Mini-MTC

This past week we attended a Mini-MTC.  It was held at the Timber Lakes Chapel at the bottom of the hill leading to Heber Valley Camp.  It was wonderful, to say the least.  We heard words of wisdom and encouragement from Elder Dewsnup of the Area Seventy, President Wilcox and his counselors of the Heber North Stake, Brother Hatch and his assistants of the Heber Valley Camp, and we also heard from the Young Women's Camp Committee.  We attended round robin classes describing the various duties of the missionaries at Heber Valley Camp, received medical training for emergencies, and got to know our fellow missionaries better.  The culmination of Mini-MTC week on Friday was learning what our assignment was going to be for the summer.  These assignments were read right from the pulpit, and ours is CHALLENGE COURSE.  (We'll go into more detail about what all that entails in a later blog).  We were spiritually fed and are now ready to begin learning all that is involved in our new assignment as we prepare for the first campers to arrive the middle of May.

This was the display at the front of the Chapel.  Note the flags

depicting the colors of each of the YW values as well as a

flag for Heber Valley Camp.

This is a close-up of the picture that was next to the flags in

the above picture.  Isn't it beautiful!  It is titled "The Master's Touch"

and was painted by Greg Olsen.

As missionaries serving at Heber Valley Camp, we are admonished to "Act Like the Savior" and "Serve Like the Savior" so that those attending camp will feel His presence and know that they are loved.

Tables were set up in the cultural hall and this is where

we ate our meals and mingled with fellow missionaries.

This is Dr. Kris Kemp, director of EMS for Heber Valley.

He taught us how to handle emergency situations as first

responders until the emergency personnel arrives - it is a

25 minute drive from Heber Valley up to the Camp.

We took three hours one afternoon of our Mini-MTC to play games in the parking lot of the church.  We played 8 games that day and then "processed" the meaning of the games.  These "games" are played in camp and teach teamwork, listening to the spirit, overcoming challenges and building testimonies.

In this game, the Elders were blindfolded inside a large chalk circle.

One person had a soft bat and had to hit someone who would

then become "it".  We sisters were outside the circle giving instructions

to our companion on how to avoid being hit, or if they were "it" where

to go to hit someone.  We then reversed roles.  We had to listen carefully

for the sound of a familiar voice - our companion- who was giving us instruction.

This was another game where we were blindfolded and had to

listen for our companions voice as they led us through a maze.  If we 

stepped on the "obstacle" we had to start over.

The object of this game was to stretch a bungi cord over a
cup filled with water, carry it to the table, set it on the table,
remove the bungi cord and then reverse the steps setting the water
filled cup back down on the ground and removing the bungi cord
without spilling the water.  Sounds easy?  Well try doing it when five
of the six people have their eyes closed . . .

Next week we begin training for our positions.  We will also attend the Salt Lake Temple as a mission and have lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we will hear from a member of the General Young Women's Presidency as well as a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.  Can't wait . . .

We Are Official

It's hard to believe that we have been on our mission now for almost two whole weeks - my how time flies when you are having fun - truly.  At first it was really hard to remember everyone's names, but we received our camp clothing and missionary name tags, so now it is a little easier to put names and faces together - at least we can call someone by name after reading their name tag :)  Camp uniforms consist of jeans and one of the camp shirts that have the HVC logo on them - there are short sleeved t-shirts, long sleeved t-shirts, golf shirts, long sleeve button down shirts, short sleeve button shirts and then of course sweatshirts, vests and coats. We received three styles of name tags - a magnetic one, one that pins on and one that slips over a pocket.  When working up on the mountain, we will wear one of the tags slipped over a thin piece of rope, of course, many of the sisters fancy theirs up a little  The other two are worn on coats, church clothes, etc.

Self-explanatory - this is Elder Luke's name tag

Again, self-explanatory, but note the lovely beadwork

Someone's looking mighty official in their new camp shirt

This is a missionary flag that one of my tax clients designed.

It can be displayed in a window just like this, or . . .

One can add a picture and the missionary's name(s)

Once the flag is decorated to your liking, hang it in a window to

let the world know that the people living in this

home have a missionary in the field.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in a missionary flag to display, you can contact the designer at ashandani@comcast.net

Many Hands Make Light Work

On Monday, April 21st, many of the missionaries living in Cowboy Village participated in a service project to clean up the village and leave it better that it was when we first moved in.  During the winter months, the wind had blown large tumbleweeds into the fence, and other campers had left behind logs, plastic utensils, bottle caps, broken glass, rope and lots of other assorted garbage.  It took about 40 of us less than an hour to clean up the entire area.  We were armed with rakes, shovels and large orange garbage bags.  A truck pulling an ATV trailer followed along to collect the garbage bags once they were full and take them to the dumpster.  I'm not sure what the final count was on garbage bags, but they filled an entire dumpster.

Here we all are hard at work.  We started on the inside

of camp and then moved to the outer perimeter.

You can see the truck stopping to load more

garbage bags onto the trailer.

All clean - no sign of garbage or tumbleweeds anywhere.

Later that night at a gathering for Family Home Evening (FHE), Elder Lundgreen, the Operations Manager, thanked us for cleaning Cowboy Village and then added that because it now looked so good they were going to raise our nightly rent - that got a good laugh from the crowd.

Still So Much Snow!

We drove around HVC to acquaint ourselves with the camp, and it was immediately evident why we were staying in Cowboy Village.  The elevation at camp ranges from 7,500 to 10,000 feet and there is still a LOT of snow up there.

 This is Legacy Lake.  It is still frozen - not much canoeing going on

 here at the moment - brrrr.

 The girls follow trails from their campsite to the Challenge Courses

and Legacy Lake - this is one of those trails - at least that is

what the sign said.

 One of the many signs at HVC peeking up out of the snow.

You can barely see the rooftops of two cabins.  Good

thing the girls won't be coming up until the last week

of May.

Once the snow melts a little more, the missionaries will begin readying the camps for the girls

and their leaders to arrive.  Inside, cabins will be tidied while outside roads will be smoothed and debris carried to the burn pit.  Lots to look forward to, but for now we enjoy looking at the beauty of the snow.

We All Have Work, Let No One Shirk. . .

This past week we have been settling into camp at Cowboy Village and driving up to HVC to work.  Missionaries were working on assembling new bunk beds for the cabins as well as helping organize the maintenance area.  We were assigned to the maintenance area.

 This is the back of the Maintenance shed.  There is a complete woodworking shop

 inside as well as several bays where they can work on vehicles

These are storage units in back of the Maintenance Building

 These are a just a few of the vehicles they have at HVC - everything

from snowplows to dump trucks, backhoes and tractors

to 6-passenger ATV's.

Here is Charlie moving about 12 bags of concrete from one of the

storage units to another- it may not look like much, but those

bags of concrete weighed about 40 lbs each.  I was in charge of sweeping

out the storage shed once it had been emptied (a cush job compared to

hauling 80 lbs of concrete multiple times from one shed to another.

It was a tight squeeze between storage units - so

tight in fact that you couldn't open the door all the way.

I was also in charge of holding the door (an even cushier job) while Charlie

stacked the concrete in the storage unit on the right. 

Besides moving sacks of concrete, we moved tires, hauled scrap metal to the dumpster where it was being collected for recycling, and sorted through lots of trash.  By the time we got back to Cowboy Village we were quite dirty and tired from a hard day of work -you can bet we had a good nights sleep!

I Hope They Call Me On a Mission - Oh Wait, They Did!

We have been called to serve as Service Missionaries at the Heber Valley Camp (HVC).  This is a Girls Camp located in the mountains east of Heber City, Utah.  While the camp is primarily for girls, it is also available to families, youth groups, and scouts. We will be serving from April to October 2014 and 2015 alongside 74 other missionary couples.  Earlier this week we loaded up our trailer and headed to Cowboy Village in Heber City.  We will stay here temporarily until the snow has melted enough to move our trailer to camp.

This welcome sign greeted us as we pulled into Cowboy Village.  There were already several trailers that had arrived before us, with more arriving throughout Monday and Tuesday.

Our daughter Rachael, son-in-law Clint and their daughter helped us set up our trailer.

Here we are, all ready to begin our newest adventure!