Letter #25
August 19, 2007
Dear Elder Roper,
So you’re baptizing in “sinful” water? Who was baptized there earlier? They must have really had some problems, right? What an experience! How are you enjoying your mission? Has your testimony of Jesus Christ and this important work grown? How do you feel about the Mexican people? What are the members like (other than a bit lazy)? Are they a happy people? Do they have testimonies? Do you feel the Lord’s Spirit in your church meetings? How many youth are there in your branch? Are you able to testify effectively now in Spanish? You don’t have to absolutely love the country you serve in, but you do have to love the people you serve because that’s what the Savior does. How are you supporting the branch presidency? Tell us more about your companion as well.
Liz cc’d me her letter and she has some great ideas for FHE games. Do you remember how to play “House of Fire”? You would need several pairs of dice, some paper, and pencils. Everyone sits four to a table with opposing plays as partners. One draws while the other takes a turn (with the opposing team) at throwing the dice. The first team to draw a house (1), door (2), two windows (two 3’s), a chimney (4), a walk way (5), and six children (6), yells “House of Fire”. (A double six burns their house down and they start over.) “Winners” move to the next table and “losers” change chairs so that they are on opposing teams for the next round.
Another game that we all played at Shauna’s only involved giving everyone paper and pencils. A word is called out and everyone has to write down 5 words that they think everyone else will write down. After a couple of minutes, one person starts by reading their words, one at a time. Everyone with the same word raises their hand. The number of raised hands is the points that each one with that word receives. After the first person finishes with their list, the next person goes through their list of “un-mentioned” words, until everyone has had a chance to finish their list. The person with the least number of points (or tied) gets a “strike”. The game ends when someone has accumulated three strikes. I bet this game would really help your Spanish!!
What about “Corks and Beans”? I bet you could find some corks, string, beans, dice, and a large cup on your P-day and put together a game quickly. The cup rotates around the circle and that person becomes the catcher. When a 7 or 11 is thrown, everyone tries to pull their cork out before the catcher “catches” them. That’s always a favorite with everyone, including smaller kids, and you can even involve up to around 10 people at once. (Hmmm…. Might be a good Christmas present for you!)
Well, the big news here, that you’ve probably heard about, is the Crandall mine disaster in Hunington, Utah. Two weeks ago, the mid-section of the mine collapsed (to put it mildly), trapping 6 miners. Then, on Thursday, during the horizontal rescue operation, another “bump” occurred killing 3 rescue miners. They started a 5th vertical hole yesterday, even though the previous 4 holes discovered that there wasn’t enough oxygen in the mine to sustain life. I mention the mine because I became involved Saturday evening in a possible rescue effort. Chet Ferry, who I knew from World Wireless and UII, received a call Friday night from a mine execute asking if he thought a remote car could be built in two days that could go 1800 feet down an 8 inch hole, traverse a mine tunnel possibly full of debris (including water), and return video images of what’s down there. (No problem, right???)
Well, Chet called Phil Bunker who talked with me Saturday night at the ward salmon fry along with Jim Macedoni, and so we got together that evening to brainstorm some. Then, on Sunday evening, (Brigham Young set the precedence for Sunday work when lives were involved,) we all went over to Rich’s old track by Der Weinerschnitzel, and met with the mine fellow, Gary, an R/C car specialist, Brett, and Gooch, the fellow Phil and I worked with on a latest project. We ended up in Spanish Fork at Brett’s home trying to dream up ways to get a “rock climber” R/C car compact enough to go down the 6 and 3/8 inch hole, use a fiber cable to send control commands down the 1800 foot hole to a 2.4 ghz radio what would send commands to the car, mount a video camera on the car that would broadcast a 900 mhz video signal back to an rf modem that would send the channel 3 video up an 1800 foot coax cable to a TV/DVD recorder/computer. Of course it is pitch black down there, so we would have to provide a light source for the video camera as well. The car along with antennas and receivers would have to be encased in a tube that could be lowered down the hole (about a 20 minute ride), deploy the car across the rubble from the drilled hole, and somehow from the top, send the car down all the many tunnels in the mine matrix. We built up a large pile of rocks on the ground and I took video of the car maneuvering over the rocks to send to the mine officials to see if it is a “go” to try and do this. What especially impressed me was that we stopped after a half hour of brain storming to pray and ask Heavenly Father for help that we might do something to help alleviate the pain and suffering of those trapped miners and their families – it was a very special and humbling experience. We are keeping things a bit hushed from the media – what they don’t need is another failure to report. Right now, it is a 50-50 chance of us being given the opportunity as the mine is mostly worked out right now and they are really seriously considered abandoning the rescue efforts and just putting a memorial headstone at the entrance to the mine.
Well, what else has happened? Monday after my last class, Bishop and I drove down to his family ranch in Grover. Tuesday morning, we drove to Capitol Reef and Upper Calf Creek Falls. It was a bit of a hike down to the falls, but well worth the effort. While the boys swam and cliff jumped into the upper pools, Mark Turner and others set up rappel lines over the falls down to a pool at the bottom – about a 100 foot rappel! It took quite a while but the boys really enjoyed the experience – pretty scary!!! Bishop and I left early to get supper ready. I prepared a Dutch oven dinner of chicken cordon bleu over rice, carrots, onions, smothered in sour cream and cilantro. (The aroma coming from the ovens was heaven!) The group was really late in getting back to the ranch because wouldn’t you know it, Hershel’s hair got caught in the ATC just a few feet from the pool at the bottom and so Mark had to rappel down to get Hershel unstuck! (The only disappointment was that Mark didn’t cut Hershel’s hair to get him loose!)
Wednesday, we drove to the road summit of Boulder Mountain with our mountain bikes and sent the young men off on a 20 mile, mostly down hike bike trek to Capitol Reef, while Bishop and I shuttled the vehicles down to the park. They all really enjoyed the trek except Jake Parker who tried to leave a pound of his flesh on the rocks! There were also several blown tires and a few other spills. When Bishop and I first drove to the park, it was blazing hot. But when we returned the second time (it was about a 2 hour round trip), it had just flash flooded and the washes were just clearing. The boys had a great time which enthusiasm wasn’t dampened with the delicious pulled pork supper cooked by the Teachers.
Thursday morning we drove back to Capitol Reef and up the Grand Wash (which had been closed the previous day because of flash floods). We had to wait at the entrance to the wash while a road grader finished re-constructing the road that had been washed out. We drove up the canyon for about a mile and then hiked up to Cassidy Arch. Cody Hale led the first group which somehow missed the turn-off sign and so that group added an extra mile to their hike. I must be getting too old for these things, because it scared me to death seeing all those young men so close to the edge of the arch! That afternoon, we stopped at the park (you probably remember that grassy area with picnic tables) and had lunch. I had sardines which grossed everyone out, but it was so good!!
Friday was another mis-adventure. We got off around 9:00 am and headed for Cottonwood Wash, which was supposed to be something close to the Black hole. (We had hoped all week that the weather would clear up so we could do the Black hole, but it was not to be!) Anyway, I was riding in Brother Rivest’s in the middle with Bruce Riddle riding shotgun. Suddenly, Joe Rivest was calling out Bruce’s name and shaking him. Joe pulled over and Bruce was totally unconscious and vomiting all over. (I had prepared breakfast and thought at first that I had killed him!) It took several minutes for Bruce to come too and after cleaning him up as best we could, they headed back to the ranch so that Trevor Willardson could take Bruce home. (Come to find out, Bruce had not been feeling well all night and had NOT eaten any of my breakfast – whew!!) When we all finally came together at the wash, it was late and clouds were forming in the west. Most of the boys were pretty apprehensive about entering the wash, especially since we had just had a devotional that morning where we talked about listening to the spirit and obeying leader’s advice. As it turned out, a couple of the boys really didn’t feel good about entering the wash, so I and Brother Parker drove them back to the ranch, while the rest of the group ventured up the wash. We stopped at the visitor center and ended up having a good time ourselves. As it turned out, rain did hit the group shortly after they entered the wash and they did high tail it out as quickly as they could and arrived back at the range not too long after us. I guess it turned out for the best although I really did not like the idea of splitting up the group they way they did. The rain did pickup in the afternoon and we ended up cooking our steaks on the grill outdoors in the rain. I had taken a large Rubbermaid bucket of my games and we all spent the rest of the evening (after our testimony devotional) playing games – until almost 1:00 am! They really had a good time.
Saturday morning, we cleaned up quickly as the reward was some more volleyball games. Amazing how Bishop’s ranch and volleyball just go together! On the way home, Rod Pulham’s truck blew a front tire – just typical for out trip! We really never did do exactly what we had planned and every day had some sort of crisis or challenge, but, this was a very successful long term camp – one that everyone will remember.
Well, that’s about it! Sunday’s sacrament meeting was enjoyable as Brother Giddins’ spoke (and sang) about forgiveness. We did learn that the Hill’s are not moving now. Yeh!! I guess the market has really plummeted and so they are going to sell their Heber home instead. We all took naps and then the family cooked dinner while I went with Phil. We are all doing well. Linda talked with Benjamin and I guess he’s not going to purse the church job as it’s just an IT position and he wants something more challenging and interesting. I haven’t talked with him, so I’ll have to catch up on things later. Gina arrived home Wednesday evening and had a wonderful time. It’s good to have her home. Shauna and Rich went to Sundance Saturday evening for their anniversary, so we kept their kids. When you return home, the biggest change you’ll find with be in these grandkids. We are planning on having Marie’s family over next Saturday, so I have some yard work to catch up on (along with work at BYU).
I’m so very thankful you are serving in Mexico. I have an undeniable witness of Jesus Christ’s divine mission and of the truthfulness of His restored church. I’m thankful for Joseph Smith – praise to that man – and of the prophetic calling of Gordon B. Hinckley. I am a very sinful man – mostly of omission – I should be doing so much more personally, with our family, and with my church callings. I’m grateful for you all and especially for Linda, my eternal companion. Believe me, she has the patience of Job when it comes to putting up with me. Work hard! Love the people! Pray continually that the Lord will lead your efforts. This is the most important work you’ve done so far in your life. Take advantage of this time to give 100% to the Lord and it will pay great dividends throughout eternity for you. I really do love you so very much.