Numbers Count And So Do You!

We thought you might enjoy reading Jay's message in the January 2018 Mission Newsletter:

The Wyoming Holiday Season

Peggy and I thought you may be interested to learn about the holiday season here in Wyoming, and what better way than to show you than through pictures!  We hope you enjoy them:

Mountains Surrounding Martin's Cove

Devil's Gate as seen from Prairie Park

Frozen Sweetwater River

Visitor's Center Christmas Decorations

Visitor's Center Nativity Scene

Apartment Creche

Apartment Christmas Decoration

Family Holiday Gathering at
Independence Rock

We loved having some of our kids and grand-kids come visit us!

We wish all our family and friends a Happy New Year!

Elder and Sister Bowden

Let's "Light The World"

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house  

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;  

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,  

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there"

The Christmas Decorations
in our Apartment

Though it is true that we do not have a chimney on which to hang our Christmas stockings, and it is too cold outside for any creatures to be stirring, even the mice.  So how are the missionaries at Martin's Cove celebrating Christmas this year?  Everyone is in that Christmas spirit.  There are Christmas lights strung on every building and throughout each apartment.  As you can see from the picture above, Peggy has been decorating our apartment with a tree, lights, ornaments and stockings.  There are also Christmas trees in the Visitors' Center and the Gathering Room.  

Martin's Cove Snow Covered Visitors' Center

We missionaries also keep plenty busy shoveling snow, leveling and compacting the parking areas, and preparing for the coming winter months.

Jay Working on the Tractor

Peggy Compacting the Gravel Parking Lot

The missionaries here in the Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission are also involved in the program "#Light the World".  Light The World is a worldwide initiative sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints encouraging Mormons and their friends to participate in service opportunities during the 2017 Holiday Season to celebrate the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These service opportunities include doing to others as Jesus did.  This maybe as simple as: honoring your parents, reading scriptures, and not judging others; or it could be as involved as visiting the sick, feeding the poor, and lifting the down trodden.  The opportunities are endless!  (For more information on "#Light The World" go to: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-light-the-world-25-days-of-service?lang=eng) Here at the Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission, the missionaries have taken this challenge to heart.

Missionaries Serving a Holiday Meal
at Salvation Army 

Missionaries Singing Carols
at the local Nursing Home

 Wherever you may be this holiday season, Peggy and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and pray you also will do as Jesus did and "Light The World".  Lets celebrate the life of our Savior by serving others this Christmas!

We miss you all and wish we a Happy Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas!
Elder & Sister Bowden

A Sweetwater River Crossing

On November 4, 1856 members of the Martin Handcart Company left their camp at Fort Seminoe near Devil's Gate. The weather that day, was initially unfavorable for travel, “for a bitter wind howled down upon the pioneers, keeping the wind-chill factor well below zero”. When the wind moderated somewhat in the late morning hours, the rescuers were determined to take advantage of this opportunity and move the Martin Handcart Company into a ravine where the relief party had previously camped. Handcart pioneer Josiah Rogerson,  who was a youth during the journey,  wrote that the “Martin’s hand[cart] company left the camp at Devil’s Gate some time in the forenoon, making straight west to the Sweetwater.” Harvey Cluff, one of the rescuers, noted: “Northern blizzards prevailed, the thermometer showing ten to twenty degrees below zero, making it utterly impossible to proceed homeward; finally a lull in the raging wind from the north enabled the handcart companies to cross the river and go up to the cove.”

The handcart company traveled approximately two miles before reaching the Sweetwater River, but after sixteen days of exposure to snow, wind and cold, the company was not up to the challenge of crossing the river. The thought of fording the relatively shallow but freezing river was more than many of the weak and frozen pioneers could bear.  Although the Sweetwater River was only thirty to forty feet wide, where the Martin Company would have crossed, they were not able to go directly across as the ford of the river necessitated a diagonal crossing. The company entered at a low spot in the bank, angled across to another low spot, then exited. Josiah Rogerson recalled: “The creek here was at least two rods wide, and from two to three feet deep, with plenty of ice and snow, so as to carve the recollection forever in the minds of all that waded that stream.”

This emigrant and his wife, however, were spared the additional trial of having to wade the ice-filled river. Members of a relief party sent from the Salt Lake Valley by Brigham Young had arrived a few days earlier and were at the river crossing to assist the Martin Handcart Company.  “I am told”, John Jaques wrote twenty-three years later, “that the ‘boys’ who waded the Sweetwater and carried the women and children across were D. P. Kimball, George W. Grant, Stephen W. Taylor, and C. A. Huntington”.  Kimball, Grant, Taylor, and Huntington, however, were not the only members of the relief party assisting the Martin Company that day. They were only four of a group of approximately twenty-seven rescuers.  All these young men carried many of these pioneers on their backs, breaking the thin ice of the frozen river before them, as they waded from shore to shore.   William Binder recalled that several rescuers “laboured dillligently for hours” helping emigrants across the river. Patience Loader reported that “Br Kimble staied so long in the water that he had to be taken out and packed to camp and he was a long time before he recovered as he was a child." The cove provided some protection from the winter elements by its surrounding rock wall and by a large, brush-covered sand hill.

As a Modern Day Trek Begins

Press On!

Peggy crossing the Sweetwater River

One hundred and sixty-one years later on November 4, 2017 a group of 141 trekkers and missionaries met at the reconstructed Fort Seminoe camp near Devil's Gate to reenact the Sweetwater River crossing.  On this date the weather was not as brutal as it was in 1856.  There was no snow on the ground and the temperature was a cool 35-40 degrees. The wind, however, was howling at 20 mph, gusting upwards to 30 mph. We left the Fort Seminoe at 10:00am pulling handcarts westward for about two miles before reaching the Sweetwater River. We found the river to be 2-3 feet deep, 30 feet wide and totally void of ice. This modern-day handcart company was made up of both the young and the old, but fortunately there was no infants in the group.  None-the-less, everyone displayed reluctance on entering the 40 degree water.  Soon, a few brave individuals plunged into the flowing water, with others quickly following behind after taking deep breaths and letting out low yelps. 

Jay crossing the Sweetwater River

Jay sharing his thoughts at the Rescue Statues

Pushing on down the trail we soon arrived at the statues dedicated to those four named young men who so valiantly carried the beleaguered pioneers across the river those many years ago. Words were said honoring both the rescuers and the emigrants before pushed on to handcart parking and a nutritious lunch, which included cookies and hot chocolate.  We then silently and reverently walked up into Martin's Cove.  There we reflected on those in the Martin Handcart Company.  We recognized where we stood was sacred, hallowed ground made so by the obedience, sacrifice, faith, and charity of these wonderful pioneers.  Speaking of these pioneers, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "The memories of our forebears are deeply and indelibly etched, and this ground must forever hold for us a feeling of great sanctity, a spiritual feeling if you please." Continuing his remarks President Hinckley noted, "We hope that a spirit of peace and reverence and sacred remembrance will hover over this whole area as a beneficent cloud on a hot summer day, and that those who here perished will not have died in vain... We remember all who traveled this way and suffered so much. Their pain was immeasurable. Hundreds died and were buried along this trail of tears. Their rescue was nothing short of heroic... Their measure of sacrifice was greater than any of us can understand. Those who walked this way long ago came to know the sacrifices of [God's] Son in a unique and wonderful way,"

True to President Hinckley's words, we who came to reenact the Sweetwater River crossing left with “a spirit of peace and reverence and sacred remembrance”, plus a surer knowledge that Jesus Christ is our ultimate rescuer.

This Water is Freeeezing!

Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers, 

Jay and Peggy

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

We thought you might enjoy reading Jay's message in the October 2017 Mission Newsletter:

Lastly, we want to pay tribute to our constant friend, most avid blog reader and frequent comment contributor - Birdie Brander. If you are not too busy in heaven, Birdie, we count on you watching over and praying for us.  We will miss you! Until we meet again...

Alberta Ann Brander (1943-2017)

The Wyoming Fall Season

Devil's Gate in Fall Colors
(Photo compliments of Sister Pace)

The Trekkers and have stopped coming and the Missionaries are leaving Martin's Cove as the summer season slowly winds down here at Martin's Cove.  We are primarily working on winterizing the site, refinishing handcarts and stowing equipment not needed in the coming winter months. This is a sad time of year for us: the Visitors' Center at Sixth Crossing is now closed, the campgrounds all stand empty and we do not have as many visitors as we once had.  We have come to love the youth who trekked here this past summer -- dressed in pioneer clothes, singing songs while pulling handcarts along the trails.  We had some marvelous, spiritual experiences with them.  And the school children who came to learn Wyoming history have been fun as they practically run from the Blacksmith Shop, to the handcarts, to Fort Seminoe, all full of enthusiasm and energy.

First Winter Snow Storm This Fall

On the positive side, though the nights are becoming cooler, the days still remain relatively warm. The surrounding trees are putting on their fall colors.  We have already had our first snow of the year, an inch or so which remained only a few hours before melting off. It seems there are more storm clouds on the horizon each day. Martin's Cove is preparing for the long winter months ahead!

This past month we were also touched to have family come to visit us for the weekend.  We took them to all our favorite places we have come to love in Wyoming -- Martin's Cove, Devil's Gate, Independence Rock, Casper, etc.  It was fun having Robert, LaDonna and Celia here.

LaDonna and Robert at Independence Rock

Jay and Celia hiking Martin's Cove

Fremont Canyon, Wyoming

One advantage with the approaching winter weather and fewer people at Martin's Cove is many of the indigenous inhabitants are beginning to move back into the area --

Red Fox near Martin's Cove Visitor Center

Fawn near Martin's Cove Prairie Park

Fair winds, and may you enjoy the fall season wherever you are!

Wyoming's Total Solar Eclipse

Various Phases of a Solar Eclipse

It was predictable. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was awe-inspiring. It was a spectacular thing to see. A total eclipse of the sun, and the shadow of the moon passed right through the state of Wyoming leaving Martin's Cove in its wake.  A total solar eclipse is when the moon’s shadow touches the Earth and blankets portions of it in total darkness for a few moments. In essence, the sun, moon and Earth align. A person in the dark part of that shadow, known as the umbra, will see a total eclipse. A person in the light part, called the penumbra, will see a partial eclipse.

Here at Martin's Cove we had a front row seat right out our back door.  Which is good considering hotel rooms in Casper were completely sold out and last minute rooms going for $1500 per night.  We had never seen a traffic jam out in the middle of Wyoming until now... It took our missionaries 1 1/2 hours to travel 10 miles back to Missionary Village from the Visitors' Center!  We had to take a dirt two-track road to avoid traffic to get to Family Home Evening, where we were in charge of our Solar Eclipse party.  We sang Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, played a solar eclipse trivia game, watched a replay of the eclipse, had a moon walk competition and ate eclipse cookies, milky way candy bars and starbursts candy. It was a lot of fun!

Solar Eclipse Path through Wyoming

Sun shining bright at Martin's Cove

Martin's Cove Missionaries enjoying the Eclipse

The beginning of the Eclipse

Total Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse "Diamond Ring"

The last total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States occurred Feb. 26, 1979 — more than 37 years ago.  The next total solar eclipse over the continental U.S. is scheduled to occur April 8, 2024.  Until then, Fair Winds
Elder and Sister Bowden