A modern day miracle

Some of you may be aware that in 2007 there was a serious wildfire in the area of Cove Fort. What you may not be aware of is that the fort and our RV park were threatened and abandoned for a period of time. There were many brave firefighters who worked to save structures in the area. The fire came within just a few yards of the RV park, in fact the park owners home at the park was destroyed. What is truly amazing is that the RV park, all the missionary trailers there, and Cove Fort were not burned. Below are some photos that show trees that burned less than 50 yards from our bathroom and shower facility and less that 100 yards from the trailers. It is my understanding that as the fire approached the RV park, the wind suddenly changed  directions and all were saved. In my book, that is a modern day miracle.

A good view of trees that burned in close proximity to the restroom/shower facility and trailers

Another view of a burned tree near shower. Note  our trailer is the last one on the left

Looking from the restroom at trees that were burned in the 2007 fire.

Things are not always as they seem

A week or so ago I was doing a tour with a couple and their son. The man looked like mountain man Grizzly Adams. They live in Southern California and are pretty much off the grid. As they progressed through the tour, they really enjoyed all the pioneer items like the wood burning stove in the kitchen. As we concluded the tour, I took the opportunity to offer them a copy of the Book of Mormon. I fully expected them to not be interested..........Bad on me. The wife said, I would love a copy. I said, will you read it? She said, yes, I had a Book of Mormon when I was young, but my stepmother took it away from me and threw it away.

Every day we have experiences with folks and we never know how much if any impact we have on their lives. I do know this, we try to touch everyone in a positive manner.

Last week we had a great visit from some dear friends. A family from our ward stopped by for a tour with Sister Heninger. It was fun to have someone from home visit. We miss all our friends and family, however, we are having a great experience here at Historic Cove Fort.

It was fun to see the Says

Remember the quilt

This post is especially for my children and grandchildren.

In one of the bedrooms at Cove Fort is an interesting quilt. I like to tell a story about this quilt that I think applies to each one of us in our lives.

It seems  that a family decided to make a beautiful red and white quilt for their bed. As winter was approaching, they knew that they would need the quilt to stay warm during the harsh winter weather. They started with a plan. They would make it red and white with some beautiful squares that they cut out. As they proceeded, everything was going very well until they were about 2/3 finished with the quilt and they discovered that they had run out of red material. There were no stores near by where they could buy more red material. They had a dilemma. Do they finish the quilt with different material or do they just give up? There was really no question as to what they would do. They needed a quilt, so they used the material available and finished the quilt.

The quilt was unique and looked different from what they originally planned, but it was warm and cozy and really did the job of keeping them warm.

This is much like our lives. We plan to do certain things, to study certain subjects in college, or to pursue a certain career. Sometimes life throws us a curve ball and things do not work out as we planned. Does this mean that we have failed. Of course not.

When I was in college, I planned to be a successful businessman. I wanted to eventually own my own business. At that time, there was a war going on and I had to choose to join the military or be drafted into the military. I chose to join the Air Force ROTC, become an officer and pilot. It changed my whole career path. I never envisioned flying as a career, but that is what happened. Do I regret it?  Never, it was not my original plan, but it worked out well and I am grateful for my life.

Alma, the prophet while talking to one of his sons said, "I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up a the last day." What he did not say is that if you trust in God, you will not have any trials, or troubles, or afflictions. We all have our fair share of those. If we trust in God and press forward with steadfastness, things will work out. Do not give up. Do not ever give up.

Please children and grandchildren, you cannot fail if you do not give up.

Remember the quilt!

Remember the Quilt

Prairie Diamonds

One of the things we do as we take folks through the fort is to try to share a spiritual message, an object lesson, or something else of value. We are not here to be tour guides. That is why we do not have a script and if you take a tour with 10 different missionaries, you will get ten different stories. Seldom are two of my tours even close to the same. It is really interesting to feel the promptings about what to share with each different person as they come through the fort. Some listen and participate intently while others could really care less. They are simply tolerating the rest of the family or group. It is surprising how often someone who initially tells us they only have a few moments ends up staying for more than an hour. This place simply grabs some people. It is really amazing. They often do not know what they are feeling as we progress through the fort. I  had a group the other day that was a great example. It was two couples, the wives were sisters. One couple was from Iowa and the other was from Ohio. They were a good group but as we progressed through the fort they really became interested. I shared some special experiences and they really soaked it in. By the time we finished, we had spent two hours together and they accepted two Books of Mormon with commitments to read them.

Another fun thing that we do when we find out a couple are newlyweds is we have a little ceremony. It involves a horseshoe nail bent like a ring. We refer to it as a prairie diamond. When we discover that a couple are newlyweds, we make the man get on one knee, read a statement about the pioneers, the meaning of the prairie diamond, and give the ring to his wife. It is often a very emotional experience following the tour and discussion about the hardships of the pioneers. I have had three such couples in the past couple of weeks. It has been really fun to share this moment with them.

A couple of weeks ago, a couple came to the fort for a tour. I was not sure in the beginning if they were a couple, friends, or whatever. As time went on and they started to warm up, I decided that they were probably a couple who were members of the church but were not active. As we were about half way through the rooms on the tour, another couple approached with another missionary. The two women looked at each other and then burst into tears and embraced. As it turned out, the couple I was with were newlyweds of about one month and the women that she had embraced had been like a "2nd mother" to her as she grew up. Apparently, she was a very dear friend or neighbor of the girl when she was young and had long since moved away to Arizona and they had lost touch. Both had ended up at Cove Fort on the same day at the same time.  One thing that I learned later was that the young couple I was escorting had driven past the Fort and had turned around for reasons they were not sure of to come to Cove Fort. As we sat together in the Ira Hinckley cabin, I explained to them, "It was no coincidence that you came to Cove Fort today." It was a very special experience for the young women as she introduced her new husband and shared that they had just gotten married the previous month.

These "coincidences" are not unique for us at Cove Fort. They happen frequently.

Newlyweds mentioned above

The Prairie diamond

The groom reads this to his wife

Family Visitors and More Family Visitors

We have had another good week. We had a busy day yesterday with a number of special visitors. It started in the morning with a visit from RoLayne's sister Jacque and Carl with son Steven. They were on their way from Parker, Co to Provo 's for grandchildren graduations.We took them on a tour of the fort and had a nice visit. Later in the afternoon Diane and Brent Glenn, Jacque's daughter, and their family stopped by on their way from St. George home. We had a great visit and another family tour. Finally, about 5:00PM RoLayne's brother Dave and his wife Mary stopped by on their home from their mission in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful day. We look forward to many of you stopping by as well.

The Lawsons  with Sister Heninger

Diane and Brent's cute family

4 missionaries during a blizzard at the Fort

Still no letters from home......

It has been almost two weeks since my last post. We have been very busy and when we come home we are very tired. It seems like what we do most is work and sleep We had some very  busy days followed by some very slow days.

Yesterday I did back to back tours during my entire shift. The day before I did one tour. When it is slow it gives us a chance to get to know the other missionaries and to study more about Cove Fort and all that happened here.

Last Wednesday, April 12 we were on the late shift and it was a little slow. A large 18 wheeler pulled into our RV parking area and was just sitting there idling for about 30 minutes. I decided to walk down there and see what was going on. As I got down near the truck, a gentleman jumped out and walked over towards me. He was very apologetic saying that he was trying to get to the rest stop at the Chevron station about a mile down the road but that he had run out of time and had to stop. He asked if it would be ok to stay where he was until about 1:00AM when he could drive again. I told him that he was fine there. We struck up a conversation and I found out he was a Muslim from Nigeria. He said that he believed in Christ. As we talked, I found him to be incredibly nice and a very interesting person. I said to him, since you are stuck here for the next several hours, would you like a tour? He said yes he would like that. I gave him the full tour. We talked about some of our beliefs, including the Book of Mormon. When we finished, I offered him a book of Mormon which he gratefully accepted and said he would read it. As we walked back to the offices, he said, I think God sent me here! Below is a picture of Bella, my new friend. He told me, you will be hearing from me. I hope we do. We often  have some very spiritual experiences with both members and those not of our faith.

Bella and me. I am not very good at selfies

Last week Lisa, Eric, and Jensen stopped by for a tour as well.

Missionaries with the Wood Family

Lisa showing her skill with the stick and ring

The weather here is very unpredictable and changes frequently. The wind blows a lot and very hard.

We are having a great time here. I got my hair cut yesterday in Beaver. The barber was a wonderful man named Doug. The shop reminded me of  the barber shop on the Andy Griffith show in Mayberry. He did a fine job and the cut was only $10.

Below are the mailboxes for the missionaries. We check them every day but still, no one has written.

Add caption

An amazing Place

Well, we have been at Cove Fort for a week now and we have already discovered that this is a very special  place. We have had a number of really spiritual experiences that have uplifted us and helped us go forward.

First things first. We arrived here last Tuesday evening after finishing a wonderful experience at the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC).

We had Wednesday to shop and get unpacked and it took the entire day to get things organized. We drove to Richfield, about 37 miles away for groceries.

Thursday was our first day at the Fort. We had lunch with the site director and his wife, along with six other new couples. They were so busy that we cut the lunch short and had to go out and help with tours. RoLayne and I each shadowed someone for a couple of tours then we were on our own starting Friday. Thursday, there were more than 840 guests through the fort. That is more they we usually get on a summer day and we are not yet fully staffed. It was really crazy all weekend. They have already had more than 5,000 guests through the fort this month and it is only the 11th of the month. The best month in the summer is usually about 12,000. Things are looking like it will be a busy summer.

Thursday is our P-day for April and I can tell you we are looking forward to it as we come home tired every day. Our shifts are 6 hours but everyone has been working extended hours the past few days, some a lot more that us.

We have also had a bit of excitement. Saturday night it snowed about 4-5 inches. Sunday night it looked like it was going to freeze so I left a small stream of water running in  the kitchen sink. I thought about opening the holding tank drain, but checked and found it was empty so thought I had plenty of capacity. WRONG! I woke up about 6 am and heard water on water instead of water on the bottom of the sink. I got up and the sinks were full and had run over and soaked the carpet. We spent several hour sopping up the water and then used a rug doctor from the fort to get more water out. We then put a big fan on for the day and night. We are almost back to normal in the trailer.

Sunday they had a pot luck at the fort with all the missionaries to break our fast and last night one of the missionary couples fixed a southern meal for the entire group for FHE. It was really fun and we are getting to know all the great missionaries here.

A couple of interesting experiences:

Saturday, there was a lady who got out of the car and raced to the bathroom. One of the supervisors tried to query her about a tour. The supervisor got the impression she was only interested in the restrooms. Her husband got out of the car and started strolling around waiting for his wife. I said, I will go out and talk with him. The supervisor said, I do not think they are interested. I approached  the husband and said, Good Morning, I am Elder Heninger. He shook my hand and said, Hello, I am Elder Pilz, an area seventy from Germany. Needless to say, they were interested in a tour.

Today, I took two grandparents and their three grandchildren on a tour. They live in Richfield and came over to let their grandchilren see the fort. As we talked, I discovered that he had served in the air force at the Air Force Academy and they had lived  in Colorado Springs for 30 some years. They moved back to Richfield just a couple of years ago. I told them that we had a daughter who lived in Colorado Springs for a few years. The wife ask what their last names were. I said Schoonmaker, the wife immediately said, Kim and Ben. They lived in our ward. It turns out that Kim also knows the parents of the grandchildren. Coincidence? I don't think so. We  have too many of those here.

RoLayne has done really well and is enjoying the experience. She even gave away her first Book of Mormon yesterday to a lady from Ridgefield, WA, about 15 miles from our home.

We have both had some real spiritual experiences here with folks as we share our testimonies. We would love to see  you if you have some time. We hope that you are all doing well.

Sunday morning at our home

Sunset at the fort

Sunday Afternoon at the fort. Much of the snow has melted

I will include a few pictures for your enjoyment.