Happy 4th

While at the River this last weekend we attended the Parker Ward on Sunday. Parker is not a thriving metropolis. I'm not sure what the local economy is outside of some occasional tourists. The ward is a little pathetic. But, I mean that in the nicest way. We truly enjoyed ourselves. Proof once again that you don't have to have a mainstream ward to feel the Spirit. Our little party of visitors nearly doubled their attendance. They were very grateful that most of us stayed for all three meetings. I was especially touched by the testimony of a young, tall, slender, extremely dark, latino boy who was most humble in the Spirit.

This is stark, rugged country. It takes a hearty person to live here, both physically and spiritually. The highest temperatures ever recorded in Arizona in the months of April, July, and August were in Parker. The highest for June was in Lake Havasu City which is about 25 miles away. The only place in the country worse for heat is just across the border into San Bernardino County.

I woke up Sunday morning with a Bass voice. I enjoyed singing in church and the members there seemed to enjoy having a large contingent of visitors with good strong singing voices. Unfortunately, in a stupor of thought I had taken our Sunday clothes into the Puggas house in Saint George and we left them there. So Lenore, Laney and I had to scramble for appropriate Church clothes. Aaron Hoke has several shirts and pants and ties that he left at the River house. I was able to make one of these outfits work without too much trouble. However, after I returned home from Church I found that the pants were kinda split in the back. There were four young boys visiting the ward from BYU. One of them was in a t-shirt and swim trunks. I'm guessing he was in the same predicament as us. Lenore scared up a very respectable outfit. But, Laney got stuck wearing a night gown that looked like a Mu-Mu.

I think the ward must be used to people showing up without Church clothes. They must also be used to people ditching after the Sacrament meeting because they thanked us profusely and the Bishop blessed our waverunners to run well for the rest of the week because of our faithfulness in staying for the whole three hours. He should have blessed Ed's boat too because it broke down Tuesday night.

This is how I had fun on the waverunners: I only let Ailsa and Jensen take the slowest one (about 37mph) while I took the fastest one (55mph) then I would chase them down and pass in front of them and then turn and spray them with my wake. I had much fun cackling. They didn't mind too much. But, several times I saw the look of shock on their faces when they got hit with the cold water. Tuesday night when I went with Clay Starnes looking for Ed's boat it was very windy and at times very dusty. I got more than my fair share of gunk in my eyes. It is fun going fast on the water.

I persuaded grandpa to bring his firearms (except for the .32.) I took the two older girls Wednesday morning to kill some rocks. We found an old LDS meetinghouse folding chair (7th and 8th Wards) and used it for a target as well as a discarded water heater and a couple of bottles and cans. We might have to get our own guns and ammo for next time.