Ice Falls; COLD!

GRAND GULCH March 2010

Trail Head, Bullet Canyon

The studs (and studette)

Pottery Shards

Perfect Kiva

Jailhouse Ruin

Grinding stones

First Night

The next morning

Some of the many rock art panels

Baby Handprints

Ancient City

Bone, Pottery, and Doll

Finally, some sun!

How do they get up there?

After three nights, four days, 24 miles, rain, snow, cold, a lizard named "Herbie" and some great ruins, we hiked out.

THE END

(I have hundreds of photos of the ruins, etc if you want to see them).

NO MORE NIGHTS!

I just recieved word that my days working night shifts are over! (Starting the week of June 28th!) If that doesn't deserve a shout out, I don't know what does. I tried to post a photo of a sleep deprived zombie, but the left button on my mouse has been deactivated. What ever.
Wahoo!

Truman G. Madsen

1926-2009

Most of us, if we are lucky, will have pivotal moments or experiences in our lives that, when we look back, play a defining moment in the process of becoming "us". One such experience occurred to me as a young missionary in Northern California. A friend, Brandon, let me borrow a series of lectures on tape concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith. In so doing he introduced me to a man who would, and still does, inspire me in his unique and genuine way. Amber just likes the sound of his voice. {;-) His name is Truman G. Madsen.

In a lecture he shares an old German proverb that deals with a swine herdsman and his family who took a piglet in to their home as a pet. For days they relived the same experience: the pig is washed, and clothed and fed at the table, but as soon as they turn their backs it is out the door and right back into the wallow. In frustration a family council is called where different ideas are presented, but none seem appropriate. Finally the father has an idea, the pig is brought in, an operation is performed and the pigs heart is replaced with a human heart. Now, not only does the pig stay in the home, but it loves being in the home with the family.

This week Truman passed away and I feel it timely to express my love for the man and his life's work. He helped perform a similar transformation in my heart as I sat at his feet and listened to his testimony. I appreciated his lectures on the Prophet, but it wasn't until I studied his "The Presidents of the Church" lectures that I became completely smitten, I am in deep smit. His lectures went to my core.

This man seems to have had an almost open door to every church president since his grandfather Heber J. Grant. Being a historian, philosopher, and a professor at BYU his life work has carried him all over the world, and even lead to his becoming the director of the BYU Jerusalem Center for New Eastern Studies which gave him many personal experiences with Church leaders and Presidents, and even the then mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek.

His biography on his website mentions that we may never know how many lives his work touched and I just wanted to acknowledge him and the way he opened my eyes and mind to the men we revere as prophets. I would not have gotten to know these men with out Truman, and for that I am grateful. Thanks to Brandon for turning me on to him and his mastery of our language. "Pseudologia Fantastica"!