Jacob Lake Inn - From the Begining

I didn't know too many people when I first showed up at BYU-I last January. Of those few that I did know was Emily Brown, a good friend and old mission companion of my sister Jaymi. She invited me over for dinner by saying, and I quote, "Hope u don't already have plans for dinner tomorrow cause u will be eating here around 5:30." I still have that message saved on my phone. I got to know Emily's apartment and spent a lot of time with Chelsea Pelfrey. In our conversations I learned that she had worked for a couple different Wilderness Therapy programs over the last couple years. Her first Wilderness job was with WinGate out of Kanab, UT. Wilderness programs run an 8/6 schedule - 8 days on, 6 days off. Most people find housing nearby to spend their free time/ Chelsea however communted 30 minutes south to Jacob Lake, AZ where she worked at Jacob Lake Inn to make a little extra money. That is where she met and became good friends with Sarah Fisher from my home stake. I expressed my interest in working for a similar outfit and she encouraged me to look into Jacob Lake.

My second semester in Rexburg I was hired as a DJ for Campus Dances. I ran Country and Ballroom. Occasionally I would make the Social Board meetings where the planning of dances happened. There I met Johanna Hanks, one of the Student Directors of the organization. In getting to know her a little bit I learned that she had also worked at Jacob Lake with Chelsea and Sarah. That is also where she worked with and met her then boyfriend, and now husband. She wasn't as enthused about it as some where - but she as well encouraged me to look into it and said that I would have a blast.

During that first Winter Semester, I was running an errand while working in the Activities office. I walked by a large sign by the stairs in the MC building that said "Jacob Lake Inn, Conference room 244." I ran up quickly just to see what was going. I met MaryLynn Jensen, part of the Rich family and part owner/manager of JL Inn. I guess she was doing interviews for jobs the following semester. I explained that I was couldn't sit down with her then but that I could return in a few hours. When I came back she sat me down and started to explain a few things about JL. She started off with an old philospher Maslow and started talking about his 'heriarchy of needs.' If one has their basic needs taken care of such as food and shelter, they can worry about other aspects of life. Once those are taken care of then we can continue up the flow chart/pyramid and focus on other things. MaryLynn put the pieces together by saying that she will feed and house me, so that I can worry about being a better employee rather than how I was going to be paying for those necesities. A couple minutes into the interview Bryan Jensen, MaryLynn's husband, opened up the door and directed another student into the room. I guess it was a group interview, which would make sense because it was more an explanation rather than a discovery of my qualifications. MaryLynn had me explain Maslow's theory to the new student as best I could. I got the gist of it, and she took over and continued with job discriptions and expectations. Bryan brought in another student or two to join us, at which point MaryLynn got frustrated and told him to wait til next round because she couldn't keep reviewing the same information. When the group info meeting/interview was over, I explained that I wasn't going to be available until the Winter season when I was off track. She said that was fine, but that we would need to check back again when she made her rounds next semester. She also commented how she thought that I would do fairly well and was impressed that I took notes. "Yeah?" I said, "It's habbit. Helps me to better remember." I talked to her about the possibility of me splitting my time with a wilderness job in Ut. She said that it would be no problem at all, that they had done it before and would be very flexible. Awesome!

During the Fall Semester I was extremely involved on campus with Student Activities. I worked in the office as a Secretary, and on the side was a Coordinator of Weekly Dances. One of my bosses was Margaret Krusinski (spelling?). As you might guess, it turns out that she as well worked at JL for a semester! At this point I was a little more confident in my getting the job, so I started asking more logistical questions.

MaryLynn invited me to a Career Fair some months later so that we finalize a few things. She warned me that Winter business isn't nearly as busy as Summer or Fall. And made sure that I knew we would be out in the boonies 2 hours from the nearest Walmart. :) I reassured her that I would be fine, coming from a small town myself, and easily entertained in the outdoors. We shook on it and I got the job.

A few weeks later I got an email from MaryLynn asking if I knew of anyone else that would be interested in adventuring out to JL for the Winter. I asked several people that weren't interested, or that couldn't... And then I remembered Elder Walker from the mission. He was going to be off track as well and would probably appreciate getting away from home for a bit. I told him about it, sent him some info and contact numbers, did the same to MaryLynn, and he got the job. Excellent. :) Walker and I made our travel arrangements and started counting down the days.