<TITLE>11. Par 123-131</TITLE>L-123   Brother Tom Simpson is setting present here somewhere tonight, or should be. He was in Canada and was on his road down, and they bypassed. Said, "Bypass Colorado! Great blizzard!" Are you here, Brother Simpson? Where are you? Yes, setting back in the back here. And they told him, "Bypass Colorado. A great blizzard coming on."

L-124 So I--I told sister, and--and another man's wife, Brother Evans'. I don't think Brother Evans is here tonight, 'less he just come in. Are you here, Brother Evans? And I don't think he has gotten here yet. He'll be here at the convention, though. So I called his wife, and I said, "I couldn't get my wife; she's gone out to the store." And I said, "Tell her to tell Brother Tony Stromei," which was the president of the chapter, "if I'm not in there Sunday, get another speaker ready, because I may not be able to get out of here at all. I'm with these men."

L-125   Then what taken place? The... That night it didn't snow. The next morning, the clouds was real low and angry. I said, "Now, brethren, I've herded cattle in here, for years, and guided. The first little drop of rain, take back to the camp as quick as you can, 'cause within fifteen minutes I've seen the time you couldn't see your hand before you, for two or three days, at a time, twisting blizzard." That's nine thousand feet right there. And I said, "You, you'll just be in a blizzard, and you'll be lost, and you'll die here in the mountains. Now we'll go out..." I placed each man, and I went up over the top. And I said, "Now, if I don't... Don't wait for me to come in. Hurry just as quick as it starts; the first little speck of rain, rush quickly to the camp, and because you won't be able to find your way back." They said they would do it.

L-126   I climbed high. Coyotes hollering everywhere, and I knew the weather was going to change. Then, all at once, a big blast of wind come, and the sleet begin to fall. And I said, "I guess everybody is headed back."

L-127 Well, I stood and looked around. I thought, "I wish I could find that deer before I go back, because the snow will cover him up, and they won't be found no more till spring." So I thought, I hunted so hard for that deer, and it was the first deer I ever let get by like that, since I've owned this little rifle, of fifty-five head of game with it." And I thought, "Well, now, I--I just hate to see it get away like that."

L-128   And just a moment, great big snow drops, looked like quarters, just a falling everywhere, and the wind started blowing, and I could hardly see how to get off the top of this peak. And I knowed to stay on this ridge. And if I went down and hit the creek, I'd go down the creek till I hit a little foot bridge, then I could feel my way up till I got to where the tent was. That's the only way you could get out. And so I thought, "If I ever make a move one way or the other, that's all, you'll never be found, so you'll die right in there."

L-129 So I started back down the mountain, and I got down about, oh, I guess, three hundred yards, or four hundred, from where I was.

L-130   Now, this sounds strange. But I got a Bible laying here before me, a Heavenly Father bearing me record. I almost in a run, trying to get off, the wind was blowing so hard up there, and I could see about twenty feet in front of me, in the thickets I was in, the timber, and the wind blowing and twisting. And a Voice said, "Stop! Go back where you come from."

L-131 Well, I stopped. I thought, "Maybe that was just the sound of that wind. I wasn't thinking about nothing like that." And I waited just a moment.


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