Today was the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple. There were no regular meetings in all of Utah, the dedication was shown in all of the stake centers at 9:00, 12:00 and 3:00. We could go to any building at any time. We chose to walk across the street! That is so wonderful and so easy. Last night Sister Isaacson and I went to the Temple Cultural Event that was broadcast there, too. I had never been to one and was anxious to go. It was really interesting. They gave a lot of the history of the Provo Tabernacle--how it was built when people in the area had very little, but they dedicated so much each week and/or work on it. Many special events were held there and many renowned musicians and speakers performed there. They held at least two general conferences there and lots of graduations, etc. It gave me a much greater appreciation for the building and what it meant to people in the area.
The dedication today was very lovely. Dallin H. Oaks conducted and gave the dedicatory prayer. The assistant temple matron (lst counselor's wife) gave a story about a time when she and her husband were about to receive a mission call and they felt they would be called to a French speaking country because of her husband's proficiency in the language. Her parents lived on the other side of the country and her father had Alzheimer's and her mother cared for him by herself. This lady called her mom three times/day to check on her folks and let her mom "vent" if necessary. She knew she couldn't do that if they were on the other side of the world and she was very conflicted about the situation.
She and her husband went to the temple, prayed in the celestial room, and she felt total peace wash over her. They went to their appointment where the calling was issued to go to France and she said she was fine with it and it all worked out. It was in the Lord's hands. She didn't say what happened or how it happened, but it was all fine. Her husband talked about their son who had a brain tumor when he was 8, had surgery, went into remission, but was left with challenges, graduated from college, but was not able to get a job. He was called as a veil worker and spent his days doing service for others. He said working in the temple was the highlight of his life. What touching experiences. Sister Reeves had me in tears as she told about people they met in Indonesia who could only go to the temple once or twice in their lifetime, but always kept a current temple recommend. She also told about a friend of hers who said to schedule going to the temple before anything else got scheduled for the month and I agree with that. It's too hard to work it in when you let other things come first. A lady we serve with asked me a couple of weeks ago if Robert could possibly do one of her men's names before she goes home. She has work she's been trying so hard to do before she goes home next week. So last week we did two sessions and did two of her names for her. She's been going EVERY DAY, which amazes me. Even with working a full schedule at the library, she goes every day. I have a long way to go to be that faithful in my temple attendance.
To catch up with what's happened in March--the 5th and 6th was stake conference. We worked at the library until 5:00 on Saturday the 5th and stake conference started at 5:00 at the stake center. I have no idea why it started so early, but we took the car and went straight there when we got off work. I really enjoyed the meeting.
We had two general authorities, both 70's. One of them asked people to think of someone who has really made an impact on their life and what were the circumstances. Then he asked people to raise their hands if they thought of someone, and called on different ones to briefly tell the story. Then he would ask them if they had told the people that they had made a difference in their life, that they love them and appreciate what they had done for them. I was thinking, of course, and could name many people, but the ones who came to my mind at that point were Trisha and her family. It meant a lot to me that her mom told me that she and my mother were in the hospital together, that she knew her. I loved going to their home. It was so lovely and peaceful--really a little touch of heaven, in my opinion. They would have family prayer before breakfast and would mention being grateful that I was there, calling me by name, and I had never had anyone pray for me by name before. It meant a lot to me. I truly loved going there and having Sister Prince tell me she knew my mother was proud of me for going to church and wanting to be baptized. I dearly loved Trisha and her family and their being such a little island of beauty and sanity in my often chaotic little world.
On Sunday we went to stake conference in the Tabernacle. The stake president talked about the stake being 1 square mile and how he lives and works in that mile and he doesn't date walk out of his office with a frown on his face, he'll very likely run into someone from his stake. Imagine living, working and going to church in the same square mile area! He travels all over the world with work, but that square mile idea just amazed me. It snowed again that Sunday afternoon--we'd had beautiful, warm weather the week before, then snow! I couldn't believe that.
So even though it was cold again, we looked forward to going to the devotional and then to the library on the 7th because we were back on the first floor! No more up and down and back and forth. It was so exciting. On the 3rd we had watched them trying to hang the picture that had been behind the desk on the first floor and they were obviously having trouble with it.
On Monday it was hung, but you can't see it at all from the first floor--it's terrific from the second floor! It was different to be back; some of the positions have changed and it will take some getting used to, but we sure have lots of space! I told Birches I was going to call it "The Wyoming Floor" for all the wide open space!
Tuesday, the 8th, we did our shopping and then went up to Richard's. He had invited Bev and Paul, Judy, Teddy and Glen, so we could talk about planning a reunion while we're still here. We got into visiting right off and nearly didn't plan the reunion, but sure enjoyed the visit. Bev wondered how Richard and Judy and I had all stayed active when we'd been raised with some of the least of church support. Judy told how she and Richard loved going to church and would walk a couple of miles to go, and their step-sister, Nancy, would beg them not to go because then she would have to go, too. I guess it's amazing since we've all stayed active and none of us have families who are 100% active, but we managed to hang in there. We're hoping to have the reunion on June 4th or 6th, whatever that weekend is, the weekend after Memorial Day. We'll see if that works out.
We got our groceries at Smith's and Robert asked about brisket. We'd like to take one to our Fireflies Bar-be-que in May, if we can find one at a reasonable price (NOT $6+/pound like at WalMart!). They came out with a one pound brisket at Smith's and I told Robert we could use that for us, so we got it!
We fixed it for dinner and it was scrumptious. We each had one dinner and I had a lunch!
We went to the temple on Wednesday and I finally got a perm on Thursday. That Sunday was fast Sunday and the time changed. It was fine the first day, but on Monday we were so tired! I thought I was going to fall asleep at the computer at the library. I was so ready to come home and go to bed! That spring time change is always hard to get used to.
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| Why can't they just leave it alone?!?
Sister Christensen asked me one day if Robert could do one of her names for her before she leaves to to home, so we went to the temple on Wednesday and did two sessions. She was thrilled and we were glad to be able to do it. Then we had lunch at the temple and went to mission conference in the Joseph Smith building. We had C. Scott Gro, one of the 70's, speak to us. He had kind of a group discussion on Faith. He must have a photographic memory, the way he could rattle off scriptures and he didn't have any notes in front of him. He was called as a mission president at 39 and they took all 8 of their kids on their mission. He's pretty impressive.
We got called to another assignment, luckily not instead of anything, just in addition to. We're on the committee to help when missionaries are leaving. We'll meet with them and go over when they're supposed to leave and do a checklist of the condition of their furniture, etc. We met with the Palmers on Thursday evening for about 30-40 minutes. They work in the Church History Library and live in Nauvoo. They retired there. They were pretty sure they remembered Richard and Carolyn and what hard workers they were. They thought they may also have known Jerry and Gwen. Small world.
This evening we're having the young elders for dinner. We're having Mexican Cornbread and Robert's dump cake. I got up at 7:00 and started cooking. I made an Italian Cream Cake to take to our Fireflies get-together tomorrow night. I've never made one before, but it's an Italian theme and I decided I wanted to do one. I thought maybe I could borrow 9" cake pans from someone, but couldn't find anyone who had them, so had to buy them from the dollar store. May well never use them again--I'll leave them for Brenda or put them in the swap meet.
It rained like crazy at home last week. We called different ones and we seemed to be fine in Silsbee and Beaumont, but Deweyville is basically under water. We worried about Paul and Aimee, but they seem to be o.k. The RS Facebook page was asking for volunteers at the Red Cross shelter in Deweyville, and Matthew said they're going to organize men to go help with the cleanup with the water goes down. They even had I10 closed and were re-routing traffic through Silsbee.
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