The reason why we are here!

July 28, 2015

I need to record the reason why we are on this mission and what we have learned . There are only two treks left and it is important that I get this down. I will be so happy to be home and around my beautiful family, but I will also miss being here and feeling the spirit of this place.

 Brother and Sister Cowan are our trek directors and they were also our Temple Supervisors. WE knew they had left on a mission and when Elder Petersen saw Elder Cowan again in the temple about 6 months after they left, he asked him why he was back. Elder Cowan told him about this mission and asked him if he wanted to go. He found me later that day and came bounding up the stairs by the Celestial Room in the St George Temple and told me about it and said. I think we are supposed to go on this mission! His eyes were just lit up with the Spirit. But my answer was - what?  A trek mission??? No way.
   Earlier that year, my son Tyler and his wife Toni were the ward Trek Directors and wanted us to go with their ward to Martin's Cove. I told them "no way was I ever going on a trek!"  Toni said to me that she didn't know why we were supposed to go, but she knew that we were.  I also felt something inside that we would be going, but I thought maybe we would be going to Martin's Cove and work at the visitors Center. I had never heard of Deseret Land and Livestock at this point.

Back to the story-  I still had 3 years left before I would retire from working and I just didn't want to go yet. I felt so confused and really kind of sad thinking about it and wondering how how how??
I found a quiet place in the Temple and a Doctrine and Covenants was sitting on the table beside me. I just opened it up hoping I would find an answer. I turned to D + C 117. It is a revelation to William Marks, Newel K. Whitney and Oliver Grander. The Lord wanted them to go on missions and serve him and they were unwilling to go. This is what struck me like a bolt of lightening.
D+C 117: 2-6
Let them awake, and arise, and  come forth and not tarry for I the Lord, command it. Therefore, if they tarry it  shall not be well with them. Let them repent of all their sins, and of all their covetous desires before me, saith the Lord, for what is property unto me? saith the Lord.....
For have I not the fowls of heaven, and also the fish of the sea and the beasts of the mountains. Have I not made the earth? Do I not hold the destinies of all the armies of the nations of the earth?

This was the message I was looking for. I knew in my heart so strongly that I need not worry about retiring early, that the Lord needed us on this mission and we needed the mission. the line that struck me the most was. Therefore if they tarry it shall not be well with them. I wondered why it would not be well with me if I didn't go on this mission.  I remember a sister in our ward saying- You do not choose your mission, your mission chooses you. The Lord had let me know so quietly that I would be going on a trek mission, but I thought it was going to be Martin's cove, but I now knew it would be at Deseret Land and Livestock in Wyoming. wow, he talked to me and I knew it. And he talked to me in a very forceful way!  it went straight to my heart and I jumped up, found my husband and the Cowans and told them we were going if they would have us. We were interviewed by Elder Summerhays a few months later and then called on this  mission.

What have I learned?  I have learned about these beautiful pioneers and about courage and strength to go forward. I have learned to let the Spirit teach me and to listen. I have felt the spirits and strength of these pioneers on this dedicated land. I thought treks are for the youth, but I found out they are for me! I would not have learned this if I had stayed home. I have seen lives change here, but my life has changed for the better. I have a deeper testimony of this church, I know that it's true and I feel so thankful and humbled that the Lord took the time to tell me that I must go or it would not be well with me. I love this mission and will be sad to go home. How do I keep this with me?? what can I do now to continue to feel this spirit? that is the next quest that I will be on.
I would like to thank my children for helping us go. For the help and support they have always given us, but especially now. I love them with all my heart and am so thankful to be their mother.
the next thing I would like to put in here is the dedicatory prayer from Elder Summerhays, but right now I need to go to prayer meeting and get ready for the next trek.
more coming.........