October 28, 1983 Billings, Montana

Dearest Roy, Bob, Claire, Michael & Laura, Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean & Mary Ann and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie & Russell,

I'm starting my letter on Friday afternoon because we leave early in the morning to go to Missoula and we won't be back until Sunday night and there is a church wide fireside telecast so it will be late before I could start my letter.

Normally I would just write a short letter after the fireside but we had such a fun week. I wanted to write about it. Tuesday; Daddy, Johnny and I left at four in the morning to go hunting - a member of the Branch Presidency in Roundup owns 13 sections of land (I understand there are about 600 acres in a section) out between Roundup and Millstone - that's north and west of Billings. He told Daddy that he doesn't allow many hunters on his property but he would let us come. We got there just about sunlight and it was a beautiful sight - there were deer and antelope all over the place. Johnny had shot a really nice two point buck before eight o'clock and they could have shot others but decided to wait. We rode all over his ranch and finally he shot a nice doe - they cleaned them out and hung them up on trees and then we fixed our lunch and just walked all over this beautiful land. Finally, Daddy and Johnny decided to go up on a little ridge and I waited for them in the car. After about an hour I saw Johnny coming - he had shot an antelope but didn't have his knife to cut its throat and was coming back to the car. We drove the car closer to the antelope and Johnny was getting ready to clean it out when Daddy came - Daddy had seen a four point buck up on the ridge and thought he had gone in John's direction but he hadn't. We decided three animals were enough for one day so they loaded them in the truck and we started to come home. Just as we were leaving this man's property we saw another herd of antelope so Daddy and Johnny climbed up to the top of a little hill to get a closer look. Pretty soon I heard a shot and then I saw Daddy coming back to the car - he was so excited - it seems that in this herd there was an antelope with quite big horns and Johnny had shot it. They were at least 300 yards away (according to Daddy) and it was a great shot. Daddy and I drove the truck closer to the antelope and Johnny and it truly was a beautiful animal and Johnny was thrilled with its horns. So - we came home with four really nice animals - two deer and two antelope. Last year it was really cold at the time of the hunt but it has been record breaking warm this year so Daddy couldn't let them hang in the shed for very long. He got up early Wednesday morning and started skinning them and then he brought them into the kitchen and we cut them up and took them to the meat place to have them ground. We only save the very best part of the carcass but we have about 175 pounds of ground meat in the freezer and it is just delicious. We had never tasted antelope but it is really good - we soaked it in salt water over night and then they added suet to it.

Johnny is working on his antelope horns - he bought a beautiful mounting board and will put them on it - the spread of them is 14 inches. We used Daddy's and my hunting permits and tags so Johnny can still go out and get another deer - he says he isn't going to shoot anything without a "big rack" until the last day and then he will just shoot anything. We want to make jerky out of the next one. He is really a good shot and keeps so calm - I couldn't believe it!

I'm sure this must sound blood thirsty to you. Last year I cried when he shot the deer when I was with them but after seeing so many of them killed by cars on the side of the road throughout all of Montana and Wyoming and hearing the wildlife people say they will starve this Winter because there are so many of them, I am reconciled to shooting them for meat. The Elders in the home vary in their opinions - one is very opposed to it (Elder Klem, Jeannie). Wednesday for lunch Brenda cooked the liver and heart and he really enjoyed them so Johnny teased him about liking to eat it but not liking to kill it. This will really help the home food budget but would you believe one of the Elders said that if they ate all this meat maybe they could get a refund at the end of the month - they get three big meals a day for $2 a day and they have no idea what we go through to try to do this. Actually we never do it but we have made them think we do - as Daddy has said a million times, they're just 19 year old boys!

You just wouldn't believe our weather - we haven't had the heat on all week - it is truly an Indian Summer and we are loving it. We start our zone conferences for the month next week and it's great to travel through the country and see all the pretty colors.

Daddy and I went to Johnny's school open house Tuesday night after we got home from hunting - we met all his teachers and we're impressed with most of them. The school building itself is really nice and they have good sports facilities - we didn't see any of that last year - the coaches really like Johnny and told us they really wish he had gone out for football last year. It was so funny - a cute little girl came up to us and said she was a friend of Johnny's - they go to "Young Life" together. In talking to her, I said we would love to have the Young Life group meet at the Mission Home and she said, "Well, someone said we should ask Johnny if he could have it because he lives in a church". We laughed but that is exactly what it looks like - Cissy and Charles rode by here three times the other night before stopping - they thought it was an elementary school.

We loved talking to you Claire and we hope your cold is better (she could hardly talk she was so hoarse). You and Bob sound busy but happy - I think it's great that Michael is in a little "organized play group" twice a week - that's good for him and also you. We try to imagine what little Laura looks like. Brenda talks a lot about Memphis - I think she would like to go back there to live instead of Arkansas.

We have heard there was an earthquake today - I was jumping on our trampoline and they interrupted the news to tell about a tremor being felt here in Billings. Daddy received a phone call from Salt Lake telling him to check on the missionaries close to the Idaho border up by Libby, Montana. Brenda said she was reading in her bedroom and felt the chair move but no one else here felt it. We'll listen to the news later tonight and try to find out about it.

Johnny's High School's last football game is tomorrow afternoon - I guess it's a good thing he isn't playing or we would be tempted to stay home from Missoula and go to it. He is going to a basketball game tonight and then to a church dance. He is doing really good - he had a calculus and English test today and he studied really late last night - a fire for him!!

I'll finish this when we get home Sunday night - or Monday morning!

Sunday night - we left Missoula about 12:30 this noon and just barely made it to the Stake Center for the special fireside at 6 p.m. - it's a good six hour drive so we made good time. Our zone conference was good yesterday - the missionaries all seem happy and the new ones who came out are getting adjusted. I was worried about three lady missionaries being together but it's working out fine.

The night meeting for the Missoula Stake Conference last night was good too - they asked Daddy to speak and he did a good job as usual. Elder Bangerter of the First Quorum of Seventys was their General Authority and he asked me last night to be prepared to speak today - there was a time when I wouldn't have slept worrying about it but I slept like a log. Both Daddy and I spoke today and I looked like there were a million people in attendance. After the meeting Elder Bangerter said he would like to meet with us for a few minutes so we went into the Stake President's office - he is really a nice man and asked Daddy all about how the mission work was going and then he said, "I noticed that all your missionaries were setting together today and I would suggest they never do that at meeting like this - in fact, they shouldn't come without investigators and then they should sit with them". It's so funny, no matter what you do they can always find something you're doing wrong. Daddy explained that some of the missionaries who were there today weren't laboring in Missoula - they had come in for the zone conference and stayed over for the Stake Conference - Oh well!!!!!

Tomorrow is Halloween and a sweet lady in our ward made the most beautiful Halloween Cake for the Mission Home - it is really beautiful and of course the missionaries are happy about it. We'll be here tomorrow night - last year when Jeannie and the children were here we were gone and they had to go the ward party by themselves.

Johnny is gone over to his friend Ted's place - we leave him way too much on weekends and we don't know what to do about it. ----- He just came home - he's grouchy - said his team lost by 16 points - he also said you called Roy - we're never home when you call and you're never home when we call - sorry we missed talking to you. This has been a sad time for the Marine families, hasn't it???? We surely do love each one of you - we are so homesick to be with you. PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - let us know how we can help you.
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