Mission LIfe In the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission

The week of December 5th through the 11th was very busy in the mission life department.  Sister Audenart was back in town for a two day training with the US/Canada team.  I picked her up on Sunday morning and she stayed at a hotel across from Temple Square so was able to experience the "whole" walking mission experience.  We loved being able to spend some more time with her in person.

As part of the US/Canada team, we also attend that two day training which was scheduled from 9-4 on Monday and Tuesday.  However, you could really notice how much being zone leaders impacts our daily schedule as we were frequently in and out of the training on both days--with planned and unplanned events.  Gary ended up not attending any of Tuesday because our schedule was so crazy.  I had to do a presentation on "Successful Communication" for the team training and then left and immediately did our regular training for new missionaries.  I got there about 1 minute before my turn--for which Gary was grateful because he was my back up.  In my digital journal, I detailed Tuesday and the long list of unexpected and expected interruptions to the training.  While I was there, I did learn new stuff so that was good.  

The US/Canada team:

Left to right:  Liz, Elder and Sister Eppich, Elder Crewell, Elder Barker, Elder Spencer, Elder Mel Young, Scott Christensen, Paulee, Josh

Front row:  Sister Audenart, Sister Barker, Sister Forman, Sister Winn, Sister Joan Young, Sister Newbold  (notice Gary and I were missing--away on zone stuff.)

Walking outside you never know what might be swinging in the air on Temple Square.  In this case, some red wire or cables??  The North Visitors' Center is basically all gone now.  Crazy the changes on Temple Square.

Tuesday evening, we headed over to the Hatch's Chocolate with Liz, Josh and his daughter Faye, and Jena and Gary, and Sister Audenart for the hot chocolate or ice cream.

Only missionaries go to a chocolate shoppe in suits or dresses!

That is a chocolate Christmas tree in the case below.

A close up of some of their candy designs for Christmas--

Sister Audenart, Liz, me, and Jena--Gary took the photo

On Wednesday morning of that week, Elder Bai and Sister Lee, our couple from Korea, introduced themselves to the zone.  They both wrote out in their introductions in English and did a very good job in reading them to us so everyone can get to know them a bit better.  They have limited spoken English but have been so patient as we try to make meaningful work for them to do.  They are serving with us two days a week doing work for the Korean oral history project and working in family history three days a week searching for related books about Korean family histories.

Still wearing masks anytime we are outside of our cubicle.  It is a way of life for all of us.

Wednesday turned out to be busier than I planned because two days of training had "put us behind."  Jena was working on the inside messages of our zone leaders Christmas cards.  Sister Audenart had handmade cards for each of our missionaries and Jena was doing the inside message.

Here is a sample of the fun cards Sister Audenart had made.  So cute!

Jena and I headed back to the apartment in the early afternoon to continue to get the cards completed and also finish our preparations for our Zone Leader Christmas dinner and party. We were in charge of meat loaf and sweeet potatoes for the meal and the games, of course.

We got the same "Hear Him" books for our five zone leader assistants which we had received.  This gathering was especially sweet as this would be the last time we would all be together.  Sister Audenart was returning to Canada the next day, the Twelmeyers were being released for their mission the next week, and all of them would be released as assistant zone leaders at the end of the month.  After a year of service, we felt it was appropriate to change everyone as the Twelmeyers and Sister Audenart were transitioning to service missionaries.

We also had a zoom meeting Wednesday afternoon so dinner was a bit late being done, but it all worked out as Sister Audenart joined us as we drove down to the Youngs' home in the Millcreek area for our next fun event......