Busily Engaged

Happy Birthday to Elise today.  The birthdays keep coming and the years keep going...

One evening this week we drove to Adrienne to pick up her metal trays that go in the Traeger that she'd donated to our cabin.  We were surprised and pleased to see Ila helping out her mom by bathing Cub.  She was very patient with him as he wanted to stand each time she layed him down to get him clean.  She patiently washed his face and hands and then got the shampoo out of the shower to wash his hair.  I didn't know a 6 year-old could be so capable.  Adrienne, in the meantime, was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner.  She said Ila is her best helper right now.  

This week we took Nick and Ori to the play School of Rock at the Centerpoint Legacy Theater.  Surprisingly, neither Roy nor I had seen the movie. I think this was one of my favorite plays ever.  There were a lot of talented young people in the play.  I'm guessing most of them were in Jr. High.  They used kids that could actually play the instruments: drums, electric guitar, bass guitar and keyboard.  They were amazing!  We left to the cabin a couple of days later and rented the movie on Amazon.  It was funny and cute, but it didn't surpass the play.  There may have been a lot of family members of the cast in the audience because there was a lot of energy in the theater.  If the audience is engaged, the play is bound to be better. 

 

Elise is home in Georgia now.  We felt a little bit cheated since her flight was cut short two days because of the Global IT crisis.  It is kind of scary knowing how much power technology has over our lives.  As I mentioned last week, Dan and Jieun and their family are in Boston.  I think they'll be home Tuesday, but in the meantime they're visiting lots of historic sites while they visit with Jieun's family.

Dan said they "caught two fish and a mermaid."

Hyeji said that Benjamim Franklin is her favorite diplomat from the 18th century.  She liked that he had approximately 10 bodies in his basement to use for research.  She also said they were already dead when he got them (thankfully!).

We've had so much fun this summer that I almost feel guilty that we took another weekend up to the Gorge.  Our excuse this time was that Thomas Draper, the young man that has worked for Roy the last year and a half or so, checking on our cabin and doing occasional chores, had his missionary farewell today.  It was a great meeting.  Thomas did a great job, and as a bonus, the two missionaries from the area both bore their testimonies.  The first young man had originally been sent to the Philippines.  I guess he struggled with emotional problems because he came home after 6 months.  He said that everyone would ask him when he was going back and he would answer, "I'll go back in my own time."  Then he said, "I kept saying, in my own time, not 'in the Lord's time.'"  His mission here is part of a service mission to prepare him to continue on to a proselyting mission in Denver, Colorado.  He told about his brother who took his own life while he (the missionary) was in high school and how that had affected his testimony for the good, as he watched his mother turn to the Savior in her grief.  It was a powerful talk and testimony.  The other missionary's talk was also excellent and he bore a strong testimony as well.  After returning to the cabin, we found our own Sacrament Meeting on Youtube, and listened to another farewell from a boy in our ward.  He's a great young man, but has had some struggles with anxiety, so I hope he can have the support he needs to succeed in his mission.  Our 2nd speaker was Bro. Keith Erekson.  He works in the history department of the church and he spoke of a special meeting, held in 2022.  He said very few people were invited and President Nelson's remarks on covenants were more succinct and clear than usual.  The main point was that our covenants are not a checklist to be marked off.  They are an ongoing comittment to our Savior.  We are being invited to grow closer to Jesus Christ.  Bro. Erekson said that the talk is still a well-kept secret because it's published in a magazine that most church members will never see:  The October 2022 issue of the Liahona.  It was a joke but it does have some truth to it.  I order the magazine so I'll be reminded to read it, but I still usually see only a few articles per month.  I'm going to go back and read this article, though!  
Saturday night there was a free concert in the rodeo arena.  Someone had built a stage for the show.  It was emphasized it was built for the occasion, not ordered.  Then the stage was donated to the band.  This band travels around the state to talk to youth about excellence.  We didn't arrive in time to hear the speaker.  The concert was a lot of fun with a lot of well-known country hits, as well as some songs the entertainer had written himself.  He gave me a CD for admitting I wasn't really into country music.  He then played a song and asked me who the artist was.  I knew the song, but the name of the artist wouldn't come to my mind (because of the pressure, I'm sure).  It was pretty embarrassing because it was Kenny Roger's singing "The Gambler."  After the concert they had a dance in the arena.  We watched for a little bit and then went home so I could wind down for bed.  I don't sleep well if I don't have wind down time.

 

The (electric) violinist at left was fabulous.  She played an amazing rendition of "The Devil went down to Georgia."  I've had that sheet music and it's hard.  She was a music major at BYU.  The singer next to her is Charley Jenkins.  He said he's from the Uintah Basin (Roosevelt).  One of the band members had previously played bass guitar on the road with Aeorosmith, but quit to spend more time with his family.  

Besides the excellent concert, the clouds put on a beautiful show for us.  You can just make out the rainbow in this picture.  

Sunday evening Crista and Matt arrived to the cabin in time for dinner.  Roy will take them on the boat tomorrow, weather permitting, then we'll head home to our responsibilities.  Crista will stay on for a few more days.  I'll share a couple of pictures from our time with Crista in next week's letter.