Dear Family and Friends:

The holidays are over and we are starting a new year. We are so excited for the coming events starting in the spring with the new missionarys arriving and then in the summer when the trekkers arrive. They had about 70,000 visitors and trekkers here last summer and expect that many again this year. We have been learning the scripts and stories we will need to know when they arrive.

In the spring they have trek seminars for the leaders of the groups that will be here in the summer. This is a time when they train them and let them know what they will do with their groups. They also make them familiar with the Cove and other sites here. There is a womans pull that is very important. When the pioneers were coming across here many of the men were gone because they had been called to march in the Mormon Batallion. The United States asked them to help with what was anticipated to be a war with Mexico. The womans pull here is done at a steep hill and the young men in the trek groups stand at the top of the hill and the young women have to pull the handcarts to the top of the hill alone. The men aren't able to help the girls at all. It is a difficult hill and it shows the young women how hard it was without the men to help. It shows the young men how strong and courageous the women were in having to do it by themselves.

There are only five couples here during the winter but we stay busy. I have about three days in the office and we have one or two days a week in the Visitors Center. There aren't many visitors this time of year but we do stay open 7 days a week. Your dad has a lot of work projects for the men and they have done a lot of cleaning and organizing in the shop and painting some of the apartments. They are also working on building more handcarts.

We have moved into the apartment that is attached to the office. We may be here permanently or we may move back to the original one depending on what the Freemans decide when they get here. The pictures at the top are of the view out our back door. We are right on the Sweetwater River which is mostly frozen this time of the year. The next picture is of our little house. It looks pretty big but most of that is the office. It is very comfortable and I love the view of the river.

The next picture is of the Visitor Center. It was the original homestead of the Sun Ranch in 1872. There are 7 door because each time Tom Sun purchased a homesteaders ranch he would bring that little house and add it on to his. The last picture is of one of the handcarts. They have over 200 and they are building about 10 more this winter.

We are so happy to be here and to feel the spirit that is all around us. It is like a dream come true for us. The other missionarys are so special and we are developing such deep friendships with them. We have only had one real snow storm and that was a week ago. It was only about 6" of snow but we loved it. It was so pretty for two days and there was NO WIND! Then the wind started and now we have snow drifts. It doesn't bother the deer or the rabbits, they are all around us here.

We love you all and look forward to seeing you this summer. Mom and Dad