El Deric

Deric got another transfer. He moved on Wednesday, June 16th to a town called Sonaguera. It is a 5 hour bus ride east from San Pedro Sula. I found it on the map, but Deric was still lost and not about to try to describe exactly where he lives. He said that it is one of the roughest areas in the mission. I guess they haven't had any baptisms in quite some time and there is no teaching pool to speak of at the moment. Deric left 10 progressing investigators in his last area. That area had been nearly dead when he got there, too. I told Deric that his mission president has a whole lot of confidence in him so it is time to get to work. I have no doubt that he will.

YW Camp

Last week was YW Camp. I actually spent the entire week at Camp Stimson. I have always had to make at least one trip back to Las Vegas during the course of the week, but not this year. I worked with the Level 2 girls. Rachel Van Orman was the level leader and Shaylee Ray and Holly Best were the junior leaders. We had 23 girls with us. It was a blast. Rachel brought her generator and her popcorn and snow cone machines. I made 3 batches of salsa. We ate trail mix and licorice and scones and hot chocolate. Instead of losing weight like I usually do when I go to the mountains, I think I must have gained some. We ate really good in our level. Of course, I did lots of braids during the week. I think that once the girls find out that someone can braid hair, they all want to be that person's best friend.

And some other news...I told the stake leaders that I do NOT hike. Well, after our adventure in Kolob, I decided that I could do it. And I did. I was the slowest one on the hike. I was the last one back to camp, but I didn't die and we didn't need the air rescue patrol. I was tired and hot and dirty, but I proved to myself that I can do what I set my mind to.

I am at Felycia's apartment in St. George doing this update, so I don't have my camp photos with me. I'll will have to post them when I get back to Las Vegas.

Adventures at Mt. Charleston

Well, another first for me this week...

I've never been to set up girls' camp in the SNOW!!!

We went up to Stimson to set up. It was cold and cloudy when we got to the mountain. It started to HAIL and RAIN. It did that off and on until we were done getting the things done that we needed to. Then, we drove up the hill. At the top, it was SNOWING! It rained most of the way to town. We were pretty sure it would be sunny in the valley, but we had little sprinkles of rain at times for most of the day. It started to clear in the evening and made for a gorgeous sunset.

I can't believe that it was only a week ago that we hit 110* and today we didn't even see 80* in the valley. I hope it warms up for next week. I don't like camping anyway, but cold weather camping will be even worse. It's been crazy weather this year.

Adventures on Kolob

On Monday afternoon, Conrad and I drove up to Kolob to where our scouts were having their camp with the Canyon Gate ward. It was a beautiful drive and the weather was wonderful. However, I forgot to take the camera so we didn't get any pictures. Conrad did a fireside and we prepared to leave so that we could get off the mountain before it got dark. You know how it goes with the best laid plans...

We started out and we were just chatting and driving along. We came to a slight incline that was muddy. Before we knew it, the front passenger side tire was spinning in the mud. We were totally stuck. Conrad got out and found some rocks to try to shove them in enough to get traction to get out. We tried going forward. We tried going backward. Nothing worked. By this time, it was getting dark. At least we had a flashlight and we were wearing our hiking boots. At 9:45 pm Utah time, we decied we were going to have to walk back to the camp to get help. It took about 45 minutes to walk back on the road through the mud and trees. I just kept telling myself that I can do hard things.

Once we got back to the camp, Brother Thorley thought that his big truck would be the best one to use to get us out. He got in and started backing up, but the back passenger side tire wasn't moving. At least Brother Een was there to figure out the problem and get it fixed. Apparently, the emergency brake wasn't releasing on that tire. Once that was fixed, we headed back to the truck to pull it out. Brother Thorley said it was about 1.5 miles. Conrad got the tow strap out and Brother Een hooked it between the two trucks. Brother Thorley started backing up and pulled our truck right out. They got the tow strap out and Conrad started back up the hill. I think if it had just been dirt-mud, we would have been okay. But it was clay-mud. It's much more slippery. So, after determining the best was to get up the hill, Conrad gunned the engine and took off...and slid into a different rut. He was able to rock the truck and get out without help this time. Brother Thorley said there was one more place that could give us trouble so he followed us out to Kolob Reservoir Road.

Because we are so smart, we decided that for time it might be faster to go the north route and head up the dirt road to Cedar Canyon. Little did we know that it would take an hour and a half to get to the road. By the time we got to St. George, it was 1 in the morning.

We finally pulled up in front of our house at about 2:15 am. Needless to say, I didn't make the 6:30 am temple session for girls camp the next morning. We sure made a memory, though.

Conrad took the photos of the truck, the clothes on the driveway, and the flashlight on Tuesday morning before he went to work. I took the picture of Conrad at 2:30 am. The truck photos were after the drive home. Most of the mud had vibrated off by then.

These are now work clothes.

The flashlight did come clean. We took out the batteries and just washed it under running water.

News from the College Ward

Felycia has a new calling. She is the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society in her new college ward. She is working with some fun girls. The advisor is from Ivins. Felycia is excited about working in Relief Society. She is learning more and more about what the purposes of Relief Society really are.