Blog – Page 20

Missionary Dan Email #22 from Vancouver, Washington

September 7, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Old Apple Tree Park by the Columbia River, Vancouver, Washington

This week went great. We got things all lined up for Friday where we have our two baptisms. That is really exciting for us. Elder Hardy gets to baptize Stephanie and Brother Brown is going to baptize Crystal so it an awesome opportunity for everyone.

We had three investigators drop us this week. It seemed that each of them had talked to a friend and they told them something. They were all really nice telling us not to come back again. Things like we believe in a different Jesus or we only believe in half of a God and Jesus was their mix up. One the investigators, about two hours after dropping us, gave us a call. She expressed how horrible she felt for rejecting us. She said she saw the love we had for the scriptures and how we were like Christ going to the people and visiting them. She also said that someone at her church had told her not to meet with us. She didn’t agree with that and said as she was reading her scriptures she felt she should call us. She apologized and then invited us back, not to share much about our religion, but to share the love we have for God. So we will let the Spirit work with her for a bit longer and stop by.

So as I was writing this email another person called me and said she wanted to discontinue meeting with us. I said we’d give her some time and perhaps stop by later when she figures things out. She accepted and we look forward to still meeting with her.

It has been a testimony to me the opposition that is towards this work, but also how much the Spirit actually does. I know we are servants to spread the message of the Restoration of the Gospel and that we can truly know for ourselves that it’s true. We help others find out for themselves whether or not they want to act on the message we share. I know its true and that’s why I am here sharing it.

Love, Elder Willoughby

Photo Credit: Sheryl Todd

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.
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Parrish Canyon Fremont Pictograph Photographs

September 6, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

In the photograph above Connie illustrates what the canyon looks like by the pictographs. Not that it helps much I admit. There is a Forest Service marker at one point that warns you not to touch the rock art. We looked at the rock, and even took pictures, but we could not see any art in it at all. Mark went further up the canyon, climbed around some rocks, and found the pictographs.

Mike told us that it is best to come up in the Spring when the pictographs are freshly painted.

Parrish Canyon Fremont Pictographs

September 6, 2010 by rickety 5 Comments

At the trailhead: Mark, Connie, Kent, Melissa, Jill, Rick(ety), Mike, and Paul. Susan is on camera duty.

On Labor Day at 8 am nine adventurous souls set off to find the Parrish Canyon Fremont pictographs. The pictographs are not very far up the canyon. It was a little cold and Mark loaned Jill his coat. I am told it is a thirty minute hike but I didn’t time it. According to the minutes of the Centerville City Trails Committee meeting held Thursday, April 10, 2008, the pictographs had been damaged:

Mark Day reported he hiked to the Fremont pictographs in Parrish Canyon, and he said they have been vandalized. He said some of the pictographs have been scratched, and others have been rubbed out. (Trails Committee Meeting Minutes)

So we set off to see if we could take some pictograph photographs. I will show you first the path we took to the pictographs and then in the next post the pictographs themselves.

We set off on the trail. We got lost. Asked directions. Continued.

When you get to the bridge, cross it and turn right.

Take a picture of the waterfall and continue.

Follow the creek just like Connie and Susan are doing here.

At this point in a normal blog you would see the pictographs. But there are too many photographs already so the pictographs are in the next post.

Paul and Mike continued onward and upward. I followed. I wish I hadn't.

We got back before the others and met Merrill on Red.

Red is an Arabian Paint and his real name is in Russian which I can't pronounce much less spell.

Feeding Farmington Fowl

September 5, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Bryson is learning to feed the ducks, or in this instance, geese. His coaches are Jill and Susan. They are at Farmington Pond. It appears these fowl will not wait long in a breadline. If you cannot see the video, click here.

Wyoming Abraham Lincoln Monument

September 5, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

On my way east on I-80 last week, between Cheyenne and Laramie, I came across the Wyoming Abraham Lincoln Monument. It originally stood at Sherman Summit, 8,878 feet above sea level, the highest point along the old coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway. When I-80 was completed in 1969, the head was moved to its current location, about 195 feet lower but seen by many more travelers.

The monument was created in 1959 by Wyoming State Parks Commission and the sculptor Robert I. Russin, a University of Wyoming art professor, to honor the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. The bronze bust of Lincoln’s head is 13.5 feet tall. Russin required ten tons of clay and eleven months of work to create the head.

The original casting was done in Mexico City and the sculpture is comprised of thirty pieces that were bolted together. The bust, weighing two tons, sits on a thirty-five-foot tall granite pedestal. The base is hollow and when Russin died in 2007, his ashes were interred inside.

The Monument is a reminder of Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to the Senate and House of Representatives on December 1, 1862 wherein he detailed his plan for the remunerative emancipation of slaves:

It is not “Can any of us imagine better?” but “Can we all do better?” Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, “Can we do better?” The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. (Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message, emphasis added.)

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There is Plenty of Sound in an Empty Barrel: Part 6

September 4, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

Paul weighs anchor

Paul and Jake tell me that yesterday they launched from the south and sailed to the east on Causey Reservoir. They camped there and then sailed back to the south today. It was windy and they were blown into the bank. These photographs are by Sean and the video by Paul. See all of Sean Huggin’s Large and on Barge photographs on Facebook. I took a final picture of what looks like the shipwreck of the Good Raft Paul on my front lawn.

Matt Hall dives from the second story

If you cannot see the video, click here.

Go to Part 1

There is Plenty of Sound in an Empty Barrel: Part 5

September 4, 2010 by rickety 3 Comments

My son Steven went with the crew of the Good Raft Paul to photograph the launch at Causey Reservoir. Now I don’t know what the raft was named, or if indeed it had a name, but I will refer to it as Paul for now (not to be confused with Paul the captain). Steven reports:

It was already dark when we launched so we didn’t have much of a chance to take pictures. I suspect you’ll be able to get some better photos from those that stayed up there. The vessel floated very well, as expected.

I will add any more photographs to this post as they become available. Stay logged on.

Go to Part 6

There is Plenty of Sound in an Empty Barrel: Part 4

September 4, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

The raft was completed yesterday evening. The second story was braced and disassembled for transportation. Some of the barrels around the wheel well of the trailer had to be loosened so that the raft could be stowed level. A truck was needed for towing which was provided by Matt of Fence4U. In Part 5 I will have photographs of the launch at Causey Reservoir. Click on the images to enlarge.

Go to Part 5

There is Plenty of Sound in an Empty Barrel: Part 3

September 3, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

Paul and Jake have all the barrels and the wood they need and this evening are finishing the project. With help from kind friends they were able to complete a portion earlier. If you had no clue what the project was about then the photographs and videos here should make it a little clearer. Click on the images to enlarge.

The following videos capture turning the project from upside down to right side up. The first video is a false start. In the second video Paul shouts, “Mom, get all those 2x4s out of the way!” Jill was filming so she had to move quickly to remove them and return to her video. Hence her, “Gosh.”

If you cannot see the videos, click here.

Go to Part 4

More Hot Air Balloons Over Ponds Park

September 3, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

Ponds Park was alive this morning with a number of hot air balloon launches. I enjoyed taking photographs of all the activity. It wasn’t hard to get some good pictures with the subjects right over my nose. Here are several more snapshots in addition to those already posted. Click on the images to enlarge.