October 2004 :Stevens Creek Party; Birthdays

October presents with three birthdays, including Charity Nov. 1; and Halloween activities.  The party at the ward (Stevens Creek) was documented by our camera.

Vern as a pirate

Caleb as Jedi Knight

Moriah as Dorothy

Mark as Sailor, Jeremy as Pirate

Kaylee as the Lion

Charity the maid

Jeremy, Tyler Gardner, Alex Struck

A hearty song

Caleb, Natalia

Charity, Jeremy, Caleb

Caleb, Charity and Pati

Miranda

Natalia turned19, first year at West Valley
The next day Jeremy turned 16
And a couple weeks later Charity turned 14.

Member Missionary Work

Missionary work is always easier and better with the help of members.  Members should be inviting their friends to hear the missionaries, and to attend church.  The success rate of missionary work is so much greater when the members are involved.  These are some of the handouts we made to encourage member-missionary work.

Missionary work is your responsibility

This is My work and My glory, to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man

Us and them: Because we were put to be a light to the world and to save men

Another tactic we used very effectively was to visit inactive members.  We would talk about how they felt when they were baptized and their testimony of the restoration and Joseph Smith.  (Very few people in Argentina were not converts to the gospel.)  We would then offer to bless their home with the priesthood.  We would then invite them back to church and also to provide referrals for us.  This was a very good tool to reactivate members and also gave us people to teach.

My Copicua (Palindrome) Collection

Copicuas (palindromes) were considered good luck, and so I kept all by copicuas and glued them in my journal.  Mathematically there is a copicua every 100 trips.  This represents 20 copicuas.  Calculating this was that would be 2000 bus trips.  I was in Argentina for 22 months.  That is almost 100 bus trips per month.  Some areas we rode bikes, and so traveled less on bus.  Every place I served we also used foot travel frequently.  I also traveled by train frequently, especially longer trips to down town Buenos Aires.  However in one area, Don Torcuato, we would often travel between two train stations which were in our area. 

This is not the only tradition about things that cross in Argentina.  There was a belief that while shaking hands with a group of four, and if you criss-crossed with some one of the opposite sex it meant "Casamiento" or marriage.  As Elders almost almost shook hands as a pair, you wouldn't believe how many times this happened, and how many teams we were teased about it. 

Poetry I Like: Marriage Poem

 Blaine and Brenton Yorganson from Ride the Laughing Wind

Marriage Poem:

O Great Tiaowa hear the voice we send, hear the voice we send at last as one.  Wa!

Give the love Between us tenderness.  Wa!
Give this love between us honesty.  Wa!
Give this love between us playfulness.   Wa!
Give this love between us power.   Wa!
Give this love between us excitement.   Wa!
Give this love between us meaning.   Wa!
Give all this love to us, we plead, forever.   Wa!

Missionary Journey to Argentina, 1977

When I flew to Argentina, it was after two months in the LTM (MTC).  We were shuttled to Salt Lake to catch the plan.  In those days, families were able to come and visit, and give a last goodbye.  The entire family was there. 

We went to Las Angeles for a layover.  During that layover we had the assignment to visit the Argentine Consulate to get our visas stamped.  We were lucky some of those with us lived in L.A. and their parents had come to visit them.  We were a group of about ten, and we piled in a couple of cars.  We accomplished our mission.  The consulate was across form the Abrea Tar Pits, so we were able to check them out from outside.  We also went to spend some time at the L.A. Temple grounds.

We flew on Branff Airlines to Argentina.  Ours was not a direct flight.  We flew to Lima Peru for a brief layover.  We never left the airplane during these stops.  We then flew to La Paz, Bolivia.  We crossed over Lake Titicaca, highest large lake in the world.  I remember we were so high up that the crystal in my watch popped out.  I grabbed it and pushed it back in, and never had any problem with it at lower elevation.  We also stopped at Asuncion, Paraguay.  I remember the airport there were armed military guards, which was strange to me.  The next stop was Montevideo, Uruguay.  And then the last leg was to Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  I could say I have been to all those countries, but in truth, with regards to Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay I have only seen the airport.  We would visit Peru on the way home.  The assistants to the president met us at Ezeiza and drove us to the mission home.

Me the Roofer

The summer before I graduated form USU, 1980, I went to Salt Lake to work with my Dad. school, my dad hired me to help him with his roof.  He was remodeling his home in Salt Lake City, and I spent much of he summer with him, when I wasn't busy with work in Hyrum. 
I had never done anything like this, but my Dad showed me how to use the shingling hammer, and move the supports as I needed to. 

 My Dad put in that front window, but the first window was defective, so he and I had to exchange it and put in another window.  We also remodeled inside, enlarging the bathroom, and moving the kitchen to make another bedroom.

That is me way up there

Trips to Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole

Through the years we have taken several camping trips to Jenny's lake.  One trip with many cousins we took a hike up the mountain, and got a ways before turning back.

Weldon

Family missing the older girls with Aunt Audrey, 1971?

Audrey and mom

One year we watched a street show in Jackson, with gun fighting and horses.  It was held right on the street.