Our Saturday morning began with making phone calls for the new Canyon Springs Baptist Church that will be opening in Las Vegas this December. Stephen and Tammi Wess are planting a church in the Summerlin area of Vegas. We visited them this past July as we were taking our Southwest Church Plant Survey trip. They have begun holding Bible studies in their home but will open with their first services in an elementary school this December. Stephen, Pastor Ryan, and I called people in Vegas through the “Phone’s For You” program to tell them about the ministry.

After lunch we rode with the Horkavys to a local festival in Buckeye. The main attraction was all the antique tractors. I was thinking of my grandfather who farms on the eastern shore of MD. There were tractors of every make, model, and color.

We visited the many vendor booths including a woodworking company that was allowing passers by to make wooden pens to send to troops in Iraq. Pastor Ryan decided to try his hand at it. It was pretty cool to watch the wood being shaped much like clay is shaped on a potter’s wheel.

At the Arizona Game and Fish booth we saw gila monsters, a vulture, bats, and an owl that could almost turn his head completely backwards!

For the first time, Stephen and I witnessed an honest-to-goodness tractor pull. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to work.  I guess I had in my head that tractors would be pulling other tractors or random heavy things to see how much “fun” it would be or which tractor was the best. It turned out to be a lot less exciting, but still very interesting. Each tractor was hooked to a special sled that was designed just for tractor pulls. The sled had skids on the front and tires on the back. A weighted box would advance on an incline the further the sled was pulled making the sled heavier progressively. The tractors were judged by what percentage of their weight they could pull. Most tractors pulled around 150-170% of their weight, but the best pull we saw was 248%.

The coolest part of the festival was the family that did rope tricks with lariats! I’ve lassoed a wooden calf before and seen roping in a rodeo, but never tricks. They did a great job!