Watching Gary

Our day did not go as planned yesterday afternoon, but he didn't complain--just did what needed to be done and a little bit more to help Jessica whose car had broken down in West Valley while she was working. And when we got back to the apartment, he just went to work on the project again while I mostly decided to "relax," even though I had things I could have done as well. .Later in the evening while watching the end of a movie with Jena, I glanced over at Gary, working hard on a project for our zone on the computer and I was struck with overwhelming feelings of great love for him.  Does that happen to you with your spouse?  Where sometimes it hits you how much you love them and how lucky you are to have them for eternity!  He is a dedicated missionary and my best cheerleader and support. 💕

Memory Grove Walk

Yesterday after doing our P-day cleaning, I headed out for a walk up the Memory Grove Trail.  The start of the trail is just a few minute walk from our apartment.  Although it was very busy on a beautiful Saturday, it still was a nice walk with city views, the memorial gardens, and the canyon forest.  

The south end of the park near the intersection of State and North Temple.  That is City creek coming down from the canyons and mountains nearby.

One of the many bridges along the way

Loved this color of iris--

The path went through a neighborhood with old houses along the creek and then the actual park entrance---the trail app I read said that there was limited parking.  That was definitely true with people parked up and down the streets outside of the park.  I am sure the neighborhood is not fond of that, but it probably happens every Saturday, Sunday, and holidays.  I was glad I could walk from our house.

Memory Grove Park is dedicated to servicemen who served and died in the wars our nation has been involved in.

This memorial was honoring those who lost their lives in the Korean War.

These are the names of Utahans who received the Metal of Honor for their service along with the war they fought in.

This "Meditation Chapel" was dedicated to World War II servicemen and women who lost their lives.

I don't know if they always have flags by each plaque or if that was because it was Memorial weekend, but it made a striking display.  Their names, birth and death dates, and the place they died are listed.  It was touching to read them and think about the sacrifices they and their families had to endure.  It is very humbling to ponder.  

Directly west, you can see the Capital--the east side view.  This park and the canyon it is connected to travel along the east part of the Capital to the north.  You can connect with other trails that take you up and over to Bountiful, but I didn't make that journey today.

This honored the first Utah battalion (if I remember it correctly).

At least it was back when they used horses.

This was further into the park.  I didn't go up but it looked like a place to have a program or something like that.

Then you are walking in the forest on dirt paths and it seems like the city is miles away, not around the corner.  The sounds of the wind in the trees and the flowing water is the perfect way to enjoy a Saturday walk.

It was a great walk and I will do it again soon--and sometime with Gary and Jena.  They would love it, too.  And Tosha already promised she would walk it with me when they come to visit.

The world is a beautiful place!

More Chips with Goodbyes

Jena finished her service with the Clearfield Seminary on Tuesday.  She has loved being there.  The staff and students have been great with her and she has been an asset to them.  In addition to doing cleaning tasks between classes as part of Covid-19 measures, she helped Sister Daniels (a member of our stake in Syracuse) who is the administrative assistant with office tasks.  Also, she attended the Adaptive seminary class and helped the students with reading and other tasks.  She frequently shared scriptures for Devotionals and she took that assignment very serious.  The principal, Sister Daniels, and the teachers were all sad to see her go and wished her luck with her next assignment.

She has special handshakes with Sister Daniels and Brother Gardner which ended in "sassy!"  They called her "Sister Hall with Sass!"

Friday was her last day at the Centerville Distribution Center.  This was an entirely different setting where she had to wear a dress and worked with mostly older women stocking shelves, steaming dresses, and greeting customers.  Every time she left a shift, everyone wanted to say goodbye to her.  I told her I felt like I was walking with a princess each time we left.  We brought cinnamon rolls and eclairs to share, but they provided hot dogs and (you guessed it) chips to give Jena a proper goodbye.

Jena with Colleen Watts---she was the manager.

Holly with Jena--one of the people who worked there who Jena became close with.

They loved her, too, and she loved them.

Sister Daniels commented to me a few weeks ago: "You know one of the things that I love about having Jena around.  She reminds me to slow down.  I am always running from task to task and sometimes, I need to slow down and notice."  I said, "I know, the story of my life!"  Jena does remind us to slow down in life and notice others.  She makes people happy because she really loves them and notices  them.

We are grateful for these wonderful spots where Jena was able to serve for the first part of her mission.  We know that her Heavenly Father is proud of her and her desire to serve Him and His Church and to love people everywhere.

I am proud to be her mom.

A Look At a Sunday

Sunday morning, Sunday School or Relief Society/Elder Quorum meetings happen still on our living room couch on Zoom.  Gary knows exactly what games to stack to get the camera set at the right height.  Oh, pandemic memories----- 

On our way home from Church today we got caught in a wind and rain storm.  The wind gusts were briefly very intense.  It reminded me of times in Richland, Washington, where the wind always blows.  We would take our coats and use them to make a "sail" and let the wind push us across the fields near our house.  We were glad when we made it to our apartment building and were inside for the remainder of our walk home.

One more note:  As we walked into Church today, a missionary that we didn't know said:  "Look at him.  He got to bring two girl friends on a mission with him."  We all laughed at that.  We are lucky to have Jena serve with us.

Another Piece of the Legacy Parkway Trail

 Actually it was the Denver-Rio Grande trail.  I am trying to walk different pieces of the Legacy Parkway Trail--eventually I want to have walked every part of it from north Davis county to the south end of the county. However, when I went to walk on Friday--

(Sidenote:  The Legacy Parkway Trail itself is about 14 miles long, but it hooks up with other trails which go north to the border of Davis County.) 

the trail section I wanted to go on was being worked on, so I headed down the route indicated for the detour which was this rail trail which is just about a mile or so west of the Legacy Parkway Trail.

To the west towards Antelope Island, you can see two common sites in Davis County--barns and farmland....

and construction of new subdivisions.

To the east another barn, mountains, and beautiful skies with white pretty clouds.

It was another nice walk on a spring day.  I hope you have somewhere nice to walk today as well.

A Weird Windstorm

ripped the sign with our phone number off the storage units we own around the corner from our house.  We went to check on something else and found the sign on the ground by the storage units completely intact with no bends or creases anywhere.  Somehow, the 12+ screws all busted with a wind burst, but then dropped the sign right by the unit. I don't know, but we are counting it as one of the many blessings we are receiving while serving on our mission.  It is a little thing, we could have replaced the sign with some effort, but this allowed us to fix it on a Saturday afternoon.

Jena took this picture while we were hanging it up.

Dance Recital With Alex and Carter

What a "grandma and auntie thing" to do---go to a dance recital on a Saturday afternoon.  It was fun to be in the audience without having to worry about the hair, the costume, and the other details that mothers have to worry about.  Alex and Carter weren't thrilled with the whole affair, but they loved the roses afterwards from Jessica and Elessia.

Posing with their flowers afterwards---Jessica actually had a friend photoshop this photo so that both girls are in it looking at the camera---it is sometimes hard to get that in "real" time.

They certainly are adorable and they loved their weekly dance class.

Goodbyes Are Better With Chips

Jena is starting to have her "last days" at her current places of service for her mission.  This past week she went on Monday to say goodbye to the seminary students on A day.  She went into each of the classrooms and said goodbye and gave each student a bag of chips--one of her favorite treats.

By the time she is done, she will pass out about 480 bags of chips.  The students decided to sign her note......

which they had to copy to make it bigger for all of the students who wanted to sign it.

This week she will say goodbye on Tuesday to "B" day and then Friday at the Distribution Center (they are getting Eclairs from a local bakery).

She has had good experiences serving at both of these places and she will truly miss the people she has served with.  But on to the next adventure.......... (which we don't yet know what they will be so stay tuned!)

 

"Occupy My Mind"

This is a story that I have submitted which will be used in our mission newsletter called "Illuminations."  It is a collection of stories from fellow missionaries talking about ways that they "Hear Him" or ways they have heard the spirit in their lives.

“Occupy Our Minds and Press Upon Our Feelings”

In a zone devotional in January of 2021, Elder David Higginson discussed several ways that the spirit can speak to us—ways that we “Hear Him.”  He shared that they were taken from a talk in April 1989 by Elder Jay Jensen.  One way that struck me was “The Spirit will occupy our minds and press upon our feelings.”  Elder Jensen quoted D&C 128:1, “As that subject seems to occupy my mind, and press itself upon my feelings the strongest.” Occupy my mind…it was so familiar to me even though I had never thought about it in these terms.  I have heard the spirit talk to me many times this way.

About 16 years ago, I was teaching Gospel Doctrine in my ward while we were studying the Doctrine and Covenants.  At this time in the Church there was a Sunday School lesson manual with more material than you could ever cover in the class period.  As I prepared I often focused on the identified objective of the lesson and tried to choose material and questions which would allow the ward members to gain that objective.

One week as I read the lesson on the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants which were directed at individuals, the lesson manual included the statement to ask class members what written direction have they ever received from Heavenly Father.  Of course, the answer was our patriarchal blessings.  This question was not related to the stated objective of the lesson nor was it a very interesting question.  It was a basic one with one answer which did not really lead to a discussion.  I decided to skip it.  However, in the days that followed, my mind was frequently drawn to that question and it certainly occupied my mind and pressed upon my feelings.  I could not forget it.  As a result, when I sat down to prepare the lesson, I reluctantly added it into my lesson outline.  It just did not fit with the rest of the lesson or seem to be that important to me.  Why waste the time in class?

Sunday morning as I reviewed my lesson plan, I again argued with myself about the question and I even thought that I would likely skip it during the lesson.  However, the question continued to “occupy my mind” during Sacrament Meeting and as I begun to teach my class.  So when it came to that point in the lesson with a bit of hesitation, I asked, “Have any of you received written directions from your Heavenly Father?” Quickly, the answer was given—"patriarchal blessing.”

But then a class member raised his hand to make an additional comment.  What unfolded was the most amazing discussion about patriarchal blessings that I have ever had in my life, before or since.  One comment led to another, appropriate experiences were shared, and ideas – amazing ideas of using your blessings in your daily lives- were given.  After about 10 minutes, I started to cry. I realized that this was exactly the lesson that should be given on this Sunday in our ward and I was so honored to have had a front row seat to that experience. I was grateful that I had “stepped aside” and let the spirit teach what was most important. It took the remaining 30 minutes of class. I ended the lesson saying “If you ask any members in another ward anywhere in the world what they talked about in Sunday School today, I would guess that none of them had a discussion about patriarchal blessings.  I testify that this was the lesson we were supposed to have…” and then shared my experience from the week. The blessing of that lesson did not end there as over the next few days and weeks, ward members shared with me their experiences with their patriarchal blessings as they tried to implement some of the suggestions or simply just reread their own blessings because of the discussion.

Truly, the Spirit can speak to us by “occupying our minds and pressing upon our feelings.”

Apartment Life

 Pro:  You don't have to remember when it is garage day to put your cans at the curb.

Con:

In order to take out your garbage, you need to put on shoes and a mask (as masks are still required within our building though not in many other places we are at) and in this case, a hat--just in case I happened to see someone in the hallway on the way to the garbage shoot!  No running to the garbage can in pjs.

In general, apartment life has been great.  We rarely hear others except perhaps as they walk down the way talking which happens rarely.  Elevators are quick to arrive and the public areas are all kept very clean and orderly.

Now if we only could figure out the visitor parking, we might invite someone (you) to come and visit!

The Apartment Pool

Friday afternoon we decided to head down to the pool for the first time since moving in.  Jena and I were prepared to swim and Gary was coming down to cheer us on.  The pool is indoor and small like many hotel swimming pool and also includes a hot tub.

We found the pool with only one wrong turn.

And this sign was on the door----

They were right.  It was cold.  Jena swam but I stuck to the hot tub and read my book.  Jena swam for about an hour.  I will try again when the heater is fixed.

Mission Moment

for Jena.

The administrative assistant at the Clearfield Seminary sent me this photo on Thursday afternoon

A student from the Adaptive Class was having a hard time going to the classroom until Jena took her arm as well and walked her down to the class.  Sister Hall doing her "thing" in her sweet way!

She will miss the students and staff at the seminary when she finishes there in a couple of weeks.  We are grateful for the opportunities she has had to serve there.

City Walking

Is very different than walking on the trails of Davis County.

The first afternoon I loved it---new things around every corner and I appreciated the opportunity to do a bit more up and down walking---western Davis county is mostly flat walking.  Here are some of the views from that first walk this past week (referring to my first actual "walk for exercise") since moving to Salt Lake.

Here is a look at the front door of our building on 1st Ave.

Our apartment balcony is barely visible through the trees at this angle, but that white fencing near the top is our balcony.

Heading east.....

A piece of new construction in the blue modern style home with the Cathedral of the Madeleine in the back.

Here is a back view of the cathedral.  Some time I will go around the front and take a photo there.  It is suppose to be very beautiful inside with amazing stained glass windows.

Flowers in bloom all along the way....

This is a statue called the Passageway to Peace which was designed by students as part of a contest.

It was hard to get a good shot because of the shadows but it is a collection of different figures of humans.

Walking in the Avenues is a mix of the old....

and the new---side by side or across the street from each other.

Heading down 2nd Ave, I crossed over to Temple Square and walked through a part of it on my journey.

Positive side:  I didn't have to worry about crossing streets frequently.  Downside:  We as missionaries have to wear masks on Temple Square.

On the Church Office Building

Cranes parked for the night.....

If you know a child who loves cranes, this is a building site to visit.  They are quite amazing.

A view of the back of the Joseph Smith Memorial building over the construction wall.

What fun to be able to walk on Temple Square even in the middle of construction....

Detail on the outside of the building--

Around on the fencing, they have old pictures reflecting scenes from the first building of the temple.

The beautiful "awning" by the front doors of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building which aren't open.  We always have to use the southwest door to access the building for meetings or going to the mission office.

The Church Administration Building.....

Eagle Gate which crossing over State Street

Flowers along the way...

back up a little hill to our apartment complex---

I have to say that while there are some nice things about walking around in downtown Salt Lake for exercise, I was really happy on Friday morning to have an excuse to walk a trail in Davis county (Jena serves only 2 hours on Friday so one of us usually stays in the area when we drive her.) along the Legacy Parkway Trail.

Things I don't like about city walking--

1.  Traffic--especially in the small blocks in our area of town.  with the hills and narrow roads, it is a bit of an adventure to cross the street at each corner.

2.  Sidewalks--very uneven so the focus is often on my feet so I don't trip.  

Trails allow for a more peaceful, thinking type of walk.  I am sure I will adapt.  I need to find a place where I can walk without crossing streets frequently.  Right now you can't circle Temple Square because parts of the sidewalk are closed with the construction.  I think I am going to head up State to the State Capital this week and loop the capital which will only have parking lot openings to cross.  There is a bit of a hill to get there.......come join me for a walk!