Salvador, Brazil
199th operating temple
Dedicated: 20 Oct 2024
By: Neil L. Andersen
Book of Mormon
2 Nephi 5:26-6:7
Come Follow Me
D&C 11
"Put Your Trust in the Lord's Spirit."
Video: Elder Takashi Wada
October General Conference
'Aligning Our Will with His'
Elder Ulisses Soares
"As we strive to be true to every covenant we have entered into and live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,' we will be protected against falling victim to the sins and errors of the world - errors of philosophy and doctrine that would lead us away from those most precious pearls."
James cancels his trip to the valley because he can't get the trailer brake lights to work. He needs to get them fixed but in the meantime, he may borrow Chuck's trailer to take the Razr down to Erik.
Things are supposed to get colder here in the next few days along with either snow or rain. Let's hope so. James gives me a weather report every morning.
Jared Ammon texted and asked if Grampa could use any help Monday - Wednesday of next week. He said he could, but please check the weather first. Nice of Jared to volunteer to help.
I cancelled two online orders I made back at the beginning of January. One was for pillows and pillow cases and the other for a bra. The pillows had three charges. Chase accepted the first two but on the third I have to fill out paperwork. I contacted the bra company and asked for a refund. If that don't give it soon I will contact the bank on that charge too.
The sun was shining this afternoon when Kathy Crane and I made our visits, but the wind was blowing and the later it got, the colder it got.
We visited Catherine Halcomb first. Kerri was teaching school in Show Low. We had a nice visit. Catherine seemed to be in a positive mood although we did spend some time talking about her forgetfulness. We said our goodbye's and headed for the MacArthur's.
Chelsea and her kids were home. We gave them their Valentine goodies and I gave each of the kids a little crystal angel after telling them what a guardian/ministering angel was. Boone kept his for less than a minute and threw it on the ground. I talked with Boone and we played catch with his stuffed dog that he calls Brutus. Chelsea says he likes trucks and guns. Peyton just turned nine and says she wanted to be baptized if there aren't a lot of people there. I think the bishop needs to interview her and since they don't come to church I'm not sure how that will work out.
The MacArthur's have lots of chickens and they are hatching eggs in an incubator. Chelsea says all of the eggs have been fertilized. Here is a picture of the incubator. The eggs will begin to hatch after 21 days.
The incubator, Boone, Peyton and Chelsea Scotlyn was across the room.
As we were leaving Chelsea told us that someone picked up their dog, Ernie and took him home. They actually shaved his hair before they advertised online that they had him and the MacArthur's got him back.
Janna Grombach is in the valley at a funeral so we didn't get to visit her.
Kathy told me that their property taxes have doubled since last year. Last year they were $2,500 and now they are $5,000. That means ours will be even more. I don't understand and James is going to be upset.
James and I had ham sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. I love simple dinners.
James spoke with his cousin Lee on the phone for quite awhile this evening. Lee is 93. His wife Polie passed away a couple of years ago from the effects of the Covid vaccine. She had not been well for awhile and said she wanted to go to Chandler to see her kids. She passed away while they were there. Lee was at Bueler's Mortuary and had Polie's phone in his pocket. She had passed a couple of hours before when her phone rang. Lee answered it and it was Polie's voice saying: "This is Polie, I want you to know everything is okay."
A miracle and such a comfort to Lee.
Milky Ranch Story #1
By: Monte Maxwell, oldest grandchild
of Marlin & Betty Maxwell
"AWWWWW H_ ll!!!" the old man screamed. "Get your ____ up, you're letting them all out!"
As I lay there in the dirt, my left eye beginning to swell, and blood running from both my mouth and nose, my nine-year old self struggled to get to my feet and shut the gate as the cattle rushed by and over me. Such was my devotion to the screaming old man on horseback, that even though I was scared and injured, I wanted to please him and show him just how good a cowboy I was.
I pulled myself to my feet and began swinging the heavy wooden corral gate shut, stemming the stream of cattle rushing out of it. Just as I get it shut, "Open the damn gate so I can get 'em back in!" are the angry words I hear.
We had been rounding up cattle to take to the auction. On a cattle ranch such as ours, there are a few different ways to earn a living. Taking cattle to the auction wasn't one of them. Usually if one of our bovine friends had become sick, injured, couldn't or didn't have a calf, or in this case had become so wild and unruly that they were a danger to themselves and all around them, you took them to the auction. You basically cut your losses and at least got something out of them.
Enter our friend "Yeller" into the story. Yeller was an old, large Charolais cow who hadn't had a calf in a couple of years. She had long curved hooves, wild crazy eyes, and was one of the meanest cows on the range. Yeller was wild on the range and would run from any horseman she saw and often would stampede the herd along with her. On the rare occasion you might get her into the corral, she was worse.
I had already had a run-in with Yeller a few weeks prior during branding season. We had her in a small corral up near Middle Well. This was a smaller corral away from the main corrals at the ranch house that we often used when branding this season's calf crop. It was much more convenient than driving them all the way to the house and then driving them back. Yeller was a holy terror in the corral and had already chased me up the fence multiple times before we opened the gate and let her out so we could finish with the branding. The rough and tumble cowboy I wanted to be acted like he wasn't afraid of her while the little boy in me was terrified of the big yellow cow with the crazy eyes and crooked feet.
As luck would have it, we were rounding up a small group of cattle and separating them to take to some to auction and move others to a different pasture. Yeller ended up in the lead group and as luck would have it, she was dumb enough to run right into the corrals at the house leading the rest of the herd.
"Let's make sure we get rid of the big yellow _ _ _ _ _," my grandpa yelled. "We sure as hell don't need her around."
If you had ever worked cattle with my grandfather, you would know that he never works the gate. Never opens or closes one, always delegates that job to someone else. Being that we were the only two there, the duty fell to me.
Our corrals at the time were made of old, weather-beaten wood, and the gates were heavy as hell. They often drug on the ground and always made sure to stick a splinter or two into your hands. I was a small boy and although I had always been large and strong for my age, the gates were a little beyond me.
Driven equally by the desire to please my grandpa and the fear of the big yellow cow turning around and running me down, I was able to muster all of my adrenaline-fueled strength and get the gate about 95% shut. I was feeling very proud of myself and only lacked about six inches of getting the gate closed and trapping Yeller in the corral.
As luck would have it, that mean yellow devil realized where she was. As I was nearing the last couple feet of closing the gate and trapping her inside, Yeller made a mad dash for freedom. Summoning all the anger and hate that she possessed, that crazy demon cow smashed all of her 1,800 pounds of fury into my partially closed gate.
In football lore there lies the grand myth of a hit so vicious that it knocks the opposing player's cleats out of the ground and often over their head. This hit is known as the "decleater". While I wasn't wearing cleats at the time, I was treated to a Hall of Fame decleater worthy of any ESPN Top 10 list. The gate smashed into the left side of my face and continued through me, lifting my little boy body off the ground and depositing me around five yards back. Jack Tatum would have been very proud of Yeller's work that day.
As I lay there, bruised, battered and bloodied, trying to avoid being trampled to death, I hear my grandpa screaming at me to get the gate shut and many other obscenities aimed at my personal toughness and courage. I somehow will myself up from the ground, summon up all my strength while trying not to succumb to tears, and get the gate shut, trapping all but 6-7 of the herd.
I am very proud of myself right then. I had overcome injury and fear and was able to do a grown man's job of closing a very heavy gate in a very tense situation.
My silly moment of juvenile pride was short-lived however as I suddenly hear, "What the hell are you doing?!?" the old man was screaming. "Open the damn gate so I can get 'em back in."
I open the gate, on horseback he pushes the cattle back in, and I manage to shut the gate. With a sense of pride and accomplishment, I lead my horse outside in the larger corral, tie him up and get ready to begin separating the cattle into the two groups that were either being sold at auction or being released into another pasture. My grandfather rides up and yells at me, "Why the hell did you let them all out!"
Such was my life-long love-hate relationship with the man named Marlin Maxwell, my grandfather, and the place called the Milky Ranch.
At lunch on Harold's birthday he said to me: "If I would have known how my dad treated Monte and Brian I never would have allowed them to go to the ranch."
I blanked out some of the words dad said because they are just to rough. I will put a story on my blog every Thursday until I have gone through all of them.
Notes & Quotes
"It is the Spirit which will bear record to your heart as you read the scriptures, as you hear the Lord's authorized servants, and as God speaks directly to your heart."
- President Henry B. Eyring
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