The Church Is True!

Now I have had a spiritual confirmation of that for a very long time and not related to this current experience, but Thursday morning allow us a glimpse into the Church in an unique way.

First the back story:  Jena has been given permission to go on our mission with us.  She was to be called as a Church Service missionary and would serve in the Temple Square area in a variety of assignments.  However, everything is still closed.  As we realized we will be serving from home for a while, I began to wonder what Jena should do. She has been a good sport about the pandemic and the loss of her young adult life activities.  However, I didn't want her to be at home with nothing to do while we were busy online serving our mission.  That wouldn't be right or healthy for Jena.

Our mission encouraged us to explore service opportunities in Davis County and then she could transfer when we actually move to Salt Lake to new areas to serve.  Our stake president approved and we started the process with the current leaders over church service missionaries with disabilities (the Pearsons). She met with her bishop and started the paperwork process and all of that led up to last Thursday's visits to some potential service locations.

The Experience:

The Storehouse: We started at the Kaysville Bishop Storehouse.  There we had a tour with one of the Church service missionaries who works with the Pearsons. The storehouse is like a little store, where members of the Church in need can bring an order which they made with their Relief Society president and signed by their bishop and get basic food items at no charge.  It is an amazing way that we can help the needy among us.  

As a Relief Society president, I have done many of those orders and always felt a sweet spirit in that work.  In Hong Kong, I actually had to do the shopping since there was no storehouse there at the time.  Other times, I had to go to the storehouse to fill the order myself because of health problems in the household that needed help.  You can tell that the employees and volunteers there also feel that sweet spirit of helping.

They have been very busy throughout the Covid pandemic as people have lost employment or hours of work.  The Church was prepared with food to meet the demands.  It has changed the way that they fill the orders to cut down on contacts between people.

Internet photo of the building-

"To feed the poor and needy" is one of the temporal things we are required to do as Christians. I am happy to belong to a Church who is prepared to meet those demands.

Second stop--The Pasta Mill

Just about 5 minutes away from the storehouse is the Pasta Mill.  It is the only one owned by the Church in the world and all pasta products that the Church makes and ships throughout the world comes from here.  They also do cake mixes, flour, and other similar items for distribution through the world to bishop storehouses and also during times of natural disasters where food is needed.  Factories are interesting in and of themselves.  It is amazing how things are produced by huge machines.  The Pasta Mill is run by local Church volunteers, Church Services missionaries, and some limited full-time staff.  Like the cannery in Ogden where Gary and I have volunteered, it is impressive what volunteers can do with a little direction to provide food for others.

One of the current Church service Missionaries is Emily, Jena's friend, so it was fun to see her at work doing quality control on cake mixes.

Last stop:  The Ogden Temple

We then headed to the Ogden Temple who could use some help with cleaning.  Because of the limited hours and the need to sanitize after each visitor, they are looking for some Church Service missionaries to help with the cleaning.

It was the first time to the temple since they all closed in March.  That alone made it a sweet moment.  But after visiting the places the Church meets the temporal needs of its members and others, it was a perfect ending to be reminded that the Church meets the spiritual needs of its members as well.  It is in the temple that we complete all of the covenants between ourselves and God that are needed to return to His presence.

The two people that spoke to Jena and us about serving in the temple totally sold me on that as a place for Jena to serve.  They were amazing and carried a great spirit with them and a great understanding of the role that Jena could play serving in the temple.  You could see that they "got it."  I know that Jena would be trained and supported and nurtured there if that works out.

It was an amazing day-- the places, the work, and the people were so warm and so focused on their services and seemed so excited for Jena to be a part of them.  I felt like they welcomed the opportunity to serve with Jena and weren't "just doing us a favor."  If you are a parent of someone with different abilities, you know what a gift those kind of people are.

Jena says her favorites were the temple and the pasta mill.  We will see what is decided after she gets her call.

Life is good and the Church is true! And there is a plan and a way for Jena to serve and make a difference in the lives of others.  God is truly in the details of our lives.