Flowers, Fire Alarm and Famous Irishmen

The rose bed hasn't changed much.





















Going into the Family History Library each day we see more color.












More color at the Church History Museum also.















Facing North is looking good.














So is facing South.....also, more people are coming out now with the weather warming up.




Last week had some exciting events.

First of all, the fire alarm in our building went off on Tuesday at about 10:30pm.
Now you have to understand that this building is an apartment building with mostly retired people, some missionaries, but others are just retired. We go out into the hallway and there are at least three 80+ people in their pjs who just say, "I can't go down the stairs!" Some of the residents never even opened their doors.....they probably couldn't hear the alarm. Ed is getting all excited because I had to put on clothes and shoes...I had been in bed talking with my mom on the phone. Then we are in the hall and looking at these women who can't go down stairs and Ed says, "I'll go down the stairs and see what I can find out." So he disappears down the stairs and I'm in the hall with three women who can't move very well here on the 8th floor (the top) of the building. It was such a hilarious moment.

In a few minutes the elevator doors open up and here comes one of the men from our floor with a big grin on his face and he tells us that it was his son who accidentally hooked the fire alarm with a hanger while carrying clothes down to his car. (His son was moving into his own apartment). In a few seconds the alarm was shut off by the fire department and the women went back into their apartments. It was several minutes before Ed arrives back on the floor via the elevator. He had no idea what had happened but he knew there was no fire. Just a lot of confused people in the hallways of the building in their pajamas. I told him what had happened and we laughed and laughed.

The second thing that happened last week was an interview with a Mission Presidency member. This interview happens with all missionaries when they are 4 months away from their release date. Ours was July 29th so we had our interview last Thursday and I have to say it was very weird. I can't believe that we have been here that long! We have extended our mission by 3 months so our new release date is the end of November. Can't believe the time has been going by so fast. I have waaaay to much to do still to be thinking about leaving!

The third thing that happened was our first hike into the mountains. It was Saturday morning and we were free until about 2pm so I talked Ed into walking up into the canyon right here by us that begins at Memory Park. We hiked through the park and up into the watershed area maintained by the county. I kept wanting to go deeper and deeper into the canyon and explore. It will be so beautiful in the spring and summer to go up there. Right now there is still some snow at the higher elevations. I am looking forward to hiking there again. By the time we turned around and headed home we realized that we had been walking for about 3 hours. We clocked it later and found I had walked a little over 7 miles. My feet were very sore. I thought my legs would be very sore today, but they aren't. I am good today so.....I am very happy about that.

I have a fun story to share from St. Patrick's Day last week. It was given in one of our devotionals:

Nine Famous Irishmen
In the Young Irish Disorders in Ireland in 1848, the following nine men were captured, tried and convicted of treason against Her Majesty, the Queen, and were sentenced to death: John Mitchell, Morris Lyene, Pat Donahue, Thomas McGhee, Charles Duffy, Thomas Meagher, Richard O'Gorman, Terence McManus, and Michael Ireland.
Before passing sentence, the judge asked if there was anything that anyone wished to say. Meagher, speaking for all, said,"My lord, this is our first offense, but not our last. If you will be easy with us this once, we promise, on our word as gentlemen, to try to do better next time. And next time sure we won't be fools enough to get caught."
Thereupon the indignant judge sentenced them all to be hanged by the neck until dead and drawn and quartered. Passionate protest from all over the world forced Queen Victoria to commute the sentence to transportation for life to far, wild Australia.
In 1874, word reached the astounded Queen Victoria that Sir Charles Duffy who had been elected Prime Minister of Australia was the same Charles Duffy who had been transported 25 years before. On the Queen's demand, the records of the rest of the transported men were revealed and this is what was uncovered:
Thomas Francis Meagher, Governor of Montana;
Terrence McManus, Brigadier General, United States Army;
Patrick Donahue, Brigadier General, United States Army;
Richard O'Gorman, Governor General of Newfoundland;
Morris Lyene, Attorney General of Australia, in which office Michael Ireland succeeded him;
Thomas Darcy McGhee, Member of Parliament, Montreal, Minister of Agriculture and President of Council Dominion of Canada;
John Mitchell, prominent New York politician. This man was the father of John Purroy Mitchell, Mayor of New York, at the outbreak of World War I.


You can draw your own conclusions about this story, but I quite liked it!

Miracles All Around

Over the winter I had wondered why the flower beds on east side of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB) (between the JSMB and the old Church Admin Bldg.) were covered with white fabric sheeting and the beds on Temple Square were not. Rarely do we use those east doors because we work in the Family History Library west of Temple Square and there really isn't any reason to go there. But each Sunday,the JSMB is closed to the public and it is only the east doors that are opened for members to attend Church meetings so we do go in and out. Today I think I have solved the mystery of the white sheeting. (This is just me thinking and I have not verified any of this with anyone who might know so please be careful with what I say)

As we left the building today after our meetings I was in a spiritually beautiful place, happy with the world. I was looking forward to taking the 2nd set of photos of the developing beds on Temple Square. Coming through the doors into the light we all were oohing and awwing about the colorful pansies and crocus in the beds. The sheets had been removed sometime in the last two weeks (we didn't go that way last week because of conference) and there were flowers already!! (As you can see from my photos, there are not that many flowers in the T Square beds. See below. In fact, we had a snow storm last Tuesday which I have also shared some pictures of because all the beds were covered in a heavy spring snow. Wonderful for snowballs and snowmen and yes, we threw them at each other...the balls, not the snowmen ^_^).

So I wondered again, why would these beds be covered and not the others? Well, here is what I think.

By covering the beds the ground would be warmer when the sun came out. By having warmer beds the seeds would mature faster and the plants would come through the soil faster. When they come through the soil they blossom faster. Why do I think those beds needed to blossom faster? Well, it is just a guess, but maybe, just maybe, the wonderfully skilled master gardeners of the grounds wanted those beds to be beautiful as quickly as possible because when President Monson looks out his office window this is what he will see and they wanted him to see spring as soon as they could arrange it! What do you think? Does that sound feasible to you? I think it is wonderful what they do on the grounds here. Everything is so well planned.

I was so excited last week to share the growth of the beds on my blog thinking that spring had finally come. But what a surprise Monday afternoon brought! We walked home from the Library (one block) and by the time we got up to our apartment (8 floor elevator ride) it was beginning to snow.


Ed ran out for a couple of things but within 10 minutes the snowflakes were so large they were floating in the wind.

I took a picture of him walking back across the parking lot to the building. We thought that because it had been so warm the snow wouldn't stick, but boy were we wrong! By Tuesday morning it did not look like spring was just around the corner, it looked like it was miles miles away. I laughed at how positive I had been about spring, so I made my way onto T Square before going to work to get pictures at the places I had taken them on Sunday. Snow was covering everything!



I'm afraid I was in the way of the guys clearing the walks but they were kind. Anyone who walks on the Square after a snow with the sun shining knows there is one hazard to watch out for besides the slick walkways. You can't walk under the eaves of the Tabernacle because the warming roof causes the snow to slide right off and you will get hit with falling snow. I had to get by Door 11 to get one picture so I watched and waited for the right moment, being careful not to move too fast(falling is against mission rules). I tried to make it under the eaves but alas.....I got dumped on!

Fortunately the snow was still fresh enough that it wasn't ice so it didn't hurt, but it was still wet. Oh well. I took a picture of my personal pile of snow.

By Tuesday evening the sun was again melting the snow and by Wednesday it was gone except for the big mounds built by the snowplows on the streets. So today I took the pictures of the same spots.



A few flowers have come up and it is nice to see the color, but the most exciting thing is the promise of more!

We had another busy week. Tuesday we had a pizza party given by the department head as a "Thank You" for the extra effort put in by the many who helped us get a record number of Africa genealogies up by the deadline. It was a great team effort so that was nice. One of our missionaries had to have heart surgery for 5 bypasses so we visited him. He has a handicapped wife so we were concerned about her too but all has gone well and he will be home tomorrow.

Wednesday Ed and I went to the temple after work and did more family names. I LOVE doing that!

Thursday a couple who is about to go home to Nauvoo, Ill. gave a presentation on the building of the Nauvoo Temple. Brother Shurtz represented the Peoria Stake on the Nauvoo Temple Committee so he took pictures of the construction of the temple and he and Sister Shurtz shared some of their experiences from their journaling. I think they would be okay with me sharing this little anecdote. During the Temple Dedication Services the General Authorities who were there stayed inside the temple between sessions and food was brought in to them and rooms prepared for them to rest. (Otherwise they would have been mobbed outside.) Brother and Sister Shurtz were staying in town but had no access to a kitchen and she was supposed to be helping with providing cookies. She called her daughter and asked her to make a bunch of cookies which she did and they were sent up with the other food. In a little while the empty tray was brought down and there was a little handwritten note that said, "Could we please have some more of the chocolate chip cookies?" It was signed President and Sister Hinckley.

Isn't that a cute story? (I think I want that recipe!)

Friday I went to work early so I could take extra time for lunch and met some friends from the past for a long lunch. Ed and I went to dinner with a missionary couple that evening. Saturday I met my mother, my brother and my niece at the Family History Library and we spent a couple of hours working to find sources on our own family and then Ed and I ended the day playing games in our apartment with some other missionary couples.

It was another great week for me.

President Simmons (our mission president) prepared an article for the monthly electronic Mission Newspaper and in it he told about a talk given by Elder Howard W. Cheney to his zone on August 24,2010. The following is a part of what the President told us from Elder Cheney's talk:

“When someone asks me what I enjoy the most about my mission experience my answer is that every day I am blessed to do things I cannot do. Each day we serve, if we are observant and sensitive, we may witness miracles that take place in the Lord’s marvelous work of redemption. It would take many hours to discuss just a few of them, however I would like to briefly mention some of those I have been privileged to witness.”
“They range from the miracle involved in stupor of thought forcing us to back up to an error that we have inadvertently made so we may correct it before we move forward, to the miracle of reading languages that we cannot read, and writing that is
illegible, yet we are blessed to read it as the need arises. Another significant miracle we see is the Lord providing very special people with very specialized skills at the precise moment when they are needed. The volunteer who just happened to arrive when we were in the process of millions of very old and difficult Spanish records for the temples. Brother and Sister Endrek came to this country where their daughter was a citizen because Brother Endrek’s kidneys were failing. He had dialysis three times a week. He learned from his daughter who learned from a missionary having dental work done in her office that we needed help with Spanish. A most coincidental process? Or a miracle? I was amazed the first Saturday that Brother Endrek came to work with me at his ability to read the mid-1600 Spain Spanish records. He spoke no English and I asked his daughter and wife how he could read this so fluently. They indicated that he was a retired professor of languages at the Cordova University in Argentina. He told me that the records were not in Spanish but an ancient pre-Spanish language. He read fluently what the rest of us could not begin to read, not only was the language difficult but the quality of the records was very poor. He helped us process roughly four million names of this very difficult Spanish for the temples. It took about a year and during the entire time he was receiving kidney dialysis and yet continuing to serve each day. When the work was completed he was released from this life and taken to be with so many whom he had served.”

It is true that miracles are everywhere. If we are wise and sensitive enough to spiritual things, we will see them all around us. I believe Joseph Smith's promise: "If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates." If we live up to our privileges....what miracles may be found all around us!

In case you didn't know......I love being here.

Singing in the Tabernacle Choir.............seats.

Today was Stake Conference for our Stake, the Ensign Stake, and we met in the Tabernacle. Like every other stake, we had a stake choir. Unlike every other stake, we got to sing from the Tabernacle Choir seats! Of course you can imagine how fun that was and how many people showed up to sing in the choir. Yes, even people who do not sing very well came to sing from the choir seats. It was pretty cool I must say. Being a 2nd Alto I was on the "men's" side, sixth row up right next to the pipes. It was fun when the choir and congregation sang "God of Our Fathers". Brother Klopfer rocked the organ. I was surrounded by wonderful sound.

This is what it looked like to me.





Did you know that it gets very hot in the Tabernacle with those lights? Yes, it does. So each seat has a little round air conditioning vent underneath it (about 10 inches across)for the comfort of the choir. (I should have taken a picture of that, but I didn't think of it soon enough.) It was fascinating to see how quickly the crew changes the stage from the broadcast set up for a Sunday meeting. The broadcast is done at 10AM and we were in the seats at 10:30AM to begin practice for the 12 Noon Meeting.



The meeting was very good. President Ames spoke about the sacredness of the sacrament. His 2nd counselor was released today because he is suffering badly from cancer. He was almost gone from us last Monday, but he was released from the hospital yesterday so he could attend conference. His words to us were very touching and introspective. It made me wonder what I would want to say if I were called to speak when I was close to death. We hope that Pres. Jardine will be with us for a while longer, but the impression his words made on me will last a long time. Elder Rudy Franco of the Seventy was the visiting authority. He told us about buying a new piano, a baby grand, and seeing it fall and break apart as they were delivering it to their home. Of course the store where he purchased it had to replace the piano but he inquired if the piano could be repaired. They told him that even though they could put the pieces back together the piano would never be able to sound good because once the wood is broken it cannot be restored. He then spoke of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through the Atonement, no one of us need be replaced but healed, restored by the Savior. He then echoed Pres. Ames' words of being active partakers of the sacrament each week. He reminded us that it is the only altar outside of the temple where we can commune with the Lord while partaking of this sacred ordinance. I will try to remind myself each day this week to be preparing myself for the sacrament next Sunday.

On the way back to the apartment after our meetings I decided to begin a photo journal of the spring flowers coming to the Square. It was so nice to see the ground crews working last week to clean up the flower beds and the ground around the big trees. Crocus have been peeking through the ground now for a couple of weeks, but with spring officially starting in a couple of weeks (Sunday, March 20) I am anxious to see what is in store. I wanted to share the beauty and wonder I get to see each day so I will post photos taken from the same places each week to share. It was raining lightly today and we may get a few snow flurries tonight, but winter is over here in the Salt Lake Valley and spring is just waiting for the right moment to burst upon us. I am so excited! This will be as fun as watching the holiday lights go up!!


This bed is in the middle of the Square facing the South Gate.


This bed is in the middle of the square by the Tabernacle facing the North Gate toward the Conference Center Waterfall.


A close up of crocus in a bed by the roses below.


Can't wait to see these roses. They lasted through the end of November last year.

The following story was shared in a daily devotional last week. I thought it was cute.
4 Mar 2011 – British Zone Devotional by Employee Judy Jones
PARABLE OF THE PENCIL
Author Unknown

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. There are 5 things you need to know, he told the pencil, before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.
ONE: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone’s hand.
TWO: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.
THREE: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
FOUR: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.
AND FIVE: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.
Now, replacing the place of the pencil with you; always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

ONE: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God’s hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.
TWO: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.
THREE: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
FOUR: The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.
AND FIVE: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.
By understanding and remembering, let us proceed with our life on this earth having a meaningful purpose in our heart.

I pray each day that my daily walk on this earthly surface leaves a mark that I can be proud to report on to my Savior and my Father in Heaven.