First Snow

Halloween was a beautiful day. Clear and crisp. We began the week with our regular Monday Mission Devotional with all the missionaries in our mission. It was announced that the name of our mission had been changed to simply "Headquarters Mission" and we are now the same as other missions in the Church. (I didn't know we weren't before, but that is what was announced. Apparently the name of the mission as proposed was "Family and Church History Headquarters Mission" but when it reached the two apostles who need to approve such things they both said it was too long and the name would be shortened to "Headquarters Mission". I'm so glad that is taken care of. We came to one mission and will leave from another, at least in name!

At the Monday Devotional a new sister gave her 3 minute talk introducing herself to the mission and she told a cute story I would like to share. She told that in 1980 she worked for the Hotel Utah when it was a hotel and was in accounting on the 3rd floor down the hall from Pres. Kimball's apartment. She remembers receiving a bill for payment for two ashtrays at $75 each for the Kimball apartment. She remember wondering at the time who would have the audacity to smoke in the prophet's home? Then she said, maybe they used them for candy dishes!

The same Sister told about the experience she had, as friends of Joseph Freeman and his wife, to attend the endowment session where Brother Freeman was the first black man to receive the priesthood and be sealed to his wife. She told of the outpouring of the Spirit that day as everyone on the session warmly greeted the Freeman's in the Celestial Room of the Salt Lake Temple with handshakes of love and gratitude.

The rest of the devotional was a real treat. We listened to testimonies from two missionary couples who are assigned to work in the Translation Department Zone. It was fascinating to hear about the development of the Church Translation Department. It is hard for me to realize that the first General Conference of the Church translated live was in 1961 in a makeshift room under the choir seats in the Tabernacle. Next, interpreters were put in a room underneath the Assembly Hall with a dirt floor and sheets hung to muffle the noise from all the live translations. Now, particularly because of the building of the Conference Center, the Church Translation Department translates conference live in 93 languages using 6 international satellites. There are 700 international volunteers who give their time each year for General Conference. There are miracles that happen very often in this process. My nephew's wife Anepo is from Chuuk (an island in the Pacific) and she translates at least one talk at each conference time. She worries about it each time. It is a great responsibility but what a miracle of technology.

A quick story that was shared...
An Italian man who had been the interpreter for many years visited a Church event in Italy and was standing next to a young man at a youth event. He had been talking and the young man just kept looking at him and finally said, "But, but, you are the prophet!" It was then that the interpreter realized that for this young man his was the voice he had come to know as the prophet's voice. When the youth asked to shake his hand he realized then what a responsibility it was to be the voice of the prophet.

The rains came on Tuesday morning and then mid morning the first snow came for about 1 1/2 hours then it was gone. It was, however, just a tease for the storm that came Friday night. We watched the weather and decided on Friday that we would take a hike up to Ensign Peak. We hadn't made it up there yet and we knew that a storm was coming so we hiked it Friday afternoon in the wind. The weather was clear but we watched the clouds rolling in from up on the peak.

Anyone know what the blue and white flag is for? There was nothing at the Ensign Peak site that told us about the flags.
Ed looks like such the mountain man! ^_^

The view from the top of Ensign Peak. We were amazed at the beautiful mansions up on the hill right below the peak. These are some large homes! It was a steep climb but didn't take us very long. I couldn't have even huffed and puffed my way up this time last year. I feel pretty good about myself.

Friday night the rain started and then the snow came. During the night I love to listen when the snow falls because it changes the sound of everything outside. It is so still.
Yep, those little white flecks are snowflakes just before sunrise.

Saturday morning Ed and I walked around the Square for a little while in the snow so I could get some pictures and then went to the temple.
After our time in the temple Ed went to do his own family history and I went home to sort out more of mine with photos of my mom and her family as she was growing up. We spent the entire day working on our own families. It was glorious....tiring, but glorious just the same.

I will end with a few more of my favorite pictures.

The area next to the Tabernacle (above) will have the nativity display soon. The decorations are going up steadily now. Lights are being tested every morning it seems to make sure they are working. My favorite chestnut tree is getting a rest so there are no lights in it this year.


Although most of the snow was gone by this morning it has remained cold and is a reminder of things to come. It is a beautiful, magical, special and sacred place here on Temple Square. I am so blessed to be able to feel it.

On A Clear Day I Can Now See Forever

It has been another great week but the most important news is that the windows have been cleaned in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.....hurray! We can now see forever. We can enjoy the beautiful view from the windows we didn't get until we moved to this building in April. We were so excited to be out of the dungeon of the little basement room we were crammed into and to the wonderful digs of the 6th floor of the JSMB with windows all around us, but they were so dirty it looked like they hadn't been cleaned for many years....some told us 6 years. Well, we have since learned that the expense of cleaning the windows is planned for every two years and it just so happened that shortly after they were cleaned last time a rain and wind storm blew in and the raindrops were covered in dirt and the windows had no chance but to collect dirt for the following two years.

On a sunny day it was as if a film was put on the window and it was awful in the morning with the sun coming up over the mountains shining directly onto the window because all you could see was the dirty film.

This is what it was like trying to get a picture of the great view from the windows in the afternoon:



It is quite a big deal to get the window washers to rappel from the top of the building to wash each window. There was so much excitement last week that I'm sure the two men washing our windows felt like rock stars. Pictures were taken at each window, messages were typed up and taped to the inside to thank them, marriage proposals were offered.....(no, not really), but they were very much appreciated.




The before and after pictures below will show you what I mean:


The rest of the week was a normal work week. We are doing so well loading the Ghana and Nigeria records that we will be completely done with them in the next two weeks as planned. Our one young Elder whose parents are both from Nigeria was so excited to find a line of his family in the records he was loading. What a wonderful experience for him and all of us, finding our past.

Speaking of the past, I have enjoyed so much rejoining with friends from my past. Unruan (on my right in the picture) and Nuchanaad (on my left in the picture) have brought back to me memories of my first mission and the wonderful people I knew. Unruan was a companion of mine and together we taught the gospel to Nuchanaad. (Both of Nuchanaad's sons with her husband, Michael have been called on full time missions to Thailand. The youngest is still there.) I love them both and am so grateful for their love for me. It was a great end to the week.

The week actually ended with us helping Autumn and Derrick with Edison because they both were so sick. I am grateful that we were close by and could go and help them a little. It is so hard when both parents are sick and not able to take care of a little baby. It was a 24 hour bug, but it was brutal so we are happy we could go spend the night and ease their recovery.

This is what family is all about and I feel so blessed to have this family. This is what I can see clearly more each day, even without clean windows! Thank you Eddie! ^_^

The Countdown Begins

Last week I had trouble with my internet connection after having entered half of the post so this post is a combination of the past two weeks so it's a little longer than usual.

16 October 2011
Fall is still in full color and we enjoyed another trip through the mountains yesterday to enjoy this time of the year on our way to Provo. I do love these mountains.

We have now passed into that time when we have less than two months to go. We have been fulll circle through the seasons in our time here. I have loved seeing the seasons again. Each day we add things to our list of things we have to do before we leave so we have to get serious about getting ready.

Things in the zone are going well and are on track. We have a firm handle on Africa and will be ready to tackle Samoa the beginning of November. We will have plenty of time to create a proper plan to move ahead on the final projects for the orals we have in house. It is a great feeling.

This weekend was amazing on The Square (Oct.15&16). Over the weekend crews of youth from the area came in and were given the job to take out the plants and flowers on and around The Square. Below is a photo I took of the "naked" beds between the Tabernacle and the Temple. (The little maintenance trucks make sure that the walkways are cleaned every morning.)
Later in the day I noticed that the gardeners were tossing out bulbs and placing little plants in the planned pattern for the spring.
Later on during the week there were groups of Church youth who came and began planting the bulbs and other plants. (Sorry I didn't get very good photos of these people.)
The real miracle happened on Saturday. As is well known in our service Church there are many opportunities for youth to give service on Temple Square during each planting. There are plants to be dug up, earth to be fertilized and mulched and then the actual planting itself. Saturday was the big push for putting in the spring bulbs and adding the fall/winter flowering plants. The TSquare gardener organizers expected 600 youth on that day, but 850 showed up! The Square was teeming with youth 12-18 and their adult leaders. Here is the thing that I loved: One of my missionary friends was walking on the Square and overheard a conversation between a leader and a young man who was presumably the Deacon's Quorum President. The leader was saying to the young man...
"You know, if we can get every quorum member to read 2 1/2 pages in the Book of Mormon every day we would complete the book in the spring and then we can bring the quorum back here and talk about how our testimonies have blossomed just like the bulbs we are planting today"... How wonderful is that?



So the bed are planted, but I believe it is more than just flowers that will bloom.

We got to spend another Wednesday with Edison at work. He does so well and is so cute it is fun to listen to other missionaries say, "So tomorrow is Wednesday, is Edison still coming?" He really brings a lot of joy to our fellow missionaries and of course to us.


On October 15th we were invited to a get-together with some of our friends from our Louisiana days. It was so fun to see people we had come to know and love in our 3 1/2 years in Mandeville but had not seen for so long. Autumn and Derrick brought Edison but it was his bedtime and he was not happy about being off schedule so they were not able to stay long, but it was long enough for me to get this fun photo of Whitney (the daughter of our host Leesa) who had not seen Autumn in a long time. I love the look between Whitney's little girl (her 3rd) and Edison. He was actually quiet for a moment.....was it recognition?.....no, just a distraction....but at least I got the shot!
Last Wednesday (Oct. 19) Edison was a little more demanding that usual so I took him out in the afternoon and we went for a walk in Memory Grove. I did fall asleep for a little bit, but frankly he enjoyed the day and the breeze and the leaves and the people playing with their dogs as much as I did. He particularly enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with grandma who was hoping he would stay asleep a little longer ^_^.


Ed and I have enjoyed walking around the area with the fall leaves and crisp weather. It is a wonderful time and place.
(I just had to take this picture...I was driving and at a stop light and looked in my mirror and saw the beautiful line of trees behind me....you can't see the trees that well but the color is there and I thought it turned out quite funny! At least I have a photo to help me with the memory.)
Have a great week!

Winter? No, not yet...

Winter doesn't begin officially until December 22nd but we broke out the coats and scarves last week. Thursday was cold, rainy and overcast when we left the apartment and it wasn't until about 1:30pm when the clouds lifted enough to reveal what had been going on in the mountains all morning. Snow! The first visible snow of the season for us. I took this picture from the window by my desk in the JSMB.

I don't know why, but seeing the snow made me feel the press of time going by even faster.

The Temple Square flower beds are starting to be dug up now that conference is over.

The crews to put up the lights on the Square are working all day.


The tables outside of the JSMB on the plaza where we have enjoyed having lunch are gone and this week in the cold and wet few people wanted to eat outside.

The chestnut trees are about ready to begin dropping the pods to reveal the beautiful nuts.
When we go to work it is dark and I am there some time before the sun comes up from behind the mountains outside the window by my desk.



All these are clues of time rushing by but there were a few memory moments this past week that are treasures. Here is one of them.....

We got to be real grandparents over the weekend and Edison stayed with us over Friday night and most of Saturday. It was eye opening and wonderful. For me, I decided I was too old to do much with little ones anymore; for Ed, he decided he wasn't old enough to be a grandpa! That's because he got a good night's sleep on Friday night while I woke up to every whimper and sigh from the sleeping baby!! We really did enjoy having him with us even if we did end up driving to Bountiful and back at 9:30pm on Friday night to get him to sleep. ^_^ (Is there anyone out there who can relate?) Ed enjoyed playing with Edison while Edison just enjoyed chewing on Ed's hands......
I tried to get him to read.......

I think he is saying to me....."Grandma, what do you expect from me at 4 1/2 months!"
Nothin' much, Little E, just keep us smilin'......

Other activities this week included a mini Thai reunion of former missionaries hosted by my wonderful Thai friends (partly a fund raiser for helping members in Thailand who are suffering from horrible flooding that will have long term consequences for food); a unique first time ever visit to the ViaWest facility hosted by FamilySearch for employees and missionaries and their families (it was amazing to see "The Cloud" technology in an incredibly secured environment); work progressing on the Africa project including a conference call meeting with the FamilySearch employee in South Africa who is ready to begin his program there. It is amazing to see things happen in the Church.

Ed went to a High Priest Quorum meeting tonight where Lex de Acevedo spoke and performed music he wrote specifically for that meeting. The next speaker was the older brother of Elder Quentin Cook who spoke about the scriptures. He is a busy doctor and said he never had time to prepare talks so he decided he would memorize scriptures and let the spirit guide him in his church assignments. So far he has over 2,000 scriptures memorized. Ed said it was very good and he must have really liked it because he didn't go to sleep. That says a lot. It is pretty amazing to be in a Stake with all this talent and knowledge. I am always amazed when our Stake President speaks. It is so inspiring. My back was bothering me so I didn't attend the meeting tonight with Ed and I knew I would be sorry.....(also a unique thing in this stake that the women are all invited to the High Priest meeting).

Well, another week is upon us and there is much to be done. At the end of this week October will be half over. Time won't stop for anyone will it?....no, the sun keeps setting every 24 hours regardless of how I feel.

Fallin' Fast Again

Monday morning we went to work at about 5:30AM and as we came into the JSMB and walked past this room the light was on the little stage with the piano up and some of the chandeliers were lowly lit. This is the room where our Branch Relief Society meets each Sunday. It is a wonderful room and it was a beautiful sight in the stillness of the morning. A friend took this picture and shared it with me. It was such a calming moment for me as I knew the day would be filled with responsibilities. This moment helped me meet the day just right.

I love fall. I love the cooler weather, the leaves changing, the fruits and vegetables that ripen, the anticipation of Thanksgiving, and General Conference. Each year I seem to want to savor it more and more, but that is true of everything. I am getting older and I want to enjoy each moment. It was a busy week.

In the zone, Africa has begun the final step which I am responsible for. I have 4 sisters working on the loading of the new records which are ready. I will reload the 1112 records that we loaded online in February while they do the new ones. It will be slow for them at first, but it will soon be easier as they get into a regular rhythm because it is very detailed stuff. We are very excited. I completed New Zealand last week so that is done and I taught two classes on Community Trees to the missionaries on the International Floor of the Family History Library so they could use what we have to help patrons. The Tuesday class was a little rough but the Wednesday class was much better.

Wednesday we had a temple devotional again in the chapel of the SL Temple. Elder Marlin K. Jensen spoke to us again this year. He spoke last year just before General Conference also. He is so good. It was a wonderful talk about the temple and how we are taught the idea of context perfectly there. He taught us that by knowing what is before and what comes after helps us to better deal with our lives in the here and now. The scriptures define truth as things as they are, things as they were and things as they will be so this concept of context is important for us to understand our place in the universe. He told of a the wife of a counselor in a stake presidency who was in a terrible accident and was comatose for some period of time. When she awoke, she had lost all of her past memory. She didn't know him or their children and was having a difficult time dealing with the fact that she was married, etc. He was able to use past correspondence (he had kept their letters while he was on his mission) and his journals to help her try to reconstruct their lives together. Eventually they did and she fell in love with him again and all was well but for 5 years he was never comfortable leaving her alone because he wasn't sure she wouldn't leave and not be able to find her way back because she had no anchor to her past.

Elder Jensen taught us that Heavenly Father is attempting to give us context so we can exercise our agency with the greatest degree of awareness and get off course. He said that many of the commandments in today's world are not so compelling without the context of the plan of salvation (i.e. Tithing or Chastity). Understanding the context of these guidelines/commandments will ultimate determine what we do or don't do and it's all about a change of heart because of our agency.

The end result of Christianity is to do good. If we act out of compulsion we don't have the change of heart; we aren't choosing to do good. Regimented behavior can never turn us into a Heavenly Father or a Heavenly Mother. By understanding things as they were and things as they will be our moral choices are easier and then we will make choices in accordance with His will because it has become our desire to do so. I am trying to understand this context so that my desires are more consistent with the Lord.

That devotional on Wednesday set up the weekend for me and I was ready to listen to the talks at General Conference. It was a fabulous feast. Nothing in particular struck me but I have noted several talks I want to ready in detail when the Ensign magazine comes out next month. I do want to share a funny conference related story.

Conference time around the Square is wild. So many people in from out of town, lots of meetings and all the GA's are here. One of our fun, cute missionary sisters was walking during lunch last Friday and was involved in her own thoughts but noticed that coming towards her were three men and they didn't seem to be moving to the side to let her pass. She thought, "They should be moving for me, I'm not going to move for them!" So she just barreled between two of them while saying, "Comin' through!" One of the men then said, "Have a nice day" and she looked up into the face of Elder Scott. It was his bodyguards with him and they were not about to move from his side! She was mortified!! It couldn't have happened to a more fun lady. She is great.

Friday afternoon we were doing our own research and Ed came to the apartment where I was working and suggested we try and make the trip into the mountains to see the fall colors this evening. It was 3:30pm and he thought we could get on the road and beat the traffic. We did not realize that there was a BYU home game that evening so it took us twice as long to get to the Alpine Loop exit but it was worth the trip. Here are some pictures. I think it will be even better next week so I hope we will have the time to make another trip.












I tried to get a good picture of the two of us but Ed was getting cold and losing patience with me while I had a difficult time setting up the timer on my camera, so this will have to do.
Greetings from the Fall!