TIMBER!

tyrell is always willing to help. so when a member of our ward said they had a tree in their back yard that needed to be cut down, tyrell was the first volunteer. and the thought of dropping a tree in the middle of a suburban neighbor hood with fences, and houses, and garages, and power lines everywhere, did not phase him. so he rounded up the defenseless missionaries and a friend to help him. i came along to document. to make a long story short, they discussed what would happen for a while and this is the brilliant plan they came up with. tyrell would use his ascending gear to get up to a particular fork in the tree and cut the branches above the fork. he strapped on his gear, and oh, did i forget to mention that he would be doing this with a chain saw attached to him.
step 1: strap on gear
step 2: attach chain saw
step 3: climb rickety ladder to rickety roof top

step 4: ascend to top of tree with chain saw

it sounded fool proof. and don't worry tyrell watched a video on you tube about how NOT to cut down a tree, so he had all the knowledge he needed.

(he is about 30 feet off the ground)

this was the original plan, and thanks to the good lord in heaven, tyrell was able to do this without harm. but after he got up there it was determined that this was not the best idea for actually chopping the tree down. so once tyrell remembered how to work his gear and get down, they came up with plan 2.

step 1: leave rope tied to tree (the rope ty tied while he was up there in plan one)

step 2: put rickety ladder against rickety tree

step 3: climb ladder with chain saw in hand

step 3: cut tree at fork.

tyrell said this was the scariest part and it was the plan that eventually ended up working. they used a series of ropes, some tied to tyrell's truck and others held by the again defenseless missionaries, to pull the tree the rest of the way down. it was a miracle, but the first tree branch fell right where they wanted it to, in the 10 foot wide space between the power line and the garage. this process took a while so only part of the tree was cut down. so stay tuned for more paul bunyon adventures with tyrell.