Day 2 August 11, 2011

Jason and I woke up the most scrumptious smells. The Campbells had made us an enormous gourmet breakfast with delicious home grown tomatoes, biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, bacon, and all the fixins. It was delicious, and I honestly think that just from that one meal I gained about 10lbs. It was the perfect breakfast to help us get started on our grand adventure through Cattaraugus.

Our first stop was visiting a man names Norman. Norman is a Native American that Jason taught while on his mission. He is an amazing stone sculptor who has done many beautiful pieces of art work. He was diagnosed with colon cancer and has been receiving treatment for it through a medicine man. It was neat to visit with him, learn of stories, and see how much he has had a change of heart. He knows that the Lord is watching out for him, an

d has been trying his best to remain healthy and live a good life. I know that there are many people who are so thankful that he is still on the earth to share his talents and stories with others. As a parting gift, he gave us a feather to remember him by.

Denise White-pigeon is Norman’s sister who also has a talent for art. She has the talent of making beautiful corn husk dolls and beautiful beaded jewelry and paintings. Jason taught Denise’s family while serving in this area, and he said it was interesting going back to see them. They told us of their hardships and blessings, and it seems that what they always did with missionaries too. They trust us with their greatest experiences and problems in life. Sadly Denise’s husband Phil was at work, so after learning some Native American stories we made dinner plans and headed on our way.

It has been really nice to spend so much time together as a family. Each day we were able to take a couple of minutes to just enjoy us… Jason took me to Lake Erie where we walked, reflected on the journey thus far, and dipped our feet in the water. It was very relaxing and neat to learn more about his mission and the thoughts and feelings that he had now.

We met up with Phil and Denise met us at “The Hawk” where we had a rather interesting dinner. We really enjoyed continuing our visit with them, and I learned that Phil was quite the kidder. They are such a good family, and Jason and I only hope that someday they will be open to the gospel and partake of the happiness that it brings.

Eating food had become quite a habit on this trip. Our next endeavor was SMORES with the Reynolds. The Reynolds are famous for their missionary pound. With each missionary that came to teach in their home, they would have them create a stepping stone for their missionary pound. Jana Reynolds took us to their house to see it, and then we headed back to their camp to have delicious SMORES. There we say a beautiful sunset across the lake, and were able to enjoy each other and sit by a warm fire. By the time we got back to the Campbell’s it was really late.