How can we possibly have been here three months? We entered the MTC June lst and now it's September 1st--that isn't possible!
Last Sunday, the 23rd, we fed the missionaries after church. We try to do it once a month. So far we haven't had any of the elders we work with, but it's interesting to get to know some of the others. Many of them are "special needs" in some ways--some in more obvious ways than others. It seems they often pair a more outgoing one with a quieter one, so we try to find out about each of them. They each have their qualities that we enjoy.
On Monday the 24th we gave our 3 minute introductory talks. As one of the guys in our group said, "I didn't know you could spend 6 hours on a 3 minute talk!" So true. It has to be written out and then read word for word so the deaf interpreter can follow and sign for the deaf zone. It's a challenge to stay within the time limit, but I think we both did. It was a huge relief to have it over. Maybe at some point I'll insert them here.Tuesday was our PDay and we wanted to finish copying the parts of Glen's book that pertained to our family. When he came in the library last week he told me about this 1800 page book that he had written on our family. I was flabbergasted! I've already found out things I had no idea about, and I'm so grateful for the tremendous amount of work he put into gathering the documents and putting it all together. Robert and I had been copying pages as we could for several days. We went to WalMart that morning and Robert bought 3-one inch binders to put the pages we had copied--one for Richard, one for Judy, and one for me.
When they left we went to the library to finish copying. Robert ended up buying 3-$20 copy cards! He was such a good sport about it all. I sat at the computer and told it what pages to copy. Robert got them off the copier, collated them, punched holes and tried to get them into the binders--which soon proved fruitless.We left for Bountiful and tried to find a Dollar Store or someplace to buy bigger binders--they didn't have them, Michael's didn't have them, finally it was time to meet up with the others at the cemetery for our tour of the family grave sites. Richard decided he wanted to take everyone to dinner first, so we headed toward The Mandarin.
Glen had some stops to make on the way there to show us places with a part in family history--for instance, the Stoker School where Grandma Parkin went to school and he and Uncle Lamar had both been the principal--he knows all of that stuff so well! We got to the restaurant and had an excellent dinner. Matthew and Meghan would really like it--hope we can go when they come. The vegetables were fresh from a nearby farm--such yummy pea pods and green beans! Glen wanted to show us things at his house and it got dark before we got back to the cemetery. It was a special evening for me, though, to spend time with my family. Glen misses his Betty Jo so much and tells such sweet stories of their many years together. He always called her "My bride" and she always called him "Charlie Brown"--she said because "to know him is to love him." They served two missions together--an office mission in Indiana and a temple mission in Korea. He had been in the Korean War and didn't really want to go back there, but of course they loved it and loved the people. None of knew he had learned magic tricks and did some for us--those are good memories. We'll do the cemetery tour another day. Oh, the pages for my book filled a 2 1/2 inch binder when we finally found one.
Wednesday was our research day, but I felt we had done that with all of our copying and stories from the day before, so I suggested we go back to Bountiful and go to the temple--it's only 20 minutes from here and I'm feeling quite the pull that way knowing how much family history I have up there. We went back and had a good time attending a session there. On the way out, who should we run into but Glen! He no longer is an ordinance worker there, but he goes frequently.
We found the Kohl's and I looked for a blouse, but no luck. We got back in time for our afternoon shift at the library and that evening I got a perm! Wow, have I been needing that for awhile! She comes here to the apartments for haircuts, perms, color, whatever. I think it's wonderful, and I was so glad to have that done.
"B" is for "Beautiful Bountiful"
We worked Saturday and knew Johnny and Barbara were coming in that afternoon. We watched for them and then they called that they were about 30 minutes away. We didn't hear again and then Robert started looking for his phone--he couldn't find it! That was a disaster of epic proportions--Robert is never more than a few feet from his phone. Finally he realized it was gone. He had gone into the bathroom and left it. When he checked back, it was gone. He was upset and that afternoon he was the On Duty Supervisor meaning someone from each floor had to tell him when that floor was clear of people so everything could be locked up for the day. Johnny and Barbara came and couldn't figure out why Robert hadn't answered his phone--it was all chaos! Johnny had had a little car trouble, Salt Lake had grown considerably in the 25 years since they had been here last, he couldn't get his bearings--it wasn't a good start to their stay.
We came to the apartment, got them unpacked, they were hot and miserable and couldn't believe it wasn't any cooler here than at home. We went to eat and drove up to the City Cemetery to see some of the prophet's headstones, then drove up the mountain to see the lights from above. It really is a beautiful sight. Things were looking some better.
We had a big breakfast Sunday and walked to the Joseph Smith Building for church. It's a beautiful walk through temple square and it was much cooler than the day before. It turned out to be a lovely Sabbath. About 9:00 that night I realized I had to have my cake baked for the "Fireflies" get together on Monday.
Barbara was helping me and just as I was ready to put it into the oven, I realized I didn't have any powdered sugar! We decided Johnny would get some in the morning, Barbara would do some laundry and bake the cake, then she could frost it when he got back with the sugar. Monday is one of our early days, so there was no way we could get it. Crazy! It all worked out fine. The Peterson's were bringing pizza and others were bringing salads and root beer and ice cream. It should be a fun evening. When we got there, Elder Roberts had his banjo and the Wilson's had a ukulele and another instrument and we knew we were in for a treat. We ate, played "the Elephant Game" which had everyone up and laughing, then did a sing-along. What a fun evening. We loved it. I was glad Johnny and Barbara could first-hand how much fun we have.
This morning Robert felt he had to go to Verizon to see about his phone, and Johnny and Barbara and I wanted to go to the Salt Lake Temple. Robert ended up getting a phone and a tablet for less than we would have had to pay with our insurance for just the phone--sounded like a deal to me. Happy birthday to me--we thought about getting one a month or so ago. B & J and I loved our session at the temple. It is so beautiful and we were all thrilled that we had decided to go. I've figured out how to not have to go up the stairs and Johnny said it was worth the whole trip. They left a couple of hours later to get part of the way to Montana to see his sister.
About the time they left, I got a call from Mary Anders, my good buddy I taught with, and they were about 30 minutes away! They were going to pull their camper to Seattle to see their son and decided it was just too expensive on gas and too hard on their truck over the mountains. They were headed home. So they spent the afternoon and evening with us and we had a good visit. ROBERT even figured out how to get her into her FamilySearch account that she has been locked out of! She retired in May, is a MAJOR genealogy buff, and now can do what she loves! What a good day all around.
September is off to a good start!
No comments:
Post a Comment