Signs of My Time

I thought I would share images to tell about my week.


You may ask why am I putting up a picture of a parade float? Good question...
This happens to be a photo I took on 25 July this year at the pioneer parade in downtown Salt Lake City. Today at our Stake Conference one of the speakers was Susan Black who was the organizer of the committee to create a parade float from our Stake for the parade this year. This is that float. It was very interesting to hear about the creation process and the little miracles that happened during this project. As you can see the float is very busy. It includes 5 different faiths with prominent congregations in the downtown area....actually the five that reside within the boundaries of our stake, the Ensign Stake (the oldest stake in the Church). For a number of years now these 5 congregations have come together for different projects in the community like many other communities around the country. When the stake was asked to provide a float Sister Black was inspired to use this as the theme and to represent the uniqueness of the entire faith community. I love that the Tabernacle is not at the front of the float, but at the center. I really like the different houses from the Avenues as well as the wonderful photos around the float.

Taking the "many faiths" theme further in stake conference, our wonderful President spoke of his experiences being part of the Interfaith Committee meetings and getting to know the other ministers in the area. He testified that he believes they are men of God, going about doing many of the things that the Savior did when he was on the earth, giving service. Pres. Ames spoke of becoming sensitive to the statement we sometimes make: I know this is the only true church on the earth. The fact is that many churchs in the world have truth. He recalled how President Hinckley had invited people from all faiths to come and join us and bring with them what they know and we will add to it. I remember as a missionary in Thailand how the Thais would tell us, "All religions teach men to be good." How true that is.


Today was also probably the last time I will have an opportunity to sing in the Tabernacle choir seats. So Ed and I had our picture taken in front of the pipes and I took a picture of the chair I sat in....men's side, 5th row up on the inside next to the pipes. (Also right next to the stairs that go behind the pipes and yes, I explored and almost got locked out....)

It was an amazing morning on Friday. It was cloudy but not raining here yet as I walked from the apartment to work. I really had no reason to turn around and look behind me, but I did and I saw the rainbow. I hurried to the JSMB and took the elevator to the 10th floor because I knew it would be amazing to see the temple with the rainbow behind it. These pictures do not show the beauty of those moments, but I wanted to share what I had. Fortunately we were having our devotional on the 10th floor so many from our zone got to see it and one of our favorite young elders was assigned the thought. He talked about how it made him feel to see the rainbow, "I think it's so cool that God makes science fun!" He bore his testimony about the beauty of the earth and everything in it that God gave us. I so agree.

I had such a great experience watching the full moon rise from behind the mountains one evening. Again, a picture just doesn't do justice to the real thing, but you can see how big the moon is just to the right of the street lamps just below the center of the picture. Zooming in you can see how the moon is lighting the clouds around it. I had fun taking these photos in the cool evening breeze.

With the cooler weather comes the changing colors. These color changes at the Square signal it is time to take another drive to the canyons and see the changes beginning there before too much time passes. Maybe this weekend. For now, I will enjoy the fall colors still lingering in the valley.


It is still amazing to watch the preparations for winter and the holiday lights on the Square. All week long there have been two lifts and 4-6 people working in the cedar from Lebanon. Since they only light it once every other year I have been interested in the care they take in putting on the lights. One of the gardeners told me it wasn't as harmful to the tree now that they use the LED lights because they do not put out any heat but the tree still suffers just from having people climbing around in it and new growth branches getting damaged. Can't wait to see it with snow and these red lights!


Enjoyed a visit with "Texas" friends this week....isn't it wonderful how memories keep us close.
That thought brought me to share this sweet photo I took of baby Edison asleep next to his great grandmother Moulder when we visited her in the hospital in Pennsylvania recently. I love that he was holding her finger so contentedly. He is soooo cute!!!

I couldn't let the post end without another of my wonderful sunsets. I wish I knew why the sunrise and sunset moves me so much, but I am glad for the feeling it gives me to see these beautiful events. I am happy to share them.

Goodnight.

A Somber Night and Flashy Lights

It is 9:50PM and Ed and I just returned from walking together on Temple Square. I returned from choir practice about 8:45pm to find Ed in his robe at the computer. I sweetly said to him, "Honey, would you like to go for a walk with me?" He carefully looked at me and after just a hint of a pause responded, "Sure, I'd love to walk with you." Into the bedroom he went and as he started to find a shirt he asked the harder question....."Are you wanting to walk on Temple Square or around it?" Now, we both know the mission rules. If you are on the Square you are supposed to wear your suit, white shirt, tie and badge. I was in my Sunday clothes still, hence the question, but Ed really tries to avoid the suit whenever he can. But I wanted to walk on Temple Square with my sweetheart tonight. My look communicated my answer and confirmed his fear but all he said was, "Ok, it'll take me a little longer."

Out into the night we went. It is 61 degrees, 52% humidity with a light breeze with a 40% chance of rain. The streets were quite empty as was the Square. At 9:00 the buildings on the Square close but the gates are open until 10:00pm so we walked around looking at the temple and feeling the night air. About 20 minutes into our walk we began to hear distant rumblings so we decided to turn back and head to the apartment hoping not to get caught in the rain. We headed out the West Gate and there it was in front of us off in the distance......fireworks! No rumbling thunder for us; instead, a wonderful light show. We stood right there on the sidewalk and watched across the street and through some trees that gave us a perfect view. At one point Ed put his arms around me and in touching me I could tell he had to be uncomfortable in the humidity in his suit coat. Now, grant you it isn't really that humid, but it was more so than we are used to and Ed feels it more than I do.

Maybe it was the fact that Ed taught a lesson on eternal marriage today at church, maybe it was that he had been away from me for almost two weeks (he returned late Friday night), maybe it was that he is just a good man, but he told me in no uncertain terms that he was happy to be with me on a walk even if it was a little humid and he had to wear a suit. (At that point he did remove his suit coat and carried it back to the apartment.....we were off the Square. ^_^)

It was so peaceful out tonight. On this day, I am grateful for peace. There is so much of sadness and despair in the world. Fires, floods and thoughts of 9/11 filled my thoughts today but those thoughts were accompanied by thoughts of gratitude for the Constitution of the United States. For those men who signed that document and what it meant for them and their families. Their lives were never the same. They had such a vision and they knew it was from God.

I am grateful for all those who have dedicated their lives to ensure this freedom for us; to make it possible for Ed and I to have a peaceful walk to enjoy the spirit of a religious place at 9:00 o'clock at night without any fear. We enjoyed the night and the lights.

Family Reunion

I have to say that with Ed in Pennsylvania I truly do believe that this life is just not enough time to spend with family. Ed sent me a flash drive for work and inside was a little note: "Hi Honey. I love you. Where are you. I am here alone. See you on Friday. Love Ed." As I used to say: Loneliness is the lack of a specific person. I am so grateful for eternal marriage; that families CAN be together forever.

One of the many little signs up around the mission is one that tells us: Heavenly Father is organizing a family reunion and I am helping!

With Ed in PA and trying to recover from a bad cold I didn't do much but try and help keep things going at work. One incident was memorable. We have a Samoan sister who is transcribing audio tapes made in Samoa in the 1970's. Last week she came to me upset with the content of a certain history she was doing. It included stories of power, greed, control, murder and other unsavory subjects. She did not want to include these stories as they were difficult to listen to and she thought not very relevant to the genealogies of these families. I quickly prayed to give the right answer to her. The answer came just as quickly. I told her that I'm sure Joseph was sick at heart as he translated the plates and included the stories of the women and children being thrown into the fire because of their faith or feeling the fear of the Lamanite girls who were kidnapped by the wicked priests of Noah. The Old Testament is filled with stories that are difficult for us to comprehend, but these stories bring us gratitude for our blessings and awe at the faithfulness of those who lived through these circumstances with honor and integrity.

I am so thankful to be here and to have the opportunity to do this work. I know this is where the Lord wants us right now. I am grateful for the spirit of Elijah that has been planted in my heart.

Christmas Lights and Hurricane Nights

Christmas lights have been going up on the Square for a month now. Every day we see more trees filled with white, red or green lights. It started in my favorite chestnut tree. I remember how excited I was to be here to see the holiday preparations unfold as we began our mission last year. It is a different feeling this year but still just as exciting.

This past week has been very full. Ed's mother had some health issues last week serious enough that we felt a quick trip to Pennsylvania was needed. Autumn wanted to go with us and take Edison so it was quite the trip. Edison was so good, sleeping most of the way. We had an interesting delay in Denver, but as we got underway we were only an hour behind schedule. An interesting announcement was made by the female captain; "Welcome aboard" she said, I have to tell you I have no idea what time we might arrive in Philadelphia but my goal right now is to get you to Philadelphia today!" She continued to explain that they had just come from Washington, DC and had to divert around the storm.

Yep.....Irene was already messing with our weekend. We flew 1500+ miles to be in a hurricane!
But Ed's mom and family were happy we were there. It was important. Everyone fell in love with Edison, the youngest of the clan. Babies certainly do bring out a wonderful side of people. He was such a good, happy baby that even on the plane or waiting in the airport we would get smiles from all sorts of people.


It was fun to get comments from other young parents traveling with babies. One one leg of our trip there were two couples with twins. The young dads spent most of the trip walking the aisles of the plane with a baby. Edison was asleep. ^_^

Irene wasn't as bad for us as she was in many places. We had about 6 inches of rain between about 9PM on Saturday night and 11:00AM on Sunday. There was very little wind with the rain, but the wind picked up on Sunday mid morning. We think that's when the tree in the backyard must have gone down. Well....it didn't really go down; the big tree hit a smaller tree and then hit the power lines above the garage, lines that go across the backyards of all the houses on the street. Many thousands of people were without power, some for several days, but we had power throughout the storm. We were very blessed.


Ed has stayed in PA to help his mother and I am missing my companion. It is strange to be a missionary without him especially as I watch the lights go up on the Square. This past year has gone by so fast. I don't want to miss another day without being together. Hurry home honey!

Shorter Days and Shorter Nights

I know, it's supposed to be "shorter days and longer nights" but for some reason I am having shorter nights too. I think the general shortness of our time here is creating that. Last night I couldn't sleep because I kept dreaming about moving files in the computer and I couldn't find the right files because the control numbers kept changing and I was putting the wrong data in the wrong folders. I woke up in a sweat!

We have been going to work earlier to see if we can get ahead on some of the projects still left unorganized. Ed continues to work miracles with the Africa records. We are finished with Tonga, Austral and Cook Islands and have Malaysia organized. Western Samoa has some issues but we are moving ahead with those files and should be able to start loading some things by the end of September. New Zealand is also done. Yep! We are moving right along. I am now working to organize what we have from Tahiti, Fiji, Tuamotu, and Tuvalu. It is pretty exciting stuff.

We have had a fun two weeks with all our family together. Needless to say Edison is now the most spoiled child on the planet with doting aunts AND grandparents.

We had a great time together.

Edison enjoyed being with the family at Derrick's graduation,



at Autumn's birthday dinner and celebration,





and just hangin' around the house.





Last week in devotional Elder Brewis (he and his wife are from England) gave the devotional thought and she the scripture and prayer. He began by saying that his thought was one of gratitude for the example set by certain of the young elders in our mission. Elder Brewis (a student Medieval scholar) goes regularly to the public library. To do this he takes the TRAX. Apparently the TRAX route was recently changed slightly so that the train normally taken goes to the County Court House. It is only a matter of 1 block and across the street from the prior stop but it is now out of the zone boundaries for the young elders. He told how he watched several young elders exit the train one stop earlier so they would not go outside the boundaries even though it meant that they had further to walk. They wanted to be obedient to the rules.
Elder Brewis was very impressed with this. (The Brewis's have foster 18 young men) Sister Brewis then read the scripture about the stripling warriors. It was very nicely stated for these sweet elders.

We are the mother's of the stripling warriors of the latter-days. I think of Edison and wonder what his world will be like and pray for him to be valiant. He has certainly started with a family who loves him. I pray he will believe it all; because his mother, too, will teach him and he need not doubt.

Our One Year Mark - Three months to go

August 6th last year was the first day of our mission. We only have three months left and there is so much to do before we leave and so much to miss when we go.

This past week has been a week filled with reminiscing for me. Ed endures the best he can when I get with friends from the past. He is very good to me. We saw some of our friends from Houston; attended a party with some of the missionaries I served with in Thailand in the mid 70's; had a party with some of the Thai members from Thailand as we said goodbye to one of them who was returning to Thailand. But the week was not all about friends alone. Our family is together again for a couple of weeks. We are grateful that our girls drove safely from Texas to be with us here. They arrived to see their nephew for the very first time and they are in love with him (as we all knew they would be). He is so cute and is changing quickly, as babies do, into a little boy with a fun personality; lots of smiles and a bobbling head as he tries so hard to understand how to use his new little body. He is getting spoiled already by his two aunts.

It has been fun to have our girls here close by. We spent a fun day in the canyon yesterday. After lunch the kids did a little raft trip on the river while Ed and I watched the baby.

Yes, this is Ed watching the baby..... ^_^

It was so lovely to spend the day in the mountains. We were under a tree with a cool breeze and I enjoyed watching the wind sweep across the grasses on the mountains. It looked like little like a fog blowing across the mountain with the light green, gold and brown colors changing with each movement from the wind. It was so peaceful (even with the sound of the highway and the Heber Creeper nearby). There were many people up at the little park, but everyone was happy and enjoying their associations with each other.

As the time drew close for the kids to be coming off the river I walked down to watch for them and try to catch a picture. I waited for about 45 minutes before they came but the others who were floating by would wave and greet me, inviting me to "come on in". They were all happy even though the water was very cold. I enjoyed sitting in the hot sun and listening to the river. Why is it such a peaceful thing to do? I dearly love the outdoors, the mountains, the trees, the sounds of the water and the wind. Did we come to the earth with this love or do we develop it?
I think I would rather be in the mountains than anywhere except the temple which we sometimes call the "mountain of the Lord". Hmmmmm?

With the realization of the shortness of our time here there is much I am concerned about getting finished. Not only the work which we have begun on the oral genealogies, but our own work, my own family work that I feel I have also been called here to do. The days are quickly going by and there is so much to do. I received more from my mother this week; such treasure from our family. I hope that I am up to the task. These things need to be recorded so they are not lost.

I have also been helping another sweet missionary sister put her own family book together and she is leaving the mission this month so the pressure is on. it will be done tomorrow, I hope, and go to the printer for a proof and then final printing. Because of these books I have been helping with and other books I have seen done by missionaries I am inspired to do my own family books too. I hope I will be able to finish one before we leave the mission.

I am enjoying the local farmer's market. I have been treated very well by one woman from whom I buy a case of raspberries every week plus fresh apricots and cherries. They taste so good. I enjoy sharing raspberries because everyone seems to like them. One of my sister's has a big garden and she has been sharing some of her zucchini. They are huge and very tasty! I have also enjoyed watching the growth of the garden by the old cabin between the Family History Library and the Church Museum. I still don't know who gets the produce from this little space....tomatoes, herbs, onions, pumpkin, corn, etc.

Corn and pumpkin growing strong!

One kind of funny thing happened this week while we were having our companion prayer together on Thursday night. We had gone to workout at the gym like we do many days and Ed usually walks home from the gym and I will often go and visit my mother for a little while knowing I will get home before Ed because he usually takes a long route home so he walks for 2+ hours. This night he walked too far so he was wiped out. During our companion prayer, kneeling together in the living room, I was saying the prayer and all of a sudden Ed screams and I look up and see him shoot up to his feet, teetering back with a wild look on his face! I thought he was going to crash through the sliding glass doors! He continued to scream and then did a hobble step to the chair and I realized he was having a severe cramp in his leg. He kept moaning and moving around the room stopping at the dining table where the pain began to lessen and final stop. It didn't take much more than 20-30 seconds and afterwards we chuckled, but it was a frightening experience. Initially I was afraid he was having a heart attack and was going to fall through the glass. Needless to say, when all was calm and we decided to finish our prayer, Ed decided he wouldn't be doing it from a kneeling position.

Today at church a young woman spoke about the symbols that God has given us to remind us of how much He loves us. The symbol she chose to share briefly was night and day. Each day we can wake up feeling good, vowing that today we will do all that needs to be done with a great attitude and loving everyone and then as the day progresses we make an unkind comment, we neglect things that should have been done or we forget commitments we have made and at the end of the day we aren't feeling very charitable to anyone, including ourselves. But then we are able to go to sleep and get rested and wake up another day to try to be a little better. It is like the resurrection. Because of Jesus Christ we are able to have another go at it when the sun comes up. To have the chance to try again to become better people, a little kinder, a little more giving, a little more caring about others. Heavenly Father knew we would need to have many days to practice before we could return home.

I am grateful for each new day.

A Week of Celebrating

Anyone who has lived in Utah knows that the Pioneer Day Celebration (July 24th) is big. It has been very fun to be here while all this celebrating is going on, in particular to be downtown. The Square is a very busy place this time of year with summer and celebrating. Families with children are everywhere. They are precocious and active.

One such little guy last week was having a lot of fun chasing the water in the creek down North Temple but took a bad spill and received a bloody nose for his reward. He was about 4 or 5 years old and the family around him was anxious and didn't have anything to take care of the problem. Ed came to the rescue by running for ice and a cloth from our apartment. I couldn't help but recall the many similar falls with our children and then I recalled a few of my own. Life is full of them, isn't it? But we get up, clean up, fix up and carry on.

Due to the holiday on Monday we had another short week, but no sleeping in. We met our August Missionary Social Group at about 6:30AM Monday to go together to the sunrise service held in the Tabernacle. There were cute men dressed as the long ago Mormon Battalion who posted the colors in the Tabernacle. It was so cute.

A choir formed from local choirs sang. Richard Hinckley, son of former Pres. Gordon Hinckley, spoke. He reminded us that this valley was desolate 164 years ago but now we enjoy the fruits from things we did not do. He reminded us that there were many who came before us, some who were unlike ourselves who cultivated harmonious relationships with each other, many who were not of our faith. There were many who came who were passing through because Utah was a stop on their way out of poverty. Many stayed. He spoke of his wife Jane and her paternal grandfather, Lester Freed, a jewish man from Bohemia. He decided to stay and opened a store that became the largest furniture and carpet store in the west for many years. He was very active in the community. He married Jasmine Young, one of Brigham Young's daughters. Elder Hinckley told of Lester saying that in their bathroom they had three towels, one marked Mormon, one marked Jew and the other marked Gentile. Lester would joke that he wasn't sure whether he was the Jew or the Gentile because he was not a member of any particular faith at the time. Elder Hinckley closed his remarks by quoting his father as saying, "It is good to look to the past to gain appreciation and strength for what lies ahead."

I am a lover of drums. The drum lines of bands just do something for me and of course there were bands as part of the parade which staged a block away from our apartment so after the Tabernacle devotional we changed our clothes and walked to So Temple to watch the floats and bands and horses and buggies stage for the start of the parade. We only got to hear some practice, but it was great. Because it wasn't part of the parade route the participants were relax and talkative and the crowds weren't there so they would wave at us and ask how long we have on our mission, etc. The lds.org float participants were particularly energetic as we waved at them from across the street.Did I also mention that I love the roman riders? I was told that these three riders are the third generation of roman riders in this group. Pretty cool.

Wednesday brought another temple devotional. Our new Mission President and his wife spoke together at the pulpit in the temple chapel. Following are a few points I have recalled this week:

• Temple are the closest place to heaven on earth. Elder McConkie in The Mortal Messiah said that temple are a house where a personal God personally comes.
  
• After the first day of the dedication of the SL Temple Wilford Woodruff had a vision. He shared with the brether the following day that apostles and elders of the Nephite nation and the nations of old had been at the dedication. He told them that they rejoiced more than we do because they know more.

They then shared 10 blessings that come from our Temple worship:

1. Keep alive our spiritual strength and see more clearly my place in the universe and separate myself from common things. (Widstoe)
   
2. Protective powers that bless our families. (Pat Holland)
   
3. Reap harmony in our lives. (Hinckley)
   
4. Feel a peaceful, hallowed influence. (McKay)
   
5. Personal revelation..
   
6. Receive pure intelligence of spiritual learning. (Packer)
   
7. We become Savior's on Mt. Zion. (Joseph Smith)
8. The Lord will bless us.
   
9. We will feel loved and touched in this place of kindness, love and light. We shall be able to bear every trial. We shall have a beacon pointing us toward celestial glory. (Monson)
10. Our opposition to truth will grow smaller and in unexpected moments will come revelation. (Widstoe)

President and Sister Peterson concluded with this:
If we establish an eternal celestial pattern in our lives by temple attendance then when the Savior comes it will be more what we have become than what we have done. It will be our lives based on what we have learned and applied from the temple.

I am so grateful to be able to walk across the street to the temple and feel the possibility of these blessings in my life.

I received a tender mercy from the Lord on Friday morning last week. I had been training two other missionaries how to load more Tongan records online using the little program TNG. It is a simple but detailed process and like all things computer, requires certain steps and precision. While loading the pdf files we noticed many of them, far too many, were bringing an error message, "This file already exists. Do you want to replace it?" Well I know they do not already exist in this program so I was puzzled and I struggled for a day and a half trying to find the answer to the problem but it wasn't coming. On Friday morning I was voice for our companion prayer and I asked Heavenly Father very specifically to help me know how to solve this problem so the work could move forward that day. At the office I sat and pondered the problem again. After about 30 minutes I realized that the only files that were not loading were the ones with a number sign at the beginning of the file name. The program just didn't like the sign....... It wasn't a bolt of lightning. It was just a logical thought that came to me, but there it was and I knew that my request had been heard and answered. I love those moments. I feel so loved.

We also felt loved on Thursday evening as we were honored quests at a Tongan feast to celebrate the publishing of the Sister Mapu's book, the first such book by any Tongan member of the Church. She and her family were most gracious to us. We ate a real Tongan feast including a pig, taro root, sweet potatoes, and many things I cannot pronounce. It was such a sweet time to see her loved by her family. It was a Martha Stuart moment for me.....a really good thing.Now it is on to another wonderful week!