Nelson's Other Brush with Death on the Colorado River

[Philo Sofee]

Gad
This narrative is really awkward because the trip was for thrills with full knowledge of the risks, and so you can't feign shock and score any sympathy. It's not like being in a plane on a routine flight and nearly going down. If they had to take the raft in the middle of the night to escape anti-Mormon persecution then it's a better story.

That will be included in the next book, stay tuned! And the anti-Mormons had a motor boat, armed with guns! Yet the Lord preserved them... Yeah baby, the power of faith I say... the power of faith...

[Lem]

Can we just take a minute to celebrate the Mom, Dantzel Nelson?

She married at 19, apparently had her first of 10 children at 23, and had her 10th child at age 46. That means for at least 23 years, she spent at least seven and a half years pregnant, and gave birth approximately every 2 and a quarter years. When she was 32, she had six children, the oldest being at most 10 years old, with probably 4 of them not even in school.

When her 10th child was 4 months old (still breast-feeding range, which adds many more layers of uncomfortableness if she was breast-feeding), and with nine other children, the youngest 3 girls likely all being under age 12, Nelson decides a relaxing family vacation is white-water rafting on some of the most advanced rapids found in the world. Where he is utterly surprised to find out how dangerous it really is.

Wonder Woman.

[Gadianton]

Can we just take a minute to celebrate the Mom, Dantzel Nelson?

Sure, but no more than a minute. It only took Russ 3 months to forget about her and hook up with Wendy, and arguably, it took the Lord even less time to write it off. About a month after Dantzel died, the Lord was sending revelations to Wendy and Russ both about what was to come. They were dating three months after her death and married 11 months later.

Wonder Woman.

I don't know, maybe. Consider all the heroic stories she had of Russ doing amazing things throughout his life, his visions and instructions from former prophets in the spirit world, and all the time he was off on international adventures while she was at home. Every time he came back he must have had a dozen more stories that inspired her. It was mostly him raising those kids through his sheer inspiration.

Think about times like that rafting episode. When you normally hear stories like that where hubby takes the family on an adventure where everybody gets put in danger, you hear something like, "my wife tried to warn me this was a bad idea but I didn't listen". Well, this wasn't one of those kinds of times, it was a great idea architected by the Lord for the instruction of all of humanity. Because his intentions were noble to grab his wife and daughter, his lack of holding to the ropes was barely a mistake. He was the one who realized where things had gone wrong, he called the family council and instructed everyone on proper raft safety along with spiritualized metaphors. He had all the witty lines. And he himself personally ensured the safety of the youngest daughter. He was the one who nearly died that everyone was worried about. He was the hero and the victim. What did she contribute during that rafting episode? Barely there.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Jesus Christ. 3 months and he’s dating. The woman who bore him 10 children, was presumably a faithful companion, and by all metrics an amazing woman ... and she gets three months before he’s dating. Dating.

Sadly enough this doesn’t seem to be that unusual. My father did the same, and so did my wife’s dad. Is loneliness that onerous that one’s previous life with a cherished spouse is put to bed so quickly? I can’t comprehend it. It seems callous and weird a crap to move on so quickly.

- Doc

[Lem]

Can we just take a minute to celebrate the Mom, Dantzel Nelson?

Sure, but no more than a minute. It only took Russ 3 months to forget about her and hook up with Wendy, and arguably, it took the Lord even less time to write it off. About a month after Dantzel died, the Lord was sending revelations to Wendy and Russ both about what was to come. They were dating three months after her death and married 11 months later.

Ouch. It would be interesting to see at what point those revelations were correlated.

Wonder Woman.

I don't know, maybe. Consider all the heroic stories she had of Russ doing amazing things throughout his life, his visions and instructions from former prophets in the spirit world, and all the time he was off on international adventures while she was at home. Every time he came back he must have had a dozen more stories that inspired her. It was mostly him raising those kids through his sheer inspiration.

Think about times like that rafting episode. When you normally hear stories like that where hubby takes the family on an adventure where everybody gets put in danger, you hear something like, "my wife tried to warn me this was a bad idea but I didn't listen". Well, this wasn't one of those kinds of times, it was a great idea architected by the Lord for the instruction of all of humanity. Because his intentions were noble to grab his wife and daughter, his lack of holding to the ropes was barely a mistake. He was the one who realized where things had gone wrong, he called the family council and instructed everyone on proper raft safety along with spiritualized metaphors. He had all the witty lines. And he himself personally ensured the safety of the youngest daughter. He was the one who nearly died that everyone was worried about. He was the hero and the victim. What did she contribute during that rafting episode? Barely there.

Except that someone apparently pulled his drowning body out of the water. Based on his story, that would be his wife and adult daughters. Maybe I should have said "Wonder Women."

But agreed, his story was all about how he was the hero, the thoughtful one, and yes, the victim who overcame.

[kairos]

Well Rusty said he was scared sh*^less and was ready to do a heart transplant on himself if that were possible. I love the image of him in the slingshot mode of the bent rubber craft being flown through the air like a missile with his 7 year old daughter saying "where is daddy flying to" and Danztel saying "to Kolob i hope".

Rusty Nelson- the man who flew like God!

k

[dastardly stem]

I forgot his oldest daughter is older than his wife. Also forgot it took a year to remarry after his dear first wife died. That's all kind of sketchy to say the least.

The trip through the grand canyon with his wife and 9 daughters? Well, that's just hilarious. "I almost died. I was terrified. Family Meeting!"

There's no way they allowed a 7 year old down the river like that. He's goofy. my guess is he took the family down a leisurely half day float just up from Moab where there are no rapids at all. he climbed in the water and panicked. "I'm going to die", arms flapping after bouncing his head against the rubber raft.

"Family meeting!' he exclaims after getting out, catching his breath.

Guide: "sir, we'll be done around the ben...."

"I said pull this boat to the side. We need to have a family meeting if we're going to survive this."

"Alright", arms go up with a conciliatory head nod.

[Lem]

I forgot his oldest daughter is older than his wife. Also forgot it took a year to remarry after his dear first wife died. That's all kind of sketchy to say the least.

The trip through the grand canyon with his wife and 9 daughters? Well, that's just hilarious. "I almost died. I was terrified. Family Meeting!"

There's no way they allowed a 7 year old down the river like that. He's goofy. my guess is he took the family down a leisurely half day float just up from Moab where there are no rapids at all. he climbed in the water and panicked. "I'm going to die", arms flapping after bouncing his head against the rubber raft.

"Family meeting!' he exclaims after getting out, catching his breath.

Guide: "sir, we'll be done around the ben...."

"I said pull this boat to the side. We need to have a family meeting if we're going to survive this."

"Alright", arms go up with a conciliatory head nod.

something tells me your version is more likely to be accurate than is.

[Moksha]

Do the faithful hear these stories as being inspirational without necessarily being true? Sort of like Mormon fables as told by Paul H. Dunn, Presidents Nelson, Monson, and others? If so, why should we need to analyze this more than Bullwinkle pulling another rabbit out of his hat? It is not as though the presence of a sentient moose producing a rabbit out of his hat will affect pork belly futures, especially if Asian fusion cooking takes hold in Utah and lower Idaho.

[Lem]

Jesus Christ. 3 months and he’s dating. The woman who bore him 10 children, was presumably a faithful companion, and by all metrics an amazing woman ... and she gets three months before he’s dating. Dating.

Sadly enough this doesn’t seem to be that unusual. My father did the same, and so did my wife’s dad. Is loneliness that onerous that one’s previous life with a cherished spouse is put to bed so quickly? I can’t comprehend it. It seems callous and weird a crap to move on so quickly.

- Doc

I know, it seems so odd. But it doesn't seem that marrying a housekeeper is that hard of a decision. Why wait, when there is no one taking care of you?