Tidbits

Today on the way to the Challenge Course I was rounding a bend when I saw what I thought was a small dog in the road. I wondered where the dog could have come from as they are not allowed at camp. When I got closer I discovered it was an itty-bitty fawn. I didn't see the mother. The fawn seemed a little unsteady on its feet and had a difficult time crossing the asphalt and going under the guardrail. It is fun to live amongst all these creatures. You'd think I would be used to all the wildlife wandering around me each day, but it never ceases to amaze me. Everything is so pretty now as well. This is truly 'God's Country.'

Reed and I like to visit cemeteries and hunt for the graves of departed relatives and take pictures of the headstones. Several years ago we looked for the grave of one of Reed's great-great-great grandmothers who was supposed to be buried in Heber. We wandered the cemetery but didn't find her. We were unsure what name would be on the headstone because her maiden name was Amelia Brittingham but she had married 3 times. Was she listed under Gallagher, Neal, or Gray? Supposedly, the only man by whom she had children was Mr. Neal. Anyway, some of the missionaries up here are from Heber City. We were visiting with them one night in the Welcome Center when they had the night shift. We mentioned how we had tried to find the headstone of Amelia 'Somebody.' They asked us to provide them the information we had. Tonight they came knocking on our door with a map of the cemetery and the location of the grave highlighted. She is buried under the name of Amelia Gallagher. She is buried next to her first husband. I wonder why. Now I am curious about her life. Perhaps I can uncover her story. Maybe next p-day we'll go to the cemetery.

Most of the missionaries here are about the nicest people you'd ever meet. I am impressed by so many seemingly multi-talented individuals. Two weeks ago we had a presentation by one of the missionaries who is a photographer. The pictures were incredible. He says he has finally digitized 10-12,000 of his favorite pictures. He has published a 'coffee table' book of his work. He sells his pictures worldwide for use in calendars, company brochures, on wine bottles, in advertising etc. Last Saturday we had one of our elders tell his 'secret story.' Evidently he has been on many nationally aired TV shows. He had a 12 minute clip that he presents all over the country. Anyway he was well into adulthood, having a family of his own, and having built his own very large and successful tool and machining business, and never knew how to read. His wife knew of his inability to read before they were married but the secret was hidden so well that even his children were unaware until they were told when they were teenagers. When he was called to be bishop of his ward he finally told his Stake President. The Stake President's wife, who was a retired school teacher, ended up teaching him to read. She went to his home 5 nights a week for 5 years. This missionary put a different spin on his story for us than he does on national TV. He put in a plug for the church literacy program. It was a very interesting story.

Sometimes you might wonder about our mission. This camp was the vision of President Hinckley. He wanted a place where the Young Women of the church can come to get away from 'the world.' This camp has been called 'a temple in the mountains.' This is a place where they can have fun and have spiritual experiences as well. If one young woman is 'saved,' generations are saved. On our Challenge Course we have 7 different activities. Each one challenges the girls in different ways...maybe physically and maybe mentally. The activities are designed to build leadership, teamwork, cooperation, trust, etc. At the end of each activity we talk about the experience and ask the girls to tell what they learned. We ask what they could compare the experience to in their daily lives. For example, our 'big' activity is a giant swing. We put the girls in a harness and helmet and hook them up to a cable. We tie a munter hitch on a strap of webbing and have them hold the end of the webbing. They are told to hold it until we tell them to let go. Team members pull a rope that takes the girl clear up high against a large pine tree. When the webbing is released, the girl drops down and goes for a big thrilling ride. We talk about 'letting go' of things in life...bad habits, grudges etc. We draw comparisons about how when we let go of the rope we felt freedom and exhilaration. It is the same when we let go of things that bring us down in life. This morning a 12 year old girl came up to me later and said she had thought of another analogy in the giant swing. She said that her team members had pulled a rope to 'lift her.' She said we all need to lift and help others so they might reach their potential. She said they had done something for her she couldn't do herself and that she placed her trust in them that they would not let her down. I'd say that was pretty neat!

We have a missionary here by the name of Elder Felter. We call him Helter Skelter.

You can't believe the difference between groups of Young Women. Some are very well-behaved and nicely groomed but others look like they belong to a gang and are discipline problems. We had quite a rough bunch of young women and young men from Rose Park in Salt Lake who were here for Youth Conference. Two of the group tried to steal some of our stuff. Some days nothing goes right but other days everything goes great. Yesterday one of the young women told Reed he was a 'snot' because he asked her group to move to the next activity just when it was her turn to participate. Other young women come up and personally thank you. We even had a dinner invitation last week!