trying to figure out what to do next, he comes across young Country Rose in the San Bernardino Mountains. She asks him for a piece of cheese, which he doesn’t have but attempts to find for her. A classic love story in the making. “This is getting good,” I think to myself. Not at all ready for what Papa will disclose next. Country Rose stands near a beautiful waterfall and God speaks to Papa and says “This is your wife, she is strong, she will bear you many children.” Talk about prophetic. They get married, much to her parents’ dismay. She is much younger and has been reared in Hollywood of all places, none of which stops them from setting off to create a life together.

Without knowing their direction in life they head out on their honeymoon in their ‘41 Chevy truck. Not too much longer after this they find themselves giving birth to a daughter. To set the record straight, there are actually fifteen children “on earth” as the Pilgrims phrase it. Papa and Country Rose lost one baby, Hope, who they believe they will be reunited with in Heaven and they still include her when they talk about the children.

The interview continues, although there is a bit of a break to eat some lunch that Elishaba, a most gracious hostess, has served up. I am in awe of her throughout my visit as she pulls one thing after another out of a small oven. All of the children (they prefer to be called children) seem to have their roles in the family. That’s what allows them to get along and get the work done. Where so many of us come from families where we fought and bickered with our siblings growing up, the Pilgrim children say they never grow sick of each other. In fact, they really enjoy being around one another and if separated for a while, can’t wait to be together again. They are unique in that they, having lived very remote in New Mexico, (they claim to have more neighbors here than at their Mt. Church Cabin in the Rockies) have come to genuinely rely on one another.

The Pilgrim family is not shy when it comes to their religious beliefs. In fact, I found that the Pilgrims, while modest, are open and honest people. They are quite simply an oldfashioned family living by the Bible. And so Papa began describing how he found Jesus, how he came to live his life as a Christian, and how he ended up in McCarthy.

Still searching for some direction, Papa, Country Rose, young Elishaba and now baby Joseph found themselves driving along in Texas, his home state. Papa described feeling “empty” from being raised with a life of “riches and pride” and not knowing what to fill that void with. Organized