It's Been a Happy/Sad Week

26 Aug 2017

It’s been a happy/sad kind of week.

At our mission devotional on Monday, we all laughed as one of the brothers, Elder Thompson, told of some episodes from his youth. He ended up in a career as a research scientist, but, when he was young, the curious side of his nature got him into trouble a few times. Like, when he accidentally caught a trash can on fire and it ended up burning down the garage. (It wasn’t their garage.) And, another time when he wondered what would happen if he dropped a match into the gas tank of an old car. The car exploded. (Also, not their car.) None of his antics were intended as malicious — in his mind, he was just experimenting. . .

Elder and Sister Thompson teach the capstone course that all the missionaries here take before they go home – so Bob teases them and calls them the Grim Reapers, because our missionaries depart once they go to them. The Thompsons have retorted by calling Bob, El-der-Acula! (because he always wants “fresh blood.”) And, they make a cross sign with their fingers whenever they see him. LOL. (Sister Thompson is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and it’s fun to joke with them.)

Of course, like the rest of the U.S., we caught a glimpse of the solar eclipse on Monday. Someone who works near us shared a pair of the special glasses with us so we could see it.

We got some very sad news on Tuesday. One of our full-time sister missionaries, whom we love, has to go home early because of her health. There is a Senior Medical Committee that reviews serious health concerns of missionaries, and determines if it’s prudent for them to remain in the mission or not. (There have been others who’ve had to go home early, for various reasons.) This sister made it a whole year, but, with some new testing her doctors did, they have basically said she’s a walking time bomb. We are heart-broken that she has to go home. (If you met her you’d never know there’s anything wrong. And, most days she feels great.)

On a happier note – We got to attend a special devotional on Thursday with Elder Quentin L. Cook, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. All the missionaries in our mission were invited, and we pretty much filled the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. It was excellent. What a blessing it is that we have Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth today, and, that we have the privilege of hearing their sure witness of the Savior.

We’ve been so spoiled with all the opportunities we’ve had here – special speakers, concerts, etc. — and we know our next mission won’t be anything like this.

Bob and I celebrated our 49^th wedding anniversary with a special dinner out. It’s hard to believe we’re old enough to have been married that long! We both definitely have an “alternate image” of ourselves in our heads – ones that are much younger and better looking! ;-)

An Exceptional Week!

19 August 2017

President and Sister Fenn are such wonderful teachers! We had our mission conference this week and it was exceptional!! Sister Fenn talked about how, as a teenager, she had the experience one summer of sitting on the porch of their home, with her father (Bruce R. McConkie), while they read the Book of Mormon together. He taught her how to mark her scriptures and to make notes in the margin. She said her mother never joined them because her grandfather, President Joseph Fielding Smith, was living with them at that time and her mother spent the evenings with him. During that time, she marked what her father marked and made the notes that he made. Since then, she has read and marked several copies of the Book of Mormon, yet, she sometimes finds herself going back to the copy she marked that summer - to see what her father would have marked. She shared other experiences she has had while reading the Book of Mormon, and bore strong testimony of the truth and value of it.

Then, President Fenn taught us on the topic of “What the Book of Mormon Teaches Us about the Atonement.” He pointed out that the Bible teaches us the history of Christ, but the Book of Mormon teaches us His doctrine. He spoke for an hour and didn’t quite finish, but, what a privilege it was to be in that meeting and hear him teach! The hour just flew by!

Recently, a brother in our mission, Elder Mike Thornock, took some photos of the Temple Square area shortly after a rain. They're beautiful, so I'm sharing!

    Everyone says this one depicts the “celestial bubble” we live in here. :-) 

I had an opportunity to spend some time this week with Sister Gayane Zohrabyan, who is from Armenia. (I have mentioned her in a previous post.) She told me that when she was a young girl, she and her friends used to love reading a story called The Golden City. In the Golden City, there were flowers blooming everywhere; it was peaceful and lovely; and, everyone was happy. She said that when she came to Salt Lake City for her mission, it was June, and flowers were blooming all over Temple Square, and, she felt the Spirit that is here – and, she wrote home to tell her friends, "I'm living in the Golden City!"

She has extended her mission a couple of times and will be going home in November, but, is working toward getting a green card so she can return (because her son and daughter live here.) I have loved getting to know her!

We got some more new missionaries this week! We're SO happy!! We lose four this month, but, we got three, so that's pretty good. They all three are top notch, too!

More news for this week is that Bob traded in our car and we are now driving an SUV instead of a sedan - the same color as the one we traded. He’s enjoying learning all the ins and outs of it while we run errands, etc.

Fun Visit with Heather

12 Aug 2017

We are having fun with our daughter, Heather, here – seeing the sights and enjoying our time together. On Thursday, she toured a lot of the things in and around Temple Square. Then, we attended a session in the Salt Lake Temple and, afterward, we took her to our favorite pizza place.

On Friday, we toured the conference center – there is SO much beautiful, original art there.

For instance, this painting (of Joseph interpreting the dreams of the butcher and the baker while they were in prison) once belonged to the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, and hung in the Salt Lake Temple for more than 90 years before being placed in the conference center. And, I love this painting of Christ (below)! I forgot to take note of who painted it. 

                                                        

​Heather went to lunch with a local friend, then we all drove up to Park City to look around a bit. Following that, we went to Heber City where we enjoyed a western BBQ, live music, and a cowboy “shoot-out”. (After the outlaws were gunned down, it was discovered that they'd stolen candy, and, the sheriff “returned” the candy to all the kids on the train.) Then we boarded the “Heber Creeper” for a two-hour train ride through some fabulous mountain scenery.

One of the “outlaws” 

View of sunset from the train.

Today we’re going to the “This is the Place Monument” and other sites at Heritage Park; then we’ll attend the Provo City Center Temple, and see the fabulous stained-glass windows at UVU.

Tomorrow morning we’ll all go to a live broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. Should be great! It’s been wonderful to have family visit!

This Week's Happenings

5 August 2017

Two young elders, Elders Callister and McDonald, came to dinner with us after church Sunday. During our conversation, we learned that Elder Callister is one of LeGrand Richards’ great-grandsons. Bob was able to tell him that his great-grandfather’s book A Marvelous Work and a Wonder was instrumental in helping him make the decision to join the church. It was pretty cool.

I mentioned last week that several in our zone have had some serious health concerns. One sister had surgery on Tuesday, but, is already back at her assignment because everything went so much better than expected. The Lord truly blessed her.

Yesterday I went to the doctor with a sister who speaks English as a second language. Even though she is very fluent in English, sometimes things get lost in translation. I was glad I was there because it really helped me understand more about her health concerns.

And, I’ll be going to two more medical appointments in the next week-and-a-half — also with sisters whose first language isn’t English—so that I can help them understand what the doctor is saying. Somehow, I never visualized myself doing this type of thing on my mission—but, here I am . . .almost a mission “mom.” :-)

This week, we have been especially blessed in the work we are doing. I am very grateful.

President Fenn has started publishing a mission newsletter. In each issue, he plans to feature something from one of the zones in the mission. I’m sharing a story below from the Hosting Zone at the Family History Library. (FYI: Missionaries in the Hosting Zone are specifically instructed not to proselyte. They are there purely to help the patrons with what they are looking for.) Here is what they shared:

 “And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.” Doctrine & Covenants 2:2

A young man stepped off the elevator onto the third floor of the Family History Library, the Hosting Zone, and was greeted and assigned to a missionary serving there.

“What are you hoping to do at the library today?” the visitor was asked—and his journey into the past began.

He answered that he was meeting friends for dinner in an hour and was curious about his great-grandfather. There was abundant family lore about him, claiming he was a war hero, a philanthropist and a wealthy man, who died penniless.

Information was gathered, and the search began. The patron’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and images appeared before him. Birth records, death records, newspaper articles…he scanned each document excitedly, then sent them to his personal email account. His phone rang. He was late for dinner. “No, I can’t make it. I’ll meet you later.”

Then, on the computer screen in front of him, an image appeared. It was a photograph of his great-grandfather. He sat in silence. He reached out and touched the screen, and began to cry. “This is so embarrassing. Why am I feeling this way?” he asked. The missionary replied, “That is the Lord touching your heart.”  Questions were answered, tears fell freely, and a seed was planted.”

On another note, Bob received a couple of really nice compliments this week. He was talking to one of the employees — a staff supervisor whose work our zone supports. His name is Steve Fox, and he is planning to retire at the end of this year. Steve said, “You know, I would serve a senior mission if I thought I’d get a zone leader like you.”

Then, later in the week, Bob was talking to the two Assistants-to-the-President (A.P.s) who cover our half of the mission, and was telling them they should assign him certain, specific young elders the next time they put together recommended transfers for the president. (Bob was kind of grumbling that most of the young elders we get in our zone take a lot of work.) The A.P.s’ response was, “We send you those elders because they come out better after they’ve been in your zone.” Isn’t that awesome? I was happy to hear him receive such great praise! He does spend a lot of time working with these young elders and helping them feel successful in the work they’re doing. I’m proud of him.

One more year and we’ll be back in North Carolina!! We're already planning a family reunion at the beach when we get back home. Hopefully, we'll have most - or maybe even all - of the family there.