Church History 2nd Floor View

With the help of McKenzie (Wayne's assistant), our board is finally updated with the new team organization and all of the employees and missionaries who serve under Wayne Crosby.  This is how it looks today---no telling what the future might bring.  There are rumors and more rumors of  change ahead!

Blue slips are employees; pictures are the missionaries

The interns on the US/Canada team decided that they need to protect their turf--meaning the counters where collections go before they are totally cataloged so they placed this hanging sign---I thought it was pretty clever.

Space is an important commodity and it is getting tighter and tighter.  Jena now shares her space with a missionary on Wednesdays and Gary and I continue to share a single cubical. We aren't often in our desk together so we make it work.  However, I have been seeking for another option for our next zone leaders.....no luck so far, however.
 

"Silent Sky"- Another Play

Gary, Jena and I headed off to Hale Theatre again on Monday evening, August 15 to see "Silent Sky." in the Jewel Box Theatre.  I had never heard of this play but was interested as it was billed as a historical fiction based on a true story of Henrietta Leavitt.  In the director's note in the play bill, he wrote: 

"Henrietta Leavitt had a brilliance and a light within that generated an enormous desire for her to communicate with the magical universe of the stars above us. She and other women of comparable brilliance found themselves banding together to chart the skies. These luminous women gave us the tools to map out the night sky and revolutionized the way scientists classified the stars."  

Set in the early 1900s, it tells her story of passion for the stars and the struggle to deal with the society's expectations of what women can and can not do.  In spite of that, she was able to make significant contributions to the understanding of the universe and of stars.  At a time when many thought the Milky Way was the universe, she helped prove it was not and that stars were much further away that science had considered.  It was well-done and made me cry.  I love the stories of fellow humans who follow their passions and contribute to the world of man.  (And as always, I am honored by the talents of actors and directors and writers who share their gifts with us through theatre, literature, and music.)

The stage in the Jewel Box theatre---she was not allowed to use the telescope at Harvard for her research but had to map the stars using plates made by men taking pictures with the telescope.  Near the end of her life, according to the play, she was finally allowed to see the stars herself after being recognized for her work in star mapping.  She received a Noble prize after her death.

The world and the people in it are AMAZING!

  

More Temple Square Construction Pictures---Because It Is History!

Monday, August 15, started with a nice mission conference in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  President and Sister Jackson, the new second counselor and his wife, in the mission presidency spoke as well as President Holmes.  We had to make a stop at the mission office so I took these pictures out the east windows at the work on the Plaza around the Church Administration Building and the Church Office Building.

Windows were a bit dirty--didn't notice that when I was taking the photos but you can see the massive scale of work everywhere on Temple Square.

Later in the week, I got this photo of three cranes working on the north side of the Temple itself--Lined up for the days work---

Layton Temple Views

While I am especially excited for the Syracuse Temple, we also are amazed at the speed that the Layton Temple is being built.  It is about a year ahead of ours.

From this view from Gentile Street it looks like one spire, but the temple actually has two.

From the overpass on Layton Parkway, you can see them both but because of the angles and the trees, it appears like they are almost two different buildings.

When the Layton Temple was announced in Conference and then later the location was given in the far east of Layton, I was so disappointed. Many many years ago, I had had a strong impression that there would be a temple in Syracuse because of the good and faithful people there.  It was odd at the time since Syracuse only had about 5000 people and we had a temple in Ogden only 25 minutes away.  Temples were unusual back then and this was way before the building of the smaller temples.  But when Layton Temple was announced, I thought there was no way one would come to Syracuse now.  I was so shocked and happy to hear it announced a year later that we would have one as well.  So now I am happy about the Layton Temple...and the Syracuse one.  We are so blessed.