Robert writes home #67 19 May 1996

19 May 1996

Dear Mother,

                I just got a letter from your great grand son, Magdalene’s grandson and one of my great nephews, Jason, who is on a mission in Kentucky, as you know, where he got transferred to a little town back in the “boonies” named Harlan. I had not heard of another town named Harlan in the USA since we lived at one when I was a kid.

                Harlan is a special name for me. I remember when we first moved to Oregon, in 1942, to that farm five miles up the Big Elk River (to where it was a bunch of little creeks) from the town of Harlan. Harlan was, as you may recall, a Y in the road with a mill, a school house, a grange hall and a few houses. It was located 12 miles off the hard surfaced road that goes from Corvallis to Newport. We held church in our house with just us most of the time. A few time we used the grange hall. Remember all of those good times? I remember that our rule was we didn’t allow dogs in the house, but after everyone left for work and school, you took pity on our little dog Scottie, and let her come in and get warm by the stove sometimes in the winter. I loved that place. I was so excited by the way the fish ran up the streams. The fish, Salmon, Steelhead and Blue Backs (sea-run cut throat trout) migrated up the forest canopy the little creeks dried up in the summer and the little fish died and the runs disappeared. Later years when I went back there were no more salmon or steelhead in the river.

                I was broken hearted when we moved away from there. But I know that you were pretty lonely up there and probably happy to move closer to civilization. It was the only place I ever got that attached to of all the farms we lived on as I grew up.

                Sam and I have been out working our watermelon patch every morning at 6AM. We’re seeing some melon plants. We irrigated it last week. We planted mostly watermelons with some Crenshaws and a few cantaloupes.

                Our blackberries are ripe now. We had a cool spell with some rain last week and it was great for berries. They don’t last long when it is hot. They are really good. Sam and Janet made a berry pie last night. We’ve also eaten a couple of early peaches off of our tree. But our cherry crop is a wipe out. The conditions were wrong at pollination time, I guess.

                That warm rain melted the snow in the Sierras and caused the Merced river in the Yosemite Valley to go up 12 feet and trapped the tourist and campers in Yosemite. You couldn’t get in or out for a couple of days. Today as I went to Chowchilla, The San Joaquin River flood overflow channel was running a big stream.

                Today was high council Sunday but I got pre-empted by a missionary farewell in the ward I was assigned to speak at, so I went to the unit I’m assigned to, Chowchilla. While there, I got asked to substitute in a Sunday School class and speak in Sacrament meeting next Sunday. They are a small unit and when their program falls through they’re hard pressed for replacements.

                I also got my speaking assignments for EFY last week. I speak in Oberlin, Ohio, June 14,15; then Ricks at Rexburg, Idaho, the following Monday and Tues. on my way home. Then I go to BYU on July 18,19 for EFY and again on 21,22 at the Especially for Parents program where Janet will help me. That’s really exciting… and scary. Those teenagers are hard to entertain, but hopefully I’m improving a little each time. If you have any pointers or suggestions let me know. My plan at present is tell stories, quote scriptures, plug seminary, teach truths and testify. Then I try to do some activities to break every 15 or 20 minutes so they don’t get tired. I could use some ideas for activities. At the present time I play “Family Feud” with a poll I took asking EFY Kids questions; have front row find the person of the opposite sex who is most dressed like them (this ties in to my mate selection talk). We have an applause vote for the winner. Then I have five kids come up and close their eyes and point to Hawaii (after interviewing them and finding out where they’re from), this demonstrates the difference between absolute truth and consensus truth…but its main purpose is a “Break, or change up activity”.

                I really need two activity ideas for each class, Do you have any?

               

                We’re praying for you every day.

Love,

Robert, Janet, Charlie and Sam