One summer, our granddaughter from Iowa stayed with us for a week to help get ready for our garage sale. One day for a change of pace, I asked Rachel if she wanted to go letterboxing.
“What’s letterboxing?” she asked.
“It’s like the greatest treasure hunt with clues, exploring new places and meeting an invisible friend all in one.”
Her eyes lit up. “Okay.”
“First, we have to go online to find clues for a letterbox nearby. Then we’ll follow the clues to the hidden letterbox.,” I said. “There’s letterboxes all over the world, so I hope there’s one around here.”
“What’s inside a letterbox?” she asked, as we walked to the park a half mile away.
“Well, there’s a log book and a rubber stamp. Sometimes an ink pad and a pen.”
“What do we do with the stuff?” she persisted.
“We stamp our notebook with their stamp and, if we had our own stamp, we would stamp their log book. But seeing we don’t have a stamp, we can just sign our trail names and date it.”
“Do you have a trail name?”
“Yup. It’s Pearl E. Gates,” I said, with a laugh. “You could be Rockin’ Rachel.” She giggled.
“Letterboxing is much like seeking the Savior – the most priceless treasure,” I said, as we walked together. “We need clues and the Bible is loaded with them. It will take the adventurer to exciting and far-away places.”
“Where would we look in the Bible for our first clue about the Savior?” she asked.
“Where do you think would be a good place to start?”
“Mmm, I think the book of John.”
“You are absolutely right! That’s the perfect place to look to meet a wonderful invisible friend. But just because He’s invisible doesn’t mean He’s not real, you know. ”
“Gramma! I know that,” she chided, playfully.
“Okay. Here we are,” I said. I handed the clues to Rachel to read.
“First, we walk fifty-two steps from the parking lot up the hill we just came down.”
“Okay, now what,” I asked.
“We have to look east and find five oak trees and one pine tree.”
“There they are,” I said, pointing to a clump of trees. “What’s next?”
“We walk to a dead tree leaning against another tree.”
We followed the next several clues until we came to a thicket. We scratched through leaves and twigs until we found our prized letterbox. We both squealed with delight as we opened the box. Inside, we found a log book, a stamp and stamp pad, and a pen.
We read several of the other entries, laughed at some of the trail names, oohed over stamp pictures, and marveled at how long this particular letterbox had been hidden and how may letterboxers had signed it. We signed our trail names and dated it. We carefully placed all the items back into the letterbox and put it back just the way we found it.
“I’m going on-line to see if there are any letterboxes in Iowa,” Rachel said, with a grin.
I nodded. “Don’t forget to look in the book of John for the ultimate treasure of all.”