Way out on the North-western part of our mission is a wonderful place called Sandhills. The church owns a huge cattle ranch out there which makes up the tiny Sandhills Branch with 41 on the records and 37 active members. How's that for great attendance! The area is literally made up of sand but because of the cattle who tramp down, fertilize and munch on the wild grasses they have become productive grazing hills. We had the privilege of going out there to meet with the Branch President and the High Councilor in anticipation of putting missionaries in the area.
At this point the branch meets in this tiny community church,
complete with outhouses in the back yard.
They have just started construction on a new little building of their own and they are so excited. Anything new in this area causes quite a stir so they had requested missionaries to help them with their open house in September. We have since sent out two great missionaries, Elder McClain and Elder Stevens, to work as free ranch-hands during the day with the only requirement being dinner and a half hour of time for a lesson in the evening. Sounds like a great deal to me.
Brother Ramsey of the High Council insisted on taking us for a horse-back ride and as hesitant as us city folk were, we had a fantastic time. We went for two hours and ended in the evening so that we could see their breath-taking sunset. What an amazing place. Our prayer go with these two elders (who think they have died and gone to heaven). We are anxious to hear of their success!
2 comments:
Awwww... poor Matt! Looks as if he's suffering!! What a fun place and opportunity! Hard to believe there are places like this in our country, isn't it?! Sure love you guys!! x x x
It's interesting to see this part of our mission, especially after Elder Schoff talked about it at our senior dinner. Looks like a wonderful place to serve a mission -- almost like home for us.
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