A Lovely Sabbath and a Very Full PDay

28 July 2015 

Sunday morning Mitch and Charyn Amos and their two daughters came by to see us.  Mitch served his mission in Silsbee in 79/80 and is from Vegas, so we have kept in touch with him all of these years! For many years his Christmas letter has been the first to arrive.  Every year I think, "Surely I can beat him," and I never have.  He went to the St. George Temple with us when Paul was sealed to us and we've always thought a lot of him.  I was amazed at the people he remembered and asked about after all of these years.  He taught Reba and after a year of missionary lessons, she decided to be baptized.  Since she's been working at the Temple for quite awhile, I think he can feel good about that baptism.

At Relief Society, for a closing song we sang, "I am a child of God and He has sent me here."  As I sang those words I felt almost a jolt of electricity go through me.  I thought, "That's why I'm here--because God sent me here."  It's such an incredible blessing to be serving here with wonderful people and helping such good people from all over the world.

Today we had another full P-Day. We invited our friend, Sister Isaacson, from Kansas, who serves with us in the library, to go with us.  We started out at the Salt Lake City Cemetery where many prophets and general authorities are buried.  It was humbling to see the final resting place of President Hinckley, Porter Rockwell, President Kimball, President McKay, Neal A. Maxwell and others--so many names we recognized and so many lives spent in the service of others.  The cemetery is in a hilly area north of town and the view of the valley is beautiful.  We went on up into the hills

even higher and thought about the view the pioneers had as they came into the area.  It wouldn't have been the green tree-filled area it is now.  I think it would have been prairie grass and scrub brush.  After many of them leaving lovely homes back east, they must have wondered about the wisdom of the statement, "This is the place."

Then we decided to find yet another Deseret Industries and it turned out that the address we found on Google was the one at Welfare Square!  I found some more books (imagine that!), Sister Isaacson found a purse, a blouse and a skirt for less than the price of a cheap purse (she loved it!), and Robert found a recliner!  After sometimes 2 or 3 hours on our feet at the library and a walk home, we both long to put up our feet and we've been taking turns in the recliner that came in the apartment.  Now we each have one and we're happy campers.

While we were there we decided to take the tour of Welfare Square.  Everything is right there together--a small visitor's center, the DI, a Bishop's Store House, a cannery, the huge grain elevators that I've seen in pictures for years (they built that in 8 days!), an employment office, an addiction counseling area and a large storage area.  They were baking bread in an area behind the Store House and I told the group that in our Houston cannery we make the peanut butter that goes on that bread! Wish there was a way I could attach the wonderful aroma coming from that bread--sooo yummy!





We went to WalMart and got our groceries, then on to Lowe's to buy some boards for a project I have been wanting to make since we were in the Training Zone at the JSMB.  My plan is to borrow my sister and brother-in-law's garage and saw and make a couple of Christmas presents when Reba gets here.  We've done projects together for years, so this seems like the perfect time.

Our final stops were Staples and the place next door called "Paradise Bakery."  We had been told at the library that we could get at Staples the expandable pointers some of the missionaries use when helping people on the computers, but the only ones they had were laser pointers.  So Sister Isaacson found some really funny ones that we got for each of us.  We're sure we'll be the envy of everyone.

These and the "character" flash drives--I had to have a Snoopy.  A lady I "helped" Monday (she knew way more than I did!) named her file "Stuart Heap."  I asked her if that was a family name and she laughed and said, "This is Stuart" (it was the minion Stuart) and our last name is Heap--that way I know which flash drive my pictures are on."  I thought it was a great idea.  When I left there and went in the bakery next door, the guy behind the counter said, "Welcome to Paradise" and I thought, "No kidding!"  I bought the most scrumptious cookies--buy 6 and you get 6 free!  They were cheaper than the $2/each ones I got at the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago and every bit as good.  I really am a sucker for soft, chewy cookies!

That just left us to figure out how to get a recliner, groceries, and boards up to the 5th floor apartment--ah, no sweat for Robert--he's a figure-outer from waaay back!

We had some more visitors this week!  On Wednesday we were surprised by Jessi Kirk Packard and her darling family.  They had come to SLC from Dallas for a Packard family wedding and ran across the street from the Temple to the library for just a minute to say hi.  We had never seen her darling kids in person and I wanted to say, "So this is Booger Face."  Jessi calls her that on FB and she's way too darling for that nickname.               

Then on Thursday, lo and behold! Lester and Cindy Stutts' daughter, Heather, and her husband Clint came by.  They were in town for the 24th of July and came by the library.  It was wonderful to see Heather, but I'm sure we could have easily visited for hours.

P-Day Stands for P-Fun, P-Friends and P-Food!

21 July 2015 

What a day!  We had such a good time last night with our Social Group--the folks who came into this mission the same time that we did.  We all brought food and met at the condo of one of the couples and played a get-to-know-you game and everyone told what they're doing in their new assignments.  It's so interesting to hear about all of their jobs, but in our humble opinion, ours is the best!  It's perfect for us and we love it.

This morning Stephanie Ratcliff called and we're going to meet her and the younger kids tomorrow at the library.  We work 10-6, but on Wednesdays, 10-2 is our personal research time, so it'll be a perfect time to show them around the library and visit for a bit.  That'll be fun.



Then John and Peggy Wilson came by.  They lived near us in Silsbee 20+ years ago.  He was a helicopter pilot and Peggy taught Seminary.  She's from Germany and now they live in Orem and they're both involved in Family History.  She comes up here frequently to do research on the International floor.  It was wonderful to see them.



I wanted to "play tourist" today, so we headed over a few blocks and went on the Beehive House tour and then had lunch at the Lion House.  The Beehive House was Brigham Young's home, and the food at the Lion House was yummy.



Then we headed out to Midvale to pick up our computer--it's bad when you're on a first-name basis with the guys at the computer shop!  We've been there three weeks in a row now.  On the way, Tina Ellis called us.  She and her family were coming to SLC this evening and she wanted to stop by.  Tina served in Silsbee in 2003.  She was a little bitty former gymnast and our Katie loved her.  She's very dear to us and it was great to meet her husband and 4 kids--such cuties.



But the day wasn't complete--David and Brenda Saulsbury called--they were in town to see Kelli and their new grandbaby and they wanted to take us to dinner!  How could we turn down an offer like that?  So we went to Chuck-A-Rama (and I was going to be good after that lunch...) and had a good dinner and a great visit.  It wasn't around the campfire, but around the dinner table runs a close second!

So what a P-Day!  We even squeezed in a grocery trip to WalMart and as we unloaded groceries we found a package from our kids--our first Care Package!  Matthew had baked us chocolate chip cookies, Meghan sent Robert some socks, and Mason drew us a picture and sent us a hug!  Of course I wanted to sit and bawl, but we loved it.  Meghan said they tried to put the cookies in the Food Saver and put it on "gentle", but when it sucked the air out, it sucked it out of the cookies and they turned into little bricks!  So they put them in a Zip Lock and a few crumbled, but the rest were just fine--YUM!  A truly memorable day...

A Sacred Cow, Another Coincidence, and Singing Angels

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Have to share an experience Robert had a few days ago.  He was working out front at the library, greeting guests.  A man came up and asked what all there was to see around Temple Square and where to go to eat.

Robert realized it was Thursday, so he told him, "Oh, you should go to the Church Office Building for lunch because on Thursday they have prime rib.  It is thick and juicy and inexpensive."  He had not thought about the fact that the man had just told him he was from India.  He gave Robert a rather puzzled look and the lady working at the desk spoke up and said, "They also have an excellent salad bar!"



Yesterday afternoon as I was on the information desk a family came in looking for information on her dad's family.  She said they had been on the computer and exhausted every possibility there, they needed some other information.  Her husband said, "Her family name isn't really all that common.  It's 'Sosa.'"  I suggested she go to the International floor and see if they could suggest some records that aren't on line and then followed that up with, "And if that doesn't work, come back and see me and I'll put you in touch with some friends of mine in Houston by that name."
     She said, "Where in Houston?"
     I thought, "Where?  Lady, there are millions of people in Houston and it covers many square miles!"  I asked, "Do you know someone in Houston?"
     She said, "My brother, David."
     I said, "And his wife's name is..."
     Together we said, "Sharon!!"  Those are my friends, they used to live in our ward.  Their girls were good friends with my daughter, Katie!  She said, "Can I take your picture?  Smile and wave.  I'm sending it to my brother!"  Wow, it amazes me...

Last night we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir/Orchestra on Temple Square Concert entitled, "Music for a Summer Evening."  The tickets were free, but you had to have tickets.  We had had such a wild day at the library-so many, many visitors and not nearly enough people to help them all.  At one point, for an hour or so, I was doing the jobs of five people out front!  They just needed people on the floor with the guests and needed everyone they could get.  By the time we got home, Robert and I were both exhausted.  I took a 30-minute power nap, then dressed and walked across the street to the Conference Center.  Honestly, this is the BEST place to live!

The concert was GREAT!  They started out with a salute to the pioneers--"The Handcart Song," "They, the Builders of the Nation" and "Come, Come, Ye Saints."  Then they switched gears and headed to Broadway--started out with "On a Wonderful Day Like Today" and went on to George M. Cohan--"I'm a Yankee Doodle, Dandy," "Give my Regards to Broadway" and "You're a Grand Old Flag.".  Becky Cryer would have loved the tabernacle organ solo on "Give my Regards""--absolutely wonderful!  Laura Osnes was the guest soloist and she has a wonderful voice.  She sang again this morning and it didn't show it on the television broadcast, but they always end with "Til We Meet Again" and my friend who went said they had Laura and her husband come onstage and face the choir as they sang it and she had tears streaming down her face.  I believe it--it always does that to me!



Tomorrow our "Social Group" is having it's first get-together.  It's the group who came out together and are in this mission, but we serve all over the place, so most of them we only see at church on Sunday.  One couple was appointed to head up getting us together and they work in the library.  We really like them and Robert had her in tears the other day telling her about the guy from India.  We're each taking something to eat and there should be lots of good stories...

Friday is Pioneer Day and the library is closed.  I've never been in Utah for Pioneer Day before and I look forward to going to a parade.  I DO love a parade!
   

More than one coincidence

11 July 2015

Last Wednesday, the 8th, was the day they give us to go to the temple and do research.  We had called the Mosers, who live in Preston, Idaho.  They served a full time mission at the Institute at Lamar and we were there part-time.  We liked them a lot and we found out they are now serving in the Logan Temple, so we decided to go to Logan and meet up with them.  We met for lunch at Chuck-A-Rama, which was a mistake because they have LOTS of good food and the dessert is so yummy!  Ashlee Hillin from Buna is living with them this summer and will be teaching in Idaho Falls in the fall, so we got to see all of them.  It stormed really bad on the way to Logan, but cleared out after we were there awhile.  We so enjoyed our time with our friends and getting to go to the temple with them.

The Mosers with us at Chuck-A-Rama

Ashlee and Patty

Coincidence #1:  On the way home we decided to go through Brigham City and see the temple Pres. Packer dedicated not too long ago.  It's so pretty and we want to go back.  We decided to get some dinner and found a little drive-in that reminded us of a previous time--they had homemade ice cream and hand-cut fries! We were sitting there eating when this pretty girl walked up and said. "Are you the Ruggles from Silsbee, Texas?"  What?!?  "Yes, we are."  She was a girl who had served in our ward twice and I'm sure she remembered us because Robert served her raccoon chili!  Sister Perks has been home about 8 months and is going to school in Logan.  We just all happened to be at that little drive-in at the same time...

Friday we left the FH Library 2 hours early to attend the wedding of my former roommate, Sherry.  When I say "former"--like 40 years ago!  It was held at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, which is just a beautiful place. Between them, Sherry and Steve have 10 kids and 19 grand kids, and all were there except one of Steve's boys.  Everything was beautiful.  The wedding took place in a beautiful rose garden and the sit down dinner was in a lovely area outside with linen cloths on the tables and clear glass goblets--one of the guests said, "They were brave to do this with this many kids."  The cake was scrumptious--the bottom layer was triple chocolate with chocolate ganache, the top layer was lemonade something with strawberries and the groom's cake was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting--all to die for! The granddaughters had white lace dresses with flower rings in their hair and all the little boys wore khaki shorts, white shirts and green ties.  It was just all too darling.  I loved seeing Sherry dance with her kids and grand kids and loved hearing Steve's son say he hasn't seen his dad this happy in years.  Did my heart good.



Coincidence #2:  Today at the library was "international" day for me--I helped a family from the Netherlands, a couple from Spain, a lady from Nicaragua, then was on the front desk for an hour and 3 ladies came in and one of them was carrying a bag that said "Moapa Valley Pirates."  I asked, "Are you from Moapa Valley, Nevada?"  "Yes, how did you know?"  "I have friends there," I told them.  "Do you know the Munfords?" She said, "Do you mean Liz, Susan's sister?  Susan and I were at the same school for years!"  I said, "Susan and I were leaders at Girls' Camp together for years!"  Wow!  Small world.

Coincidence #3:  Then a lady came up to the desk, looked at my name tag and said, "Sister Ruggles, I was your instructor last semester."  It was Beth Taylor, who taught my class at BYUI.  We were facebook friends because of an assignment we had, so she knew we were on a mission up here and she used to work in the library, but now works in the JSMB in the FH dept., coming up with new things for us to use--amazing.  She was talking to the lady who is in the orientation film we show 100 times a day--now I've seen her in person.

Tomorrow we're going to Sister Muhlavi's homecoming talk, so that'll be two weeks in a row we won't be in our own ward.  It really seems there aren't enough hours in the day to do all that we'd like to do.  I truly love helping people in the library.  It's so satisfying and I love seeing them light up with excitement when they find records for their family.

A Fun Fourth

July 7, 2015

We completed our first week at the Family History Library.  We moved around from one area to another, greeted people at the front door, ran the 4-minute video in the Orientation room, answered questions at the front desk (that can be crazy--they ask where to park, where to eat, what's open where--mostly stuff I don't have a clue about!), and my favorite--helped guests.  If they're interested, we help them signup for a FamilySearch account and put about three generations on it.  Then we start looking for information on each one--birth records, census records, marriage and death records. Usually they just light up when they find the first record and they really like how easy it is to attach that record to their ancestor.  We explain that they can do this from home and show them the "Help" area and how they can find a Family History Library  close to them.  They really like that.  I had one guy who quickly got back to Austria and said his wife is going to take him there--he'd always heard his family is from there.  I wanted to burst out in "The hills are alive with the sound of music."  I contained myself, but was as excited as he was.  When they left he said, "Can I give you a hug?"  I told him, "Of course, that's our pay day!"

We were the only ones open on Friday, the 3rd, so we had a lot of visitors.  In one hour in the morning while I was on the front desk, we had about 28-30+ people from China!  We showed them the video in Mandarin and then took them to the international floor.  They could most of them speak a little English, but think they would get more out of it in their own language.  There are people on that floor who speak several languages and if we get in a bind, we can go across the street to where the sister missionaries from all over the world are and they'll come and help us.

Saturday the 4th we decided to ride up to Park City.  My mother was born up there.  My grandfather worked in the mines above Park City.  It's very different now, I'm sure.  They did so much building up there for the Olympics in 2002.  It's a beautiful area.  The area with the cabins going up the mountain reminded me of Mt. Charleston and the area in Rainbow Canyon where the Stivers lived. We went over to the ski area and saw the lifts going up the mountain.  Matthew and Meghan are hoping to ski there in December.

That evening we went to a free concert in the Tabernacle put on by the Utah National Guard Band.  It was wonderful.  I had tears in my eyes (it doesn't take much!) as we stood to sing the National Anthem.  They did a wonderful medley from "The Sound of Music" and one of the musicians and his wife sang.  They had beautiful voices.  Then they did the Armed Forced medley and asked us to stand if we had served or had a family member who had.  I stood in honor of my dad, who was in the Army during WWII.  Of course I got teary again!  They came back for an encore and did "Stars and Stripes Forever."  Wow, we just loved it all.

Sunday we went to church at 11:00 at the JSMB and surprised Sister Patterson.  Robert has been wanting to see her.  She was so pleased to see us.  Her husband was Robert's mission president 40 years ago!  She lives in that ward and they have two apostles, seven members of the 70 and that day the Presiding Bishop was there!  Elder Ballard and Elder Stevenson both bore their testimonies. President had just passed away on Friday and Elder Ballard told how he will miss him and President Perry both, but they "wore out their lives in the service of the Lord" and men whom the Lord will choose will take their place and will do the same thing.  It was very comforting to hear.

That evening my brother, Richard, and his wife, Carolyn, came for dinner.  They brought Chicken Alfredo and we fixed salad, veg and dessert to go with it.  We had such a good visit.  They have recently completed their second mission, so we had lots to talk about.  They are talking about moving to a condo in Bountiful.  They're going to be really busy for awhile if all of that goes through.

We went to the devotional yesterday in the JSMB and got to meet our new mission president and counselor and their wives.  Then we went back to the library.  Each of us trained on the phone for the first time and we had safety training on what to do if an Active Shooter comes in.  That actually happened about 15 years ago, so we have to be ready.  Hopefully we'll never need to know what to do.  When we got ready to leave at 5:00 it was raining!  It's only the second rain we've had since we've been here and I was willing to wait it out, but Robert said, "It's hardly coming down," so off we went.  Our clothes were just damp when we got home, so he was pretty right.  We walk under a lot of trees on the way home, so we didn't get very wet.

Today is our P day.  We're going to take Robert's laptop into a computer place and have them clean up the viruses and put a protection on it.  Tomorrow is our Temple/Research day, so we called the Moser's and we're going to Logan to meet them for lunch and go to the temple there.  They work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Think Ashlee Hillin is going to join us, too.  It will be fun to see them and visit.  We dearly loved them when we served with them at the Institute.