The End of January 2021

It seems like time is whizzing by!  Keeping busy and staying out of trouble--I think that is a saying used by Gary from time to time.  Missionary work of any kind does that for you.  I wish I could tell you the amazing stories shared by mission presidents.  This past week we interviewed two of them.  I think that I have mentioned this before, but I am struck by their personal stories of revelation to them.  They all feel familiar because these are ways that Heavenly Father talks to me as well.  I know that God lives and knows me personally and in His interactions with me, I feel His love and guidance.  It happens that way for mission presidents and I imagine it happens that way for you as you learn to listen to His voice.

We made a trip to Salt Lake for a couple of meetings--masks and social distancing like always.

This is our actual office/cubical on the 2nd floor.

Views out the window...

Historical time to be in Salt Lake to see the changes as they work on the Salt Lake Temple....

This was filled with boxes last time we were here.  The interns have been working hard to process donations.

This photo was taken through the class into one of the reading rooms on the first floor.  That is the desk that was used by James Talmage as he wrote Jesus The Christ in the Salt Lake Temple.  Now that I have finished reading The SAINTS volume one and two, I have started Jesus the Christ as the next book I planned to read during my mission.  I read it once in my 20s....I think it is about time to read it again.

Saturday I had to drive to Utah county to drop off a package for Ben then go to Mapleton to drop off a baby quilt for Ezri to be machine quilted (because why not have a talented friend do it.) and so I planned ahead and got cupcakes for a porch visit with these cute kids.  We haven't seen each other in person since Christmas so it was fun to see them--even if it was just for a few minutes.

Ezri didn't make the porch visit but here she is.  She recently began social smiling which is always a fun stage.  She doesn't get as excited for Facetime as her older siblings.

Add in running Jena to her places of service and us attending meetings, training new missionaries to our zone, doing research, writing time stamps, and making phone calls and sending emails to our zone, that pretty much sums up our week.

Hope you are having a great week as well!

A "Temple" Break

It might just look like an every-day construction site to you, but THIS is the beginning of our Syracuse Temple.  They are moving off the top soil and putting in the base (according to Gary who knows stuff about this type of thing.)

I know it is weird because this spot hasn't been dedicated or even had its official ground breaking yet, but the sense of the temple persisted with me throughout the day and into the next.  I felt the peace of having attended the temple, even though I didn't and haven't since the pandemic began.  This will be a sweet place!
 

Missionary Work

Jena was excited to be wearing her "Sister Hall  Distribution Center" tag when she went to serve on Wednesday down in Centerville.  

No pictures from Thursday when she was able to wear her "Seminary and Institute" tag to Clearfield High Seminary.  It was the first day of the new semester and she was able to walk the new peer tutors over to her old classroom to pick up the students in the Adaptive class.  She was able to see two of her old aides--Julie and Trina--and learned that another one had quit because she now had "two babies."  She said walking around in the high school "made her feel old."  That made me laugh, but I assured her that it made all of us feel old when we visited our old high schools after going to college.

Friday was a nice change of pace in that we helped with a mission service project.  It was really the first thing that we have done with a group of missionaries in our mission in person (other than attend Church which isn't really too interactive.)  We had to move 100s of lamps and 10s of vacuums from a second floor apartment down to the basement storage closets.  We all wore masks and made a line and passed them from one person to another.  I was on a landing of a staircase so went up two steps, grabbed it and down and around to the next person.  It took about 1 1/2 hours but I got to know the sisters around me in a more informal way, talking through our masks.  We all commented that it was nice to do something NOT at a computer.

This is Sister Marianne Jones who is in our zone.  She and Jena have begun friends over zoom and have written letters to each other.  They got to meet in person at the service project.

This is their "social distance" photo so you can see their sweet smiles!

Lots of ways to serve in our mission. 

A Blog Post About The Blog

In the year of the Covid-19 pandemic when we were stuck at home for weeks, apparently I found a lot to write about---

Three volumes because of the amount of photos I had and the fact that for the first two books I used the "large" picture options which takes a lot more pages.  I like the bigger pictures, but I will need to cut down on the photos if I want to have a place to store all of these blog volumes.

Just think, children, someday these will all be YOURS!

Roads Not Traveled--The Great Saltair

 As we headed to Jessica's yesterday, Gary pointed out that he had never gone the way that I had suggested--heading down I-15 to 201 directly.  That started a conversation about my love of traveling on new  portions of road and going new places....and like the story of "If you give a mouse a cookie," it started my mind thinking about possible "new routes" home after we dropped off the table for Jessica. And thinking about the map in my head reminded me that I have never seen Saltair, a resort/dance hall. concert venue location at the south end of the Great Salt Lake.  In all of the years we have lived in Utah, that is a big omission.  I suggested it to Gary and when we had a minute, Gary pulled up the route on his phone and our plan was made.  Instead of heading east from  her house, we headed west and made a 12 mile detour to see Saltair.

It was cold and we weren't dressed for a long stay outside, so we didn't go to the water's edge which is a bit of a walk, but it was a pretty spot to watch the sun set.  We were amazed how many people were there on a winter late afternoon.

For those not from Salt Lake, the Great Saltair was first built to be a place of entertainment.  Some called it the Coney Island of the West. It is also called the Cursed Resort because it has been burn down three times, flooded many times, and left far from the lake at other times.  It has been used for many different purposes including a dance hall.  They do outdoor concerts there on the flat fields of salty sand between the building and the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

The current building--

East to one of the islands in the lake--

Close-up of a tower

Lights to the east during sunset

The view to the west---I love this photo with the weeds

There was lots of salty sand between us and the lake shore.  You can barely see water between the sand and the mountains in the back ground.  It is the pinkish line on the right of the photo.

Getting cold and heading to the trunk--one last view of the sunset!

We will definitely go back again with Jena...in the spring or summer..in the right clothing for the weather.  Thanks, Gary, for taking me on another little adventure on a road I had not traveled.

Sister Jena Hall the Younger

It was a happy day on Thursday when the mail came.  It contained the long awaited package for Sister Hall (the younger, as we call her now.)

We didn't know this but as Church Service Missionary, she got one for each location where she serves (actually 2 for each place in case she misplaces one.)

She has had a big smile since then!!!

Winter Walk

Since we started our mission, I haven't "made" time to take my daily hour walk.  Winter is hard for me anyway, because I don't like to be too cold.  However, Thursday I decided that I needed a walk so headed out about 4:45 to Jenson Pond.  I dressed warm with thermal underwear and winter exercise clothes and actually got too hot during my walk except for my face.  It was a beautiful day and I was so glad that I went.

The still water allows for a beautiful reflection of the mountains to the east....

and the setting sun to the west--

Views at the Jensen Pond-- to the mountains to the east

One lone leaf hanging on to the tree as the sun is setting

With the moderate weather for January (actually shooting to become the driest winter on record), many people and ducks were out and about as I walked.

So grateful I took the time for a walk.  I plan to do it again tomorrow.....

Glimpses Into Our Mission Life

I thought I would give an update of what our life is like serving a full-time mission from home for the Salt Lake City Church Headquarters Mission--

First off, if you are ever assigned to this mission--you want it to be the year that the Church is studying the Doctrine & Covenants.  After all, the teacher and many of the students are scholars of this book and the Church History related to the sections of scripture.  I can already tell that I am going to be learning so much.  One of the members of our class is a descendant of one of the young girls who rescued some of the pages of the Book of Commandments in Far West (I think it was there).  His great great grandmother was later given a copy of the original printing of the Book of Commandments which were assembled from the pages she and others had saved.  He shared the history of that particular copy of the book which is one of 29 known to still be in existence.  It is located in a Methodist Museum in the south as part of a collection that was donated to that museum. 

In addition, our teacher is very tech-wise and has collected some cool photos of old artifacts and documents from the Church History Library to share.  Very cool.

So lots to write about in my journal edition of the Doctrine and Covenants--both from my studying and from the class discussion.

Monday through Friday:

Gary is usually up around 6:00 am and starts reading emails from the mission, the Church History Library and from our zone.  Jena and I get up around 7:15 and get ready for the day and we shoot to have breakfast together around 7:45.

One Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays, one of us takes Jena to the Clearfield High School Seminary building at 8:45 and pick her up at 11:50. It is about 10 minutes one way. On Wednesday and Friday, we take her to the Centerville Distribution Center at 8:45 until 11:00 or 12:00.  It is a 25 minute drive one way. 

Once a week, there is a mission wide devotional of some kind.  They happen at different times of the day and week.  This week it was on Monday morning from 9:00-10:00.  All of them are done over Zoom and they have all been great.

Being zone leaders has added a significant amount of phone calls and emails with zone members.  We are responsible to train new missionaries and we got a new full time missionary from Alberta, Canada, last week, so we (mostly Gary) have been helping her get up to speed on a variety of the computer skills needed.

Monday we also had a mission wide zone leader training in the afternoon along with our weekly meeting with our direct boss in the Church History Library, Liz Heath.  She is great.

We usually stop around 5-6 for dinner, but then Gary will head back to his office to continue to work on the endless emails and phone calls.  We did complete our goal to talk to all of our missionaries by phone which was so great to complete.

Tuesday, we had a busy morning, but that afternoon we had an oral history which is one of the highlights of our service.  We were able to interview over zoom a mission president and his wife who served in the Texas Houston East mission during the Hurricane Harvey and Covid plus many other challenging times.  It was an amazing experience and I personally shed many tears as they discussed the great miracles and faith promoting experiences they had while serving.  When I came upstairs late that afternoon, I remember looking outside and thinking--oh, everyone else hasn't been sitting in their basement listening to these awesome stories.  I can't think of many better things to do during a pandemic.

After that, we headed up to Ogden to visit one of our missionaries and her husband to help them figure out how to do zoom on their devices.  Since the pandemic had started, they could only watch and hear, but not talk.  We got that fix for them on their tablets, computer, and phones and had a sweet visit with them---social distancing as much as possible when helping on a computer and wearing masks.  Let me just say that Gary is amazing with people who don't understand the ins and outs of computers.

Wednesday we had our devotional meeting which I conducted this time and then we had a Lunch, Listen, and Learn with our mission president, his wife, and several people in our zone.  It is his way to have some personal time with all of the 800 missionaries under him.  It is also a good way for us to get to know our zone better.

Then we headed down to Salt Lake to meet with another missionary in her home to help her learn a couple of processes on her computer so that she can do work from home again.  As she answered the door, she said, "Oh, so great to welcome real people into our home again."  We, of course, social distanced and wore masks.  But it pointed out what everyone is saying--we do need people in person as soon as it is possible.

We also headed to the Church History Library to turn in an old laptop that wasn't working from another one of our missionaries and then ran an errand over at the mission home in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  We just got out of the parking lot in time for me to make a phone call (while Gary drove) to another mission president and his companion in preparation for their zoom interview which was scheduled for the following day.

After being in meetings and traveling to Salt Lake, we had a pile of emails and phone calls.  Really grateful that I had put dinner in the crock pot so we could eat after we got home and finished our phone calls.

Thursday we had some quieter time and got to work on preparing the interviews we have done to be upload to the Church History Library.  That involves a process of writing about the interview--my part--and putting it onto the appropriate platforms with the right documentations--Gary's part.  We kept busy with that until it was time for our next oral history with a mission president and wife who had served in Las Vegas, Nevada--another afternoon feast of the spirit. Then back to more writing for submitting...

Friday was a different day.  Gary took Jena down to the Distribution Center and stayed there for the two hours she served and worked on emails.  I actually ran a few errands--some for our mission and some personal.  

That afternoon, we headed back to the Church History Library for a meeting and tour with our new second counselor in the mission president--Pres. Michael Parker and his wife.  We also set up for a "surprise" goodbye party for our division's intern, Brian Adkins, and for our former zone leaders, Elder and Sister Higginson.  We invited the small amount of staff and our zone missionaries in the building for cupcakes and goodbyes--masks and social distancing of course.

Brian's sign said:  You might not miss the books, the paper, and the boxes, but we will miss you!"

Sister and Elder Higginson's:  Aloha
With all of the names of the elders and sisters in our zone.
Before Covid, missionaries completing their mission were
honored at an Aloha dinner.

Liz, on the screen, is the archivist who works with us and was over Brian.  She had asked us to bring him cupcakes as a surprise and things morphed from there.  President and Sister Parker (you see them with their backs to me in this photo) got treated to more than they expected with Brian and the Higginsons sharing some of the joys of Church History service.  It was very touching time together.  

Elder and Sister Higginson--who told us that we were taller than they thought!

This is Elder and Sister Twelmeyer who are in our zone and serve as full-time missionaries from Ohio.  They are now our assistant zone leaders.

Elder and Sister Higginson with their sign

No photos of Gary or I, but be assured that we were dressed in the appropriate missionary clothing as well.  The rest of the week---well, it is much more casual. If we are attending zone or mission meetings on zoom, we will be wearing our badge on a very nice shirt for me and a white shirt and tie for Gary.  Our bottoms are most often jeans or yogi pants for me with warm fuzzy sox.  If we are just doing emails, writing, or phone calls, we are casual from top to bottom.  It will be a big change to dressing up for the whole day when we move to Salt Lake.

Saturday is our P-day and that usually means that I am busy with house cleaning and laundry while Gary organizes stuff for the mission and zone, learns new skills that we need to know, and catches up on more emails.

Yesterday, we took some time in the afternoon to go down and help Jessica get a table and two benches for their kitchen which they had gotten for free.  It was good to see her, but since two of the kids woke up with runny noses, we didn't see the kids.  We sent fruit snacks and oranges instead.

Sunday is filled with Church.  Our branch has Sunday School on Zoom at 10:00 and then Sacrament Meeting at 2:30.  Last Sunday we attended in person but today we will watch from home.  We also often watch Sacrament Meeting for our home ward at 11:00.  I blog on Sunday and also am trying to do some family history projects as well.

In our free time, we watch BYU sports--Go Cougars!, some football games, read, and do puzzles. I just completed one of the goals I set for myself when our mission started (before we were called to be zone leaders and I thought I would have so much extra time!) which was to read the two Saints volumes.

I had started the first volume shortly after it came out, but struggled to get into it so I stopped.  This time, I really enjoyed it as I came to understand that purposes of the volumes and also the power of the individual stories that are shared within these volumes.  It reminds me of similar experiences in my life and it strengths my desire to write those things down even more.  (I know--I write a lot now in this blog, but there are many events of a spiritual nature in my life that I have not yet written, and I need to.) These volumes can be made because everyday members of the Church wrote their dealings in their lives with God and with Church members.
 

This week will be more of the same, although we will be getting busy tracking down mission presidents and their spouses who served in the Alaska Mission.

I said to Gary a few days ago.  "I am glad that I am on a mission now because I get to enjoy these amazing interactions with the mission presidents and their wives while everyone else is stuck at home."  He said: "And I love ending the day knowing that I have done something good in the day."

That sums it up!

PS Set a goal to serve a mission.  It is amazing!

My Piano Bench

My Christmas gift finally arrived (well, the main way---Gary totally spoiled me this year for some reason.)  I have wanted a bench that lifts up to store music--because that is what I remember about my parents' piano.  That is the way it should be.  Then when the grandchildren started coming and they like the piano, I have wanted a bigger bench so that adults could sit by them or more than one child could sit together.  So now I own this duo bench that opens up for holding music and I love it.

When this pandemic is over, I will be so excited to share it with the grandchildren!  And, there will be photos for sure.  I better start practicing more.
 

THE CHRISTMAS CARD

I love Christmas cards although I know they are going "out of style."  I love to get them, to send them, and to think personally of my family and friends at this special time of year.  They are one of the last things that I take down in cleaning up Christmas.  I also enjoy the Christmas notes by email and also on Facebook--but I can't hang them up on the wall in the same way.

In the future, do you even have Christmas cards spent by mail?

Happy New Year-2021!

We didn't stay up for a celebration this year although we did enjoy the sounds of fireworks at 10:00 pm (New York New Year). 11:00 (Central Time Zone), and briefly at 12:00 pm (our new year).  Not the usual craziness of fireworks in our neighborhood which I was glad about--less chance for the pandemic to hit people I know and love.

One of the simple things that gives me pleasure at the beginning of a New Year is getting my new planner and a new calendar for the refrigerator.  I know it is very old school, but I have tried electronic planners and they don't meet my needs in the same way.  I am very picky about the style and functionality of my personal planner and I love my yellow polka-dots for this year.

Let the planning begin.....................althought we know how planning works out especially during a pandemic year which this will continue to be.  And it is the first time in lots of years that we aren't planning a family vacation or a get away trip for Gary and I.  A sacrifice to serve a mission!

Happy New Year to you!

Goodbye, 2020!

I saw this meme on Facebook a few months ago in the middle of all of the posts about people's excitement about 2020 being over and starting a new year...as if Covid-19, the health and economic effects of the pandemic, the political craziness, the racism, poverty, people being mean to each other--was all going to magically be over with with the turn of the calendar.

 

2020 has been an unusual year, of course--both in the world and in our own home.  But the reality is that we did make it through, we accomplished things, we made memories, and did home repairs.  We started the "check-off" of one of my most long standing goals--to serve a mission with Gary.  We are doing it from home and without some of the usual things I expected, but it is still a great experience.  

Human beings have had to deal with pandemics for as long as they have been on this earth.  They struggled through with less than we have been blessed with.  And we individually and as a world wide group will continue to deal with hard things.  We are approaching the wind up part of the earth and are actively preparing for the Second Coming of Christ.  Whether you are a believer or not, the world has some tough spots ahead, so fasten your seat beat and get ready for the ride.

A slight trip down memory lane for a moment.  Remember in the fall of 2018 when I felt that I needed to "Up my game" in a spiritual sense because I needed to be prepared for 2019?  I started the year sure that something "terrible" was going to happen.  I made some changes which I wrote about and made it through the year--with its ups and downs--and I was looking forward to 2020.  And then we had a year that will go down in history-- the "2020"!  And it was okay.  Looking over my life there have been hard years and years that were harder--and what I thought was hard in 1980 or 1990 seem easier looking from this point of view.  More than anything, I think I am confident that whatever happens in 2021--whether it is a more difficult year than 2020 or not.  We will be okay because the same things that helped us manage hard years before will still be there for us in 2021--prayer, faith, each other, our testimonies, and our ability to serve.

However, I will really be glad when I can meet and greet my family and friends without the concerns and risks that we worry about now....and for my grandkids to be able to go to school every day with their friends and teachers.

So, goodbye 2020! Farewell!  Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Mission Picture 2020

It reflects the situation with Covid--most of the photos are from Zoom meetings and others are their missionary photos cut up and placed side by side.