Hard Lessons

You know when you are working hard and doing what you feel the Lord wants you to--but still hard things happen?  That is true even when you are a missionary!

For me, it has been a collection of migraines including a four day long one at the first of September which required two visits with my doctor, a new medication, and finally two shots and more sleeping to finally get passed it.  It was not fun and I was not a happy camper.  But that is a minor thing compared to our sweet Sister McClure.

She is the one who went to the temple with us in July and than again at the end of August.  She is so happy and kind and she and Jena have developed a cute relationship.  She is a widow who decided to serve a mission so she sold her house in Texas, visited her children, and came into our mission in July.  She grew up in Samoa and has a pretty singing voice as well as plays the ukulele.

At the end of August, she wasn't feeling well--very nausea and dizzy and having trouble with standing so her granddaughter took her to the ER.  There she was given fluids, ran tests, and then sent home.  The next morning everything was worse and her daughter who had spent the night with her in her apartment here called the ambulance.  She was taken to the closest ER and then moved to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.  She had a brain bleed which caused a stroke.  She has been in the hospital, then in a rehab center and just was released on Friday to go to her daughter's home.  She is so sad to not be able to serve her mission right now, but we are all just glad that she is still alive and making such great recovery. 

It has been so great to watch the missionaries pray for her and prepare cards and visit her.  They all love her as well.  We had a couple of sweet experiences which I want to record.

After she had been in the hospital for a couple of days, she asked Gary to come and give her a blessing.  He invited Elder Allan to go with him as they work together in the SPC lab.  Gary said that when they arrived at the hospital's ICU unit, they were approached by a women and asked if they could come and give her dad a blessing (wearing missionary tags and suits makes you stand out in a crowd, I guess.)  They explained that they were going to give a blessing but would be happy to come back down when they were done.  She agreed.  The blessing was a sweet experience and when they left her room, someone else approached them about giving another blessing so they went into that room, visited for a minute, and then gave a blessing.  Then they returned back to where the first woman was, they couldn't find her or anyone by the name that she had given them.  That was the only downside that they couldn't find her.  

Gary has had the opportunity to give a number of blessings since being here and it is such a sweet experience for him (and for me.)  You truly need to "be prepared" when you are a missionary.

We were able to go visit Sister McClure at the rehab hospital.  As she was only allowed two visitors at a time, I went in with Jena first and then later Gary and I switched places.  When Gary came into the room, this is what he found:

Gary said that the two of them sang and played for about 20 minutes.  Her daughters told us later that it made Sister McClure's day.

We also found that Sister McClure had posted Jena's card from the first few days in the hospital in her room at the rehab hospital.  She had told her daughters that she wanted it where she could see it any time to give her encouragement.

Sister McClure wants so badly to do her work as a missionary and it doesn't seem right to her that she has to deal with this challenge instead.  But she knows and we know that God's timing is smarter than ours and that we must do our best and manage things as they come.  She is a great example of that to all of us.  We love Sister McClure and know you would all love her as well.

More Moments In Missionary Life

The Church History Library is an interesting place to be.  You never know from day to day what you might learn or what you might see.....

Here is a banner made to celebrate (something- I can't remember what at the moment, but I will try to remember and put it here).  I remembering thinking it was cool enough to take a picture of!???

Here is Liz, our archivist, checking out the newly arrived collections from home----and the boxes--they are everywhere.

At the end of August, we had arranged to take the "Foundations of Faith Tour" with our zone members who joined the zone since Covid started.  Typically, as you will see, new missionaries come and take this tour as part of their training week.  We missed that due to doing only on-line training.

These are (the back of the heads) of some of our amazing missionaries. They all are so talented, warm, funny, and hard-working.  It is an honor to serve with them.

Here we are watching the film "The Story Lives Here."

And here, the group is listening to the tour about the articles in the display table which included a first edition of the Book of Mormon and some hand written accounts of the First Vision.  Very cool---

This is Sister Twitchell who is guiding the tour for our group.  She and her husband were part of our mission training group back in November of last year.  They moved to Salt Lake in May as well from their home in Idaho.

Jena leading the music for zone Devotional.

The last few weeks of August, Jena was getting several thank-you notes from zone members for her sweet "Welcome Back" notes to our missionaries.  This one came with a candy bar!

 

Grandparent Time

I got to spend Friday and Saturday with the Syracuse Halls while Jessica and Elessia took an overnight getaway.  Too busy to get any good pictures but this is us being silly together.

Liam and Zander

This is Ezri with a bit of Zander's head.

We had fun although Liam was disappointed that we didn't got to the Dinosaur Park or somewhere else.  I couldn't figure out how to manage five little kids.  I know that I HAD five kids, but they were a bit more spread out.  Jessica was 13 when Jena arrived and I didn't have twins-- two two-year olds with only one adult seems risky.

I am a chicken or getting old---maybe both, but we had fun anyway.
 

"Christ Is The Light Of The World"--prayer meeting remarks

My notes from my message in prayer meeting on August 18th:

For my message today, I am focusing on two of the verses from the mission scripture of the month: 

D&C 84:45-46

45 For the ^aword of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is ^blight, and whatsoever is light is ^cSpirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

46 And the ^aSpirit giveth ^blight to ^cevery man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.

This connection between Christ and light is found throughout our scriptures.  In fact, “Light of the World” is one of the names or titles used to speak of our Savior.  In the topical guide under :  “Jesus the Christ; Light of the World” here is a sample of some of those other scriptures:  (check in your scriptures—there are many)

Sister Randall often speaks about the power and importance of light to overcome darkness and Christ as the source and power of that light in the “Go Forth Meetings.”  I tried to teach the basics of that concept to a Primary class of 9-year-olds a few years ago.  After teaching the principle that Christ is the light of the world, I handed each of my student a little tea light just like this.  This was mine from that lesson. In our Primary room, I had them each practicing turning their lights on and off.  Then—with the permission of the Primary presidency and their parents—we went on a field trip to the building member janitor closet which I had rearranged to make sure that we could all fit in there.  Once we were ready and all of the students had given their permission, we turned off the light and stood in a total darkness for about a minute.  Then I turned on my little tea light...and as light always does—it glowed in the darkness.  Then in turn, each of the students turned on their lights until each of their faces were reflecting the glow from their lights and those near by them. A simple object lesson but as we returned to the classroom and talked about the experience—you could tell they got it---at least for the moment—light overcomes darkness—Christ is the light of the world.  Through Him, we can receive light and overcome darkness.

This light is one of the signs of true followers of Christ.  It is the result of obedience to His commandments and is especially strong in covenant keeping member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I see it in your faces and in your lives as I observe and interact with you.  It is not your name tags but your lives which shine with this light.

I had an experience which illustrates this truth.  Years ago when we lived in Plano, Texas, I had been “roped in” to coach my daughter’s community 4^th grade basketball team.  We were very new to the area and did not know any of the girls or their families who had been assigned to our new team.  In a busy gym on the first day of practices, we were trying to gather our team in a corner to meet each other and review expectations, etc.  In the beginning chaos, I happened to glance up and saw a man and his young daughter entering the gym from a far door.  As his daughter appeared the right age, I waved them over.  As I did, I was struck by the light that surrounded them—even at that distance in the idle of that busy gym.  I am not going to lie—my first thought was “Shoot—I am seeing this because the spirit is telling me that they are ready for the gospel and I need to introduce them to the gospel.  How can I do that in the middle of this busy time for my family and coaching basketball?”  Not the best missionary attitude—But as it turned out—they were already members of the Church.  They had recently bought a home in Plano and had signed their daughter up for basketball to help her in the transition.  And actually a month later, they moved into their new home and into our own ward!

That was a powerful reminder to me.  I wanted and still want to have that same light with me.  I want to live my covenants in a way that identifies me as a follower of Christ whether I am at Church, at home, in my neighborhood or even or a loud and busy gym.

In closing, I will read the complete scripture in John 8:12.  

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the ^alight of the world: he that followeth me shall not ^bwalk in ^cdarkness, but shall have the light of life."

I testify Christ is the light of the world and through Him darkness is overcome.

 

Construction Views

It is fascinating to watch the equipment and the cranes work around the Temple and the grounds.  Here is a couple of the things that we have seen recently.

This is a base of a very tall crane---

See how the wheeling for the truck are actually off the ground and they are using the yellow platforms to provide the stability for the tall crane.  So amazing!

Now we have marveled at the Chinese workers in Hong Kong building bamboo scaffolding which is fast and seems so dangerous. 

This process was slower but seemed more secure as the one man held up the metal flooring to the person above him. 

Piece by piece until the new decking is in place.

I don't think I would like that job--with bamboo or metal!  Grateful for those who do this work.

Do YOU Want To Be A Senior Missionary, Too?

That is what the three of us got to ask on Tuesday, August 17th at BYU Education Week.  We served at a booth set up by the missionary department to encourage more senior couples and single senior sisters to serve.  Due to Covid and the growth of missions throughout the world, there are needs for 10,000 full-time senior missionaries and 28,000 service missionaries (who live at home and serve 16 hours or more a week).  The booth was one way to reach out and teach others about the amazing opportunities.

Jena with Cosmo in the BYU bookstore

We had the opportunity to talk with other parents who had children with special needs as well with others who had questions about serving.

Seriously, check out the website--you can do almost anything almost anywhere!  Here is the link--

https://seniormissionary.churchofjesuschrist.org/srsite/?lang=eng

Serving a mission as a senior is an amazing experience!

And Gary points out it is nice to have the same companion!

We had a fun time serving at the booth and talking with the many people who stopped in.  And, I always love being on BYU campus despite the many many changes since I was a student there.

The Church History Library And All Of Temple Square Is Now Open (August 16, 2021)

 IT IS FINALLY OPEN!

It was an exciting day for the Library to be fully open finally after over 18 months of Covid delay.  However, due to the recent uptick in Covid cases in Utah, we had to go back to wearing masks in the library.  Oh, well, we were still excited as we walked there that first day!

In the elevator together---

Jena and Gary heading down 1st Avenue--trust me climbing back up that hill at the end of the day in the heat is not a "picnic"--but it is a lovely morning walk!

Work continuing on the Salt Lake Temple--

Still experiencing smoky air--

I love these little machinery around Temple Square--

Aren't they cute?

Also, that same day as we headed to the mission office, we noticed that they had started putting the Christmas lights in the trees.  I guess it takes over three months to place all of the lights.

This was a good week where we were able to meet many of our missionaries in person for the first time.  Most of them told us that we were taller in person than on Zoom.  We started having daily prayer meetings in the morning at 8:40 that week as well.

Now it really feels like we are on a mission with other missionaries.  We love it!

And Jena started getting a collection of thank you cards from our missionaries.  Here is one of them.  These missionaries are so awesome and so kind.

Happy Birthday, Emily AND Hello, YSA Ward!

Jena was so excited when Vicki Ehlen called and asked if Jena could join Emily for a birthday celebration and see Jungle Cruise.  We met in Farmington and they were so excited to see each other.  It has been about a year since they last saw each other.  Emily had to have two brain surgeries since then due to some vein issues and is making a slow recovery.  It was good to see her.  And I think Jena loved loved not being with us for awhile!

Jena has been a good sport and a great missionary, but she misses friends and activities with young adults.  So in the middle of August, Jena also started attending the Ensign YSA Ward in our area.  I am very proud of her going by herself to a ward where she literally knows no one.  I went the first week, but she has been happy to go each week since then by herself.  Everyone at our ward is missing her but understands why she might want to go to the YSA.

 

RAMPING UP!

 Despite the weather, missionary work still goes on.  August 16 was the day set for the opening of the Church History Library completely.  Each department had been slowly returning to the Library in a step by step fashion including the missionaries.  August 9--the public tours were started again on the first floor.  But the 16th was the day set for everyone to start back to work in whatever new schedule they had set with their managers---

Sister Jena Hall with help from Elder Hall became the Church History Library mailpersons.

                                                  

Jena is learning where many of the employees are and can deliver some of the mail by herself.  Otherwise, she and Gary wander the halls on all five floors each morning with their deliveries.  She has certain employees who expect her to stop in their office to say hi whether they have mail or not!  She is a favorite missionary for sure.

We were also preparing to greet our missionaries when they returned completely back to the Library.  Jena worked all of July and part of August to prepare handwritten cards for our 68 missionaries to greet them back.

Here is one of her cards:

We had to add about 8 more names since we added them during July and August.  That is a lot of cards to write!  You can see them posted in cubicles throughout the 2nd and 3rd floors where our missionaries serve.  Those who work remotely got theirs in the mail.

We also had to make name plates for all of the missionaries in our zone to mark their cubicles so that we can find each other.  (Although this week about 40 of our missionaries are being moved due to a reorganization of the Archive and Area Support Division where we serve.  That includes us--at least at the last draft of the plan that we saw.

This is what we left at each desk--a welcome from us, a postcard with an inspiration scripture, and the card from Jena.

In addition, Gary was busy with last minute updates of all of the computers, making sure everyone's access badges were authorized, and getting parking passes for everyone.  Needless to say, it was a busy time the first few weeks of August.  Most of August was spent with zone leader stuff rather than our mission assignment for the Church History Library.  I think we only did one oral history in August.

But being a zone leader IS part of our mission assignment at this time and it is all good.

That's Not Fog! (August 7)

Nope, friends and neighbors--that is smoke filling the air in Salt Lake.  And it isn't even "ours" according to the weatherman.  It is from all of the forest fires in Oregon and California.  The winds have blown it to us and it got caught by the mountains.  Yuck--it lasted bad for about a week but still was noticeable for a month or so. We were grateful for the rains which would dampen it down for a day or two.

Wildfires have been bad throughout the west due to the drought conditions, but Utah has done very well this year and has had less fires than normal ..at least up until this point in mid-September when I am writing this.

Grief Again

On August 1, we received news that the young son of Eric and Bri McKinney (our nephew and niece-in-law) had died in the womb and they were at the hospital preparing for his birth. Bri was around 21 weeks pregnant. Once again, grief and loss had touched our mortal experience.  Eric and Bri live in Logan and Eric had just graduated with his PhD in Statistics and had begun his ideal job in space dynamics. This little one was their fifth child and their second boy.  So, once again, we gathered as a family to provide support for them in this holy time.

Many sent food, flowers, texts and cards.  Others helped with their kids, with hugs, and prayers.  Grief is a time of gathering close with the loved ones who are here and remembering the ones who have proceeded us. We shared some books for the children which we hope will be helpful now and in the future as the each manage their own feelings of sadness.

After visiting with Eric and Bri at her dad's house in Syracuse during that first week, I stopped across the street from the Syracuse Temple site.  Even though construction was busy on the site, it still brought a feeling of peace and remembrance.  Life and families are eternal.

I also went by the cemetery to make sure things were ready for the graveside service the next day.  I am glad that we have this spot where this little one's mortal body can be surrounded by some of his large family.

The first row---

Valerie and Allan Burk's marker--

The red cone marks the spot for his burial--just in front of him is my niece, Carmen, and a grand-niece, Hannah.

Eric and Bri named their son, Nicholas Joseph McKinney, and his spot is near his cousin, Hannah.

The Bakers are Gary's aunt and uncle.

We gathered as family on Friday morning, August 6th, in a sweet service for Nicholas.  Til we meet, little one at a future time when death will be no more.

 

A Glimpse

It is amazing how simple things can brighten your day.  I had sent a package through Amazon to Tosha's house and then it was dropped off, they took a picture and sent it to me through my email!  I loved seeing Tosha's cute porch decorations even though that wasn't the purpose of this unexpected photo!

Now if there were just three kids and Tosha and Austen on the porch with the package--

THAT would have been perfect!

I did get this picture of Niki on the porch on the first day of 2nd grade later in the month!

Now all three of them are in school in person!  Hopefully, they, their friends, and their teachers will all be safe despite Covid surging in many parts of the country.