Sunday, August 24, 2014

Fall Work

August 24, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

You are probably looking at the title of my post and saying what does she mean fall, it's still in the 90's here. Well here in Wyoming summer is the shortest season of the year and winter is a daily possibility so I'm calling the weather we are having now fall. Cool mornings and evenings and in the 60's and 70's during the day with a few maybe creeping into the low 80's...yep it's fall!

Our ten week trekking season has ended and now we are working to get everything ready for winter. We still have yard work and flower gardens to tend and the willows we planted in the spring are growing by leaps and bounds. We are feeding them with Miracle Grow every couple of weeks. This week on Thursday Sister Paulsen, Sister Petersen and I did that job before lunch. Lunch on Thursday was FM (Facilities Maintenance) appreciation day. Elder Cherry fixed us a feast of steaks, potato salad, French bread, beans, watermelon and ice cream sundaes for dessert. It's a good thing we had the afternoon off because we practically had to roll home. Everyone who comes here remarks on the beautiful and well cared for grounds and that makes us feel good because we take great pride in honoring the pioneers who sacrificed so much here by keeping the site beautiful.

Another thing that has slowed down is the people coming to the Visitors' Center. We had the afternoon shift on Wednesday but had no visitors between 3:00pm and 6:00pm when the supervisors sent us home early.

Elder Lindsey is working with several others to get the Yearbook to the publisher by Friday the 29th of August so his time has been spent taking pictures and then working on the computer doing lay outs. He also needs to get the DVD of all the videos he's done this season sent to the printer.

Friday I got my first opportunity to chink. We are rechinking all the original Sun Ranch buildings including the barn, wash house, bunkhouse and blacksmith shop. Chinking is the process used to fill the space between logs in buildings. The Church History Department sent out some people a few weeks ago to teach us the 1872 method for the final layer of chink. So far we have removed all the old chinking and are almost done putting a modern product in to seal the cracks. When we finish this project we will do a mixture that replicates what they used in 1872 when the buildings were constructed. That mixture consists of cement, local dirt and straw. We mix it up and apply it by hand....mud pies anyone?

Here I am on my way to becoming an expert chinker!

About six weeks ago Elder Lindsey decided to grow his hair out. He was finally ready for a haircut and since I only use the clippers to buzz Sister Erickson agreed to give him a proper haircut. She even makes house calls!

Looking good!

Saturday morning we were on the road to Casper before 8:00am. Our first stop was for breakfast at McDonalds. We then visited a couple thrift stores where I scored on four new winter skirts and a sweater for $28.00. Thank you Heather for teaching me how to really shop! Then it was on to Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Target and Home Depot. After shopping until we dropped we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for a late lunch.

Sunday morning we had our friends Elder and Sister Paulsen over for omelets and hash browns. It was Elder Lindsey's turn to show off his skills as a chef and he did fantastic, everything was yummy. After church instead of staying for pot luck we were still feeling quite full so we came home. We had district meeting at 4:00pm and after that I fixed a quick stir fry meal with fried rice which we shared with the Paulsens. It's going to be strange when we get to Rosebud next month to not have neighbors to share a meal with. Hopefully we will be so busy we won't have time to miss everyone.

Our Sunday school lesson today was on Job...probably just like yours was. Sister Paulsen asked some very thought provoking questions...the same ones the Lord asks Job. Where were we (you and me) when he created the earth? Were we part of the heavenly choir that was singing praises? When Heavenly Father and Jesus talk about us (individually) what do they say? Something to think about.

It is strange to think that we've been on our mission five months today and that our first season here at Martin's Cove is coming to an end. We have been so richly blessed and are getting more excited every day for the adventure that lies ahead. I bought us an electric mattress pad and since the temperatures are in the 40's here at night we are excited to try it out. I'm still waiting for the flannel sheets to arrive. Have a wonderful week everyone...do a little missionary work Remember all you have to do is open your mouth!

Love,
Elder and Sister Lindsey

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