Hiking Supai

These last few weeks have been crazy! Now we're cramming two p-days into one so this may be short.  

First off, our hike to Supai! We left Sunday evening and spent the night at the Peach Springs Elders house.  We woke up at 5 AM the next morning, and drove an hour or so to the canyons trailhead.  Hiking was beautiful, but really hard! We did the math, and it was 24 miles overall, with lots of elevation!  The falls were absolutely beautiful!  

Some of the beautiful waterfalls we saw

The Supai Chapel

I'm not sure how much I’ve mentioned this in the past, but there are lots of interesting people and Dolan Springs. We started keeping tallies of certain things we find interesting such as number of people who've died and come back to life and people who have accidentally been shot in the stomach! (seven and two respectively, in case you were wondering).  In fact, we met a lady this week who, according to her, has been baptized by immersion by the Pope, met with Gordon B Hinckley and the 12 apostles, and has had a vision she's had confirmed by all of them.  At one point, she invested $30,000 into a mineral hot springs so she could bottle water and give it to old people in nursing homes with cancer, because apparently there's a big problem with old people who have cancer not getting enough water... Like I said, lots of interesting people!

We also had stake conference this weekend. All of the talks focused a lot on charity and service. It made me think a lot about 1 Corinthians 13:1 - "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."  No matter what it is that we're doing, if we’re not doing it for the right reasons and with love for those around us, it all becomes meaningless. I'm so grateful for the chance that I have to be here on a mission and show my love for others through service to them and sharing the gospel with them!

I’m out of time.  I love you all and I'm so thankful for all of your support!

Elder Excell

Me, Elder Boudousquie and Elder Van Slyke

Q&A - 3/7/16

1.) Obviously, we want to hear about your adventurous p-day last week! --It was so amazing!  I'll talk more about it in the letter!

2.) Am I OK to still use your Dolan Springs address? How many weeks until next transfer? The whole six and seven week thing has got me a little mixed up! :) --Transfers are on March 22. I'm not so sure if I'll stay or not, so if in doubt, send it to the mission office address! 

3.) Is it starting to get toasty there?  --Not too bad yet!  We're enjoying the brief but beautiful spring of Northern Arizona, and temperatures are staying mostly in the 70's!

4.) When was the last time you had the opportunity to play the piano? Have you been able to play the organ at all?  --I play at district council and zone conferences pretty frequently!  I haven't had much chance to play the organ lately!  I have been asked to play a piano solo in church this Sunday though!

5.) This question came up at Dad's fireside last night and it made me wonder what you'd say - what are you glad that you did or wish you'd have done to prepare for your mission? --I'm glad that I spent the time reading the Book of Mormon!  Having a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon has helped me so much!