20 Year Anniversary of Bear Attack!

*To get a sweet version of this same story, visit our daughter's (Emi Dunn Rigby) blog. She really shares such a sweet appreciation for the events of that day 20 years ago. Thanks, Em!!

http://www.welltraveledwife.com/2014/08/20-years-ago-today.html


On August 14, 1994 President Michael Dunn was attacked by a Grizzly Bear in Grand Teton National Park and miraculously survived.  He was the first person in the 54 year history of the park to be attacked by a bear. We celebrate today his survival and wonderful life. Here are a few snapshots in honor of his life and God's hand in saving it! We celebrate this 20th year Anniversary with this blog post!!

We loved the Tetons and thanks to my parents wonderful tradition, we never missed a summer where we did not spend as much time as possible in this beautiful part of the world. My father, Kenneth Ralph Poulson really set this tradition and was never happier than in the shadows of the Tetons with his family.  Grandpa Kenny, Jeffrey and Michael in 1986.

This picture taken the summer Michael was attacked, just prior to our trip to the Tetons. Jeff, 10, Brady, 8 and little Emily only 4. Our dog Kea was always in the picture!

We had moved to Park City that same year and bought a home just a mile or so away from where my parents lived.

After the attack, in the hospital in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Kids kept their sense of humor and so did the Bear..Man! He told the kids right after seeing him for the first time.  "Remember kids, don't feed the bears.."

Just one year later, Michael was able to get his running legs back and with the help of our two sons, Jeff and Brady, he crossed the St. George Marathon in record time and was able to qualify to run in the Boston Marathon the next spring!

We were certainly blessed to have our husband and father around and with us for all the memories and experiences of life. Never does a day go by that we don't count our blessings.

He felt so lucky to be alive, that he signed up for the challenging Wasatch 100 and completed it, not just once but twice. His passion for life and zest for living only increased by surviving a life threatening experience.

How blessed to have his example to be with our sons as they served honorable missions

We have returned to the Tetons every year before and since the attack. In our  3 year mission pause, our children are keeping the tradition alive for us with their  families.

The Lord has had many opportunities for President Dunn to continue to share his love of the Lord. We  have been so blessed by the many opportunities to share his story and testimony of God saving his life and guiding his path. He has given over 1000 firesides and bear talks in the past 20 years. He has been generous with his time to always thank God for saving his life that day. These were the first words out of his mouth that day.

I am certainly blessed to be not only his eternal companion, but also his junior companion on this most amazing 3 year journey.  I am sure he will have chance to share this story of a bear survival and God's loving hand in this land of Africa. We know that the Lord has work for us to do and the gift of life brings the expectation and responsibility to share a message of God's love and gospel to all we can.

Long may he ride!

Interviews are Invigorating!

Yesterday, August 13, we finished our first round of interviews. We have been here just about 6 weeks and started interviews the very first week. It has taken us until now to arrange interviews for over 180 missionaries and invite 11 zones to the mission home and conduct them.

This posting is all about the routine we have adopted for this quarterly experience. The plan is to interview each Elder individually 4 times a year or every other transfer.  This is a nice time for President Dunn to sit down individually with each and every missionary and get to know them and find out how they are  progressing. 

They come in districts of 4-6 Elders at a time and are in the mission home for up to 2 hours at a time.  Some have traveled up to 2 hours to be here.

 So during the precious time we have with them,  we are trying to take full advantage of the time to get to know them better, share some practical ideas and skills they can use.

This posting is all about the routine we have adopted for this quarterly experience. The plan is to interview each Elder individually 4 times a year or every other transfer.  This is a nice time for President Dunn to sit down privately with each and every missionary and get to know them and find out how they are doing and how they are progressing. 

Welcome! Door open and ready for Elders

Front hall

The missionaries start coming at 8 am on Interview day! Many drive over an hour to get to the mission home.

This first set of interviews was fun. Everyone came in and relaxed a bit in the comfortable living room, playing a little music, chess, putting together an inspirational puzzle or just relaxing and reading or writing.

Then I brought each district in and took new missionary pictures of each one for our new transfer board coming in September.

Every missionary had a new picture taken on our green backdrop.

This is a sneak preview of how the pictures will be laid out and identify our Elders, their names, home country, current assignments, etc.

We then moved into the kitchen and I asked each Elder to participate in a survey on exercise. I asked them 10 questions about their time on their mission, number of companions, areas etc.  I asked to them to share their level of commitment to the daily exercise program. On a scale of 1-5, do they never (1) participate in a morning routine 3) sometimes or 5) always. The ranked themselves from 1-5 and then identified what type of exercise they are doing, what they find to be the barriers and what would help to increase their commitment and enjoyment of morning exercise. We ended with what they see are the benefits to following this guideline and making morning exercise an enjoyable part and great start to their day.

I asked every missionary to share and discuss their experience. After engaging in discussion with every Elder and district, I now have a very good idea of how everyone is doing and what we might be able to implement that would help everyone to improve their personal programs and develop even better physical habits. All of this focus, relates to spiritual fitness and we hope to align them even more for the missionaries.

We hope to be more “Fit For The Kingdom” and improve missionary success while developing lifelong habits.

Many missionaries have great habits, programs, recipes, practices and I plan to spotlight good ideas and have them share them with their fellow missionaries.

Below is the interview room. I have remodeled this room and brought furniture from everywhere to make this room a new space to conduct interviews. I even put a blanket of our family on the couch and it looks like they are all sitting there. It is fun to pass by the room and get the feeling they are all here with us!

This blanket makes me laugh.  President Dunn gave it to me one Christmas and I thought it was so funny to have our faces on a blanket. When packing for our mission, I took everything I had to surround me with family. Who would guess I could use it to re-upholster the couch..sort of...and have my family sitting around each Elder when they are interviewed! :) Funny!!

A lovely part of the room is the great view outside the window. I love this aspect of the room!

Finally, we finished with a game focused on “First Aid Know-How”

The medicines in their first aid kits were assembled in the middle of the table and I would call out ailments that are common to a missionary and the first one to identify the best remedy got a point. The person with the most points actually won a little prize. The point was to make them all more familiar with the local packaging and medicines that may not look familiar to them, but will help them function better when they get common illnesses that can be remedied on their own. Afterall, we are trying hard to help them be self reliant.

Our first house guest from home!

On Monday August 5th, right when our Elders arrived from Sierra Leonne, I also picked up Alexis Jessop from the train station. Alexis (Lexi) was an outstanding student of mine last fall in our Leadership in Community class I taught at the University of Utah. She is a Community Engaged Scholar, has been an America Reads Tutor through the Bennion Center and is currently a Hinckley Intern and will be leading the Presidential Ambassadors this next year when she returns. 

Needless to say, she is an outstanding young woman and I was honored to host her for a few days. Lexi and I have been planning this rendezvous ever since we both discovered in the spring that we were both going to be in South Africa this summer. Lexi was accepted for a Hinckley InstituteInternship in Cape Town for 3 months and she knew with our mission call, there might be a chance to see each other. She made all the effort to get to Johannesburg, by taking a 24 hour train trip from Cape Town. The train got stalled and the trip ended up being 30 hours one way.

I was so happy to retrieve her from the train station and begin planning our 4 days together. She was so willing to help out in anyway with my mission duties and I promised that each day we would find some time to explore places around Johannesburg. 

I prepared her guest room with my cherished Bennion Center quilt so she would feel right at home. We rode bikes around the neighborhood, ran and also took a trek to the Oprah Winfrey School for Girls (pictured below). 

We had fun meals out and made some at home. We visited the Joahnnesburg Temple 
 

and  even got a little taste of home with Menchi's yogurt in a mall. All in all we had a great week.

Lexi shared with me all about her wonderful summer internship experience. She is mature beyond her years and exhibits so many wonderful personal habits and qualities. It was so impressive to hear about how she navigated a summer that was full of experiences, adventures, opportunities and challenges. We talked non-stop when we were together alone.

In the mission home, Lexi could not have been more helpful. On three of the four mornings she was with us, we hosted interviews for entire zones. From 20-28 missionaries would arrive on schedule for interviews with President Dunn and go through a workshop with me. Lexi helped me with the workshop that was focused on "Health and Wellness" and included a personal exercise survey and a game focusing on their medicine first aid kit and how to know what is in there and when to use it. Many of the medicines look very different from what Elders might be used to. Lexi got an up close and personal look at the life of a missionary and saw the variation in our Elders, where they are from and how different and similar they are.

She shared her exercise routine with them and it was very impressive to see and hear about her daily habits and impressive regiment.  We will benefit for a long time from what Lexi taught and naturally emulated.  the Elders got a glimpse of what a sharp girl will expect and that is perfect since we don't have any Sisters in our mission.

We visited the Botanical Garden and loved the waterfall, flowers and serenity.

We spent a few hours at the Lion-Rhino Park just outside Johannesburg. It has many more things to see than we had time for, but this shows a few of the animals we saw up close and personal.

We spent a short time at the Apartheid Museum one afternoon before we met Preseident Dunn for dinner at our favorite place, Doppio Zero in Rosebank.

On our last day, on the way to the train station, we stopped by the University of Johannesburg, looking for their Community Engagement Center. We made progress towards make connections, but also got to see the campus and setting. It was fun for us to be in a University atmosphere together.

I put Lexi on the train back to Cape Town (another 25 hour trip) and then she flew home. She arrived in SLC today and will start school in just a few weeks again at the University of Utah. I was so delighted to have her visit be my first official house guest.