  It's bizarre.  (In a Good Way)

The last thing you need to know about this site, is Brigham had an office built adjacent to the home so he could do the business of the church.  This is where he, with a few of the Apostles, codified (wrote down) all of the Temple Ordinances for the first time.  Prior to this, they were given from memory. (Pretty impressive---heck yea!)

So p-day this week was an experiment in how young Bruce and I think we are.  We bought bikes and had rode along the Urban trails of St George going 15-20 miles each time.  So of course we think we can ride up Snow Canyon.  We load the bikes on the Jeep and take off.  We drive to the mouth of the canyon, unload the bikes and start up the canyon.  Wellllllll-not such a good idea.  We didn't realize how uphill this trail is.  We made it half way and could hardly stand up.  Usually, I'm like come on we can do this, but I was whipped.  My legs felt like rubber and I was wondering how I was going to get back to the Jeep.  Yep-we turned around and went back.  Down hill was heaven.  So we loaded up the bikes and went to the movie and had popcorn and Jr. Mints.

I'm not sure which storm to talk about.  AZ got hammered, UT got hammered and St. George was a virtual water fall.  As you can see by the pictures the Santa Clara and the Virgin Rivers were running fast and furious.  Sometimes I think "HE" just wants to remind us whose really in charge and who has the power. 

Our days are full and the weeks are flying by.  We are working hard, but happy for it.  When I stop to think of all of you, it makes me sad to think we don't see you everyday, but we are truly enjoying the time here and realize it will be over in a blink of an eye.  

Happy days to all of you and BE SAFE.

We love you,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS.  I realized that I forgot to wish a Happy Birthday to our wonderful son-in-laws, Ryan (Sept 13th) and Eldon (Sept 27th), and our dear friend Karen Reeder (Sept 23rd)  At least I got their cards in the mail.

Leaf Peeping

Dear Family and Friends,

This week I have been thinking we  haven't told you much information about the Historical Sites where we serve.  So I'm going to highlight each site so that you will know the devotion, faithfulness and sacrifice that these pioneers endured during the early years of settling of St. George and the surrounding communities.  This week we will focus on Jacob Hamblin, since it is Santa Clara Swiss Days.  The Hamblin home is in Santa Clara which is a settlement that was actually settled before St. George.  A group of Swiss settled in Santa Clara, hence, Swiss Days.

In 1853 Brigham Young called 22 men to the Indian Mission.  Jacob Hamblin was one of those men who left everything in Tooele and moved to Santa Clara.  The men built a fort and moved their families to Santa Clara in 1854.  They lived in the fort while traveling throughout Southern Utah trying to make friends, teach the gospel, elevate their living conditions and basically try to create a peaceful environment where the new pioneers and Native Americans could live together.  In 1862 a flash flood washed out the entire fort.  After this event Jacob moved up the hill and built the current cabin for his family.

Jacob Hamblin joined the church in Wisconsin, moved his family to Nauvoo, served a mission, came home when the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred and then moved his family to Far West.  His first wife, Lucinda Taylor,  left him with four children which left Jacob a single father.  He met and married Rachel Judd and eventually moved his family (his 4 children and Rachel's 2 from a previous marriage) West and eventually to Tooele.  When the call came to serve in the Indian Mission there was no doubt in his mind he would go.  His conversion to the gospel had been nothing short of a miracle, having had the Book of Mormon placed in his hands by Lyman Stoddard and knowing of its truthfulness immediately.  There was opposition from his wife, in-laws and his own family, however he would not be deterred from being baptized.  From that point until his death, he depended on prayer and faith to guide his life.  His contribution to the settling of the southern part of Utah, northern parts of Arizona and parts of New Mexico is remarkable.  He served as president of the Indian Mission and served as a missionary over 32 years in this calling.  He had four wives, Lucinda Taylor, Rachel Judd, Priscilla Leavitt, and Louisa Bonelli and fathered 24 children.  He adopted a Native American Son and 3 Native American daughters.

This is such a cliff-notes version of his story, but it gives you an idea of his love of the gospel, his love for the prophet, Brigham Young and the Native American People.  It has been stated, "that he lived with the Indians, ate with the Indians and starved with the Indians.  He spoke over 9 Native American Languages and before he died, traveled over 30,000 miles in his saddle.  He was originally buried in New Mexico and then eventually moved to Alpine AZ.

We had to say good bye to one of our wonderful Sr. Couples, The Dewitts.  But as you can see we had a fun time doing it.  We wish them well on their next journey.  We will be loosing another two couples, the Child's and Drolett's next month.  We will remember all these couple's as they so sweetly trained and put up with us newbies.  What a wonderful example of service and testimony they have each shared with us.  Transfers are coming up this Saturday and we will loosing some of our sweet sisters as well.  Six of them will be returning home next Wednesday and I think I may cry.  What capable strong young women they are with limitless futures.  We love them all.

P-dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!  We got up early last Friday morning and drove up to Beaver and across Hwy 153 and 137.  We went leaf peeping and wow we peeped a lot.  The leaves were beautiful and the weather perfect.  We stopped at Cedar Breaks and hiked the Spectra​​​​ Point trail.  This is a trail that goes right along the horse-shoe shaped canyon out to a 1600 year old Bristol Cone​​​​​​​​ Pine Tree.  The elevation was over 10,000 feet and it felt like we were sucking air through a plugged straw.  It was fantastic but rather challenging.  The forest ranger said it was a moderate hike and then I read the description in the guide book and it was listed as a strenuous hike.  It was a good thing it was only a mile out and a mile back, but wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Saved the best for last.  Our wonderful friends who continue to visit us.  Roger and Elaine Christensen stopped by for dinner and the production of Joseph at Tuachan.  We laughed all night and shared mission experiences.  Roger and Elaine served as Mission Presidents in the Long Beach Mission and loved every minute and we know their missionaries loved them.  Friends and Family are our greatest treasure.

We send love and happiness to all,

Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

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