"Sorry, it's been a while between posts."

 Sorry I haven't posted for the last two months. I'll do my best to get caught up ...

In July, we welcomed 54 new missionaries to the mission. The church is integrating service missionaries into existing missions. Previously the young service missionaries were not part of an organized "mission" but, rather, served under their stake president and a couple of senior missionaries called to be Service Mission Leaders (SMLs). The SMLs still work with the service missionaries on their day-to-day service assignments, trainings, etc. But now the SMLs operate under the Mission President of the mission in which their service missionaries live instead of the multiple stake presidents where these young service missionaries live. 

We had our first “integrated” zone conference on July 11^th. It was wonderful. We had most of the service missionaries from the Salt Lake valley in attendance. One of the sister service missionaries did a musical number that was one of the best I have ever heard. She played “Nearer My God to Thee” on her cello, accompanied by Elder Bennight, one of our young proselyting missionaries who is also serving as one of our Assistants. Good thing I had a handkerchief in my coat pocket. It appeared that most, if not all, of the service missionaries really enjoyed zone conference and appreciated the opportunity to attend. The Wyoming service missionaries joined us for our zone conference up in Wyoming the following week.

The highlight of June had to be when our daughter Becca was able to come visit with her son KJ and new daughter Eliza for a couple days. Anne and I were in heaven.

At the end of July, Anne and I took up to Pinedale, Wyoming. We were told by everyone that Pinedale is a beautiful place and it is so remote from the mission home that mission leaders never go up there. Since we were told to take a vacation once a year (typically in July since that is when the church leaders take their vacations and so there are no stake conferences scheduled), we decided to go up to Pinedale for the weekend. Our “vacation” was comprised of driving the 4 hours on Saturday to Pinedale, stopping for lunch in Kemmerer with the Kemmerer Elders; eating dinner that night at the Lakeside Lodge on the south end of the Fremont Lake (What a beautiful location!); 

speaking in the two wards’ sacraments meetings, teaching the youth class of one of the wards, and eating dinner with the bishop and his family and the ward mission leader and his family; fly-fishing early Monday morning (check out the pictures below of the sunrise) 

and driving back to Salt Lake City that afternoon. Not much of a vacation but it was fun fly-fishing for the first time in many years. We both needed massages that night when we got home we were so sore from the driving and me from the fishing.

We were notified that we will be having a mission tour in October with Elder Kevin W. Pearson and Elder Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier. I’m looking forward to that. It will be fun to speak French with Elder Giraud-Carrier.

The highlight of August had to be another trip to Wyoming. This time we were invited by Elder Quentin L. Cook, one of our Twelve Apostles, to attend and participate with him, Elder Brian Taylor, and General Authority and new counselor in our Utah Area presidency, and Elder Stephen Christensen, an Area Authority, in a Priesthood Leadership Meeting for the Wyoming Coordinating Council (a group of approximately 12 stakes) on Saturday in Evanston and then to attend and participate with him and his wife in a special stake conference for the Kemmerer stake in Kemmerer. What a wonderful experience to be with another Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Elder Cook was so warm and kind. At the end of both the leadership conference and the stake conference, Elder Cook bore his apostolic witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. In each case, he bore a powerful testimony of the reality of the resurrection of the Savior and of His atoning sacrifice for us. He said some things that are so sacred, I feel I can't share them in a blog. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be in the presence of Apostles and prophets and to be instructed by them.

Because that next Tuesday was zone conference in Wyoming, Anne and I stayed up in Wyoming after the stake conference. I went fly-fishing Monday morning on a ranch owned by the Foxes, who are members of the Kemmerer stake. The fishing wasn’t great but it was so nice to be outdoors and in the water casting flies into all the holes. We ate lunch and then drove up to Fossil Butte National Memorial and walked through the visitor center there. On our way back, I thought it would be fun to actually dig for fossils. A company by the name of American Fossil Quarry where you can dig your own fossils was listed in a Google search as close to where we were so I punched it into Google Maps and off we went. Well, apparently Google Maps does not give correct directions to this place. We headed off on a dirt road that to say it was “unimproved” would be a major understatement. It was 17 miles of ruts and holes and bumps and bruises. We got to the last mile and a half and Google Maps indicated we needed to go up a very steep, dirt and rock, mountain road. We decided to turn back feeling this couldn’t possibly be the right directions. When we got back to the first turn off we had made coming up, I noticed a sign on the fence gate (now realize, you could not see this sign when going to the place because it was facing the wrong direction; but you could see it clearly when exiting the road, which stated, “DO NOT USE THIS ROAD TO ACCESS FOSSIL QUARRIES. GOOGLE LIES! Take 30 to 189 to 233 to BLM RD #4211). 

That would have been helpful to see before driving the 15 miles up and the 16 miles back! Needless to say, we didn’t go to the quarries.

Much is going on in the mission daily. It seems like I am spending the greater part of my efforts trying to help individual missionaries with various problems and struggles. Anne and I try our best to help them each, and collectively, grow and develop their testimonies of and conversions to the Savior Jesus Christ. I hope we are making a real impact in their lives.