The Half Way Mark

We have been on our mission just over 6 months. I can't believe it! The time is flying by for us. I am starting to feel the panic of leaving. I don't want this to end. I remember feeling that way when I was in Thailand. I remember trying to savor the smells and listening to the conversations in the market and at church that I knew I would not hear again. I am that way here. Every time I walk across the Temple Square and see how different it looks with the weather, the seasons, the time of day, the number of people there, etc. I savor it.

I felt this way at church today in the beautiful chapel in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB). It is such a joy to meet in that room. The high council speaker commented on how he feels when he comes to this chapel. He admitted to gazing around at the architecture and decor and how his mind has wandered a bit from what is being taught from the pulpit. Then he said, "That is probably why we don't build churches like this....it is too easy to be distracted." Well, I thought, we never did build them like this, this was a ballroom in a hotel!! I must admit that I gaze around from time to time since, as missionaries, we are in this room often. I think the ceiling looks like a very elaborate wedding cake. I love it, but that is what I think of when I look at the white ceiling. I want to savor this sight.


Last week the moon was full and at this time of the year it makes its way down in the morning by going farther north than usual. On Thursday when we were walking to the Library about 7:30AM from our earlier morning choir practice in the JSMB the moon was just above the horizon straight in front of us next to the old pioneer cabin on the plaza between the Family History Library and the Church History Museum. It was breathtaking! Our friends took a picture. I have included it in this blog. I tried the next morning to get a shot too, but it was cloudy on Friday and I didn't have any success with my camera. I stood outside for 25 minutes before going in for prayer meeting. I tried several set ups to get the moon, but by the time the moon was in the right place, the sun had lit up the sky too much for a good picture. I wish I could take a picture of each moment to cherish in coming years.
Not very practical, am I?

A sad thing has happened to Ed. He was typing his journal for 2011 and he had opened his 2010 journal file for some reason and inadvertently wiped out his entire 2010 journal! It is so sad that he will not have his recorded experiences and feelings for the first 6 months of his first mission. I hope that he can recall some to record. I am hopeful. I was at a meeting last Friday where one of the participants told the following story as an illustration of the importance of keeping a journal and doing our personal history:

His father had not been one to keep a journal or write his personal history until a little while before he died. He began writing but then he got a recorder and began recording his story in his own voice. After he died Jeff’s daughter got the recorder (or tape… I don’t remember) and was transcribing his words. One day Jeff saw his daughter and she had left the room and was crying. He asked her what was wrong and her reply was, “I want to live in such a way that I never do anything to prevent me from living with grandpa.”

I believe in Oral Histories. I believe that hearing the voice is very important. Digital recordings can be made and left for our children so their children can hear our voices telling them how much we love them and their parents and to bear our testimony of the importance and the permanence of the family beyond the grave and that the only way we can have that joy of being together is because of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It doesn't have to be our entire personal history, but to hear our voices is important. I'm going to do something about that. Don't know exactly what or how just yet, but I am going to do something.

My sister and her husband arrived yesterday ready to enter the Mission Training Center (MTC) on Monday. They are going to the Manchester England Mission and will be working in the office, relieving two young missionaries there and then they have a ward assignment also to help with activation. They are very excited. Ed and I decided that they and other missionaries around the world are on "real" missions and we are on a "pretend" mission. We have so much flexibility here that others do not. I know that we were called here by the Lord for a purpose and I am grateful to be here, but we do have it so easy, almost like a 9-5 job and then the rest of the time is our own. I think that this is a test to a degree, for the Lord to see what we will do with that time. I am trying to be better about that. I want to be worthy to serve our next mission, wherever that may be.