North West Arkansas YSA Dinner, Devotional and Private Temple Tour

Saturday we headed back north, this time with the sister missionaries who are now covering the YSA branch--Sister Cowley from Bountiful and Sister Wessmer from Wyoming.  They are a fun companionship and I think I talked almost the entire time up and back as they asked questions about our courtship, spiritual experiences, etc.  They know way too much about us now.

We met first at a stake center in Rogers, AR, for a dinner and devotional.

First at the Rogers Stake Center, we had sandwiches and chips for dinner and then headed inside for a Devotional.

This is the sister missionaries with Jena and also Elder Handley.  He is another of the missionaries that people told us about before we came.  He is from the Las Vegas ward of one of the daughter's of one of our missionaries in Salt Lake.  He is a convert to the Church and a great guy.  He is covering the Fayetteville YSA ward at the moment so he and his companion were able to attend this regional gathering.  His companion is just outside the picture.  He was talking to someone so didn't get into the photo.

The fireside was great with some YSA sharing their testimonies of the temple, a stake president spoke, and then a member of the Bentonville Temple Presidency and his wife.  As part of the program, we sang "The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning."  As it turned out, we sang that song three times this weekend--at this fireside and at the Alma Ward where we spoke and the Van Buren Ward we also attended.  The members are getting ready for the temple Open House.

We then headed over to the Bentonville Stake Center and the beautiful House of the Lord!

No Angel Moroni which some members were disappointed about when the plans were first announced but I loved the dome look on top as well.  That part reminds me of the pretty Cedar City Temple.

The overall colors are sky blue walls throughout the inside with accents of green and yellow--so of course, I loved that.  Dogwood blossoms and diamonds are two of the Arkansas things repeated in many different forms on the inside and outside of this sweet temple.

We thought that we might get to help with the Open House, but they got enough volunteers (who don't wear missionary tags).  All of the sister missionaries get to serve on five days during the Open House.  They got some special training which they were all very excited about including a visit to the temple with just sister missionaries and their trainers.

It all made for a late night but we managed to get the missionaries back to their apartment only 15 minutes after their 10:30 bedtime.

What a special time to serve in the Arkansas Bentonville Mission!