Merry Christmas!

I met a woman on Christmas Day that made me smile.

We had Christmas dinner at Autumn and Derrick's little house and she had the big meal planned well. Everyone had an assignment and there was a schedule for the use of the kitchen (which is not really large) to make their assigned item(s). Aubree was assigned the rolls. She found a new recipe and all the ingredients were there but it seems there may have been a little problem with the yeast (we are still not quite sure what) and the dough did not rise but was a large, heavy lump. So....Ed and I jumped in the car to see if we could find rolls somewhere. There was only one grocery store open on Christmas Day and it was surprisingly busy. We found wonderful rolls at the store bakery (it turns out to be a "scratch" bakery in Ridley's, not a big name store)and we headed to checkout. We were standing in line and another checker motioned for me to come over to her register so she could help us. She was very cheery and I just felt so bad I had to tell her how sorry I was that she had to work on Christmas. She smiled and looked right at me and said, "Oh don't be! I love working on Christmas! I volunteered to work today. I like it because everyone is so happy and nice on Christmas so I really like being here!" Now, doesn't that just make you smile? What a great attitude! The only problem is, everyone should behave that way all year.

We returned to the house with the rolls and a great attitude and had a wonderful meal with our children. It was a great day. Before we got started on the meal we did open gifts and the first gift we opened was a special envelope from Autumn's OB. They had asked him to not tell them the sex of the baby but to put it in an envelope which they put on the tree to be opened on Christmas Day. All of us agreed it would be the first gift. It's a boy! (sigh) We are so happy. Aubree and Ashley gave gifts to the baby and wrote names on the labels that they would like to suggest to Autumn and Derrick. My personal favorite is: Deidrich Octavian Gibelyou from Ashley, but given that the initials spell DOG I don't think that will fly, but it was fun to hear the names they came up with.

With the girls coming in on Wednesday, we didn't get a lot of missionary work done last week. We have had the experience of being missionaries in a strange land. The mission was shy a bunch of missionaries this past week. Our employee in charge is on vacation so some projects have come to a standstill but we will resume our work and be ready and willing after the first of the new year. It is a little scary to me to think about it too much because I realize that this time next year we probably will be home. Wow! Time is flying by!!!

Aubree and Ashley arrived Wednesday afternoon and we had tickets for the family to see "A Christmas Carol" at the 5pm performance time. We were seated and chatting and then there was a little stir and Pres. Monson came in with people I assume were family members. The Church was a major sponsor of the show I learned later. It was well done and fun. The following night we had tickets to see the Church production of "Savior of the World". It was also well done and very stirring. It was a great way to begin our Christmas Holiday together. Everyone stayed in our apartment until the 24th when we packed up and everyone stayed at Autumn and Derricks. Lots of fun there too.

I guess I can't leave the blog without telling about my first experience directing the Branch choir today. I was so nervous that I forgot to stand the choir. At the last minute the horrified/confused look on the faces of the choir members and the gentle reminder whispered by the accompanist saved me and I motioned for them to stand up....hahahaha I told them afterward that I would get better. I promised.

My family, the Mumford's, came over to our apartment building social room tonight for cookies, singing and a kwanzaa ball. A lot of my family who are here do this every year I heard so it was fun to join in and enjoy the fun with them. This may be a one time event for us since we will not be here for Christmas next year. We sang carols together which for me is a wonderful thing. Our family members can sing and I love singing with them.

The holidays are about family and friends and being happy. I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday and that the New Year will be brought in with much laughter and love. We are looking forward to doing that this week.

A New Job

Last Sunday I was given the assignment of choir director for our missionary branch. I am a little intimidated with all the wonderful musicians in this group. We will see. This is a dream ward choir because of the talent here. It will be fun after I get my feet wet.

I have been training a new missionary for the past two weeks in the Training Zone. It has been a different experience and fun on many levels, but I will be happy to be back in Historical Families again full time. There is a lot going on for us.

Last week I was invited to sit in on a fairly informal meeting about Oral Genealogies. It seems that those priesthood leaders in charge are feeling a pressing need to look more closely at what is happening with these genealogies. They are coming to realize that oral genealogies are prevalent in many parts of the world and that it is a resource that we are losing quickly. The countries in Africa for instance. The young people in the villages are not wanting to stay in the small village and become the "storyteller". They can see more opportunity by moving to the bigger cities, not staying and spending their time memorizing multi-generations of names and relationships.

There is an African proverb that states: "When a storyteller dies a library is burned". Some of these men/women can recite up to 60 generations of people in their tribes. One of the interviews we put up from the hard drive we recently received from Ghana named 469 individuals. I couldn't name that many people in my own family! She was one of 2500 oral genealogies we received from Ghana and Nigeria on one hard drive. These people have signed releases for the Church to use their information, some with a thumb print because they don't have a signature. So we scan the document and put it up online with the names of the people in their genealogies. I think it is very cool to see that thumbprint. It will be interesting to see how things will develop in the next few months. I think our 200 Tongan records surprised a few people. It is nice to be part of a developing project with such potential for good. There are some different tribes (of the lost 10) that are being identified in far away parts of the world. Interesting, huh?

We are in the thick of the Christmas season here. People are exchanging gifts and there are more and more events. My brother-in-law (former MoTab member) received some coveted tickets to the Choir concert with David Archileta and Michael York for last Thursday, the 16th. It was their dress rehearsal performance, but the tickets were all gone and the Conference Center was full. It was a delightful evening. He has a very nice voice and is so cute. He is very humble about all the attention he gets and was very appreciative but was not at all "idol" like. He presented himself professionally and was obviously grateful for the opportunity to sing with the choir. At one point at the beginning of the show he said, "When I was a little boy I dreamed of singing with the Choir...." We just chuckled because he is still such a little boy. It was rather funny, but endearing.

An interesting bit of information for the Christmas season. Elder Bednar spoke at a local Stake Conference about a week ago and a missionary who was there shared some of what he taught them. He spoke of the symbols of Christmas, the tree, lights and the shepherds. The thing he taught about the shepherds was interesting to me. Some may know this, but I didn't remember reading it before (I probably did, but just didn't remember). He taught that the shepherds where the angels came were not just any shepherds and they were not watching just any sheep, but it was the herd of unblemished sheep to be used for the sacrifices in the temple. Those who were watching them were special shepherds who had been hand picked by the priests to watch out and care for those sacrificial lambs. Not so unusual that the angels would have gone to them to let them know that the "lamb of God" was born that night.
I always wondered about why those shepherds....why that particular flock. Now I know. Bruce R. McConkie apparently taught that sometime ago.

We are looking forward to having our children all together for this holiday. We have lots of great things planned and we will enjoy many traditions in this place like we would at home. One of them is the gingerbread decorating/construction project we have done for 4 years now. It will be a little different, but we will still have fun and we will find someone to judge our work. The girls have decided that since it has now become an annual event, we have to name it so they did....."The Moulder Cup". No, our family is not at all competitive!!! hahaha
Now I just have to do something about a cup!!

We woke up yesterday morning to another light snow, but later in the day it turned to rain. It has rained most of the day today on and off, so all the new snow is gone and much of the packed snow that has been shoveled into little gray piles. I hope that we will have a white Christmas, but it isn't looking like that will happen here this year. Since we will be driving back and forth a bit between here and Provo, it is much better to have clear weather.

Last week we received a wonderful surprise. A big box of goodies from Church friends from home! What a fun thing that was for us. We were like little kids opening the box and oooing and awwwing as we read the cards and notes and saw all the things that had been sent. Everything from gum to CD's and cash to socks. We particularly enjoyed the testimonies of the Sunday School class for us to put into a Book of Mormon to share. We will try hard to accomplish that even though we don't interact with the public in our assignment. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness. It is very much appreciated. We loved feeling like we are still part of the Woodlands Texas 2nd Ward even here in Utah. We love you all.

Christmas time is a wonderful time of the year because we are all reminded of the love of our Father in Heaven and of His Son, Jesus Christ. Because of this we all try to treat others with a little more kindness and show a little bit of the love that the Savior has shared with us. He came to earth humbly to do his great work for us and I am so grateful to know that through Him I can be forgiven for my sins.

I love singing the carols of Christmas with their thoughtful phrases:
"Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there." May it ever be so is my pray for us all.

Photos to share

I just think this is a cute photo. Phil and Teri Stalvey are missionaries from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They had family come and visit them for Thanksgiving and took this photo of their grandson. They said he was running around the JSMB for quite some time and then when he got to this spot he just stopped and looked up and stood there for a long time....long enough for Teri to get out her camera, set it up and take this candid photo. Very cute so I wanted to share.



This is a photo taken by another missionary (my friend, Eileen Bailey from Georgia). She took this picture one morning recently from the window of our Sunday School classroom in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building with her phone. It is such a beautiful picture of the "Cedar of Lebanon" in front of the Temple. I learned recently that this cedar tree is carefully nurtured by the master gardeners on Temple Square. It is the only on left of a pair of cedars. Since Christmas lights tend to damage the tree (probably the heat as well as the climbing around to put them on the tree) it is lighted only every other year. It was lit last year so that is why there are no lights this year. I think it is beautiful enough alone and the snow adds to that beauty.

The Angel

I would like to share with you a Christmas story that was shared in prayer meeting last week in the Training Zone. The story is written by Tamara Stitt and is an account from the diary of her great grandmother. She presented this account at a Relief Society Christmas Party in Rexburg,Idaho in December of 1990. The story is true.

"The true meaning of Christmas is charity. And the true meaning of charity is the unconditional love of Christ, which is the unconditional love of our fellowman. My great-grandmother, Beth, left me this story, which has had a tremendous impact on my life. she kept a detailed journal and this entry took place in the year 1900...

Carl, my great-grandfather was a rough, tough old trapper man who homesteaded what's called Burnscreek, Idaho, which is 15 miles above Heise, above Kelly Canyon. He took a team of horses and a sleigh and he built the road that you travel on today. He trapped furs for a living and sent them back east to Boston every fall, and every fall the fur trader in Boston would send him a check for the furs that he had received, until the year 1896, the fur trader had no money. But he was a man of honor so instead of sending him money, he sent him his 17 year old daughter as a mail-order bride and she was to become my great-grandmother. I think the reason she kept such a detailed journal is that's the only way she kept her sanity, as she wrote how badly she hated Burnscreek, Idaho. What a cultural shock it was from Boston, Massachusetts, and how she never could quite forgive her father for doing this to her.

In December 1900, when she made this entry in her journal she was 24 years old and pregnant with her fourth child. She wrote that she had asked Carl to take the remaining furs to the valley and trade them for the things she'd asked for in her Christmas list. She was embarrassed at how much she had wanted that year, for on her list she'd asked for three things: peppermint, chocolate, and a little piece of yard goods to make her only little girl a dress for Christmas. She wrote that Carl had heartily agreed to take the furs to the valley and to trade them for supplies and for the items on her Christmas list. He told her that he would be home early on Christmas Eve morning and that he would bring with him a tree that he would stop and chop for his children. He left her in fine shape with lots of wood chopped and that the only thing she needed to do every day was to go out to the barn and milk the old cow.

The first day was delightful. They made ornaments for the tree that their father would bring home. They also made Christmas pudding. Late that night a tremendous storm hit the mountain. It snowed and it blowed like nothing she had ever seen before. The storm did not subside until early on Christmas Eve morning. When it finally died down enough that she could hear herself think, the wind was still howling, but she could hear that poor old cow in the barn bellering to be milked. She wrote how she tried to get the front door of the cabin open and physically pushed and worked for one hour and ten minutes. She could not get the door open. She knew that something must have frozen on it from the outside. Even though logic told her to stay calm, she panicked and she took the axe from beside the hearth and chopped the hinges off the door to slide the door over. She was faced with a tremendous ice strip that had fallen off the top of the cabin, so she took her axe and shopped a hole through it, big enough that she might step out to the other side. She couldn't believe the devastation that the storm had left, how high the drifts were, and how hard it was still snowing, and how hard the wind was still blowing. She could hear that poor old cow in the barn bellering to be milked, what empathy she had for it. She said that she was afraid that she couldn't make it out to the barn herself and back again. So she tied one end of a rope to the doorstop and one to her waist and started out towards the barnyard. She got less than a few yards when she realized that being with child she dare not go any farther because the snow was over waist deep, so she stopped in her tracks and said a silent prayer to her Heavenly Father that Carl would hurry home early that day and that the poor old cow might forgive her. She spent the rest of the day waiting for Carl in great anticipation...Christmas Eve came and ...went and Carl had not returned home. She was just about to put three cranky children to bed when she heard someone outside the cabin. They all rushed to the door where she slid if off its hinges once again to peer out the little hole of ice. She anticipated seeing Carl.

She wrote how her heart sunk, for there on the other side of her doorstep stood the dirtiest, straggliest old trapper she had ever seen. But to three little children on Christmas Eve, an old man with red long johns, a long white beard, a tree in one hand, and a pack over his back, was a most welcome sight in their home. Those children gleefully explained, "See Mother, Santa did find Burnscreek, Idaho after all!" She said that he looked at her and must have felt her great anticipation of where her husband was, and felt her hesitation at letting him into her house so he stared her straight in the eye and said, "Beth, don't be afraid. Carl's at Table Rock at Spaulding's trapper cabin with a lame horse." He said, "I was out on snowshoes this night and told him I was going to check my own lines and that I'd stop off and tell you that he was alright, that he'd be home early in the morning and bring you this straggly old tree and this pack that he'd sent from the valley." So she brought him in the house and fed him stew from her fire. She wrote he helped set up the tree and helped the children decorate it. She judged him to be a man of fine character because he could recite the story of Christ's birth by heart from the Bible. He carried the children to bed and helped her putout her meager Christmas gifts. The old trapper chopped more firewood and milked the cow. he told her he had no family of his own, but thanked her sincerely for letting him spend such a wonderful Christmas Eve with her family. He asked if it might be all right if he spent the night in the barn and he would leave early in the morning to go on up Black's Canyon to check his traps. She told him only on one condition, that he join them in the morning for Christmas breakfast. He heartily agreed, thanking her once again before retiring to the barn.

She wrote that that was the very first time that she'd had a chance to look inside the old, worn, leather pack that had been sent by Carl. She went to bed a happy woman, for there inside the bag was peppermint, chocolate, and little piece of yard goods.

She woke up the next morning to the children's gleeful sounds underneath her tree and it grew late into the morning before she realized that the old trapper had not joined them.

Just as she was going to the barnyard she noticed Carl was coming over the horizon. They all gathered at the front door to welcome their father home in wild anticipation and to tell him, "We have Santa locked in the barn!" Carl looked stern and tired and sent the children into the house. He asked her who was in the barn. She said, "Well, Carl, it was just the old trapper who came last night and brought me the tree and the pack and to tell me that you would be home early this morning." He said, "I never even made it to the valley. I made it as far as Table Rock when the storm hit, and I went to Spaulding's trapper's cabin and tied my horse to a tree. Another old trapper had tried to water his horse at the river and had fallen through the much ice. It took three of us to fish him out, and we could tell he was a goner but we took him into the cabin and rolled him in blankets, and laid him by the fire and stayed with him until early on Christmas Eve when the storm broke. We hesitated and pondered what to do, but all three of us were anxious to get to the valley so that we could return home to our families on Christmas Eve. So we stoked up the fire a little, wrapped him a little tighter, and left him lying in front of the fire. We saddled up our horses and started down the lane. But I got less than a few hundred yards when a tremendous feeling came over me that I could not leave that old man alone on Christmas Eve to die. I sent the other two trappers on to the valley and I returned to the old boy where I held his head in my lap. Once in a while when he would regain consciousness I would tell him about you and about my children and how much I loved them and how disappointed you'd be that I never made it to the valley to get the peppermint, the chocolate or the little piece of yard goods that you'd so desperately wanted for Christmas. Early on Christmas Eve night the old boy died in my arms, but it was too late for me to come home so I waited until today."

She said right at this particular moment she couldn't understand what was happening to her as she ran to the barn to show Carl that there was an old boy in the barn. So Carl followed her out, showing her that there was no man in the barn and there were no snowshoe tracks. She stopped, she pondered, and she prayed, and she got a wonderful peaceful feeling as she said to Carl, "I read in the Bible once that when you show charity to a fellow man, Heavenly Father sometimes lets you entertain an angel in your home. (Hebrews 13: 1-2) Carl, I think I had a blessing last night to entertain an angel underneath your roof."

Carl scoffed at her and told her there had been no angel in his home, until she took him by the hand and led him into their home. She showed him the tree and underneath the tree she pulled out an old worn leather saddle bag, and inside showed him a small bit of peppermint, chocolate and a little piece of yard goods.

Sixty years later, in 1960, great-grandmother was at my parents house when she died on Christmas Day. I was just a little girl and my great-grandmother left me her diary, this story, and a little piece of yard goods wrapped in white tissue paper with a note, 'This is never to be used.' It was fabric from an angel and a reminder that true charity and the true love of Christ was to be shown 365 days a year."

We are now in the holiday season and I love how we can all be caught in the spirit the season brings, but it is a great time to remind ourselves to be a little kinder, a little more Christlike in our words and deeds everyday, not just during the holiday. You never know if you might be entertaining an angel.

I love this poem by President Thomas Monson:

"I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody's need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a twinge of regret
For being a little too kind"

I am certainly the recipient of many kindnesses from friends and family. Thank you all.

December Begins

It is amazing to think that it is already December. I know that I have been watching the lights and Christmas decorations as they have been displayed, but for some reason I am not ready for December. December always goes by so fast and then it will be 2011! I think I would like to enjoy this a little longer, maybe stretch out the days some? Oh well.

It has been a busy week and a little unusual. We celebrated Ed's birthday on Monday, the 29th. He had a hard time blowing out the candle because of his age. (hahaha) He is 62 now but I think he gets better looking as he ages. Don't you think so? I love the picture of him all bundled up to go out in the cold. What a cutie!

Each missionary is asked to present a 3 minute sketch of themselves to the mission at the Monday morning devotionals. It was our turn on Monday, the 29th, Ed's birthday! I struggled over what to write down (we are told to write them down and practice them because if you go over 3 minutes they ring a bell and you have to close immediately and sit down). I ended up with two very different sketches but I thought I would just take them both and wait for inspiration. Well, inspiration came all right! We were the last two and as I listened to the others give their life sketches I decided I needed to rewrite mine. I asked Ed for a pen and began to scribble, cross out, draw lines, etc. In the end, what I gave was so different from what I had prepared, but it was under 3 minutes and well received so it was fine. Ed was also under 3 minutes which was great since his first draft was 6 1/2 min. He told of his conversion which was very appropriate. He did a great job. We are both very glad that it is over!

The hard thing about this last week has been to watch what happens after it snows. It was so pretty immediately after the snow last weekend (I hope you liked my pictures), but then it started getting cleared away and along the streets and walkways the snow is shoveled and piled and then it gets grey and then black and what had been a picture of beautiful snow ends up being quite ugly. The sun comes out and slush follows soon after and then a little sprinkle of rain and it isn't pretty anymore. I think my "uglyness" attitude began last Wednesday when I was waiting for the crossing light to let me cross the street between Temple Square and the Family History Library. Since it was my first winder here in a long, long time I had forgotten the main rule after a snow.....don't stand too close to the street.... Yep, you guessed it. I got splashed with the ugly black snow slush first thing in the morning. Not a great way to start my day but I rallied and learned from my experience. I have not done that again. Most of the snow is now gone. The weekend was warmer and last night there was another slight rain so snow is actually difficult to find. (We actually saw snow along the streets being scooped up and put into trucks to be hauled away last week.)

On Friday afternoon I did my first training, welcoming the new missionaries. I will be training most of the day for the next two weeks going back over to the library for an hour or so after 3:30pm to work on the Tongan project for a couple of hours each day. We have received our own Oral History space on the Community Trees site now so I will have to move all of the links to the new place so I want to get started on that as quickly as possible. It should be quite easy.

We also had a new Young Elder start in our zone last week. He is very sweet and learned quickly. He works with us until 2pm each day. Our 2nd Young Elder will begin on the 13th. They certainly add a lot because they are good on the computer. It will be a big help in our zone.

On Wednesday night Autumn came and stayed with us because her husband was out of town and she had a meeting downtown. It was very fun. We met in the Salt Lake Temple and did some sealing work there for an hour and then we had dinner and came back to our apartment and spent some time planning our Christmas holiday when Ashley and Aubree are here. We are going to have lots of fun together. It will be a different holiday for our family. We are looking forward to it. We then went to sleep and Ed and I left early the next morning before Autumn had to get up. She showed up at our work room a little before 9AM and announced that her car battery was dead. Sir Ed of Historical Families to the rescue!!! It was such a good thing that this happened when she was here with us. We were happy to be there to help her when she needed it. Even though she would have been able to get it done, it was just nice for her not to have to do it alone. We think this was a tender mercy from the Lord (although Ed was not happy having to change out a battery while wearing a suit, but oh well). It all worked out.

Yesterday Ed and I went down to Provo for the day to help Autumn and Derrick decorate their little house for Christmas for the first time. They had never put lights on the outside of the house and had never had a big tree so it was fun to be with them. We then went out to dinner to celebrate Ed's birthday and Derrick's birthday. It is the first time we have been in Provo for a couple of months. We really thought we would be going down more often, but we have been staying very busy and haven't had the time and now with winter weather here we will probably not be doing much except when the girls are all here.

We have put a string of lights on our balcony rail and a little lighted tree in our apartment. Most of the other doors on our floor have a wreath of some kind so I decided to do something different and put up a stocking. Maybe I will get something from Santa in it.....what do you think?

P.S. I have discovered that the cold weather does affect my arthritis. Hmmmmmm.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Just thought I would load these photos. The one of the temple I took this morning, Monday, November 29, 2010. The other one is of Ed looking at the lights on Temple Square last night.
It has been a beautiful day. Not too cold and clear sky all day. It was a good day for Ed's birthday!

Christmas on Temple Square - part 2

This is the tree inside the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was so fun to see this tree being decorated. First of all, the tree was assembled. A young man stood on the framework inside the tree to add the "branches" of the tree. Then, on Monday morning we watched as they put out all the boxes of decorations in a large circle around the tree. I watched for several minutes before I realized that there were two young women inside the branches of the tree covering the framework with fabric. Others were sitting with boxes of ornaments around them making clusters of different ornaments to be put onto the tree. You can see from the pictures the progression. One photo is a picture of one of the women inside the tree and then a picture of what the tree looked like when I left to go to work about 8:30AM after our devotional on Monday. There is also a picture of the finished tree when we returned to the building about 3 hours later. The woman on the lift was putting some last minute touches on the tree being directed by the lead decorator from the Mezzanine. She was walking around up there and directing from above. It was very fun to watch.



The real story behind these photos is that I saw this project beginning before our devotional but I didn't have my camera. After the devotional I asked Ed if he would walk back over to our apartment to get the camera for me so I could take some pictures. He did it! And with a smile on his face. What a guy!! It was very cold and it is a 10-15 minute walk each way so it wasn't a little thing. I am so glad that I have the pictures, but I am more glad that I have such a cute husband!

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will try to take a photo of the full lobby tomorrow so I can have that. It looks so beautiful. There are trees in all the event rooms and decorated trees on each floor in the library. I love seeing the big tree in the window of the Conference Center but I haven't been inside there yet and I haven't been into all the other buildings on the Church campus yet. I will visit them while I am here. It is such a wonderful place to be. I am so happy to be here.

Christmas on Temple Square - part 1

The lights on Temple Square were turned on on Friday night. We didn't go out to brave the cold and the crowds until Saturday, but we went out again tonight because it snowed all night last night and all day today so I wanted to see how beautiful it was. We have our church meetings until 4pm so we walked home and had dinner and then came back out. Wouldn't you know it, first thing out of the front door of the building and Ed throws a snowball at me! Of course I had to throw one back and then he scooped up some snow and just threw it at me and then I got him on the face with my snow filled gloves and then we decided we should stop there because it was entirely possible that someone was going to get hurt and there is a mission rule against falling so we thought we should be obedient. (hahaha)

This picture is of one of the chestnut trees that I have walked by almost daily watching the workers put the lights up since August. It is amazing the number of lights on these trees. They are so beautiful. The snow on the bush in front of the tree in this picture shows how much snow has fallen today. We are getting a lot more snow that normal from what I hear.

Last week it was very cold. We have decided to stay in several times rather than go out because we are whimpy when it comes to the cold. When it feels like minus 4 degrees outside we do not want to be in it! If that's whimpy then I guess we are.

We had a wonderful week with Thanksgiving. I decided to brainstorm about many of the things for which I am grateful. There is no particular order, this is just how they came to my mind and it is not in any way a complete list:

I am grateful for music, travel, postage stamps, books on just about any subject but particularly church history, anthropology and the history of the world, chocolate chip cookies, my husband, my children and my family, babies, sunsets, mountains, rushing streams, hot showers, someone else to cook and clean up, card making, digital scrapbooks, The Discovery Channel, Baskin and Robbins Fudge Brownie Ice Cream, The Learning Channel, classic old movies, chocolate malts, tender steaks, Thai food, the ocean, cruising, fast cars (I once drove a Maserati at 150 miles per hour), the games backgammon, pente and attack Uno, soft blankets and towels, popcorn, Yellowstone National Park and C.S. Lewis. I am grateful for those who pray for me and for good friends who sometimes miss me when I am away. I am grateful to be able to walk and that I had the trial of not being able to walk for awhile so I can truly appreciate my legs and feet. I am grateful for people who knew how to help me walk again.
I am grateful to be able to listen to General Conference, meet new people, to read and write poetry, a soft bed, to play the piano, for beautiful lullabies to sing to children, for Planet Earth, to give service, for animals in the wild, for Christmas, to be able to give compliments, for freedom, for the resurrection, for comfy shoes, the temple, for having a drivers license, for beautiful landscaping, the art of Vincent Van Gogh and Vermeer, to be loved and I am grateful to be able to serve the Lord.

I am grateful to know that God loves me, that Heavenly Father remembers me as His daughter and that He knows that I miss Him and even though there are many things I love about being here, that He knows I am trying hard to get back home to Him. I am grateful that Jesus Christ has made that possible and I love Him for that.

Look for the 2nd post with another couple of photos about holiday preparations on Temple Square.

First View of Winter Wonderland

This morning when I woke up I hurried to the window because I knew it had snowed all night and I wondered if it was still snowing. The snow had stopped but I was greeted with a lovely view of the west toward the great Salt Lake. The sky was clear and the sun was shining on the valley in the distance having just peeked over the mountains behind us and everything was frosty and white. I ran to get a couple of pictures before the moment passed as the sun warmed everything up. It didn't last long, but I am happy I got a couple of pictures for my memories.

We encountered the snow last night. We left our apartment in the rain and drove to Draper to have dinner with friends (the Ellsworth's who used to live in The Woodlands, Texas)at their home up on the mountain. By the time we were ready to leave, there was at least 2 inches of snow on the car. We were more prepared this time with gloves and coats and were ready with the snow scraper that our daughter Ashley loaned us. We drove down the mountain and the snow was steady. All the way back home we had the snow. We were happy to experience slower drivers on the freeway because the roads were dangerous. Although we didn't have any problem with ice, the slushy, heavy, wet snow did present some surprises for us as we drove along. I am grateful we had the all weather tires put on! I am also grateful that we at least have a carport. I took the picture of the cars in the lot next door to remind me to be grateful. We will not have to clean our car off each morning all winter long. I remember what that is like from when I lived and worked in SLC a long time ago as a young single woman. Most of the places I lived did not have covered parking and I had to clean off my car every morning to get to work. I remember I got tired of doing that as we waited for spring to arrive.

This week was another great one. Last Monday Ed and I were in charge of the activity for our "Social Group" of missionaries (those who came in August). I asked my sister, Lois and her husband, Craig to speak about their experiences in Europe with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Craig sang with the choir for 17 years and Lois was able to go with him on many of those trips, particularly this one. They shared with us wonderful, touching, and miraculous stories of how the Choir was received. Lois had a great perspective being in the audience at each performance and interacting with sweet people. Even though she had a brief encounter with those people, many of those lives touched her and I'm sure she touched theirs. Our missionary group loved hearing from them. It was a great way to begin another week.

On Tuesday we had quite a funny experience. I made an appointment with the hairdresser my mom has used for years to get my hair trimmed. (I have used the same hairdresser for 19 years....I was skeptical but it is all good.) My mom said that she would pick me up from work and drive me there because it was a little difficult to find the place. My appointment was at 4:30pm so Ed told me to take my mom to dinner after the haircut and he would go workout and be back at the apartment either before I got finished or at least shortly thereafter. Well, my mom didn't want to go out to dinner so she brought me back to the apartment. We were just about here when I realized that I did not have any keys. She offered to have me return with her to her place but I was so sure that Ed would be home soon that I said no and had her drop me at the front. I wasn't quite sure how I would do standing out in the cold, but someone I knew came and let me into the building. That was half the battle, but I had no way of getting into our apartment. So I sat by the back door (where Ed would have to enter) and waited for him. Little did I know that he was taking his time because he thought I had keys. I waited for almost 2 hours by the back door. Other people came and went and returned and just chuckled as they left me there waiting for my cute husband. We had a good laugh, but I promise I will be better about remembering to take keys with me next time we are going different places.

On Wednesday we had another of the wonderful temple devotionals that are given for the missionaries. About every other month we gather in the chapel of the Salt Lake Temple for a devotional given by a General Authority or a member of the Temple Presidency or some other person of authority connected with the Mission. This week it was Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy. He is the Executive Director of the Family History Department and is very involved in the development of the programs and projects and growth around the world. He reported that as of October 31, 2010 the 23 Mission Zones with 1300 missionaries have provided 1.36 million volunteer work hours to the Family History Department. The estimate is that about 100 Billion people have lived on the earth. About 20 Billion have been documented. For those 20 Billion there are probably 20 quadrillion records to capture.....we have a lot of work to do. The key objective of the Family History Department is to help members have access to genealogical records from home. He told us that our ancestors "hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands." He quoted Joseph Smith: "When properly understood, it is impossible to overestimate the important of family history work." Elder Maynes closed by saying: "What could be more fulfilling than supporting he Lord in His work." We agree.

To add to a great week, the missionaries were invited to attended a special evening with the local 18th Ward of the Salt Lake Stake. Barbara Parker is a member of that ward and is the daughter of President Benson. She and her husband apparently put on a musical and inspirational meeting each year just before Thanksgiving. The music was lovely, but the fact that she had invited Elder Ballard to speak was a big draw for the missionaries who packed the chapel of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. (I went early to save seats ^_^) As the meeting time was approaching, in walked Elder Oaks also. Both are members of this ward. Elder Ballard was with his wife, but Elder Oaks was alone. (His wife was probably at the "Time Out for Women" that also started Friday evening.) Elder Ballard spoke about thankfulness. He quoted from several of the founding fathers who spoke of the gratitude we should be giving to God for our country and the freedoms we enjoy. He referred to the story about Abraham Lincoln who was asked during the Civil War whose side the Lord was on. Lincoln replied that it didn't matter which side the Lord was on. What did matter to him, Lincoln said, was that he was on the Lord's side. At the conclusion of Ballard's comments he spoke about recently attending a meeting in Cache Valley area and listening to the Primary program. He was very touched by the words of the songs the children sang. He talked about how so many people don't know who God is anymore and how we in our country are getting away from religion. He recited the words from several of the songs which were included in the primary program and spoke of the simple truths that our children are taught in the church, to know who they are. He counseled us to remember this week to give thanks to be part of this nation. He said, "we are still safe because God smiles on this great land". We should thank God for what we know. He hoped that the songs of Primary might stir in the hearts of Americans again to tell them what they need to know. There is nothing more beautiful, he said, than beautiful music.

So we have had an uplifting and exciting week.

In the Historical Families Zone we have added two Young Elders who will start working with us for half a day in a few weeks. They will report to other zones, but they will be giving us half of their day so we are hopeful that in the two years they are with us they will be able to complete a project that has been shelved because of lack of people with computer knowledge to do it. This is a good thing.

The other update is that I am going to be going over to the Training Zone for a few weeks to help train new missionaries. I am very nervous about this because I just don't work on the programs like other missionaries do and so I am not sure I will know enough to train, but they seem to feel that I will be fine and they need the help. We are very excited that we are getting so many new full time missionaries in December. (I think we are getting 29 new Full Timers.)

We are looking forward to being with extended family on Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. Each day of our lives is a blessing. Health is a blessing. Feet and legs that work are a blessing. Friends and family are a blessing. Freedom is a blessing, a gift that has at times had such a high cost. Repentance is a blessing. Christ atoning for our sins is a blessing. I feel such gratitude for the peace I feel each day knowing that I am here on earth for a purpose and that I can be together forever with my family and with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. May your Thanksgiving holiday be a special one as well.

Hail and Farewell: Starting to say goodbye

We have now been here long enough that we are learning that people do actually leave when their missions are over. It is a strange thing to learn to say goodbye to people with whom we have built a relationship. The problem is that I now have a relationship with some of these people. I like them. We laugh together, sing together, experience little miracles and share them with each other. We see them everyday. We work with them everyday. Will our paths ever cross again? How will I know what is going on in their lives, what is happening to their children or their aging parents? Then I think of what it is like with my friends back home in Texas and I remember what it was like a few weeks ago to reconnect with my Thai friends. It will be like that. What a great feeling to know that friends are never lost. We are here doing this work so that families are never lost either. What a great place to be!

Each month we join with the British Zone (after all it is their floor of the library)to say "Hail" to any new missionaries who have joined the zones and "Farewell" to any who are leaving. We have a little meeting and hear from those missionaries and then we all join together in a wonderful pot luck lunch in the little lunchroom. There is lots of great food that the missionaries bring and it is fun to "oooo" and "ahhhh" about the exotic food that is prepared and shared.

We haven't been here very long really, but already I can feel how fast the time is passing by. Each day there is so much to do and we are kept so busy that it makes the time fly. I am realizing that if we only stay for a one year mission, a quarter of it is already gone! This next week we have another Temple Devotional. Elder Maynes of the Seventy will be speaking to us. Friday we have a special fireside where Elder Ballard will be speaking to us. We have just been getting out our calendars to put in some of the missionary activities during the holidays and we have so many things happening it is thrilling. We did not, however, get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Special with David Archuleta, but....I'm okay with that. We have many other things going on here that will be great fun.

It has struck me this past week that we are really enjoying the style of living that we have right now. We are so happy living with so much less in the way of stuff. It has made us re-evaluate our personal situation. Reading Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from conference about what matters most has brought some new thoughts into our heads. We can feel ourselves changing as we get more into our mission and our work.

On Tuesday last week we were in our prayer meeting as always and we began singing the opening song, "On This Day of Joy and Gladness". When we came to the chorus, "Alleluia, Alleluia,
Bright and clear our voices ring,
Singing songs of exultation
To our Maker, Lord, and King!"
All of a sudden I couldn't sing. I choked up and tears just streamed down my face.
Here we were in a little basement room with about 20 other missionaries at 7:45am beginning our day with a song of praise. I was so happy to be there at that moment. There is nowhere else I would rather be. It is wonderful to be involved in such a great work with such great people, all of whom are wonderful.

As far as the work goes, we received the African records we have been waiting for and along with them we received a new Church Service Missionary. This Sister has been working on auditing the records from Ghana and South Africa for a year now. She comes in two days a week and now she will spend those days with us and help get those records ready to go up on "Community Trees" along with the other Oral Genealogies that are going up. She was sad to leave her former area but by the end of the day as we showed her what we were doing and what she would be doing she was very excited. We love it when people catch the vision of what we are all about in "Hysterical Families"! hahaha

The weather has been relatively nice. There has been more snow in the mountains and it rained here in the valley today and probably will tomorrow as well, but it has been so mild for us we are very happy. It has been more cloudy each night so I haven't seen the great sunsets that we saw over the last couple of months.

We did go out yesterday and buy a few things for the Christmas holiday. I'm hoping the icicle lights we bought for the balcony will help keep the pigeons away. They still keep trying to settle on the balcony and I keep chasing them away. I am mean, I know, but I really don't like cleaning up after them.

I have had a few successes with my personal family research this past week. I am getting to know how to get problems solved by having the right sources to share with the Help Center. I like this system. There are going to be some changes coming in the next month or so that will help out a lot. I am really liking the new beta family search site. There are a lot of people working very hard to make things better. I appreciate how hard that is now that I am doing things on the internet.

NEWS FLASH FOR MY CHILDREN: I have actually learned how to do some html coding this week. It is very exciting. Who would have thought I would get excited over being able to talk the computer into putting something up on an internet site in bold orange letters and put spaces in the right places! HA!

The Last Leaves

I decided to include the photo I took today of a tree close to our apartment. (That's our building on the right. We are on the 8th floor closer to the middle of the building.)

Today may be the last autumn weather we see. The high today will be about 63 degrees and the high tomorrow will only be 48 degrees so we are at an end for the lovely fall weather we have been having. It has been so beautiful here. I have loved seeing the range of colors which I have missed for many years. Today my favorite thing has been to walk through the leaves on the ground. It is dry and the leaves are crisp and make a wonderful noise as you walk through them. The day is slightly windy so the sound of the wind and leaves falling is delightful. There are still many bright reds mingling with the bright yellows. I also love the green bushes with the bright red-orange berries on them. The contrast of those colors is stunning. Tomorrow the forecast calls for rain,Tuesday partly sunny and Wednesday rain and snow mixed, then a couple more days of sunny and clear weather before Sunday when it will snow again for the beginning of next week.

It has been fun to watch as the preparations for the lights on Temple Square are in full swing. More crews are out now, not just in the morning working on the big trees which are almost done, but they are putting up the wire "trees" and lighting them and wrapping the smaller trees now around the Conference Center. I talked with one of the crew members and asked her if they were on schedule and she said they hoped the weather held so they could finish up. I am very excited to be here when the lights first go on which is the day after Thanksgiving. Then it will only be a month and Ashley and Aubree will be here for the holidays. I am looking forward to it.

We have had a great week. Two experiences have really touched me. The first was in our zone on Wednesday last week. We were working on the Tongan project as usual and when we have questions we go to Sister Kinikini, a wonderful Tongan woman who is a Church Service Missionary and has been responsible for most of the work done with transcribing the recorded genealogies from the audio to written transcripts and loading all the families genealogies into the Legacy program (which is the system we use in Historical Families). She has been working on this project almost every day for 5 years. Tuesday night I showed her how the files look online with the photograph, the transcript and the audio files all connecting to the family members, some of which connect to over 450 other individuals. She was amazed and very touched. The next morning she came to Ed and I and told us, "I want you to know that you are an answer to my prayers. I knew that I had done all that I could do but I don't know enough about the computer to know how to do the last step to make these records available to the Tongans. You are here because I prayed that Heavenly Father would send us someone who could do that." Needless to say, we both were very touched. It is amazing to feel that you are an instrument in the Lord's hands to do something for someone that they cannot do for themselves.

Second was an experience that also reminded me that this work is important to the Lord. One of the Church employees gave the thought for British Zone prayer meeting on Friday and he shared the following account of a Church photographer, Chuck, who was given permission to film the New Orleans parish records. The Church had wanted to film these records for a long time but had never before been successful. These parish records go back 400 years to the founding of the city. They are housed in the 2nd basement of the New Orleans library. Chuck was given a work area in the same room as the records to set up all his equipment in the basement of the library. Then Katrina hit. The following is from an email written by Chuck's dad:

"When Katrina hit, Chuck was at his home in Denham Springs, La. but his equipment, camera, and other things were left in the basement of the library with the records. My wife was able to establish a phone connection with him fairly soon after the hurricane so we knew that Chuck and his family were safe. However, it was about his same time that the flooding of New Orleans came to the attention of the nation. Chuck had no way of knowing about the condition of the library. He studied aerial photos of the building; he talked to the State archivists; he watched the news; every piece of evidence indicated that the records and the Church's equipment were all destroyed. Chuck and I joked about him having to go scuba diving to recover the camera...maybe it would be repairable. A few days ago two of the New Orleans archivists were allowed into the Library to assess the damage. Much to their surprise the basements were totally dry. They emailed Chuck and said, "You won't believe this but the basements are dry and your equipment is okay." They were wanting him back in a hurry. They could have lost everything to Katrina. Chuck then called the State archives to report the news. Their response, "No way, that's impossible, it can't be true." According to Chuck, the only major damage to the library in New Orleans was that some people had broken into the building for a shelter but they hadn't taken anything nor had the been malicious. No one seems to know how the water was held back, but all agree that it was miraculous. I don't believe it was by accident. It seems that the Lord has protected the vital records of New Orleans for centuries - even up to today. The damage to some of the Church's meetinghouses can be replaced. 400 years of records cannot. It is for a very important purpose that those records be made available to the descendants of those who lived there in by-gone years."

I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to be here on this mission at this time and for the testimony I have gained about the importance and sacredness of keeping families together as an eternal plan of our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful to be here and thankful for everyone who has felt the pull of the Spirit as they have done this work for over the years. I am in awe of the many people who have done so much for their own families and are helping others. Pres. Eyring said in a recent Genealogy Conference that this work is a work of mentoring. That the passion for this work comes to us as we learn and then we want to help others achieve success in their own family work. I have seen that and have received that mentoring. Perhaps someday I will be able to mentor someone also but right now I am assigned by the Lord to the Tongan project and we don't even see patrons in our room and I am not getting much experience in even my own family work. But, I am confident this is where Ed and I are supposed to be. . . even if it is going to snow on poor Eddie. :)

I also had great fun this week with my Thai friends, Mani and Nadda Seangsawan. They are leaving tomorrow for their 2nd mission in Thailand. We had some great plans for dinner but their lives became a little crazy trying to get everything in before leaving, so we only had a couple of hours on Friday when she wanted to teach me how to make Thai Red Chicken Curry and Pad Thai (noodles). I think I was successful. I made it Friday night and we ate it and then on Saturday I made it again and took it to another Thai friend's house for a dinner and they ate it and liked it even though they told me it wasn't really Thai style. So apparently my taste buds are too American to make the real Thai curry. We had such a good time. It has been so long since I saw these friends, two of whom I taught when I was a missionary and one who actually was my Thai companion while on my mission. It has been so wonderful to reconnect with them after 36 years. I have had more Thai food in the past two weeks than I have had in many months. And now I can cook two of my favorite dishes whenever I want to. Thanks, Nadda!

Have a happy week everyone!

See What We Have Done

http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I2&tree=AmeliaFinauTuitupou

I decided that I would like to share some of the work that we have been doing. I know that I have written about it before, but when we got a few pictures up last week I just loved looking at these cute people. I especially love this cute Tongan lady, Amelia Finau. If you would like to see her, copy and paste the address above (I don't know if it will link automatically when I post this so you may have to actually copy it)and look at her record. This is what we are doing. We have 100 done and I think that as soon as we get more space for our program we will be able to load the remaining 1000 audio records in a short time. As you know we have redone some of the wording and placement, etc. refining over and over again, learning more and more about the program as we have done each new thing. There are still some things that could be better, but it is just nice to have these photos, transcripts (click on the book to see the transcript) and to hear these recordings (click on the headphones to listen to the interview) even if I don't understand what they are saying. I love to listen to some of these recordings and hear the voices in the background, the chickens clucking and the rain on the metal roof. I feel like I am there. Let me know what you think. Explore a little and find more photos. Many of these people are among the royal families of Tonga. Sometimes the names seem strange and that is because Tongan's did not have surnames until a law was passed in 1940 that they had to have one, so they just did the best they could. For some of these families this is the only recording of their families. One of our Tongan Church Service Missionaries who has been very involved in this project told us that her children listened to her father's interview and wept because it was the first time they had heard his voice.

I do love this work.

I have had a great week and today has been the crowning day. We just returned from the home of our Thai friends giving talks in Sacrament meeting before they enter the training zone tomorrow. They are returning to Thailand for their 2nd mission as a senior couple. Mani and Nadda Saengsawan. He joined the church and became a missionary after being a monk for 3 years. He was serving while I was serving my mission in Thailand. She was one of the golden contacts that I helped to teach while I was there. They are the first Thai members to marry in the temple. They have raised their family here and want to return again to serve their people. It was wonderful to listen to them bear their testimonies of the gospel and to hear their expressions of love for our Savior.

After their meeting they invited many of their friends for Thai food at their son's home (they have been living with them). It was so fun to see several of the Thai sisters that I knew in Thailand and in fact to meet again one of my Thai companions. My heart remembered how difficult it was to say goodbye to them when I left Thailand and how great I felt to see them again and like Alma, to see that they have been faithful in their testimonies of Christ and the covenants they have made. They are YW Presidents, RS Presidents, Bishops wives, etc. One sister, who lives in Blackfoot, ID brought sliced apples she had dried. That is so funny to me! I made the comment that Blackfoot, Idaho was not at all like Thailand. She said that is what she likes! The dry weather! hahaha
Some have had difficulties and sadness in their lives, but all continue to love the Lord. It was a joyful time. I just wish that I could remember how to speak Thai.

Friday evening and Saturday morning we attended the 39th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium at BYU. We spent the night at Autumn/Derrick's so we didn't have to drive back and forth. I really enjoyed the breakout sessions I went to. The subject this year was the Sermon on the Mount. I'm sure I will be referring to these lectures during the study of the New Testament next year in Sunday School.

Another fun thing during the week was the first snow. Our girls had given me tickets to "Thunder Drums of China" on the BYU campus last Tuesday night. We drove down after work and had a quick dinner with a friend of ours before the concert. The weather looked as if it was going to clear up so we left the umbrellas and Ed's coat in the car. Even walking over to the concert it didn't feel like anything menacing. As we came out of the theatre in the Fine Arts Building all we could see were huge (yes, huge) snowflakes outside. We made it to our car, but Ed had snow all over his suit and it was coming down fast. (I have tried to include a photo but I can't seem to figure out how to get it in the blog. I will work on that this week.)By the time we got to the freeway there was not very much in the way of precipitation so we didn't worry about the drive home. As we got into SLC, however, the snow was falling here and everything around our apartment was dusted well with the wonderful white stuff. (Yeah, we will see how wonderful I think it is in Mar, right?) Well, anyway, I was happy to see it. We would have enjoyed it more if Ed had his coat and we both had umbrellas. Then I would have played. But....there will be another snowfall I am sure. (Hurrah!) By the way, the drumming was amazing! If you ever have the chance to see this group, go. Their precision and the sound they made from all of these instruments was great! I also loved the costumes. One man came out during on piece in a very elaborate costume. By a quick movement of his head (honestly, no hands) he could change his mask. He had at least 4 different masks that I saw as he went back an forth across the stage. At the end, he moved his head on last time and it was his own face, grinning widely. I have no idea how he did it but I was delighted! Thanks girls!

Another great thing about this week was Monday night. I went to a lecture given by Elder Kutcher, the training zone leader. He is a chemist and was part of the BYU team that excavated in Egypt for 15 years. His main job was to document and label everything they found, including unwrapping the mummies they found, labeling every piece of cloth so they could wrap them up and put them back. His slides of the things they found were amazing. The colors were so vibrant still and the cloth patterns were intricate and unique and beautiful. I learned so much just listening and watching for a little over an hour. I hope to hear him again. Just one tidbit. The initially found the bodies (which are buried on top of each other) with the heads toward the west. As they continued to dig down, abruptly the bodies were turned the opposite way, heads to the east. As they analyzed the ground and materials they discovered that the change was made at about 55AD. Christians bury their dead with the head at the west so when they rise up they will be facing east. The time of the change is consistent with the visit of Paul to Egypt to teach the Gospel there. They had been excavating a Christian site.

We said goodbye to Elder and Sister Cook in the Historical Families Zone and Elder Moulder is now in charge. I have only known these people for a few months, but it was difficult so see them go. They have been here for three years! What was fun was having the goodbye luncheon in our room and having the Tongans, Hawaiians, and Maoris all join with us in saying goodbye. The Tongans sang with a ukelele and I just loved listening to them. I could just imagine sitting on a beach with the sound of the waves in the background. It was beautiful but sad watching a very large Tongan man wiping tears away knowing he was saying goodbye to these dear friends to whom he was singing.

I wondered how we would ever stay in touch with friends in the hereafter? Maybe there will be ways to connect just by thinking about each other. Wouldn't that be nice? If so, you would all know I think of you often and hope you are well and wish you could all have the great experience we are having......think hard.....can you hear me? :) If you can, then you know I love you and wish you could all be here with me watching this beautiful sunset on a wonderful Sunday evening.

First Mountain Snow

Our weather has been turning colder and more clouds are in the sky all day. Friday night we had our first mountain snow that we could actually see on Saturday. Just on the high mountains and we only saw it for a minute but it brought a smile to my face and excitement to my heart. Snow! It's been a long time since I have lived in the light white stuff and I have some fears about driving in it and the icy conditions of the streets and sidewalks some days, but we have been assured that the City/County/State are very good about keeping the roads safe and that the Church keeps Temple Square and the surrounding apartments for the missionaries very safe as well. We are a little worried because we are walking around at 6am in the morning going to choir practice and I'm not so sure the walkways will be clean by then, but we will see. They say we will not have much snow in the city until late December or Jan. It will be interesting!

We had a fun week. It began with my birthday on Monday and so many birthday wishes from all around. Thank you to all who made it a special day. We were going to take the day off of work but there was a project to get done so we could move to the next level of posting our Tongan genealogies so we elected to work instead. We had a fun time at my mom's for cake and ice cream that evening with lots of family members who could make it, complete with the trick candles.

On Wednesday we went with our missionary social group to the State Capitol Building for a tour. It has been years since I was there and the entire building has been restored to the original condition. They did this at the same time they decided to "earthquakeproof" the building. It was quite an undertaking. It is a beautiful building. There is one thing that I had not remembered that I liked. Apparently Seraph Young, one of Brigham Young's daughters, was the first woman in America to vote. There is a painting depicting the event. We just don't hear about it much because at the time Utah was not yet a State, but a Territory. Utah tried 7 times to be admitted as a State but was denied until the 7th time. The conditions to becoming a state included, among other things, that the Church had to divest some portion of its land holdings in the area and Utah would have to repeal the right to vote for women. At least we got that back!

Friday night we listened to a concert by the Orchestra at Temple Square. It was a wonderful evening. I feel so happy to be here and to take advantage of all the wonderful programs and concerts that are offered for free. There is something to do every weekend. There are even more concerts during the weeks before Christmas. We have put in our request for tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. This year the guest artist is David Archuleta so the tickets to this event are a hot item. The Church does a random selection process of the people who submit a request. Last year there were over a million requests sent in for about 50,000 tickets. I don't hold out a lot of hope that we will be selected, but you never know. We did get tickets for our family to go to The Savior of the World program. All of these tickets became available last week. I can't believe that October is almost over and Thanksgiving is around the corner.

Here in Utah Halloween will be celebrated on Saturday evening. I wondered if we would get any trick or treaters in our apartment and the answer came today. There is a flyer in the elevator with a little envelope of small paper pumpkins. If we want them to come to our apartment we are to tape the pumpkin to our door. So I guess there will be kids running through the halls knocking on doors. I wonder if it would be against the mission rules to dress up like a witch to greet the kids as the come??? I don't think the badge would look real good on the costume. hahaha

It has rained much of the day today and I wasn't able to see up into the mountains but I am certain there is a lot more snow on those high peaks. I wonder how low the snow will go this week. We have more rain in the future and maybe even some snow on Thursday. It will be another great week for us here. Hope the same for you all.

Grand News

So the post today isn't just mission news. Autumn is pregnant and we will join the ranks of "GRAND PARENTS" in mid May 2011.

When we were finalizing our mission papers to submit we were told very clearly from Autumn that if we chose not to request a mission to SLC, Utah and we were sent somewhere else and she had a baby and I couldn't come she would be angry at us. She said she would get over it, but she would be angry; so she began praying that we would be called to a local (SLC, Utah) mission. At the same time, my mother (who lives in SLC) began praying that we would be called to a SLC mission also. We did not include any request on paperwork, with our Bishop or our Stake President. We just wanted to serve a mission wherever the Lord wanted us to serve. We came here and my mother has been very happy to have us here and to give me her family's genealogy to start working on. Now Autumn will have their baby during our mission and we will be able to take some time and help her and be with her and see our first grandchild at birth. We are all very grateful.

It has been another week of redo's in the Historical Families Unit. We are fairly certain that there isn't much else for us to change before we get it right and are able to continue adding the remaineder of the Tongan Oral Genealogies and the other recordings that are ready to put up online. There were some major breakthroughs this week with the Community Trees where we have been posting to Family Search, and we now think that there will be enough space for all of these valuable recordings. We are happy to be part of the process. Ed and I are quite invested now in these records. I can see where it is very easy to feel like you don't want to leave until the work is done. The problem is, the work is never done! But, we will probably extend for a few months now we know that Ashley and Aubree will be graduating in December of 2012.

I have found it very interesting this week how easy it is to live without things. Our apartment is decorated in "early missionary" style but we really have everything we need (except my books.....I miss my library and a comfortable bed). We are so busy with our genealogy that there isn't much time for other hobbies. We try to exercise every day, we eat simply, we work 5 days a week and do our own genealogy in the evenings and on weekends interspersed with getting together with family and friends, attending the temple and concerts and an occasional movie or play (we loved Secretariat!). There are so many things to do here. Between the free concerts on Temple Square, there just seem to be so many things to do. There are lots of social things between our missionary group (August group) and the ward activities and mission activities. We are actually too busy to do all the things we would like! It is such a great life.

The weather this week has continued to be wonderful. We have enjoyed the mid 70's again after a wonderful fall chill of about 44 degrees when we head out the door in the morning. It is very dark now when I go to choir practice in the morning but I have only had to break out a coat one day so far. I realize it will soon be cold enough for a coat each day.

Yesterday we headed up into the mountains to drive the Alpine Loop and see the fall colors. The weather has not been cold enough to get the reds, but the yellows were great. For those of you who are familiar with the Loop I know you will find this funny, but we actually got lost. We made the turn to Cascade Springs thinking that was the correct way but we ended up going across the mountains to Heber instead of through the canyon to Sundance. We didn't care. It was a beautiful drive.

At prayer meeting on Friday one of the missionaries who is British (Elder Cox) shared some information about Joseph of Arimathea which was fascinating to me. He first showed us a little book that came from the stacks on our floor of the library (British Floor) called "History and Antiquities of Glastonbury" and published in 1794. He told us that this little book, probably the smallest in the library (it was only about 3X5), tells about a very significant place in the story of Christianity and the place that England holds in the story of the Restoration. Then he gave us the following information about Joseph of Arimathea: He was one of the richest men in the world at the time; he owned a large fleet of ships because he was an importer of tin mined from Cornwall, England (tin was used by the Romans as an alloy for making weapons); he was made the guardian of the Virgin Mary by John when he is banished to Patmos; after the Sanhedrin (of which he was a member) launched the persecution of Christians he took the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the Bethany sisters Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus and others to England where he was greeted by his daughter, Anna who is the wife of Prince Belinus, youngest son of King Bran the Blessed; the King gives 12 "hides" of land (sized sufficient to live off) to them and the Domesday Book (1086 AD) records that he granted it to them tax free forever. The place where they settled is now called Glastonbury, but then it was called....Avalon. The gospel was established in that place by devoted followers and family of Jesus. In 156 AD King Lucius established Christianity as the national religion of Britain. No wonder that the gospel restoration message was taken quickly to England and so many faithful saints came from there to strengthen the restored church in America. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Have a great week!

Zone Leader for Real

Last Friday Ed was announced as the new Zone Leader for the Historical Families Unit. We knew that since the current Zone Leaders are leaving this month that this was coming, but now it has arrived. Ed is called as the Zone Leader officially but we are a couple so they announce us as the Zone Leaders. What that really boils down to is that Ed has the responsibility for everything except the "Love and Support" part. that is my job, along with the monthly time report we make for the Presidency. No problem, I can add up the time sheets.

Another fun thing happened this week. We finally were able to get together with my Thai friends at their home for a Thai meal. I was so surprised when I heard from them and so pleased to see them after 36 years. The last time I saw them before I left Thailand I told him to take her to the temple. She was my Golden Contact. We taught her and she had a strong testimony right off. She believed everything we presented to her. Now they are married and have 4 children who are active in the church and grandchildren who they adore and they are leaving for Thailand on their 2nd mission there the beginning of November. I am thrilled for them, the look so happy together.

I am still feeling good but I am losing the battle for sleep. I fell asleep during scripture study with Ed. I was reading and said, "It is....." then I just stopped. Ed waited a few seconds and looked up at me and said, "Did you fall asleep?" I answered that yes, indeed I had and I thought it was time for me to get to bed.

We continue to enjoy the fruit in the area. Wonderful peaches which are gone now, but Autumn and Derrick's Asian Pear tree has produced so much fruit this year they are sharing with everyone. We love that!

At work we are redoing a bunch of work still, trying to get it to look the best for the patrons when it is available to them. I think we are real close to being there, but I spent most of last week changing one day's work the following day. It is very tedious work but I am enjoying the challenges immensely.

Yesterday the crews of Young Men and Young Women came to the temple grounds and dug up all the flowers. Walking to church this morning through Temple Square it was so sad to see the flowers gone. I am anxious to see if they leave the beds dirt through winter or what. It is exciting to anticipate the holidays here in this wonderful place. Anyone coming?

Conference Weekend

Sunday evening of General Conference and the Church "campus" is a very different place than it has been the last two days. Very quite, no large satellite dishes on the street, and no crowds of people moving about. It was a quiet evening as the sun went down tonight.

Ed and I drove up into a Lamb's Canyon (east on I-80)just to see if we could find any of the famous fall colors. There was some, but it hasn't been cold enough to see the really bright colors. We took my mother with us and she suggested we come back through Emigration Canyon which was also lovely. It has been many years since we were on that road.

We enjoyed watching General Conference. We had tickets for Saturday AM and they were on the far left (facing the podium) but the 3rd row in that section. I saw Stan Ellis and asked the Guest Services woman standing behind the rope if she could tap him on the shoulder and let him know that we were there and would like to say hello. She asked the security guy and he said yes so she did and Elder Ellis was surprised and pleased to see us. He looked right at my badge and said, "I like how that looks!". We didn't know that they had been brought back from Brazil and are now in SLC and he works at Headquarters. So he said that we should have lunch sometime which would be lovely, but I'm sure he is very busy.

One of my nephews, Jared Hinton, is married to a sweet young woman from a Micronesian island, Chuuk (pronounced Chook). She was invited to translate for a couple of the talks in both the Saturday morning and the afternoon, but there was no accommodation for her husband, Jared. The translators are kept together between sessions and are fed and then they go back and are given the transcript of the talk they will translate to study. Anepo is 8 months pregnant so this was a difficult day for her but she really enjoyed the experience. Jared came to our apartment between sessions and we fed him and then we all watched the afternoon session on our little TV. It was great to have him with us.

Ed went to the Conference Center for Priesthood Meeting Saturday night with Derrick (our son-in-law) and his brother Seth while Autumn and I hung out together and then went to my mom's. We had many of the Mumford clan over to her condo for the traditional ice cream feast after Priesthood Meeting. It was great fun.

We also had a great week with our Tongan project. I have become faster and more accurate so that is good. There are 1100 records to get online and I have completed 85 of them. It would have been more but we didn't work on Friday because we attended a funeral. There are only 487 with image (pdf) files to put up so after I get those up it will go faster just putting up the audio (mp3) files. We may be able to be done with this part of the project by the end of November. There are some classes we are going to and devotionals, etc. so we don't have full days, but we think this is reasonable. We are very excited. I must admit that it still makes my heart do a little flutter when I make an entry and I get the little notification box that tells me I have just changed 482 records (or whatever the number is). I just hope that I am doing this stuff right!!!

I was talking this week with a missionary in the Church History Library and was told that it wasn't a day that they enjoyed because Wednesday is the day the anti-Mormon information they have is reviewed. I didn't ask too much about it so I don't know exactly what they do with it, but I do know that the Church keeps a copy of each and every piece of anti-Mormon literature (including op ed, pamphlets, lead articles, books, etc.)that is published anywhere they know about. It is important to know what is out there against us, but I am happy that I am not the one who is to review it.

The good weather stayed with us just long enough for General Conference weekend so we are preparing for a little colder and maybe even a little stormy weather this week. The high will be about 67 degrees. I don't remember what the lows are going to be, but it will be interesting to see how Ed reacts. He just does not like being cold at all. Oh well!!!

On Tuesday last week we had a special Temple Devotional for full time missionaries. It is really nice because it is held inside the large chapel of the SL Temple. Marlin K. Jensen again spoke. He gave a great talk about the importance of preparing ourselves to listen with our hearts to the words of the prophet. He cited some great examples of revelation given to prophets over the years that addressed issues that are now much more controversial than anyone would have thought. The most recent example he gave is the Family Proclamation which makes issues of gender very clear for the Church. At the time that was given, no one would have thought anything about a Prop 8 or taking the issue of marriage to the Supreme Court of the nation. So.....I tried to listen carefully. I am excited to have the Nov issue of the Ensign so I can read and re-read the talks given.

Until then, I will work on being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I think that was a prominent theme that I heard. Anyone else have a topic that touched them? It would be great to share.

Family Reunion

"God is having a family reunion and I'm helping." This is one of the several signs that are up around where the missionaries congregate. I like the idea that we are here doing work to help with what will be a great reunion.

We had another great week working on the Tongan project. One thing that we have learned is to take things as they come. We spent a day working on the format that we had decided on just to come in the next day and find that our supervisor had felt that some changes needed to be made. We had to agree that the changes made the postings much better for people who will be using them so we spent another day changing and fixing the 90 records we had done the day before. Under other circumstances we might have been frustrated, but it feels so different when you are doing work for the Lord. We want to be sure that what we do, the offering we make, is the best it can be. It actually felt good to go back and improve what we had done the day before.

The weather has been so glorious! We have only had two rainy days since we have been here. People keep commenting to us about how warm it is, but we are loving this wonderful weather, cooling off at night and beautiful sunny skies during the day. We have seen the wind pick up on a couple of days and it has been interesting to watching the clouds move quickly across the valley. It has also made for some spectacular sunsets. We love walking around Temple Square and seeing and smelling the flowers. Early in the morning we have been watching the crews put the Christmas lights up. It takes a long time to put that many tiny lights on these big trees. The crews we see in the big trees are at least 4 people on lifts. It takes a couple of weeks to complete one tree because I think they only work early in the morning and not when the Square gets busy. I am sad that we will lose the wonderful foliage and flowers, but I am looking forward to the lights for the holiday.

Last night the crowds of women were here to attend the Relief Society General Meeting. I went to watch the meeting with my mother at her condo and as I was driving out of our parking lot I had a slight taste of what it will be like next weekend for General Conference. What traffic! Both before and after! I had no idea that there are buses of people coming. Who rents the buses? One of our missionaries told us of walking down Main Street toward the conference center in the same direction as the crowd of women and hearing two men who were obviously not LDS comment about all the women here in SLC. His friend said, "Yeah and they're all good looking too!" That was in contrast to another missionary's experience at the exit desk last year during the Priesthood session. After watching all the men in suits walking toward the Conference Center a woman came up to her and asked, "Do you let women into your church?" But, the meeting was wonderful as always and there was much to think about.

There is so much to be grateful for these days. I watch the sun set and I am so grateful that we are lucky enough to be here in this place and have this view and have plenty of room. I feel blessed to have a washer and dryer in our apartment. I feel so blessed that we have such a short walk to work. I am grateful I can walk!

Today in our Sacrament Meeting a Sister missionary spoke about her first mission which was to Mississippi. She arrived just before Katrina hit. She described the devastation of the people but recalls the many people who came to help from many parts of the country. Church members were called the chain saw gangs. They went wherever there was a need. People lived in the church buildings as long as they needed to. One woman who had 12 feet of water in her house was telling Sister MacDonald about how blessed she felt because hers was the only house on her street that still had a roof. Perspective is everything, isn't it?

Week of September 13 - 18, 2010

I want to share a fun little experience I had while working on the Visitations of London project a little bit this past week. I was working on a page with the name of Skinner. Daniel Skinner was born about 1651, he went to Cambridge and graduated when he was about 19 years old in 1670. He traveled to Barbados in 1681 and was in France in 1682. He was living in 1684-5. Then I came to this interesting entry....."amannensis to John Milton". Now, I recognized the name of John Milton, probably most of you do too, but I had no idea what the word "amannensis" meant so i looked it up and then it made sense. It is a word for "scribe". Can you imagine how interesting it would have been to be a scribe to John Milton? He may have been the one who wrote down Paradise Lost as Milton was dictating it to him???? There is also a mention that Daniel Skinner's relative, Mary, is a friend of Samuel Pepys. If you have not heard of Samuel Pepys Diary, you should look it up on the internet. He kept a daily diary for some period of months that has become quite famous over the years. So that gives you a little glimpse into the interesting folks we "meet" on paper as we do the London project. Most of our time now is on the Tongan project which I mentioned last week. We are very excited about that one too but I have no stories to tell because it is all in Tongan!

Last Monday the Elijah Choir performed for a Devotional on Tuesday. Marlin K.Jensen was the keynote speaker. He is a member of the Seventy and the Church Historian. We sang "Come Unto Christ" a wonderful Sally DeFord piece. The words are very tender to me and about half way through the performance I started thinking more about the words than the music and I lost it. I couldn't finish and just stood and held the music while I mouthed the words with tears rolling down my face. wouldn't you know I didn't have any tissues with me and the song was the first thing on the program!! Oh well. I do love her music. She seems to put music to words that express my feelings in many ways.

Elder Jensen's talk was wonderful. He spoke about staying close to the Holy Ghost so we can know "things as they really are" taking the title of the Neal Maxwell book as his theme. He cautioned us to live in such a way as to never run the risk of offending the Spirit. He cautioned us to prepare ourselves to go to the other side. He semi-jokingly made the comment that the reason so many of the people who are involved in genealogy are older is because we realize we are getting close to leaving this life and we don't want family members we meet on the other side to be disappointed with our lack of interest in them. It was a sobering thought for me. I am grateful I am here and working on my family work now.

I had my last day of physical therapy on Thursday. I appreciate all that Oryslava has done for me. I do feel much, much better and I am improving each day. Now comes the tough part.....being responsible for my own health!

The sun is beginning to set today so the blinding light is coming through the window to the west in our living room. I love this time of day.

Before I leave this blog, and just so you won't think that everything as a missionary is rosy, I thought I would record the one thing that is the most difficult for me as a missionary. I never thought about it much before, but I am having a hard time with one mission rule. I have not followed this rule for years and I must confess that I am struggling with it each day. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. I have tried to comply. I sit every morning and ponder about it. I have talked with my husband about it. I hesitate to talk to anyone else because I don't want to appear to be weak. I have never struggled over anything so much in my life. But I am obedient and will continue to comply with the direction from the my leaders. But I have to say...I just don't like having to wear pantyhose!