MARTINS COVE 6/21/09

Hi to all our special and beautiful friends and family,

Another great and interesting week here on the high plains of Wyoming. One day we have a special experience working in the Cove talking to the hundreds of wonderful young people dressed in the pioneer attire and being able to tell them all about the pioneers who passed this way, the next day we are assigned to cleaning the many restrooms located throughout the site, then the next day sister Leavitt is working in the office and I am running a motor grader smoothing out the many pot holes in all of the roads caused by all the rain. All in all, the whole place is running like a fine tuned machine even though the leadership is probably pulling their hair out because half of us old folks are borderline senile, and the other half are hard of hearing, and they have me on both counts, but we just keep plugging along as if we had better sense.

On the serious side, we did have one missionary who had to be flown by helicopter into Casper for a heart problem. While he was here he kept passing out and they couldn't figure out what was causing it. As it turned out one of the trek groups visiting at the time had a Cardiologist with them as well as a cardiac nurse, so he was in good hands. After many tests and being monitored it was discovered that he needed a pacemaker and he will be back with us in a few days. Fortunately we had all purchased Flight for Life insurance for the nominal rate of $15 per person, per year when we first arrived, so his transportation was free, and Medicare is paying for the pacemaker. Praise the Lord!

On our day off we drove up to Lander and visited a place called the Sinks State Park. It is located at the base of the Wind River Mountains, which is one of the premier mountain ranges in the US. It has 53 peaks over 12,000 ft. and six of the largest glaciers in the Rocky Mountains. Anyway, the sinks is a place where a raging river called Popo Agai (pronounced po-posha) suddenly disappears into the side of a mountain and then reappears about a quarter of a mile downstream coming out of the mountain on the opposite side of the canyon. It doesn't just go underground and straight down the canyon because dye tests have shown that the water which should only take a few minutes to go that distance takes over 2 hours to reappear. It must do some serious roaming around. An amazing sight!

Also Saturday night I was privileged to attend the National Collegiate Rodeo Finals held every year in Casper. What a thrilling experience to see these talented young people compete. One of the Cowgirls who won a national championship in one event was from our own UNLV. The event was held in a beautiful indoor arena, and was as good as any rodeo I have ever seen, and I've seen a bunch, including the National Finals held in Las Vegas. (Sister Leavitt was helping to prepare cookie platters for Father's Day so was unable to attend.) The grandson of one of the couples serving here (The Whites) was a participant -- he also is a former Missionary. He really appreciated all of the Missionaries who were there cheering him on.

While they are camped here, the trek groups get to participate in square dancing. The missionaries get the opportunity to teach them the dances and to call for them and we have had the opportunity to help. Sister Leavitt has helped teach them the dances and I have been able to call some of the dances. Its quite a sight to see several hundred trekkers all square dancing at one time. The kids seem to love it.

Thanks to Lynn and Starr for their first email. Lynn, you're one of my hero's and Starr, you're the best.

Thanks to our wonderful kids who take care of our needs at home and stay in touch.

Tommy, Connor, Garrett, Olivia, Parker, Rory, Wyatt, Preston, Delaney, and Isabella, Grandpa and Grandma miss you and love you.

Love you all, Elder Leavitt

Hi everyone -- it has been quite a week. I know the women out there will be interested to know we had a Flowbee (I've been spelling it incorrectly) Extravaganza. We started out w/ Charlie cutting one woman's hair -- it turned out really cute, so another one lined up. Then, a Missionary who actually is a hair stylist, started trimming a few people's hair. Before the night was over, 9 women and 3 men got their hair cut. All in all, we had about 35 Missionaries there. It was a blast -- we plan to do it again in about 6 weeks when everyone needs their hair cut again. One of the ladies who had her hair cut with the Flowbee compared it to shearing a sheep -- I laughed so hard but decided that was a very good description of what it is like !

The trekkers have arrived in force -- in total, we had about 2000 kids here last week. One of the Stakes was from Henderson and Elder Leavitt and I knew a few of them. We were hoping our nephew (Ron Leavitt) was with the group, but he wasn't. However, one of my former Institute teachers was among them -- Brother Rassmusen. It was fun to see him.

It really is a sight to see 200 kids dressed in pioneer clothing pushing and pulling hand carts traveling on all the trails around here. Some days your role is like being a traffic cop so they groups don't run into each other and have a traffic jam of handcarts :)

One last story -- my First Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency is named Sister Fenn. We were talking yesterday and in conversation she mentioned that her husband served his Mission in Argentina. Bruce Alder, who was my boss at the Children's Home and instrumental in introducing me into the Church, served a Mission in Argentina so I told her that. She about fainted ! She said he was one of Elder Fenn's companions in Argentina ! We couldn't wait to tell Elder Fenn --he also almost fainted and said that Bruce was his "best" companion and was so excited to hear news about him and his family. Needless to say, I emailed Bruce and he agreed that Elder Fenn was also his best companion and sent a couple of great pictures of Elder Fenn in native clothing. Can't wait to show The Fenn's. The two of them are already making plans to get reconnected. Another "tender mercy" of our Lord.

Again, we thank all of you for your emails and letters. We Missionaries always love to hear news from home and from our friends from all over the country.

Have a great week !

Love,

Sister Leavitt