Last weekend we drove several hours south of Calgary to Cardston to spend some time with two other senior couples who help out in the south part of our very large mission. Elder and Sister Croft from Lethbridge, help Elder Bryant with housing related issues in the south; we simple could not get along without them. Elder and Sister Warnick, formerly of Pleasant Grove, UT, but retired to St. George, serve among 1st Nation people on the Kainai Indian Reservation and will be helping us with transfers in the south. Until then, we had mainly communicated by email and phone, so this was a wonderful opportunity to actually meet and get to know them in person and spend time discussing mission related issues in the hopes of resolving problems and improving the process.
The drive to Cardston was very pleasant; it was a beautiful fall day in the low 70's. We passed through rolling hills, farm lands as far as the eye could see, rivers and streams, and cattle and horses grazing contentedly. We arrived just before supper time because Elder Croft had arranged a special surprise dinner for us at an historic bed and breakfast called Cobblestone Manor owned by members of the Church; we were the only diners. Our personal chef served us a fabulous gourmet dinner. We had French onion soup, salad, then I had wild salmon steamed in parchment, Elder Bryant had chicken Alfredo. Yummy! Afterwards we drove by the Cardston Temple and took some nice pictures while the Warnicks packed up to join us for the rest of the weekend at Elder Crofts friend's cottage at Lake Waterton National Park in the Blood Indian Reserve. The Village of Waterton is nestled in a high mountain setting like Jackson Hole or Park City at the edge of a beautiful lake.
By the time we arrived, it was dark. We drove through the Village dotted with cottages, tourist shops and small eateries to our lodging. It is not a cottage in the true sense of the word because it has a full, modern kitchen, two bathrooms, washer/dryer, living room, family room, and sleeps 15 [all comfortable beds]. The owners [close friends of the Crofts], are a doctor and his wife who are away on a mission to Mongolia. Because it is in a National Park, it can't be rented out when the family is not using it so they have been sharing it with others like the Crofts for years. Elder Crofts was asked to take care of it while they are gone and to close it up for the season, so we killed two birds with one stone on our visit. After getting settled in our rooms, we sat around the kitchen table and talked until bedtime.
We had all agreed to bring food supplies and share in meal preparation, so the next morning Elder Warnick surprised us all by getting up early and making a pile of heavenly, fluffy waffles to go with our homemade strawberry jam, blueberries, bananas, crispy bacon and orange juice. Afterwards we walked into the Village, poked around in a few shops, strolled along the lake front, and walked up a small mountain trail to a beautiful water fall. To our surprise we saw 8-10 mule deer of various sizes following the same trail or lounging on the grass near the falls. They didn't seem to mind sharing the scenic splendor with us in the least, barely looking up as we walked by.
We went back to the cottage for a quick lunch of sandwiches and chili and then sat around the living room sharing life stories. After that, everyone walked down to the local ice cream parlour for ice cream while Sister Bryant prepared the evening meal of baked potatoes, meatloaf, green beans/corn, fresh fruit cut up and tossed with strawberry yogurt, and apple/pumpkin pie and ice cream. Afterwards we sat around the table and talked until bedtime.
The next morning Elder Warnick fixed some more waffles to go with Sister Bryant's scrambled eggs and ham. Then we all piled in the car and drove up to the historic Prince of Wales Hotel. It was built by the same master carpenter who did the interior of the Cardston Temple and is on the historic registry. It is made completely of wood and looks like a Swiss chalet. The hotel sits on a high bluff overlooking the lake which is situated bwtween two large mountain ranges. It was very windy up there and Elder Crofts told us it is common to get 120 mph winds coming down through the valley across the lake. We looked around, took a few pictures, and drove over to the adjoining golf course to check it out. The Warnicks had to return to Kainai to meet with some people, so we said our goodbyes and parted company. We drove around the mountain to Red Rock Canyon. It is one of the few areas in Alberta where the iron ore in the soil makes everything red. We walked about a mile up the trail to see another water fall, but somehow took a wrong turn and missed it but had a really nice hike through a dense pine and aspen forest. We returned to the car and as we drove away we saw a mama bear and her two cubs grazing on the hillside above the road. She looked to weigh about 600 lbs with glistening black fur. We stopped to take a few pictures when the Mama reared up on her hind legs and looked around in alarm after spotting a large male bear coming up the hill toward her. She turned and literally ran in the opposite direction nudging her cubs with her nose to keep them moving. We took a few pictures of the Papa bear [a cinnamon brown-black bear] and continued on back to the cottage to have some lunch.
There is a large community park across the street from the cottage. It was very windy that day and when we looked out the window there were several people flying one of those very large air-foil kites requiring two sets of string for steering it. It almost picked him up off the ground several times.
Later we drove around another hill toward Big Chief Mountain on the other side of valley. The mountain is so named because it looks like an Indian Chief wearing a big headdress lying on his back clasping his hands on his stomach kind of similar to Mt Timpanogas. On the way we saw another bear on the side of the hill and several mule deer. We drove all the way to the border of Canada and the US before turning back toward Waterton and our last stop of the day at a bison paddock where we saw a large herd of black-bearded bison [one gave us his best stare while we took pictures].
Upon returning home, we came upon road blocks in the middle of town and lots of park rangers. We found out another Mama Bear and her cub had wandered into town and the rangers were trying to encourage them to head back up into the mountains. We took a back road to our cottage only to see the baby bear run between the next door neighbor's house and across the street to the park where the Mama Bear was standing on her hind legs calling to him. The rangers shoooed them off toward the mountain and that was the last we saw of them. We had a nice supper of roasted chicken, potatoe salad, toast and leftover pie followed by more conversation. All in all, we came up with some great ideas for solving ongoing problems with missionary housing and some positive ideas for making transfers go smoother. AND Elder Bryant got his wish to see bears!!!!!
The next morning we ate cereal, fruit and leftover waffles for breakfast before cleaning up the cottage, gathering the laundry to take home for washing, packing the cars and heading off for Church in the next town called Mountain View. The small chapel was full; the talks were on the benefits of obedience; their choir sang a very nice musical number; and we enjoyed the meeting. Afterwards we said Good Bye to the Crofts and drove back up to Calgary. It was a really great weekend!
When we got home we got an email from the Crofts saying when they went back to the cottage to get his truck, there was another bear up in the tree next to the cottage.
Now back to work--34 new missionaries coming next week!!!
Love you, love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Elder & Sister Bryant
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