We have recently completed our first Teenage Grandchildren Retreat, July 29 to August 3, 2021. Overall, we call it a success. Thirteen of our 16 grandchildren participated in at least one of the days. Nine participated in all of the activities. Our last blog explained a little of our thoughts while we prepared, the guidance that we felt came from our Heavenly Father, and our detailed schedule that was sent to each of the grandchildren.
Some only confirmed their participation in the week or two prior and one joined us only after a conversation on the first day of the activity. We felt that the hand of the Lord was present and facilitating the involvement of each. In this blog we will describe the experiences that we had together, the hand of the Lord in the process, and the lessons learned by different grandchildren.
The following photo shows the greatest number of grandchildren that participated, which was at Thanksgiving Point on Friday. We had 13 grandchildren and a friend in this photo. It was taken in front of a giant LEGO spider hanging in the cave.
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Our number one stated goal was to strengthen relationships between cousins. Even though they come from different locations and backgrounds, we felt that this was accomplished 100%. We didn't feel any conflict amongst them, even after 4 days together. In some cases the cousins had never met, in others, relationships were minimal. In the end, phone numbers were exchanged and friendships established. One example would be our granddaughter Natalia who participated on Friday at the Thanksgiving Point activity. She has had almost no relationship with her cousins. On Tuesday morning she saw her cousin Abbie at Walmart and came over to say Hi! Ethan is new to the family and had never met his cousins from Pennsylvania and several of the others. He ended up spending strangers.
Our second goal was to have activities that emphasized All Areas of Life. These included Spiritual, Social, Physical and Intellectual. This was consistent with the Children and Youth Program that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints introduced shortly before COVID hit.
As we planned these activities we were led to put focus on the "household of faith". Therefore, we had spiritual activities mixed in throughout the week intentionally and were pleased that they strengthened those on the covenant path. They also provided others the opportunity to experience some of these spiritual activities in a fun and enjoyable manner.
As we felt during our planning, we continued to feel the guidance of our Heavenly Father throughout the week, even as some schedules were modified. Overall, we were able to manage the logistics of this group with only one difficulty, which was our hike in the canyons. More about that later.
This activity began with the arrival of the three cousins from Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, July 27. They spent eight nights with us and returned home the following Wednesday.
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| Henry, Thomas and James arriving at the airport from Philadelphia. |
Ethan arrived on Front Runner on Wednesday night. He came from Nibley, 90 minutes away. Ethan joined the family last year through the marriage of our daughter KariLyn with Michael, Ethan's father. He had only met a few of his cousins and did not know any of them very well. We decided to have him also stay at our condo throughout the retreat to facilitate the transportation issues.
Day 1 (Thursday):
We arranged to rent a 15 passenger van for each day of our retreat. We picked up and dropped off all other participants each morning and night. On Thursday morning we reviewed the planned activities for the week and made decisions and assignments as needed. We began with a getting to know you activity. It was a good beginning before we went to the Cowabunga Water Park, which opened at 10:30 am.
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| Oma helping 10 grandchildren to get to know each other on Thursday morning |
Our first activity at Cowabunga Water Park was well received and got their physical activity started. Some of them were a little nervous about going down the high speed slides. They each gave it a try before we finished. We watched them grow together from the very beginning. This activity was noted as the favorite by some throughout the week.
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| The bottom of the slides were filled with water for a fun finish |
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| Some slides had a lot more splash than others |
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| Enjoying time on the Lazy River, very relaxing after the water slides |
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| Getting drenched by the tipping of a giant bucket of water from above |
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| We had a great support crew to take photos and videos |
Each and every day we were able to be together in the 15 passenger van that we had rented for this occasion. We hope that this contributed to greater togetherness as cousins. We also let many of them take turns sending their music from their phones to the media player in the van.
After the water park we came back to the condo for a hoagie sandwich lunch. We then went downtown to the Family History Library and enjoyed their interactive Discovery activities. Several of them discovered that they were related to famous individuals. Others enjoyed discovering more about their names and the world when they and their ancestors were born. It was a great chance to get to know more about them, their parents and their ancestors. We finished a little earlier than expected and then moved upstairs to work on different Family History projects individually.
We enjoyed getting some group photos in front of some selected scenes from Germany. This works on a "green screen" technology. Since Henry and myself had green shirts on, you can see the scenery through our shirts. It was still fun but didn't turn out as well as we had hoped for.
While at the Family History Library, I received a text from our 18 year old grandson, Caide. We knew he had been living with a friend but had no idea how to contact him. His cousin, Naliyah, had made contact with him and encouraged him to contact me. I texted and called him and immediately we arranged for his involvement with us on Friday. He also continued with us on Monday. This was a great blessing to have this special grandson with us who so much needs the support of his extended family. This was after months of trying to contact him though his aunt Caren.
After the Family History Library we had dinner downtown at the food court. We decided to teach a finance lesson. We gave each of our grandchildren a $10 bill and told them they could buy whatever they wanted within that limit. That saved us the hassle of going to each food option and negotiating with each grandchild. They were able to pocket any change that they received back.
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Everyone with their own chosen and purchased meal, hassle free and with lessons learned
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After dinner, we went to the Rescue Mission where these ten grandchildren served meals to the homeless. They were amazing and respectful. When asked to do new and perhaps difficult things, they stepped up. Fortunately, there was work for each of them. Nick stepped up and took the dishwashing job. All helped clean up after the meal. Several wanted to return and do it again. We may make this a repeat performance in the future for those who live close by.
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| Everybody had a role in preparing the plates to serve |
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| We served a taco meal, each had a specialty in the preparation |
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| They especially enjoyed serving food to those in need and taking orders for second servings |
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| Everyone at work, including our dishwasher, Nick |
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| Nick did the dishes keeping up with everyone, our unsung hero |
Day 2 (Friday):
Friday morning we took 11 grandchildren in our rented van and headed to Thanksgiving Point. There we met two more grandchildren, Naliyah and Natalia and Natalia's friend, Kasper. Since Naliyah drives and needed to pick up her boy friend later, they went in her car. However they spent the entire time at Thanksgiving Point with us and participated in our luncheon at the Golden Corral. This became our best attended activity of the week.
At the Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point, we visited some of the LEGO sculptures that were placed throughout the park. Most of these sculptures took hundreds of hours to assemble. Of the 15 sculptures on exhibit we were able to see nine of them as we went to or from the Light of the World sculptures.
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| With most of the group in front of a large LEGO spider hanging in the cave |
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| Seven of the grandsons behind the Bonsai plants made out of LEGOS |
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| A LEGO turtle found in the gardens |
Our primary purpose in visiting the Ashton Gardens was to visit the Light the World Sculptures. These are 15 sculptures depicting the life of Jesus Christ that were added to the gardens a few years ago. We first saw them earlier this year and fell in love with the powerful spirit that accompanies them.
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| Twelve of the Sculptures from these gardens |
On Thursday morning, we asked the 10 grandchildren to each present one of the sculptures to their cousins, sharing the story behind the sculpture. We were pleased that all of these 10 cousins did an excellent job in sharing. Some went in more depth than the others, but we felt it was one of the spiritual highlights of the retreat. Henry started us off, but we didn't get a photo. Most of them are included in the photos below:
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| Oma shared this beautiful sculpture of Jesus with the Woman at the Well |
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| McKenzie taught us about the Savior healing the leper |
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| James shared the story of the infirmed lady touching the hem of the Savior |
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| Thomas shared the story of the Savior with the woman taken in sin |
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| Ethan shared the story of the Savior with Mary and Martha |
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| Even Natalia's friend, Kasper, read the summary about Jesus praying to His Father |
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| Jon shared the story of the resurrected Savior appearing to Thomas |
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| Abbie shared the story of the Savior and His Father appearing to Joseph Smith in the latter-days |
We loved the involvement and respect of all in this activity. As we rejoiced in this activity and the Rescue Mission activity the night before, Debbie made a powerful observation. She said that teenagers rise to our expectations of them. We asked them to do some things out of their comfort zones and we loved their response.
After the Ashton Gardens we moved to the Museum of Curiosity. This Museum is an amazing place. It is designed for younger children, but we felt the "Brain Maze" section and the Canopy Tours were fitting for our teenagers. They enjoyed time exercising their intellectual abilities in the Brain Maze before our scheduled Canopy Tour.
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| Joshua with incredible patience to move the piles of circles according to the rules |
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| Natalia and Kasper putting the puzzle together |
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| Thomas examining the optical illusions available in the maze |
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| Joseph walking through the floor maze |
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| Henry checking out the parallel lines or not |
We weren't sure what to expect with the Canopy Tour, high above the other exhibits, but we made reservations for 10 of our grandchildren to participate. That is all the space that was available. It turned out to be an opportunity for them to do difficult things and perhaps the highest adventure activity of our retreat. Although they were all safely harnessed, they had to deal with any concerns with heights or trusting the harnesses.
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| The courageous ten waiting to begin the "tour" |
Some found this easier than others. Thomas passed through the course faster and more often than the others. Ethan was very comfortable trusting the harness and performing daredevils acts.
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| Thomas cruising over the high wire |
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Ethan walking on the steel beam with "no hands"
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All overcame their fears and persevered through differing levels of this activity. We are proud of all of them:
After our visit to Thanksgiving Point we had a buffet lunch at the Golden Corral. They gave us separate tables in a reserved room. This gave our grandchildren the chance to eat whatever they wanted and as much as they wanted. It seemed to hit the spot for each of them.
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| Our van photo from Friday |
After a late lunch, we visited the Orem Temple Construction visitors center. This is supervised by a wonderful missionary couple, Elder and Sister Hacking, who we served with in Europe. We arranged for a short visit where our grandchildren could learn a little about the construction project. We were fortunate to see it while the marble is going up. We learned a lot about the marble which comes from a marble quarry in Portugal and cut and finished in Portugal. It then needs to fit the construction design perfectly. We found it very interesting and a nice change of pace for our activities.
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| Learning about marble cut in Portugal and installed in Orem, Utah |
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| A group shot of 11 of our grandchildren with us |
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| Outdoors, observing the construction site with partially completed marble |
After the temple site, we headed home. Eight of our grandchildren took us up on getting their hair cut or trimmed at our local Great Clips site. Debbie had arranged this. It took several hours to complete them all, but they came back looking better than when they went in. While several were getting their hair cut, the others were playing games, watching movies and preparing another dinner of hoagies.
Once the haircuts were finished and food was eaten, we enjoyed watching the movie "Clouds" together. We were impressed with this movie that was recommended by one of our grandchildren. It is of a high school student who was dying of cancer but made a significant difference in life. His message was appropriate to all "Don't wait until you are dying to start living!". As is part of our tradition, we finished the day with all you can eat ice cream.
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| Thomas said he liked not having his hair in his eyes any more |
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| Joshua getting a trim, but maintaining his special look |
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| Several waiting their turns at the barber shop |
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| Playing games at home while waiting for the others to finish hair cuts |
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| And eating more to fill the holes left from the Golden Corral |
Weekend:
We found the timing right to take a two day break before continuing our activities on the following Monday. However, we still had four grandchildren staying the weekend with us. On Saturday, they went to the home of their Digerness cousins and had a billiards party. We are thankful to Jamie for hosting this event in her home while we attended a lengthy group funeral (More on that in a future blog). The Pennsylvania cousins also spent some time with one of their uncles. We let the rest of the day be filled with informal activities, games, movies and food.
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| This was hosted in the Digerness Home with pool sticks that were shared from Ethan's home |
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| This reminded us of good memories from our family reunion two years ago |
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| It shows that they could have fun together without the grandparents being present |
On Sunday, we did our best to enjoy the Sabbath Day. We had a Come Follow Me family session with the four grandsons before our Church meeting. Then they attended Church in our old folks ward from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. One of the highlights was to have the three DeVore grandchildren participate in our sacrament. I was able to bless the sacrament with James while Thomas and Henry were able to pass the sacrament. For me this was quite an honor, to kneel alongside my grandson. Our ward is great to let visiting grandchildren help us older folks administer the sacrament. Then the four of them attended the Sunday school class that was taught by their grandma. They even helped distribute and gather up the cushions that are used to help the harder chairs be more acceptable to our ward members since this class was held in the primary room.
They enjoyed watching some of our collection of Church oriented movies and then we spent the remainder of the evening playing games. Our son Jacob came over and played with us. It also gave them a chance to get to know their uncle better.
Day 3 (Monday):
We had been planning on hiking up to Lake Mary in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Monday and having a "Solo" experience around the lake. Unfortunately, the rain we had been praying for all summer finally arrived on this weekend.
When I woke up on Monday morning, the weather report showed the rain to be done and projected no rain until later in the afternoon, when we would be back. I felt encouraged that this might work. As I went to pick up the Van that morning, I saw a few raindrops on the windshield and I wasn't sure. I decided to make this a matter of prayer. Before returning home with the van, I pulled over and prayed. I told the Lord that changing the hike to Tuesday would increase costs for the movie which we had reserved discounted seating on Tuesday. I was also trying to add another ticket to Guys and Dolls, which was sold out that night, so that Caide could participate. However, since Caide was now 18, the ticket would be twice as expensive as for the other grandchildren.
As I prayed, I felt that a Tuesday hike would have much less weather related stress and the Lord sent me a clear message to quit worrying about money that he would help us with finances. I was thankful for the impression and started home. Still unsure about how this would all work, I decided to stop the van and offer one more prayer for confirmation of my thoughts. As I prayed, the same thoughts came to my mind. As soon as I closed the prayer, rain started falling heavily on my windshield. The Lord was being very clear with me and our Monday activities began changing.
We decided to move our bowling activity to the morning instead of the afternoon and then try to catch our movie activity at noon. We would then still try to play miniature golf in the afternoon and the Hale Center theater that evening. As we went to the bowling alley, we were now in a thunder storm. We dashed from the van into the bowling alley and enjoyed a fun time bowling. Throughout the day, I was able to transfer our movie reservations from Tuesday to Monday and I was even able to find one more ticket available for Guys and Dolls for Caide to join with us.
Nik had a doctor's appointment that morning, so Grandma took Nik to the appointment while we went bowling. We got back together for the movie. This bowling alley offers two games of bowling for free for youth up to 17 years old if we pay for shoes, so it was a good activity. We also decided to combine our lunch with bowling to arrive at the movie theater in time and brought pizza for Debbie and Nik to eat on the way.
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| We had two lanes for us, since another group of 45 youth arrived seconds after we did. |
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| Most enjoyed the activity. A few alternated gutter balls with strikes. |
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| This seemed to be a "guys" activity, but . . . |
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| the best score between the grandchildren was by McKenzie (on the right) |
We rushed to the movie theater to arrive at the early matinee, which was the only movie that would fit our schedule. We wanted to see the movie "Witnesses", which had been released last month. It told the story of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon as it related to the history of the Church. In our world of criticism and doubts, we thought it did an excellent job of showing a more complete story of Church History and wanted our grandchildren to see things with this perspective. They may not have all appreciated the movie but we did hear comments later about a much clearer understanding of the challenges of the early days of the restoration. We felt that our mission had been accomplished.
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We missed our discount tickets, but the Lord had us covered
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| Our movie group together in front of the movie theater |
After the movie, the rain finally stopped and we enjoyed a few hours playing miniature golf. Several of the grandchildren (and grandpa) were able to have a hole in one, We could have had a low cost replay for all, but most had enough after 18 holes.
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| Getting Started |
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| Spread out all over |
With our changes, we had a few hours to kill before attending Guys and Dolls at the Hale Center Theater that evening. We went back to the condo, played games, watched some movies and devoured two large bucket meals of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Some returned home to change clothes before the theater. This informal time seems to work as well as planned activities. They just seemed to enjoy being together, which was gratifying to us.
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| In the van during our Monday travels |
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| More Games |
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| Animé Movies, their favorites |
Finally we went on our cultural event of the retreat, viewing "Guys and Dolls" at the Hale Center Theater. This was a highlight for some, as they were able to see a very professional presentation on a high tech stage in the round. Involving Caide in this activity was certainly worth while.
As he went home on Monday night, he shared his experiences with his "mother" who is caring for him. It was a special moment down memory lane for her, since she had been in Guys and Dolls in her high school days. Now we have contact with him and his "mother".
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| All together at the play with 11 grandchildren |
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| All in the same row, even with an additional ticket purchase |
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| Returning to the van after the performance |
Day 4 (Tuesday):Tuesday morning was reserved to do baptisms for the dead with 7 of our grandchildren who were able to participate. Counting Oma and Opa, we were able to do baptisms and confirmations for 40 of our ancestors, including at least 10 direct great grandparents of these valiant youth. We had three baptizers in our group, starting with Grandpa who baptized Debbie and Henry. I was followed by James who baptized me and his brother, Thomas. Then James baptized Joseph followed by Joseph baptizing James. I was particularly touched as I watched two cousins who live thousands of miles apart, being able to baptize each other in the temple. Joseph then finished it off by baptizing his two younger siblings. McKenzie was witness for all and was proxy for confirmations.
For sure, it was sublime to have 7 grandchildren with us in the temple doing baptisms and confirmations. With all of our efforts, we performed baptisms for ancestors whose names are now in the book of life that we present as an offering in the temple (D&C 128). 24 “Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand; and who can abide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” I felt it strongly while confirming each of grandchildren as proxies and felt prompted to share it with them. Jon mentioned in his comments at the end of our retreat that he had helped 5 individuals get their name in the book of the dead.
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All of us in front of the Jordan River Temple, what a memorable moment!
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Enjoying a breakfast together at IHOP after the baptisms. McKenzie had to be at a school
leadership function, so needed to miss the breakfast.
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We then took these 7 home to change out of their Sunday clothes and then picked everyone up to go to the Church History Museum downtown. This had just opened up for the first time after COVID the previous day. With McKenzie being involved in her school leadership session, she joined us at the end of our visit to the Church History Museum.
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| Our Van parked by our Condo in between trips on Tuesday |
We all watched the special presentation on the various accounts of the First Vision as a group, then each separated to enjoy whatever exhibits met their interests. A few photos follow:
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| Joseph seemed to take the most advantage of this visit, reverently visiting almost every exhibit |
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| Some enjoyed the exhibits together |
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| Thomas always seems to take advantage of interactive exhibits |
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| We got a group shot next to Angel Moroni |
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| And one with all, including grandparents, in front of the museum |
Our plan was to return to the van and take the long awaited trip up the mountain for our final activity before returning to our condo for dinner and wrapping up. When we got there we found the following:
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| Yes we had a flat tire on our Van |
We called a roadside assistance number for free assistance, but thought we might solve the problem while waiting. Ethan and Joseph were especially helpful and engaged. We were able to release the spare tire from under the van and find the tools to change the tire. Following the manual we identified the location as to where to put the tire jack. Joseph got it started while Ethan loosened the bolts. Unfortunately, it was inserted behind the tire in a way that made jacking up the van difficult. Finally, we found that roadside assistance was near and waited for them to finish the job, which went well. The old hub cap was put back on the spare tire by the roadside assistance person. Now, with renewed hope, we decided to head out to the mountain.
As we approached the exit we found that it was under construction. This was the same exit we had taken the previous week. So we followed the signs to a different exit. This is a longer but sad story. As we arrived at the bottom of the ramp, we bumped the top of our van on the sign limiting the height of vehicles to 7' 4". This sound of bumping put us into a panic. We had come into the parking structure under a sign that allowed the height of 8' 2". We were now stuck, with no way out. I tried to back the van up the ramp, being careful to leave space on both sides of the van. Unfortunately, I hit some posts that divided the lanes.
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| Main exit closed for construction |
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| Exit signs sending us down a ramp to a different exit |
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| 7 foot 4 inch clearance sign that hit the top of the van |
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| Eight foot 2 inch clearance where we entered the parking structure |
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| Lane dividers after I flattened a few of them while backing up over them |
This latest "accident" left a terrible noise as I drove the van. We finally took the time to turn the van around and drove it back up to our parking spot with terrible noise. We could see that a sheet metal cover had been bent by the poles. We didn't know the extent of the damage but could hear bad noise as we drove. I decided to call the van rental company, who offered to bring another van to our rescue and deal with whatever damage there was. That left us waiting for another hour and now we were quite discouraged. We were thankful for the kindness of the rental company and their willingness to help us out. While we waited I walked throughout the parking structure and was unable to find any exit higher than 7 feet 4 inches. We told the rental company to pick us up on South Temple and not risk coming in a parking structure without an exit. Finally about 5:00 pm, we were loaded into a new rental van and were able to end our 2 and a half hour activity in the City Creek parking garage.
While I was trying to find solutions to our van, Debbie was trying to keep our 9 grandchildren in a positive productive mode. The following comes from her journal:
"I was in tears by this time. My worst fear is to have an accident in a rental car. We did better than that. We were able to manage to have an accident in a rental van. Bless Kenzie's heart. She suggested a prayer was in order and offered to be the one to say it. It was a sweet, sincere, beautiful prayer for help and comfort. Shortly after that I had an impression that we should sing some primary songs. I asked Kenzie what her favorite primary song was and a few of us sang "A Child's Prayer". We then sang all three verses of "I am a Child of God". Tom missed this sweet experience as he was on the phone talking to the rental car company. Tom decided to go through the parking garage to see if there were any exits tall enough to allow the 8' van to exit. It was a funny sight to see Tom wandering from exit to exit followed by several teenagers. It reminded me of the story of the Pied Piper. At some point Kenzie said, "I'm going on an adventure. Who wants to come with?" She started out with a few takers. It didn't take long for most of them to join in. While they were gone Tom informed me that the owner of the rental company would bring us another van so we could finish our retreat with our grandchildren. It would take awhile for the van to come from Pleasant Grove. Kenzie and the group returned from their "adventure" with a chocolate candy bar and a small box of chocolates for me. I wanted to share the yummy chocolate but they all said, "No, this is just for you." Tears came again but they were happy tears of love and gratitude. Kenzie had used her phone to text her mom to find out what kind of chocolate I liked best. Wow!
We took all of our belongings out of the van and walked out of the parking garage to wait for our replacement van. We didn't want the driver of the new van to even go into the parking garage. I learned that good things or "tender mercies" can happen in the midst of disaster. While we were waiting, Valerie Sabin, who is the wife of Elder Sabin, who is the Area President in Europe, stopped me to say Hi. I was Sister Sabin's visiting teacher while I was serving my mission in Frankfurt. What a wonderful surprise to see her again and give each other a hug and spend a few minutes in conversation. The next thing I knew, I turned around to find Audrey Smeltzer and her husband with a couple of friends. We were all surprised to see each other. It had been a long time. We talked for a little while. Their son J.D. Smeltzer was going to get married on the 7th of August which was only four days away. How crazy is that? Getting two different friends on the same day in downtown SLC while waiting for our transportation."
Another note on the damage to the van. The damage under the van was minimal. Once they removed the damaged sheet metal covering, they were able to drive the van without trouble. The next day they noted some damage on the top of the van. It was all repaired in short order and was covered by our insurance. So there was no lasting challenge, but plenty of temporary grief.
By this time, we obviously could not go on our hike. Debbie and a few of the grandchildren were not too excited about hiking anyway. We went to plan C (we were already on plan B) and decided to go to the International Peace Gardens in Jordan Park and have our "Solo" experience there.
What did we learn about the "hike". It had been requested by Caide who was not participating with us on Tuesday. As I pondered this lost opportunity, I realized the great blessing that I had, taking Jon up the mountain with me in preparation the week earlier. Perhaps that was the blessing of that hike, a clear bonding time with Jon, where he shared his testimony and many of his inner thoughts. The sharing and bonding that we did on that previous hike was a special blessing from God (see previous blog).
Back to the International Peace Gardens. We explained our idea of having a solo experience. Debbie shared several questions that they might ponder while being alone. We asked them to find somewhere in the Peace Garden and ponder those things that were important to them and what they might have learned or felt during the retreat. We asked them to spend about 15 minutes alone and then return to the front of the Peace Gardens for our return to our condo. We felt that this worked well for most of them. At least they were alone for a period of time. The following are some distance photos of some them meditating alone and others looking for a solitary spot.
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| My tree that I sat by and pondered. It was a beautiful setting. |
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| Our last group photo at the end of the Solo experience |
We finally returned home and had a barbecue to finish our retreat. After the dinner we reviewed the activities of the week and had many share what they learned from the different activities. We finished again with all you can eat ice cream. Since we had focused a bit on Church History and Personal History, we offered copies of the book Saints, volumes 1 and 2 to those who were interested. All four of the books were taken. I also gave them each a copy of My Life Story which I had recently published. My goal was to have this book available for each of my older grandchildren. This retreat gave me a deadline that I was able to meet.
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Nine copies that were given that night. Others were given to those who were not participating the last
day.
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Throughout the week I was sometimes disappointed with a lack of participation or respect for some of the “spiritual” aspects of our retreat from some who are not on the covenant path. Whenever I felt this, I was reminded that we were instructed to do this for the “household of faith” and then invite all. It gave me peace to see McKenzie bear testimony of the blessings of the movie “Witnesses” and see Joseph reading and enjoying many of the displays at the Church History museum. Also we loved all of our grandchildren on the covenant path presenting part of the Light the World sculptures and the others respectfully listening. This inclusion of spiritual experiences was intentional and I believe it strengthened the household of faith.
This was a lengthy blogpost, but it was also an extremely busy week for us and a culmination of two years of planning. We believe that we were led by the Spirit throughout this process. Individually, just about everything went well (except the hike). Inspiration and tender mercies came. Relationships were strengthened and memories made. Already several of our younger children are asking when we will be doing this for their children, our younger grandchildren. We are just thankful that our Heavenly Father inspired and supported us on this adventure.
