Will It Ever Slow Down -- Week 11

We hit the road running this week -- well, sort of. Monday was somewhat peaceful. We spent the day at Welcome Post where we greet vehicles (actually people) coming to visit the Cove. It's not a difficult assignment, but it usually lasts from about 8 to 4 with lunch being taken when you can work it in. That evening we celebrated our 4th of July at Family Home Evening by singing patriotic songs and the district in charge giving the historical background of each of the songs.

Tuesday was the 4th -- big day for a lot of people; big day for us as well. Actual it was a regular day for us. Sister Smart acted as Trek Host for a group from Malta, Idaho and ended up hiking for 8 miles due to an oversight on the part of those who staff our "Base". Base is a station high on a ridge where they can keep track of the location of all the treks. They try to keep them from having contact with other treks on the trails. Another special moment for Sister Smart, this day, was telling the Ellen Neibaur story and witnessing the effect it had even on some of the "macho" young men.

Trek on Its Way to the Cove

A brief version of that story is that Brigham Young called for help in the way of personal items to send to destitute Saints in the handcart companies. The Neibaur family was very poor and when they were contacted they said they were sorry but they had nothing to give. However, Ellen had recently been given a new pair of shoes that her husband had saved all summer to purchase for her and she had knitted a new pair of stockings. She gave both the shoes and the stockings for the benefit of those stranded on the plains. When the Martin Company finally arrived in SLC. Everyone went to greet the Saint as they arrived.. Ellen was excited when she saw an old friend from England then she noticed that her good friend was wearing her shoes and stockings and Ellen's heart was deeply touched.

Elder Smart spent the day in the office continuing to try to learn the system and get caught up. His mentor, Elder Maxfield will be leaving the mission this week due to health issues.

We were in "Outfitting" all day on Wednesday. We greeted three groups coming from Morgan, East Mill Creek, and Kaysville -- nearly 500 in those groups. We also welcomed two of those groups back and sent them on their way to their next destination.

Thursday we spent the entire day at "Handcart Parking". This is a place located just below the actual Cove. Here the trekkers must park their handcarts before hiking to the Cove. Sometimes they have lunch at the pavilion before they start their hike. This place also has a well where they can fill up water bottles and jugs. Oh, nearly forgot to say there are toilets here. Our assignment is to direct the handcart parking, check to see that the toilets are okay, make sure they clean up after themselves, pump the well so they can have water (unless we can figure out how to get them to pump it), and help spray them with misters to help cool them down. We also greet individuals that might be hiking on their own. Great assignment, but we are there from early morning until the last of the groups are off the trail -- in this case nearly 8 pm.

Trekkers Parking Their Carts

Check Out Those Straight Rows of Carts

Elder Smart Challenging a Well Pumping Contestant

Girl Accepts Challenge - She Beats the Guys

Ready to Mist the Trekkers

Waiting For Trekkers

We were in outfitting again on Friday. We had one group come in that day and two groups that left. This meant that we were busy in the morning and busy again in the late afternoon. That left a little time for office work. Elder Smart was jumping right on that. One of the major sources of income for the mission is from using the campground where we all stay. The charge is $10.00 for tenting and $20.00 for full hook ups and it means "job security" and more work for Elder Smart as he must prepare a bank deposit. It also means that Sister Smart has to accompany Elder Smart to the office, especially when there is only one other female in the office.

Perhaps the best part of Friday might have been our cleaning of the Pavilion or maybe it wasn't the cleaning but what happened in front of the Pavilion after the cleaning -- another snake!

Pavilion That We Cleaned

Rattle Snake Outside Pavilion

Don't Tickle the Snake

Saturday could have been a sleep-in day. We had a 2:30 to 9 pm shift in the Visitors' Center. However since the deposit has to be made within 24 hours of its preparation, we headed off for Casper. It was a good day for us. we got a lot done in Casper and made it back in time for our Visitors' Center shift. The VC is always a great place to serve but Saturday evening was particularly slow.

Here we are again on Sunday. Elder Smart started early with a Branch Presidency Meeting. Following that meeting came a District Leaders Meeting. Following that was our regular block of meetings where Sister Smart joined him. Following that was our pot luck dinner with all the missionaries.

This ends another week. We surely love our opportunities to serve. We really miss our family. Our mission means so much to us and we were promised that our families would be blessed because of our service. We hope you are all experiencing those blessings.

Our love to you all.

Good luck to Velynn and her family as she starts a new job tomorrow.

Elder and Sister Smart, Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie