Duane and Teresa Draper Family News

Monday, May 13, 2019

Missionary Journal Excerpt — December 17, 1995

I have been reading my missionary journal today. I'm supposed to prepare an authentic South African meal and share some stories from my mission for mutual on Wednesday.

My mission was, like most of life, waves of distress and waves of joy crossing a relatively stable mass of equilibrium.

I came across this and wanted to share it with all of you. (Note that the dates are written backward from how we normally do it, with the day then the month.):

17.12.1995
I keep a picture which I have of my brother Jacob, myself, and my three sisters in my green 3 ring binder. The picture was taken the summer before I entered the MTC to start my mission. We five sit atop our shed in Chignik Bay in front of the deep green backdrop of the Alaskan Hills. A beautiful sunny Sunday, I remember, and we were dressed up as was our usual custom for Sundays. I think of the laughter and love we shared. Chignik at times — well, really most of the time — was a dreary and lonely place, but in spite of the troubles, the sorrows, the discontent, I would trade nothing for the times of joy we shared as a family. The picture reflects such a mood. The genuine smiles on our faces and the halo-like glow on our heads are treasures far above and beyond the riches of this world. I love my family.

It is interesting to me how I don't think of Chignik as being a dreary and lonely place anymore. I guess the years have softened the painful memories and brightened the joyful ones. But, I do think time spent as a family was deeply meaningful and a treasure.

Also:

11.1.1996

My brother Jacob has a girlfriend now. ... I'm somewhat disappointed because girlfriends are a real distraction to missionaries. I hope he manages to keep focussed on mission.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Yellowstone 2015

I thought I would share a few pictures from our recent Yellowstone trip. It was incredibly fast - we were only in Yellowstone for about 24 hours - but we had a lot of fun.

We picked Rose up from a class field trip to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point and grabbed lunch at a nearby Greek restaurant. Friday we decided just to spend the night in Rexburg - Jay had a free night at a Marriott and that was the closest we could find to Yellowstone.

The hotel was great - we enjoyed swimming in their beautiful pool - I especially enjoyed the beautiful view from the pool over empty fields and up the hill to the temple all lit by the glowing light of a nearly-full moon.

Saturday morning we were a little slow getting started but managed to get to West Yellowstone by lunchtime. We ate at a local cafe and watched an IMAX movie about Yellowstone before getting into the park itself. It was a beautiful fall day and we enjoyed wandering around some of the thermal features and stopped to play on a grove of fallen logs as we waited for Old Faithful.

Saturday night we spent the night at Grant Village lodge right on Yellowstone lake. Our room was small, but nice, and the kids were excited to be given free baby bear toys at check-in. We managed to squeeze into a room on the very last day Grant Village was open for the season - the lodge and restaurant all closed Sunday morning at 11:00 am.

Even so, we had a nice dinner and breakfast at the family restaurant. We were lucky enough to get our dinner table right at the window overlooking the lake so our dinner was lit by the glories of sunset over the water.

Sunday we decided to head back to Old Faithful and make the hike around the basin to see as many geysers as we could. It rained a tiny bit as we walked, but for the most part it was an absolutely gorgeous day and we had that rare experience at Yellowstone of actually being all by our selves for much of our walk.

We knew we needed to get on the road by 1:00 so we decided just to get lunch at the Old Faithful Inn - which is fun just because the Inn is so beautiful but also because their food was amazing. I had a vegetarian reuben - mushrooms and peppers and tomatoes with a horseradish coleslaw and cheese - and Jay had a bowl of delicious buffalo chili.

We decided to drive home through Grand Teton and Jackson and Afton. The Tetons as we came into the park and around the lake were incredible and I wish we had stopped to take a picture. The light was perfect!

We hoped we would get to see the lunar eclipse that night as we drove - but between the clouds and Logan canyon we only caught the very start and the very end. We saw the moon rising and just moving into the eclipse just as we reached the canyon above Garden City. It was incredibly large, I don't believe I have ever seen it so large, and just starting to turn red.

It was a beautiful finish to a lovely weekend.