MARV & SUE LEAVITT

Hi Family and Friends,

Marv and I just returned from a month in England and when we got home our mission call was waiting for us. We have been called to serve in the Cote d'Ivoire Abidjan Mission as member and leader support missionaries. We report tothe MTC (Missionary Training Center) on October 12, 2009. Our term of service is for 18 months. We are thrilled and delighted to once again have the opportunity to serve the amazing people in West Africa.

Marv and Sue Leavitt

MARTIN'S COVE 8/10/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Here we are already at the downhill side of the trek season, the trekkers are coming less frequently now and so our responsibilities are getting to be a little less. We're still getting allot of family groups and people who see the highway signs and come in to check us out. We have even some bikers who have been coming to and leaving Sturgis, the big motorcycle rally up in the Black Hills.

And the spiritual experiences seem to continue. For example one of the sisters walked into the woodshop the other day with a fly swatter to swat a few flies and left the door open. As she was talking to a couple of the Elders a humming bird few in through the door and landed on her fly swatter, and just sat there. She then decided take it outside because she thought maybe it was disoriented, but when she got it outside it continued to sit on the fly swatter and even let some of the men pet it. It stayed there long enough for her to get her camera and take a picture of it. After a while it just flew away. It seems to be the same with all the animals here, they don't seem to have much fear of the people.

Friday we had a group of Mennonites come to visit. There were about 8 charming ladies from Pennsylvania in their white bonnets and black dresses with white collars, I really think they enjoyed their visit. Its amazing to see the diversity of people who visit this sacred place and are touched by the Cove story and the trail on which hundreds of thousands of pioneers passed on their way to settling the west.

On Saturday we were invited to an open house at the Pathfinder Ranch. Its a 250,000 acre ranch which is our next door neighbor. I think its owned by a couple of Texas oil men. They fed us breakfast, lunch, and a big steak dinner. All day long they had events going, including a rodeo, horse show, and all kinds of competitive events for kids. Then that night they gave out awards to the winners as well as raffled off all kinds of prizes including tack and saddles. Great time! They must have spent a fortune. .

Some of the missionaries who are just here for 12 weeks are leaving this week and its sad to see them go, we have developed such close friendships with all of the missionaries and have really grown to love and appreciate the good people they are.

Oscar the trek dog is still going out with the few groups that are coming in, though I think he is about worn down from all the work. He will probably be glad to get back to his ranch and rest for the winter. For Sister Leavitt and I it has been a great summer and we hate to see it end.

Love Elder Leavitt

It's my turn and it's several days after Charlie started this email. One update is that Oscar has returned home for the summer. His owner called the office on Tuesday and said that he ate a big dinner, had a long drink of water and went to sleep. I know he must be exhausted from the hundreds of miles he trekked w/ the kids this summer.

We went to the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas on Wednesday with some other missionary couples. It doesn't really compare to the Clark County Fair but it was fun and we saw some interesting things. The most interesting to me was the live stock and the judging. I was amazed at the vocabulary of the judges and the many ways they could describe a sheep -- mostly in terms of how it would taste on a plate ! Also, I never turn down a chance to have a little funnel cake :) And, I bought a cute cowboy hat -- Charlie says he finally has his cowgirl !

Another choice experience this week was hearing the story of one of our missionaries here. When he was in his 20's, he was stationed in Alaska in the Air Force. He and 2 other men, one of whom was a bush pilot, crashed in a remote area of Alaska when they were flying a small plane. It was in April, but of course, it was freezing cold and none of them had any survival gear -- amazing, but true. He talked about how with his jaw broken in 2 places, his scalp torn back, and with broken ribs he survived in the wilds of Alaska. I won't go into a lengthy explanation of all they went through, but it took 3 days for them to be rescued and his feet were frozen. He wanted us to hear his description of what it was like to suffer from this terrible frost bite and the subsequent extreme pain he experienced for years after to help us understand what the pioneers went through. As he said, when they arrived in Utah, their problems weren't over. Most of them probably suffered pain for rest of their lives.

Well, the days are getting shorter and I don't feel like we've even had summer yet. We have had only 2 days in the 90's so it's been a very mild summer - even by Wyoming standards. We have been enjoying many evenings out by the campfire visiting with our friends -- I will miss these days when our Mission is over.

Our love and prayers are with you all,

Peggy (Sister Leavitt)

MARTINS COVE 8/2/09

Hello Everyone, Well we've had a long week this last week! We served as campground hosts at Jackson Campground located about about seven miles from Martin's Cove out on the prairie. Camp hosts stay at the site from about 7 am until about 9:30 pm every day while the trekkers are there. Our responsibility is to see to any needs they might have and see that they obey the rules of the camp, like where to set up and which restrooms they can use, what their schedules are, where they can park their support vehicles, etc. It was a great experience. While there, we had two separate groups from Utah. One from Lehi,and one from Cedar City. The one from Lehi had only about 55 people,but the one from Cedar City had over 300. They were extremely organized as you can imagine they must be with that many kids. Its an amazing sight to see that many young people dressed in pioneer attire strung out on the original pioneer trail for about a half mile pulling handcarts and singing pioneer songs. By the time they finish their trek they march over 30 miles. Within 30 minutes of arriving in camp they had all their tents up and began fixing their meals. It took a 48 ft semi-tractor trailer to handle the food and tents for the large group. What a beautiful, spiritual and well behaved bunch of young people. The smaller group had a special needs girl who wanted so badly to see Oscar the trek dog, but had not seen him on their trek out to the campground. Their trek leader ask about him and told us of her desire. We had to tell him that Oscar chooses the group he treks with, not the other way around and that he was probably at the other campground. We did tell him that Oscar usually gravitates toward the younger or special needs individuals. Later that evening out of nowhere came Oscar running into their camp and went right up to that special little girl. Her wishes were granted! Its uncanny how he knows where he is wanted. He had to have traveled several miles from the campground just to visit this group. Sister Leavitt will probably tell you about his photo op. While we were out there our Mission Leader Elder Freeman brought out the grader. He decided to take advantage of the fact that I was assigned there all week as he wanted about 5 acres of additional area graded to enlarge the Campground. His only directions were to make it level, remove the brush and leave the grass. Not a simple request, but my motto is GIT-R-DONE. CONGRATULATIONS TO MARV AND SUE LEAVITT ON YOUR SECOND MISSION TO AFRICA, YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING. THE WHOLE FAMILY LOVES, RESPECTS AND APPRECIATES YOU. OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU! The only other thing I would like to say is that young people like wemet this week gives me hope for the future of our country.
We love and miss you all, ElderLeavitt

Well, being campground hosts was the best. The long hours had us sleep deprived but we loved it. It gave us an amazing experience getting to interact w/ the kids and their leaders. We got to eat meals with them and talk with them about their thoughts and feelings with respect to their trekking experience. What a spiritual experience. I even went out on the trail to be with the kids when theyre enacted the Woman's Pull -- if you remember, that's when the women( in this case, young women) pull their handcarts up and over a steep hill without the help of the men. This is to honor all the women who lost their husbands along the trail-- some of them even started out as single women or single mothers. Iwas so moved by the experience --and I know the girls can translate this experience into their lives. They are going to face difficult challenges, and each group of girls, and there were many, made it over the hill without help. (Help was available by their leaders ifthey requested it, but none of them did) I also have to tell an Oscar story. After he left the group that Charlie mentioned, he hooked up w/the Cedar City group and they too were thrilled to be singled out by Oscar. After we had closed downour camp and were finally heading home, we noticed that the Cedar City group was back at the Homestead, and were eating lunch before they headed home. I told Charlie I wanted to stop and get a picture. They invited us to have lunch after which the group had decided to take a group picture by the fort before they left so it was a perfect opportunity for me. It was quite a deal to get the kids and leaders all positioned for their picture, but we finally did. As I, and others, were just getting out cameras ready to take the picture, believe it or not, Oscar came out of the staging area and walked in front of the group and posed for the picture !! No one could've made that happen in a million years. Anyway, it was so fun having him there and the kids were beside themselves having him in their picture, which we willattach. I am also attaching a picture of Charlie riding in our campground cart which I nicknamed the Limo. Well, enough for this week -- the trekking season will soon be overas school will be starting so things will really slow down here,as least that's what we're told. As always, we love you all and think about and pray for you daily.
Love, Sister Leavitt

MARTINS COVE 7/12/09

Hi treasured family and friends,

How are all of you getting along, we hope very well, because we pray for all of you everyday. Life here is good. We stay very busy working at our different jobs, and manning our different posts. I finished this week with the irrigation ditch, and I must admit it looks pretty good. My supervisor told everyone that with the backhoe I could pick a fly off their nose, but I told them that it was easier than it looked, if you just took your time and took off one wing at a time. My wife says I never let the truth interfere with a good story !?!

During the middle of the week we had the opportunity to tell pioneer stories to a group of young people from Cardston, Alberta, Canada. (I told the truth) What a great bunch of people! Sister Leavitt told them about Amy Loader who came across the plains with her children after losing her husband, and through creative means, kept her children from freezing to death.

I told them about 3 of my hero's, Joseph A. Young, Abel Garr, and Daniel W. Jones who were the advance riders looking for the missing handcart companies. They rode through blizzard conditions across the Wyoming wilderness for hundreds of miles, without stopping, until they found these pioneers and were able to bring them to the rescue wagons. Had these men given up or turned back, which would have been easy to do because these handcart companies were found far beyond where they had expected them to be, there is no doubt that all of these people would have perished. Instead about 20% of the approx. 1200 people of the Martin Company lost their lives. This trek group from Canada was very appreciative and gave us a souvenir of a handmade miniature handcart. One of their leaders also gave each missionary a diamond willow (found only in Canada) which makes beautiful walking sticks.

On Friday and Saturday we received permission to travel to Sister Leavitt's hometown of Pinedale, WY. for the famous Mountain Man Rendezvous. What a great time we had. Not only did we have a great room at Hampton Inn (which was comped by a good friend from Pinedale, Darlene Penton), but the festivities were great. On Friday evening we were able to go to dinner up at Fremont Lake ( a gorgeous glacier lake situated right up against the Wind River Mountains) with Bob and Darlene Penton, and two of our missionary friends who were also there, Elder and Sister Fenn. On Saturday it was amazing to see little Pinedale come alive with all kinds of vendors including fur traders, jewelry makers, and delicious food. Saturday afternoon they had a fabulous parade which ended with hundreds of people dressed up like Mountain Men and Indians parading by. You have never seen so much fur and leather.

After the festivities we were able to go out to a ranch owned by another one of our missionaries, Elder Noble (who happens to be one of Sister Leavitt's family friends). It was a beautiful rustic ranch with a perfect view of the mountains. While we were there his daughter showed us some old pictures. One was of a dog they had named Grady. Grady was a Great Pyrenees just like Oscar, the famous trek dog. ( you can read Oscar's stories in the Children's Friend magazine) When we got back to Martin's Cove, Elder Noble told us that Grady was one of the most amazing dogs he had ever seen. He told us one cold winter day while his wife was herding sheep (about 100 head) Grady took off, leaving the sheep, something he never did, and no matter how much they called after him, he wouldn't come back. There had been a severe snow storm the night before and one of the sheep was missing. A few hours later here came Grady with the little sheep leaning up against his side. He took the sheep right into the middle of the herd and then left it. The Noble's discovered that the eye lids of the sheep had frozen shut and it couldn't see. Grady had gone out and found the little sheep and became it's seeing eye dog. Kind of reminds you of a parable doesn't it.

Well we love and miss you all, and hope to see you in the fall.

Elder Leavitt

Well, Elder Leavitt has left me speechless again. It really has been a full week. We love being able to get out and visit with the trekkers and tell them pioneer stories.

Our trip to Pinedale was especially fun for me. I hadn't seen the Rendezvous since I was a kid. We used to participate in it when we were children. Now it is a major, 3-day event which includes a rodeo, parade, all kinds of special presentations at the Mountain Man Museum, plus the pageant itself. We didn't get to see the pageant as it was on Sunday, but hopefully next year we will be able to get more than a day off so we can enjoy more of the events.

I did get to see some people in Pinedale whom I hadn't seen in awhile -- I hadn't made plans to see anyone but Darlene, but happened to run into them on the street. One was April Harbor Kim, who was a girl we knew from the Single's Ward. She and her husband just moved to Pinedale, and she happened to walk by while we were watching the parade. It was so fun to see her and her darling little girl.

We passed out our Relief Society Directories last week and we have received so many compliments and "thank you's" for them. Our intent was to find a way that the Sisters could get to know one another a little better and I think we accomplished our task. It was very gratifying after so much work to have it so well received.

We have another busy week ahead --Charlie will be teaching Sunday School this week. Last week he taught Priesthood and was told by some of the men it was the best lesson they had ever heard. That's an amazing compliment ! We get to call square dancing this week and will be telling more pioneer stories at the camp grounds.

We love hearing from all of you so keep those cards and emails coming.

Our love to all of you,

Peggy

THIS ROMANTIC TRAGEDY

Benny & Debbie Leavitt's son Carlin is in a band called This Romantic Tragedy. Below is a link to an article from the St George Spectrum about them. They will be playing in St. George on July 3rd. Debbie told me at reunion that their band has been signed with a recording contract. Carlin just graduated from high school in June. He is off to a great start.


http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20090626/ENTERTAINMENT04/906260303

MARTINS COVE 7/5/09

Hello again Family and Friends,
greetings from the Cove this 4th of July weekend, This has been a week of events. First on Monday night we hosted a pancake supper ( strange huh) on Monday night, this was our contribution to Family Home Evening. I cooked pancakes on an outside griddle for about 25 or 30 couples. It turned out to be allot of fun. Even though I haven't cooked pancakes in about 40 years, I was throwing pancakes in every direction. After the dinner there was square dancing, but I had to sit it out as I began feeling very tired and my chest was feeling congested. That night I was having trouble getting my breath and had to get up and sit in a chair most of the night. I knew I was having a severe asthma attack and so I started searching for my rescue medication. It has been so long since I have had a severe attack that I found I had allowed my medicine to expire last fall and it didn't seem to work. I was trying to stay calm and not panic, but when you can't get your breath it's not easy. I thought I might have to wake Sister Leavitt to take me to the hospital so they could put me on oxygen. Finally I found an old rescue inhaler that seemed to help a little. The next day I stayed home and rested, but I still had a hard time breathing. Sister Leavitt went into work and was going to call my Doctor to get another prescription for Albuterol. As it turned out the Doctor was on vacation. Great luck huh! Later I received a Priesthood blessing and prayed for rain ( the week had been very hot and dry) to knock down all the pollen that has been in the air and might be causing my attack. That night it rained hard and I slept like a baby. I have been feeling fine ever since. We are still trying to get my prescriptions refilled, but thankfully it has been raining some everyday. This week I have been working on about 1000 ft of irrigation ditch.The ranch wants it lined with plastic because its leaking badly and water is running across the road and flooding the handcart storage area. The ditch hasn't been cleaned in many years and was completely overgrown with brush and trees. The ranch wanted it fixed because it waters a large pasture next to Devil's Gate, that impressive natural cut through the mountain where the Sweetwater runs. I now have it cleaned out and have put a nice access roadway next to it. We should have the project finished by next week. Sister Leavitt put on a great barbeque on Friday and invited all our neighbors. It was supposed to be to introduce them to our good friend Maria Heaton and her family who were coming to visit. But, they got lost on a side trip to Nebraska and didn't make it until the next day. Consequently, we had a great party with the neighbors' anyway. Everyday we hear of, or witness spiritual experiences here at Martin's Cove. This is such a sacred and amazing place to serve. There's no doubt the spirits of those pioneers who suffered and died here want their lives and experiences to be remembered. This past week many of the Missionaries have had family visit for the holidays, it really makes us homesick for our family. Hopefully some of them will be able to visit us this summer. We love and miss you all, Elder Leavitt
Hi Everyone -- I don't have much to add to Elder Leavitt's report other than he says the weather has been good for his allergies but it's not good for entertaining or being outside. The night of our BBQ were we all huddled out side with our winter coats on. In fact, I had on a sweat shirt, a wind breaker and a parka ! We ended up inside the motor home to visit as it was so cold outside. We had a great time w/ Maria. It was so fun to share our excitement about being here w/ someone from home. Again, the only downside was the weather. We were going to watch the fireworks over Alcova Lake but it was pouring rain, so we just came home. This upcoming week, we are going to Pinedale for the Green River Rendezvous. We were hoping to see the pageant but just found out this past week it is on Sunday and we were planning on coming back Saturday night. However, they have all kinds of other activities planned the week before so we are going up to visit friends and enjoy the festivities that are available. We enjoyed a beautiful evening w/friends tonight around a campfire making apple pies --out of bread and pie filling w/ a little contraption that looks like a sandwich maker. They were really yummy. We watched a full moon coming up over the trees -- it was just gorgeous. We deserved this beautiful evening after all the rain and wind. Well, we need to get to bed--morning comes early when you're as busy as we are. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Love, Sister Leavitt

MARTINS COVE 6/28/09

Howdy Pilgrims,
Well another week of the good life,with the exception that I lost my prescription glasses somewhere in Casper. We searched every where with no luck! Fortunately I'm farsighted so I only really need the glasses to read and we have plenty of generic reading glasses. I'm not much of a book worm anyway. I've been able to do a few interesting projects this week. We have a 4000 gal. water truck that they had to throw a fill hose into the river and use a trash pump to fill it. (most of the roads are dirt and need to be wet to control the dust) It took between 25 and30 minutes to fill it, when they could get the pump to work. ( it was sucking up a lot of mud and rocks from the bottom of the river)So I designed them a wet well out of a piece of galvanized culvert,cut some holes in it and placed it in the river. Then I ran a 3" pipe to the wet well and then ran it down so that it stayed above the bottom out of the mud. I also set it up so the fill hose could run directly to the truck. No one previously had been aware that the truck was designed to pump its own water and fill itself. It will now fill up in about 12 minutes without needing a separate pump. I've also had the opportunity to work allot with the backhoe this week, which feels right at home to me. The other day we had the opportunity to work with a family group of about 80 people from Idaho. This family had about 30 little kids with them. While most of the adults visited the Cove the kids stayed at Handcart parking where we were stationed. I was not only were able to tell the Martins Cove story to the adults up in the Dan Jones Cove, (named after one of the rescuers, who risked this life for the handcart pioneers) but I was also able to tell some stories to the kids. When I finished telling one story I asked if there were any questions. One little boy about 3 years old raised his hand,and when I called on him he said,THANK YOU! Isn't it great to feel appreciated. We also had the opportunity to help 3 young people who had a blow-out on the highway. Their rim was ruined and Elder Freeman, our mission leader, drove them into Casper to a junk yard to get a replacement. As it turned out the new rim was slightly the wrong size rim, but I was able to do some grinding and make it work. So we sent them gratefully on their way with the advice to check the lugnuts regularly to make sure they stayed tight. As far as they were from a town, it was a blessing that they broke down near a place equipped and willing to help them. Sister Leavitt was also a great help as she communicated with their mother in Washington state who was frantically trying to get them help. They had called their mother to find out where out where the nearest town was located . Their mother saw Martins Cove Historical Site on the map and called us. It's my turn and as usual, ElderLeavitt pretty much covered all the bases. Although we stay really busy and go to bed exhausted, our weeks are getting more "routine"and it seems we don't have as much to report. For Relief Society we had a class on "rock hounding" -- finding the rocks (which there are a lot of around here!), polishing them and then making jewelry. It was very successful with about 35 people there. We also have finished our directory of the Relief Society Sisters --including pictures. This was a huge project and thanks to my counselors, we got it done. This week we are looking forward to seeing our friend, Maria and her parents and sister. We have a BBQ planned for the 4th of July and fireworks over Alcova Lake. Also we're having a pancake dinner for Family Home Evening on Monday and Charlie and I are in charge. So will close for tonight and thank all of you who are sending us emails and letters. With love, The Leavitt's