Cold and Windy but we are Blessed to be Here # 43

This was one cold week,  We felt like we had a heat wave Saturday because we had a high of 22 degrees and a low of 2 degrees.  Of coarse it felt much colder with the Wyoming wind.  Today being Sunday, we enjoyed blue skys but it was as cold as ever with very strong gusts of wind.  Still an amazing Sunday.  The weather is challenging, but we still love it here/  We will miss the sacred feeling that is always present.

The Sweet Water River frozen over.

Saturday Sister Smart and Sister Crist went to Casper for Prep day.  The wind was blowing snow across the road all the way home.  Thank goodness the wind blew the snow low and our visibility was still good.  Sister Smart was grateful for our 4 wheel drive Jeep.  It makes her feel much more comfortable driving in Wyoming Winters.  Elder Smart stayed home and vacuumed and watched John Wayne movies.

We are getting close to having this next summer's missionaries come.  The winter missionaries have been busy with lots of preparations ...welcome baskets, trailers in order, campsites in order, getting shirts embossed with WMTM, making lunch bags with place settings, preparing their training materials, getting treks scheduled and organized.

Sister Smart is doing her best to get ready to trek this Summer.  She does a lot of fast walking on the treadwmill in the gathering room.

Sister Smart with Sister Crist on Treadmill

We had an olympic party at the gathering room on Friday evening. We watched the olympics, talked, laughed and ate a great meal.

Watching the Olympics in the Gathering Room

 The Swingholmes (last summer missionaries) visited us this week as they traveled through.  

Elder and Sister Taylor With the Swingholmes

We know that Jesus Christ lives and is always ready to help us through our trials.  He does want us to ask for help when you need it and pray always.  We challenge each of our grandchildren and children to be sure to do all you can to keep Christ as the center of your life.  He can help you through everything.  He loves you and so do we!

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

President Returns -- Week 42

The biggest news this week is the return of our mission president.  They returned on Friday evening.  They invited all of us to their apartment that same evening and gave us the run-down of their medical activities during their last month in Salt Lake.  It was a nice break.

Missionaries at Paces' Apartment

The next morning we gave the Paces' a quilt, actually one each.  The sisters had made them and the families of the Paces' had written on squares that were part of President's quilt.

Saturday was also our preparation day.  So, we hurried off to Casper, made a bank deposit, washed, gased, and changed the oil in the car, shopped for groceries, and, of course, had a Mexican meal.

La Costa Mexican Restaraunt

Happy Missionaries at La Costa

The rest of the week was filled with the usual office work, only this week everything was faster thanks to fiber optic internet.  We also had a couple of shifts in the Visitors' Center.

We had a good set of Sunday meetings this Sunday.  However one of the best was our combined Priesthood/Relief Society.  Sister Smart was the main instructor and she taught the lesson based on Elder Rasband's conference talk from October 2017.  It was all about the Lord directing our lives as opposed to coincidences.  We recommend it to all our families and loved ones.

We appreciate the love and prayers in our behalf.  We know we are involved in the work of the Lord.  We love you all.💓💖💘

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

Fun Week #41

This week started out with a Girls' Day Out for Sister Smart and her missionary Sister friends in Casper. They planned on leaving right after correlation meeting about 9:00 am.  We got a call from a ranch couple that were moving into a neighboring ranch Monday morning. They needed some help cleaning some of the house so that they could move in.  Half of us quickly  put on our jeans and headed over to clean  house.  It was really nice to help someone for part of Girls' Day Out.  The Sisters still made it to Casper by 1:00 to meet the other half of the group at Olive Garden for lunch.  We also invited the Young Sister missionaries in Casper to join us.  We had a great party!  The waiter brought Sister Smart a birthday treat.  The Sisters then went to a couple of places to shop and still made it back for FHE -- a busy, but fun day.

Birthday Cheesecake at Olive Garden

Girls' Day Out in Casper

Friday all the missionaries went to Alova to join the with the Baptists in a Valentine's dinner.  All of the missionaries sang "You are my Sunshine" to the Alcova group.  Elder Smart's music has been a great blessing to all of the winter missionaries.  He is our leader when it comes to any music and singing while we are here.  He is our music organizer and choir director.  Elder Crist played the harmonica, Elder Smart led and we all (even Sister Smart) sang.

One of the families in the Alcova Baptist Church has the last name of Smart.  Elder Smart has been doing his usual magic to find out if we are related.  Turns out we are not, but it has developed into a good friendship.  It was  a nice evening, but we got caught in a blizzard on the way back home. Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive.

Dinner in Alcova ('Elder Smart's back)

Rose Smart in Alcova

Singing at Alcova Dinner

Saturday we were asked to travel to Rawlins to do a Family History Conference training for two wards in the Rawlins Stake. We met at the Rawlins Higher Education Building where the conference was held.   The High Councelor that invited us sent us the following text after the conference. "Thank you so much. It was a huge success.  I counted 35 in attendance. You guys are great! You have a great day!"  We felt like we made some progress.  Most of the class found temple names.  We loved having like we had in our first mission.  It felt good and brought back great memories.

Outside the Conference Venue

Inside the Education Building
 at the Conference

Most of this week brother Ormsby came from Salt Lake to help get our internet connected to the fiber optic lines that were put in these past few months.  He worked hard expecting to do it in one day, but he stayed all week to accomplish the job.  The internet was working, but we are having problems with it staying up.  Hope all the glinches get worked out soon.

Brother Ormsby

Elder Crist, Brother Ormsby and Elder Bowden
Working on the Fiber Optic Hookup.

Most of the winter sisters are tieing quilts for their work day assignment.  We made and continue to make many many quilts to take to the women's shelter in Casper.

Some of the Many Quilts Made by the Sisters

This is the "Normal" Around Here

We want you to know how grateful we feel to be able to serve the Lord in this beautiful, sacred place.  We hope to have visits from our family and friends this Spring or Summer.

We want to apologize for forgetting to recognize Kaeson's birthday last week.  Chalk it up to us having a "Senior Moment"!

Happy Birthday this week to Raquel.🎂🎂🎂

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

Great Mission! -- Week 40

Another week has come and gone.  Can't believe how quick the weeks fly by.  Yet, when we consider our family and loved ones, it seems that it's forever until we see you all again.

News from home makes us want to be with you all.  Aaron and Audra have sold their home in Henderson with an eye on improving their financial status.  Our grandchildren are moving ahead:

• Kaiden is participating in the Jordan River Temple dedication celebration
• Brinley is a rising star in volleyball
• Carter is becoming a great place kicker in football
• Raquel is looking at some serious medical needs, but is a fantastic student
• more to follow . . . 

Here at Martin's Cove we have had lots of sunshine accompanied with some fierce winds.  We continue to run the office.  We have prepared schedules, Sunday programs, mission and branch histories, newsletters, financial reports, etc.

Sister Smart and Sister Crist went to town on Monday for a day of shopping, while Elder Smart stayed home doing wash, vaccuming, and watched a movie.  We both ended up going to town again on Thursday to deal with a financial issue.

This weekend we had visitors, the Sigmons from New Mexico.  They served here last summer.  It was nice to see them again.

Sigmon's & Smart's

Every day we see animals all around us.  One day we came home mid-day.  On one side of our driveway was several deer.  On the other side was some cattle.

Deer on One Side

Cattle on Other Side

Sometimes we see other animals.

Hawk

Buck

Eagle

Coyote

Probably our biggest event of the week was our celebration of our president's birthday on Wednesday evening.  Of course he is in Salt Lake receiving medical help.  So, we ended up celebrating via skype.  It was still a good excuse for all of us to get together.

E & S Crist; E Paul - Skyping

We love our mission and we love you, our families and friends.  Until next week . . . .

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

Can I mention one last item -- a very special birthday wish to a very special lady -- my wife, Annie, one of the finest ladies  on this earth!  Love you Annie and happy 66th tomorrow

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