Back to the Ranch

We left home on Sunday (Easter), April 16th.  Farwell Mesa for 4 months.

Leaving 90 degrees for 30 degrees.

We arrived at Deseret Land and Livestock Tuesday, April 18.  We had stayed in Saint George with Richard and Sherry Jensen (Debra's sister) on Sunday night and stopped in to see Jeff and Deb Cowen in Cedar city on Monday.  They were the directors last year and it was good to visit with them for a short time.

Debra with Deb and Jeff Cowen in Cedar City

We could not believe how much standing water is on the ranch from the huge snowfall they had this last winter.  There are lakes, streams, and water falls where we had never seen them before.  There is also lots of snow.  Some of the drifts are 6-8 feet deep.  Some of the roads on the ranch are not passable yet.

The waterfall behind missionary village

This is actually on trail 7 but now is a water crossing.  Thankfully the road is still passable.

We were the second trailer in and so we got the "best spot", the only problem was we needed to move lots of gravel to fill in the boggy, soggy ground!  As you can see from the picture one of the trailers got stuck up to it's axels.  We woke up to find it tipped toward our trailer about 1 foot away.  It took three trucks with chains (train style) to pull it out!  It was quite an exciting morning.

Our trailer is on the right.  It was quite a site to wake up to!

We woke up to snow on the ground only one morning so far, and the days have been quite nice, in the upper 40's and low 50's.  The snow is melting quite fast, but it will be late June to early July before the deep drifts will be melted!

The High Uinta Mtn. view from the ranch.

Our Wednesday morning walk.

All of us, including the Elders, did a clean up on the Wasatch exit of I 80.  Usually the sisters do that job, but there was so much garbage (4 pickup loads) we recruited the Elders.  It was much better for us and it was good for them to see what we Sisters do.

Elder Barton holding his size 13 boot find on garbage day.

Sister missionaries with 4 loads of garbage

We drove the 6 new missionary couples around some of the main roads to help get them acquainted with this 300,000 acre ranch.  I remember how overwhelmed we were last year so I feel for them.  We have some great couples and I am looking forward to this year serving with them.