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A new discovery!

Not far from where we live is one of Cincinnati's parks.  Mt. Ariy Forest is 1459 acres of trees, trails, frisbee golf, and a few streams that right now are pretty small, except when it rains.  


Spring really is trying to come but about 5 days our of 7 it gets kidnapped by winter.  On one of those rare spring days we made our way to Mt Ariy Forest and hiked for a couple of hours on one of the many trails.  Later in this entry I will include some more pictures of that little 'Venture.

Today - April 16th starts another six week cycle for us.  We have new missionaries arriving today.  Tomorrow we will help get them to Centerville where they will meet there first companions.  Also we have several going home - that is the other side of the transfer.  We will help get them to the Columbus Temple for a session tomorrow then they will be off to continue their lives that they so willingly interrupted.

One of the miracles we witness with the exposure to this "mission life cycle" is how much these new missionaries change in such a short period of time.  For most it is just a few days and they are completely "in the mission".  As a teenager, I got to work at many different jobs.  One of them was to irrigate corn for the Del Monte Cannery that was in our small town.  My friend and I would go out just before dark and start the water - then we would stay there all night as we watered the corn.  Durning night when it was hot and still I could actually hear the corn grow in the heat.  It would pop and crack as it drank up that water.  The next morning as the sun came up I knew the field was different from the night before.  I knew it had grown during the night.  Watching these missionaries is just like irrigating that corn.  As we go to church with them, as we watch them teach and fellowship those they are teaching - we can't hear them pop or crack but we can see them grow and change right in front of us.  It is one of the rewards of our service, to be able to witness this miracle over and over again.

I hope you are all well.  Remember to "Be not weary in well doing"  There are a lot of things that make us weary on a regular basis - well doing should not be one of them.

Lots of this ground cove everywhere - we later learned it is an "invasive plant" and not native to the area.

Inside of the tree house

Part of the 'E' trail.  E stands for Everything

Tree house from the lower trail

This is not a 'rock' picture, it is a 'tree' picture




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