Rafting

This last weekend was a total blast. My ward went rafting just outside of Jackson Hole this weekend. We met at the church at 9:00 Thursday morning. After getting everyone and everything situated we set out. We stopped after two hours for lunch and then it was back on the road again. After another two hours we were finally there.
Thursday night brought food and a lot of fun. After an awesome dinner we played random games. Thursday night I sat and watched a fabulous meteor shower. I love the great outdoors. I was in a hotel room with my dear friend Ashlee, but outside was so great. Friday morning brought about excitement and a desire to get to the river. The first trip down the river was quite an adventure. When we hit the rapids "Big Kahuna" I, along with three others, was thrown out of the raft. After a brief lunch we went for round two. The second time down the river was far more fun than the first time down. The second time the group I was with was totally nuts. At one point three of the members of our boat pirated another boat. It was the funniest thing to watch. There were people flying all over the place. At another point, we became an animal orchastra. Hey, no one said we were sane.
Friday night we had our devotional and testimony meeting. I can't tell you how much I love the people in this ward. They are all amazing in their own right. After devotional, there was another round of games and some great blackmail moments. After I went to bed apparently there was quite a bit of action involving a few kids on four-wheelers, but that isn't my story and I don't know all of the details. Saturday morning came all to soon. I didn't want to leave these people that I had grown to love even more than I already did. Another four hours later we were home and now all I have left are some great memories.

Boy

Two years ago today I got a rather interesting phone call. I was eight months into my mission. I was serving in Morgantown, West Virginia and my companion was Ceptember Noall. It was a Friday and while we were in for lunch we got a call from our mission president, President Cowley. He told us that he was going to be in our area and told us he would like to come and see us. We told him okay and that we would wait until he got there. I got off the phone and jokingly asked my companion what she had done wrong. She asked me why and I told her that the mission president didn't make house calls unless something was wrong or we did something wrong. I told her after that I knew I didn't do anything wrong so it must have been her. We laughed and finished cleaning up the house so that it would look good when President and Sister Cowley got there.
About an hour and a half later President anad Sister Cowley got there and President Cowley told me he needed to talk to me. We went in the spare room and he shut the door. We both sat down and then with tears in his eyes he told me that I had another mission companion. I sat there a bit confused. He went on and told me that my mom had called and that my 14 year old nephew James had been in an accident and had passed away. I was in shock. President Cowley told me that if I wanted to go home we would find a way for me to do it. I told him that I wasn't going home because I knew that if I did I wouldn't be back out and I didn't come out to go home early. He then told me that on Sunday I could call home. For two days I worried about how I was going to tell my sister and mom that I wasn't coming home. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me tell them and to help them understand. On Sunday when I called, the first thing my sister said to me was "Don't you dare come home. You are more use to us there then you are here." I cried knowing that Heavenly Father had heard and answered my prayer.
James, who had been dubbed by his little brother as "Boy", had just turned 14. He was at a family reunion at Flaming Gorge and they had all decided to go cliff jumping, something that they had been doing all day. I don't really know all of the details of this story so I am depending on my family to help fill in the blanks. All I really know about what happened was that James went to jump and stumbled causing him to belly flop from 30 feet. He ended up with internal injuries. They life flighted him to Primary Childrens Medical Center. He passed away later that day. My sister and brother-in-law decided to have his organs donated. A blessing for many families. James was a kind, fun-loving, and hard-working boy. He was a talented artist and he loved his siblings. He had a smile ready for everyone. He was working to earn money for a motorcycle the summer before he passed away. Last year, right after I got home we went and did James' temple work. James lived great and I know that he is helping others on the other side preparing them to recieve the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ