It's a Wonderful Life week #39

This week has  been a lot of doing what we do every week.  It would seem it may be boring, but just the opposite.  It is a wonderful life here at Martin's Cove.  This is such a sacred place that the Spirit is strong.  What more could we ask for.  Any of our senior friends or siblings that are reading this...don't deny yourselves of the great blessing the Lord has in store for you if you will follow his council and serve a mission.

We Share This Sacred Beautiful Place With Friends

We have spent most of our time this week working in the office.  President and Sister Pace are still in Salt Lake receiving treatments at The Huntsman Center.  This puts more on us to do everything that we can on our own.  Our leaders in Salt Lake have told President Pace that he should stay in Salt Lake at least until this series of chemo is finished.  That means the the middle of February is the earliest that he and his wife will be joining us.  We ask for prayers in their behalf.

As usual Elder Smart is sharing his talents and helping all the missionaries with their Family History.  He usually stays an extra couple of hours each night in the office to do this.  This is what he loves!  Our Schwan's truck driver is LDS from Rawlins.  He is the High Councilman over Family History in his stake.  He has recruited Elder Smart to do a couple of Seminars in Rawlins to help the members there learn how to find temple names  This should be fun.

We are really learning to love all the fellow missionaries here.  Sundays are so spiritual.  Our meetings are amazing.  We love going to church and hearing the other missionaries talk and teach.  We had the "opportunity" of speaking in sacrament this week.  We grow each time we have this "opportunity".

We spent our Prep Day at home this week.  It is always good to get some things done around the house and just relax. Two weeks without going to the grocery store is enough, though.  Since we do not have food storage here, nor room to store extra, we will be ready to hit the grocery store tomorrow.

We have had a good snow storm this week.  Pictures below show the church owned snow plow at Martin's cove plowing our driveway and our rover after the storm

The snow here is very different than the snow we get in Utah.  Utah's snow is full of moisture.  The snow here is dry and flakey.  It can be easily blown by the wind.  We plow the roads after a snow storm but the wind continues to blow and it will cause drifts that will sometimes be several feet high.  This then requires us to use the snow plow every day and sometimes more than once a day to plow the roads to remove the drifts.  This has happened this week...one snow storm and plowing all week.  It has been cold and so the snow does not melt. It just drifts.  We had temperatures below 0 one day and the snow froze so hard that we had a very hard time getting rid of any drifts.  It is finally warm enough today that some of it is melting.

Where did our rover go?
Picture is taken from in the house through the window and screen.

Clearing the snow off of our driveway

We have a strong testimony of the gospel and the Plan of Salvation.  Our trials on this earth are necessary for our progression.  We have a loving Heavenly Father and Mother that love us and are routing for us, but they will never take away our agency.  We pray that you all can feel His love and know that you can make it through your trials, for you are a child of deity.

Love always,

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

Happy Birthday this week to Steve Smith.🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂

Winter's Arrived -- Week 38

We titled this one "Winter's Arrived" because we got hit pretty good with a storm, Saturday night and Sunday.  The picture below shows what we woke up seeing on Sunday morning.  It was bad enough that our High Council speaker, who was coming from Casper (60 miles away), called and said he couldn't make it.  So, we had one of those Sacrament meetings where people were called out of the audience.  Speaking of the audience, there were a total of 10 at our meeting -- one couple was gone taking care of family matters and our president and his wife are in Salt Lake dealing with health issues.  

Our Rover Covered

The rest of the week was a little more comfortable.  At one point the weather was so comfortable that we had to look hard to find any snow.  We had some of our usual assignments.  We were in the office, painting signs, cleaning toilets, and one day, our work crew day, we were asked to take a bucket loader tire to Casper and have it replaced with a new one.

New and Old Tire

Of course, once we had the new tire we had to put it back on the loader.  It took fiive missionaries and one John Deere tractor to get the tire back on.

New Tire on Bucket Loader

At one time during the week, things were so relaxed that Sister Smart discovered that she had mis-matched her boots.  Maybe we need to stop watching late ballgames😁😁

Two Different Boots

Guess that about ends it for this week.  We hope this finds everyone well and enjoying life.  We are happy to be here serving.  Missionary work is great!  The Gospel is true.

Love to all,

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

Honoring Our Beloved President Monson Week #37

The weeks are flying past us.  The pace is much slower during the winter off season, but we are still busy.  Elder Smart continues to handle all financial records, the monthly newsletter, and the mission history.  Sister Smart works on the weekly assignments for missionaries, does the program for Sundays, answers the phone, answers mission emails, and schedules school groups and campgrounds.  We assist each other on most of the above.   In addition we are assigned as a couple, weekly cleaning assignments, what ever needs to be done on our work crew day, and serving in the visitors' center.  We also retreive the mail each day and distribute it. Theres are usually other things that we are asked to do, but the above things are every week.  Hopefully this gives you an idea of what keeps us busy.  Below is the weekly assignment sheet that Sister Smart did for this week.  You can also see  2 of 8 pages from Elder Smart's  monthly newsletter

This week's assignment Chart

Page From Newsletter

Newsletter

We enjoyed a fresh halibut dinner on Monday thanks to Elder and Sister Balentine.  They are a couple that served here this summer.  They went halibut fishing when they got home and they froze some and shipped it to us.  It was still frozen when it arrived.  We had some of it a couple of months ago and had the last of it Monday evening.  It was sooooo good!  Fresh halibut is so much better than any we have ever heaten.  Even anti-fish Elder Smart enjoyed it.

Our work crew assignment this week was to clean out the inside of the pickup trucks owned by the

Church here at Martin's Cove.

Elder Smart Washing Truck

Friday afternoon we all gathered in the chapel and watched the funeral of President Monson.  We all feel such great gratitude for his service and example.

Our mission president, President Lonny Pace, has been diagnosed with cancer.  He has been working with the doctors at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper.  He needs to go to Salt Lake to get some tests done and get a suggested treatment plan from Huntsman Cancer Center.  President and Sister Pace will be leaving tomorrow morning and we do not know when they will return.  Our prayers our with them.

Pres Pace in Casper hospital after surgery

President Pace Wiith Back Brace

We want to share our testimony of Jesus Christ.  We know he lives and loves all.  We can only find happiness by being obedient to his commandments.  Obedience brings happiness and prosperity.

We miss all of you and love you.

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

A Fast Week! -- Week 36

This has been a fast but somewhat uneventful week.  It started off on Monday with the new year.  We essentially had the day off.  No meetings.  No assignments -- only family home evening, which consisted of treats and football.

Tuesday was our prep day and we went to Casper to do shopping.  We also ate out at a Mexican restaurant (thanks Alan & Pat).  But mostly we enjoyed just relaxing at home.

Dinner in Casper (On the Border)

Sister Smart at Home (Trying Not to Smell Mice)

Elder Smart Enjoys Sports & Movies

We had visitors' center a couple of times this week.  As usual there are always good things that that happen in the Visitors' Center.  A couple from brought a sculpture from Rawlins as a donation to the mission from a deceased sculpturer.  It represents a family who lost a child who was taken into heaven. 

Another visitor stopped by on his own.  He's moving his family from New Mexico but they won't be coming until August.  Ends up his wife has several ancestors in the handcart companies.  Yes, he's LDS.  On top of that, he's the new Chief of Police in Casper,

Donated Sculpture

In the mean time, all of us at the mission have been praying and fasting for our mission president and his wife.  He struggles with cancer but is very positive.  Our missionaries have really rallied round them and have shown an increase of love and faith toward them.

Pres & Sis Pace (Note His Brace)

Aside from all the forgoing, we continue to manage the office.  We are very involved with year end reports and setting up the new year.

We hope all of you have a wonderful new year, having an ever increasing faith in the Lord.

Please know of our love for family and friends, and our testimony of a loving Father in Heaven!

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

ps  Happy Birthday to our Rachelle on the 11th 

Deer in the Snow

Christmas Come and Gone ( but memories stay). Week #35

We really enjoyed the Christmas season this year.  We worked hard to "Light the World" and what a joyous time of service!  We were blessed to have Eli and Mickell and their kids join us for Christmas.  What a blessing this was for us.  We missed the rest of the crew, but were able to talk to them all on the phone.

Opening Gift of New Pajamas On Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Modelng New Pajamas

Eli Sharing the Christmas Story With Kids

Grandpa and Grandma with Grandkids

Reading Notes from Grandkids

Santa Made it to Our House

Getting Ready To Open Presents Christmas Morning

Excited About New Picture Calendar

We said goodbye to Eli and family on Christmas afternoon.  It was back to work on Tuesday, except we had Prep day and we choose to just stay home and rest.  We worked in the office on Wednesday and had work crew on Thursday.  Our assignments included going to Muddy Gap with a mission truck and pick up a picnic table from our friends at the gas station there.  We brought it home and began working on sanding, scraping and painting it.  We prepared it for painting and then painted the underside.  It was still wet and we were not able to turn it rightside up to finish it.  Sister Smart also  helped paint the parking sign shown below.

Elder and Sister Smart Getting Ready
to Sand & Paint

          Sister Smart's Sign

Friday was back in the office and Saturday we worked in the Visitors' Center and cleaned the sewing room.  Sunday we woke up to a little new snow and  it was our turn to do the Visitors' Center again so we took the beeper to church with us. This allows us to know if anyone walked towards the Visitors' Center from the parking lot.  No visitors came today. 

 

A New  Bronze Statue Donated to the Visitors' Center

We love serving our Savior on this mission.  You are all in our prayers and we know the Lord is with you.

Love you all,

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

Worrking on Blog

Christmas Just Around the Corner, Week #34

Another week has come and gone.  They seem to come and go so fast.  Seems like we've spent most of our time in the office or on the road doing "Light the World" activities.

We went out three different times to do caroling to neighbors.  Seems like the later in the week we went, the colder it got.  Friday it was one cool (COLD) night.

Caroling Group

On Thursday we spent the whole day at Casper helping the Salvation Army give out Angel Tree Gifts.  It's quite an operation they have.  We figured that there must have been around 330 families that were helped in one day.  We saw more bikes than we have ever seen in one place.  Accompanying the bikes were several other gifts in red and green plastic bags.  Anyway we spent the whole day on this project.

Sisters Smart & Honey Organizing Bags

One or More Bags Go to Each Family

You may remember that when we visited one of the schools that one of the four students, one was not there.  We learned that he and his family had some serious needs.  After consulting with his teacher, we decided to do a sub for Santa.  As you might gather from the following picture we went all out.

We had a really enjoyable family home evening this week.  We exchanged gag gifts based on shaking dice and pre-selected ways of moving the gifts around.

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Family Home Evening Group

Perhaps our greatest thoughts at this time are of our family and friends.  We can't even  begin to express how much we miss you all and, yet we know we are where we are supposed to be.  One blessing that arrived in our lives this week was the arrival of Eli, Mikell and family.  The grandkids have brought us so much joy.  The missionaries have all enjoyed them and they all enjoyed having them here for our Christmas Eve pot luck dinner.

Emyli & Kaeson

Connor

Pot Luck with Missionaries

We wish you a Merry Christmas and send our love and best wishes from Martin's Cove.

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

Week #33 It Looks and Feels a Lot Like Christmas

Lots of  #Light the World going on this week.   We did more caroling and gifts of Christmas goodies.
Our caroling on Wednesday evening took us to neighboring ranches to the East, Dumbell Ranch and Pathfinder Ranch.  We sang with Elder Smart leading the vocals.

Caroling at the Dumbell Ranch

On Friday evening we traveled to Sixth Crossing and Riverton.  Our first stop was to sing and share a goodies basket with two ladies, Polly and Linda, that lived across the street from Sixth Crossing.

Polly and Linda

We then traveled onto Riverton to carol at the home of Ross Ramsey, a former missionary at Martin's Cove and Rock Creek Hollow.  He is a carpenter and continues to make miniature handcarts for our use at the Visitors' Center.  He is a widower that gets lonesome at Christmas.  He delighted in singing with us and then joined us for dinner at the Trailhead Restaurant.  It was 11:00 p.m. before we made it back to the Homestead.

Trailhead Restaurant, Riverton Wyoming
 over run by Missionaries

Sunday afternoon we traveled to Alcova and sang and delivered goodies to the workers at Sloan General Store and Kay, our dear senior friend.  We stopped at Independance Rock and delivered a care box to Bobbie Butler, a less active member, as we sang.

Singing to Kay.  (Notice missionaries in mirror.)

On Tuesday and Thursday we were privileged to accompany Santa to the two neighboring Elementary schools.  Alcova has a total of 4 students and Jeffrey City has a booming 6 students.  The Sister missionarys knitted hats and we bought gloves to be given to these children by Santa.

Santa and Alcova Children

Santa with the 6 students at Jeffrey City
They are wearing their new hats and gloves

Wednesday evening Jolene Allphin came from Utah to share her latest edition of "Tell My Story, Too."  Jolene has researched the Willie and Martin companies along with the rescuers for many many years.  She has walked where they walked and read every journal and considerable information about them that she can find.  She is probably the most knowledgeable of anyone on these handcart pioneers.  She has written other books, including "Follow Me to Zion" a book about families on the Willie Company.  This book has an entire chapter on the William James family,  Sister Smart's 3rd great grandfather.

Sister Smart and Jolene Allphin having lunch

We have had a challenging experience these past two weeks.  Our mission president, President Pace has been diagnosed with cancer.  He had his first surgery two weeks ago and then was back in this week.  He was having horrible leg pain,  They went back into his lower back where they had removed the tunor to see if there was more tumor putting pressure on his spine and affecting his legs.  It turned out to be a big blood clot and now it is removed, his legs are fine.  They are in the process of determining the plan to get rid of all the cancer.

We are  busy trying to share Christmas cheer. but we miss family.   Remember the reason for the season.  Love ya all.

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