My parents are serving an LDS Service Mission at Heber Valley Camp. Here's what they've been up to:
Email
from July 19, 2014
Just
wanted to drop you all a note to let you know we are safe from the
"Rainbow" group that is holding their annual meeting up here above
our camp. Their camp is a little southeast of our camp on forest land.
There are two other
girls camps which are on the direct route to this group's camp which have been
temporarily closed. The Church has moved all the girls into our camp as
well as some of the missionaries who were serving there. The Church has
beefed up security to protect these camps from looting.
As far as our camp is
concerned, security has been beefed up as well, in fact all of the missionaries
here at camp - not just those serving on the security team - have been asked to
serve four hour shifts of "guard duty" in addition to our regular
assignments. This extra protection is 24/7. (THE CHURCH EVENTUALLY HIRED A SECURITY COMPANY TO PATROL DURING THE NIGHT HOURS) All the signs for Heber
Valley Camp have been covered by tarps, and guards are now posted at the bottom
of the hill by Timber Lakes Chapel, midway up the mountain at a place called
Hall Road, as well as the regular Welcome Center at the actual entrance to
camp. There were two more entrances to camp that border Timber Lakes, but
those are now being guarded by Timber Lakes residents.
Dad and I pulled our
guard duty Tuesday night from 5-8 during the snowstorm we had up here (yes it
snowed in June - 5 inches to be exact). We didn't see any "rainbow
hippie like" people though, just a beautiful snow storm.
We are serving at this
camp which was dedicated by a Prophet of the Lord. Heavenly Father is
mindful of us as missionaries, as well as all those who come to this camp, so
we are certain we are safe - but precautions are being taken all the same.
Continue to keep us in your prayers and know that we love you!
Love,
Mom & Dad
Excerpts from Newsletter Dated June 23-June 29
A Day in the Life of an HVC Missionary
Thought you might be
interested in what our days are like up here on the Mountain:
Monday – This is our P-day. We spend most of the day doing our wash so we
will have clean clothes to wear, we try to see as many family members as we can
before heading back up on the mountain, and lastly, we always stop at Walmart
in Heber and do our grocery shopping for the week. Up at camp, the Young Women begin to arrive
about 10:00 am. We haven’t seen it, but
I guess cars and buses are lined all the way down the parkway leading to camp
– an incredible sight to see.
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday -
Our day begins when the alarm
goes off at 6:15 am. We begin with
scripture study and a prayer, then shower, dress, eat breakfast, and pack a
lunch for the day. We have been rotating
through the different challenge courses for now, but should receive a
permanently assigned course in a week or so.
We have to be on challenge course by 8:15, so we hop into the 4-wheeler
about 8:05 and head out for the course.
Once we get to the
course, Dad helps get the belay rope ready, as well as the ropes for the lower
courses. Mom helps set out the harnesses
and helmets as well as makes sure the course is clean and ready to go. We then have a thought and prayer with the 6
missionaries that will be working the course that day. About 8:45 the young women and their leaders
begin to arrive on course. Once they are
all there, we have an opening (we all take turns opening and closing the
sessions), one of the young women offers a prayer, and then the fun
begins. A little over 3 hours later the
girls have all been on the high challenge as well as six lower challenge courses. We have a short closing and another prayer
and then that group of girls go back to their camp. We have a break of anywhere from 30 to 45
minutes, we eat a quick lunch, and then the second group of the day arrives and
we do it all over again. Once the second
group of girls leaves, we put everything away, tidy the course and then go home
– it’s usually about 5:00 pm when we get back home. Once we’re home, we eat supper and then
usually read for a few hours before going to bed. We are tired from our work on the challenge
course, so most nights we find ourselves in bed about 9:00 – that’s after
nodding off while trying to read.
We love working with
the Young Women during the week – they are always so happy and uplifting. Yes a few of them are scared to death to do
the high challenge, but we ask that they challenge themselves to do a hard
thing, even if the hard thing for them is just putting on a harness and
helmet. As we bear testimony to them
that they CAN do a hard thing, the Spirit is so strong that sometimes Mom feels
like crying, but then you know Mom, it doesn't take much to get her crying.
Friday – All the
Young Women leave camp Friday morning, so we get to sleep in. We get up about 8 or so, have prayer and
scripture study, shower, dress and eat breakfast. Friday is house cleaning day, but after
that’s done we will quite often go for a ride on the 4-wheeler. There are some awesome trails that only we
missionaries can ride on, and each time we do we are amazed at the beauty of
God’s creations!
We eat lunch
about noon and then head off for our Challenge Course Team Meeting at
1:00. This is a weekly meeting of all
the challenge course missionaries (20 couples plus the Team Leaders) to discuss
issues relating to the challenge courses and to get our schedules for the
following week. Once this meeting ends,
it’s back to our challenge course where we set up for families and youth groups
for two sessions – 3:30 to 5:30 and 6:00 to 8:00. It’s usually about 8:30 by the time we get
home Friday night – and boy are we tired!
Saturday – We’re up at 6:15 again
ready to be on course by 8:15. We run
two challenge course sessions for families and youth groups – 9:00 to 11:00 and
11:30 to 1:30. We then take down the
course and head for home. At 5:00, the
families of the missionaries come up to camp, and by 5:30 we might be running
some of them on our challenge course. If
we have missionary families, we go back to the course about 5:00 and set it up
all over again, run however many they have, then take the course back down
again and head for home after another fun-filled day!
Sunday – This is a day
of rest – at least from the work on the challenge course. Church starts at 10:00 and we meet in the
main pavilion at Camp Hinckley. It is a
little cold and breezy, but oh what beautiful scenery we have – better than any
stained glass windows! Church ends at
1:00 and then we head home to change back into our camp uniforms for the next
meeting of the day which begins at 2:30.
We have either a Missionary Meeting with all the missionaries here at
camp and the camp leadership, a potluck dinner, or a District Meeting – we have
all been divided into 8 districts.
Once the second meeting of the day
ends, about 3:30 or so, we can head down off the mountain to begin our
P-day. This change will take place this
week because we used to have two meetings after church that didn't start till
3:30 and end about 6:00.
The Lord’s Tender Mercies (by Dad)
We
have wondered why we were called to serve on the Challenge Course Team. If you will remember, the sister missionaries
are required to climb the high challenge and sit in the Eagle’s Nest for 3
hours while they connect people to the zip line. Mom’s doctor told her she could not climb
because of all her artificial joints, so therefore, she can’t work in the
nest. Mom has felt bad about this and
felt like she was not magnifying her calling as a challenge course
missionary. Well this past week there
was a YW leader at our challenge course who had two artificial hips and she was
feeling very discouraged about life in general.
When asked if she would like to do the high challenge, she replied that
she couldn't because of her hips. I
sensed she was discouraged so I sent her over to talk to Mom. In talking with this sister, Mom learned that
she had pretty much given up on life.
She used to run and bike, but now felt like she was useless. When mom told her that she had surgeries for
two knees, four hips, two thumbs and a shoulder, this sister couldn't believe it. She was surprised that we were even
on a mission – she had crossed that possibility off for herself. Mom told her that she needed to stop dwelling
on what she couldn't do and instead be grateful for what she could do. Mom then pointed out some of the positives in
this sister’s life. The sister thanked mom for being a positive role model and
for taking the time to help her see life differently. One of this sister’s friends came up to Mom
and thanked her for talking to and encouraging this troubled sister. We believe the Lord knew this sister would be
on our course that day. He also knew
that Mom would be able to touch her heart in some small way, and that Mom, too,
would find peace in knowing she was called to the challenge course team for a
reason. For that we are grateful.
Well
– that’s our week – sorry it was so wordy. Missionary service keeps us pretty busy, but
we love it. We are so grateful that we
can serve a mission here at this beautiful camp. We feel Heavenly Father blessing us each day
to stay healthy and strong so that we can complete our assignments.
Remember
we love you and are grateful for the prayers you offer up in our behalf!
Love,
Elder
& Sister Luke (aka Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa)
Excerpts from Newsletter Dated June 30-July 6
Special Experience of the Week (by Mom)
Each challenge course here at camp has two journals, and each week as the young women are on our course, we ask them to write something in the journal if they would like to. Well this week, one young woman wrote that Elder Luke was her “new best friend” because he had helped her get up the cargo net and over the footbridge so she could go down the zip line. I feel so blessed to be serving with this wonderful man. You all know how he likes to tease, but at the same time make you feel loved. That is how he interacts with the young women who visit our course – he gives them encouragement when the going gets rough and tells them they “can do this hard thing”. When they have met their challenge – whatever it may be - he lets them know he is proud of them. Dad will always be my “best friend”!
Yep-That's my Awesome and Amazing parents for you. They're having a blast!
I miss them like crazy.
