Sunday, February 7, 2021

A Quick Visit

My sister, Valerie, was in town to visit with her in-laws.  Lance's sister and her husband had returned home from their mission in Australia and they spoke in Church last Sunday.  We met up at Dad's house and had dinner and played a game.  We tried to social distance for the visit but did take a photo as we were leaving.


 

More Looks at The Joseph Smith Memorial Building

while waiting for Church to start in our branch--Ensign Peak Branch.

The ceiling over the lobby is beautiful...


Not my preferred choice of decor, but beautiful in that old-fashion way...
Gary and Jena taking a stroll on the Mezzanine over looking the main lobby of the building... 
Looking up.....
Closeups of the decor around the top...


Our selfie---
This building was once known as the Hotel Utah.  I believe that my parents stayed here the night they got married in the nearby Salt Lake Temple.  It was redone completely and reopened in 1993 as the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  Our mission office is on the 3rd floor of this building along with a variety of other businesses and Church offices.

The chapel that we meet in is on this floor and is in an old ballroom of the building that was changed to a chapel.  It has the same type of decor in there as you see in these photos.  Not typical for a typical Chapel!
 

Sunday, January 31, 2021

The End of January 2021

It seems like time is whizzing by!  Keeping busy and staying out of trouble--I think that is a saying used by Gary from time to time.  Missionary work of any kind does that for you.  I wish I could tell you the amazing stories shared by mission presidents.  This past week we interviewed two of them.  I think that I have mentioned this before, but I am struck by their personal stories of revelation to them.  They all feel familiar because these are ways that Heavenly Father talks to me as well.  I know that God lives and knows me personally and in His interactions with me, I feel His love and guidance.  It happens that way for mission presidents and I imagine it happens that way for you as you learn to listen to His voice.

We made a trip to Salt Lake for a couple of meetings--masks and social distancing like always.

This is our actual office/cubical on the 2nd floor.

Views out the window...
Historical time to be in Salt Lake to see the changes as they work on the Salt Lake Temple....
This was filled with boxes last time we were here.  The interns have been working hard to process donations.
This photo was taken through the class into one of the reading rooms on the first floor.  That is the desk that was used by James Talmage as he wrote Jesus The Christ in the Salt Lake Temple.  Now that I have finished reading The SAINTS volume one and two, I have started Jesus the Christ as the next book I planned to read during my mission.  I read it once in my 20s....I think it is about time to read it again.

Saturday I had to drive to Utah county to drop off a package for Ben then go to Mapleton to drop off a baby quilt for Ezri to be machine quilted (because why not have a talented friend do it.) and so I planned ahead and got cupcakes for a porch visit with these cute kids.  We haven't seen each other in person since Christmas so it was fun to see them--even if it was just for a few minutes.
Ezri didn't make the porch visit but here she is.  She recently began social smiling which is always a fun stage.  She doesn't get as excited for Facetime as her older siblings.

Add in running Jena to her places of service and us attending meetings, training new missionaries to our zone, doing research, writing time stamps, and making phone calls and sending emails to our zone, that pretty much sums up our week.

Hope you are having a great week as well!

Sunday, January 24, 2021

A "Temple" Break

It might just look like an every-day construction site to you, but THIS is the beginning of our Syracuse Temple.  They are moving off the top soil and putting in the base (according to Gary who knows stuff about this type of thing.)

I know it is weird because this spot hasn't been dedicated or even had its official ground breaking yet, but the sense of the temple persisted with me throughout the day and into the next.  I felt the peace of having attended the temple, even though I didn't and haven't since the pandemic began.  This will be a sweet place!