Christmas Is Here

Yep, it's official! Christmas is here. Friday night the lights on Temple Square lit up the night air. Here are a few pictures: First is my view as I walk out my front door and head down West Temple Street.


The backdrop of the temple as you view the nativity scene between the Tabernacle and the North Visitor Center.



The beautiful cedar of Lebanon which was not lit last year. I think I would have preferred white light on it but it still takes your breath away. It is so big.


The red lights around the beautiful Assembly Hall.


These are two views of the wonderful chestnut trees....I cannot get enough of these magnificent trees!



This is the West Plaza of the Conference Center.


Today began with a visit to Music and the Spoken Word. Lloyd D. Newell does a great job as the voice of the choir. I can't imagine the pressure of having to prepare a "spoken word" for each week without fail. I don't think he ever gets a vacation. Is there a backup person for him? He writes them, records them, shows up every Sunday and starts all over again Monday morning. (I'm sure he is months ahead in his written preparation.) I would like to share a part of his message this morning, "The Journey to Christmas":

The month of December is a time of joyful anticipation. The sights, sounds, and smells of the season evoke feelings of excitement and wonder. For generations, children - and grownups - have used advent calendars and paper chains to count down the days. But does our focus ever become so fixed on the future that we forget to enjoy the journey to Christmas?
This year, instead of just looking forward, let's also take pleasure in the preparations: in the little, less spectacular moments along the way, even in the spontaneous joys that may, at first, seem like interruptions to our bigger plans. In order to recognize those moments for what they could be, it sometimes helps to slow things down a bit. We may need to shop less and savor more. We might have to dim the bright lights in order to see the stars in the heavens, but if we look, we will find them. . .
Yes, we are busy, But the days leading to Christmas are not just to be endured. In fact, perhaps they offer more of what the season is really about. The promise of Christmas is everywhere to behold. It's not saved for Christmas morning. If we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to open, we truly can enjoy the journey to Christmas.

It will be a different Christmas for us this year but I will enjoy the journey. This is my hope for everyone.

Ghana and Nigeria are done!

The php load for the internet is all ready to go so it will be up tomorrow. What a great feeling! About 2.5 million names in 4800 records. The pattern has been laid and all the leg work done for the records from 2003 so now the unit is ready to receive new records from this year and going forward. Hurray!

This is Elder Moulder with our new Zone Leader, Elder Koch walking home last week. Everyone is so happy.

In our mission, missionaries are hosted by the Mission Presidency at a final luncheon on the last Wednesday of their mission. After the luncheon missionaries are released to do what they need to do to pack and clean up their apartment and most leave the following Saturday so yesterday we said goodbye to some dear friends. The funny thing is that it was our luncheon too, but we are not leaving until December 13th.

I had some very unexpected feelings after the luncheon. It felt like a closure for me; that I was finished. But....we are here for a few more weeks and although we have basically turned everything over to others, we can be here to help if (when) they have questions. I still have a little clean up to do with the new English translations for the Tongan records so basically Tonga was my first assignment and it will be my last.

I'm hoping we can spend some time over the next few weeks learning how to actually do family history research. I have a concern that people at home will think that we have experience that we do not have because we were part of the Family and Church History Mission. Not that we haven't been doing some work on our own lines, but the real research..... no I haven't learned how to do that yet.

I thought I would share a before and after photo. The first is from 5 Nov when we had our first real snow. I took this photo knowing that it would only be a week or so before that area would be filled with the nativity.

So now there is a nativity, but no snow! They are actually raking leaves every morning.
We had a snow storm over the weekend but there wasn't any accumulation because the weather has been too warm. We will have more snow tomorrow morning, but rain and sun the rest of the week. It has been good for the workers putting up all the Christmas decor around the Square. They have covered the beds and some water features with white fabric;
they are testing the lights;

they have put up the "fake" lighted trees (can you spot the fake ones in the two pictures below?)
Clue: Evergreens don't grow under the chestnut trees..... ^_^

This morning I went to Music and the Spoken Word. It was a Thanksgiving special and they performed "Come, thou Fount of Every Blessing". I cried and cried. This is one thing I will miss. It is so nice to be able to walk over and sit in the Tabernacle and be uplifted.
I particularly liked the beginning of the Spoken Word today: " True gratitude manifests itself in how we choose to give to others. When we truly feel grateful, we feel a compelling desire to help other people. Perhaps that's why "thanks" and "giving" so often go together.......Indeed, life is so much more meaningful when we choose to live in thanks - and giving - daily."

There is so much I am grateful for, but today I am grateful for the reminder to live in thanks and giving all week long.

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!