The Wall

We have this really cool activity on CC2 called the wall.  It is about 12 feet high and all the girls have to get over it.  We use the scenario that this is the Berlin wall and you want to join your extended family so that you may practice religious freedom.  You have 15 minutes before the guard returns with his guard dog.  Your whole family has to get over before that time.  The problem is that the last girl has no one to help her over.  It is sort of dangerous, so I get right in there and help with the spotting.

I had a really spiritual experience last week, as one of the girls who was last could not get over.  She started crying saying she could not get over and please don't leave her.  The facilitator did an awesome job asking them about doing proxy and doing work for the dead.  They then all gave her a helping hand and helped her over.  I was quite emotional!  The spirit has been very strong this week with girls and even the families.  I have a picture but can't figure out how to blur out the girls faces, so I can't post it.  I will try to add it later.

Saturday looked like a beautiful day, but then all of the sudden it started raining pretty hard.  We thought it would just pass over, so Elder Duerden and Elder Asay just kept balaying and didn't go get their rain jackets.  But it didn't stop and pretty soon they were drenched.  The participants were drenched also, but we always keep going unless we have lightning, and there wasn't any.  I was in the nest with an umbrella propped at the top of the pole, so I didn't get wet. (You can see the large raindrops)  The good thing about the rain is that it makes the zip line faster, and I was able to touch the pole when I came out of the nest.  I have tried and tried and have not been successful until that time.

This is Sister Monfredi having a good time!  We often show the young women how to fly to help them understand how safe it is and help them overcome their fears.

Wildlife Update

Here is a picture of the robins in the front of our trailer.  It looks like there are 2 baby birds.  The mother gets pretty upset when we try to look in at the nest.  Steve just sticks his phone inside and takes a picture.

We have seen a few new fawns.  They are so cute, at this young age they are spotted.  The other day we were driving down the parkway when a mother and her young fawn ran across the road.  We pulled over as they were headed up the hill.  The fawn immediately dropped to the ground and you couldn't see her, she was covered by the grass.  Steve walked up the hill and took her picture.

A Little Shade

It seems like the weather is a lot warmer this year.  It could be that we are serving on CC2 and it is not set in the shade like CC1 is.  So they ordered a shade for us and it was quite a project getting it up.

Elder Duerden had to climb all the way to the top of the pole hooked in on rabbit ears to get the first corner secured.

 Elder Adams was an electrician before he retired.  He knew how to run the lift and get the second corner of the shade secured high up in a tree.

Elder Adams

Securing one more corner in the tree

In the early evening, the belayers are looking straight into the sun, and it makes it difficult to see the connections.  During the day, the young women sit in the shade of the tarp.  It's nice to have a little relief.

Timber Moose Lodge

On Sunday, June 12th, we were invited to the Timber Moose lodge for a pot luck dinner.  We were also invited last year.  It's fun to be with the missionaries and see this awesome lodge.  I took some of the same pictures, you will notice it is a little greener around the lake than last year.  Thanks to the Evan's family who own the lodge.

Looking out of the tower to Legacy Lake in Heber Valley Camp

ATV Parking

You can see the timbers for their very large swing

Young Women

This last week was our first week with young women in camp.  What a beautiful spirit they bring to the mountain.  Elder Duerden moved the main bench where the girls sit once they have been harnessed and are ready to go so that he can hear them sing while he is belaying.  

We have a wonderful team, the Monfredi's, the Adam's and the Asays.  Sister Asay is having surgery tomorrow for a tumor on her knee.  We will be so glad when she is well and can join us again.

We have already had some spiritual experiences and love the wonderful things that happen here at camp.  Our Heavenly Father loves every one of us!  We are so grateful for this time in our lives.  It is going by so fast!

Lined up at the welcome gate

I am in the nest taking pictures of the young women getting on their harnesses

Elder Duerden and Elder Asay taking a little break!

Barbecue and more animals

After a day working on course, Elder Simonsen invited us to a barbecue.  He brought up his large barbecue, and invites a few people to bring their own meat and anything else you might have like a pot luck.  

This evening was quite enjoyable.  After dinner, we got out all the fire pits and sat around telling stories, including Chuck stories!  Elder Powell brought his guitar out and sang some pretty funny songs!  We had a great big bull moose join us in the distance.  It was a great evening and only the cold chased us back to our RVs.

Last year about half way down the parkway, was a large nest with a red tailed hawk.  This year, an owl mother decided to call it home until her 3 young ones were old enough to fly.  We took the binoculars down to see, it was awesome!  Elder Moretti has a camera with a big lens and he shared this picture with me.

We had a robin trying to build a nest in the king pin of our 5th wheel.  We got rid of it at least 3 times and finally decided to let it be.  She is sitting on the nest now, and I'm sure we will have baby birds soon.

Our friends tell us this is a rock chuck.  Interesting looking animal.  We sure have seen a diversity of animals this year.

Challenge Course 2

When we first came up to camp, we were asked to be on Challenge Course 1.  We were not asked to be course leaders, which was hard at first, but we settled in right away.  We were on CC1 last year and loved it, and we would be with the Simonsens again, which was great!

The Wintertons were assigned course leaders on CC2.  Then Sister Winterton got hurt and the church would no longer let her be on CC2 because of liability issues.  So, we were then asked to be leaders on CC2.  It's sort of interesting, I had a feeling we would be on CC2 this year.

We give everyone a high 5 as they leave the course

This was a home schooled group that came the first of the week

We have been losing a lot of sleep and working hard to get the course going, including training the new missionaries.  It's a lot more work that I would have thought.  We want to make it a great year and pray all the missionaries will have the same kind of wonderful experiences like we had last year.