Did you know that I love to hunt? It is one of my favorite things in the world to do. Some of my fondest memories in the world were hunting in the mountains with my dad, Larry B. Draper. Playing catch in the yard was fun. Cutting trees down in our forest and chopping firewood was hard, but I enjoyed that time with my dad as well. Planting the garden. Going snowskiing. Going waterskiing. Mountain climbing. Going on youth temple trips. Youth conferences. Wrestling tournaments. Letters on my mission. He was always there, setting the best example he knew how, and always taking the opportunity to tell me how much he loved me and cared about me.
I remember watching my dad on the stand at church, and hearing him speak, and thinking, "if I can just be half as awesome as he is, I'll be one amazing man!" Just recently I checked and I'm about 1/8th of the man he is. Which is fairly decent in my opinion, but I'm not settling there. Every day I try to be better, and I try to do what the Lord wants me to do, not just the things that I have seen my dad do.
This last week I had the opportunity to go hunting in the South San Juan Wilderness Area in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. We camped at about 11,000 feet and often hunted in elevations over 12,000 feet. Tyler, my younger brother by just 18 months and one of my best friends, and my dad, who is now 56 and still hiking higher and faster than me, tromped around for 40 miles according to the Garmin GPS device that my dad brought along with him, and we didn't shoot a single deer. To give perspective of just how unlucky that is, my grandpa Jones who is now 80, two cousins, and my aunt, all shot their own deer in one day and they didn't hike more than one mile that whole day!
We will have better luck next time...because you can't have much worse luck than that, right?
One principle that my dad taught my brother and I while we were in the mountains was that if we want to show our wives that we love them, we need to take them to the temple. He said, "kissing, buying flowers, doing the dishes, and playing with the kids so your wife can get things done are all great ways to show you care, but true love to your wife is shown when you take her to the temple to show her that you value and care about your eternal relationship with her."
I love Lindsey. I'm going to take her to the temple more.
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The funny thing about the principle my dad taught, was that this weekend at the saturday night session of stake conference, one of the general authorities taught the same principle, almost word for word!
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