Christmas visitors from near and far

This week started out with a quick trip to Idaho Falls to visit Linda Perkins, Debra's' sister.  It was surprisingly warm in Salt Lake and Idaho for December 23.  We had a nice visit with Linda and her daughter Jodi and her children Carson and Kaytlyn.  We had a 45 minute delay as there was a traffic accident on I 15 at Brigham City.  We came back to Salt Lake to be "home" for Christmas on the 24th.  We had a very quiet Christmas walking around Temple Square (at least I thought people would be in there own homes for Christmas.  No, they were all walking around the square in the rain)  It was still very nice.  We watched a Christmas movie and went to bed!

Christmas morning I got a call that my sister Sherry and Richard Jensen were coming from St. George to share Christmas with us.  We had a way too short visit with them, but it was so fun to have them here.  We also had a mission Christmas lunch at 1:00.  I roasted 15 pounds of potatoes...…….do you know how long it takes to roast 15 pounds of potatoes?  More than three hours!  They never did brown but they were very good.

Richard and Sherry Jensen Christmas day 2019.  She had surgery on her lip and so did a profile picture

Later Christmas day Heidi, Wynn, Alea, and Weston came for our traditional clam chowder and rolls.  They brought me a much needed warm fuzzy blanket and Bob way too many 3 musketeer candy bars.  We walked around Temple Square again with them and it was much colder.  We then came back to play games, another family tradition.  We were able to talk with most of our children.  Thank goodness for technology!

It was a cold but glorious night!  Weston, Wynn, Heidi and Alea Christensen with Grandma and Grandpa Barton

The next morning I made "hot cakes" in a little fry pan. (no griddle)  We went to the Family Search Library and the Church History Museum. There is so much for families to do and explore.  I must say you could have a great vacation with your families just coming to Temple Square.  Heidi then joined Bob and I at the temple to do sealings.  The Training Zone, where we are assigned, has a standing sealing session with the same Sealer, Brother Kerr.  As it has been for the past few months it was so busy!  They do 10 sessions a day with one each hour.  To accommodate the crowds they have been doing 17 session.  It is crazy but so great to see people rushing to the temple before it closes.  One of the sisters said it was kind of like when the saints were leaving Nauvoo and their temple.  They just wanted to go one more time.  Gratefully there are many temples we can attend.

Heidi on the steps of the Salt Lake Temple East Doors

Hot cake in a little fry pan

That night we joined Bob's sisters Jo Lynn, Kaye and Sam, DaNell, and some of their kids at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant.  After eating way too much, Heidi and Wynn and there family left us to go to Highland with Wynn's Parents.  It was so fun to have them here with us.

 

Bob, Debra, Shelly, Jo-Lynn, Kaye, Sam, Allie, DaNell, Maddie, Josh, Andrew ,Heid, Wynn Weston was taking the picture at Buca di Beppo.

Friday the 27th our friends from Mesa Connie and Tom Larsen came for the afternoon and evening.  Again we walked around Tempe Square to see the lights.  It was the coldest night yet because the wind was blowing.  It was 25 with a wind chill of 19.  Burrrr!  Of course we played some games, it wouldn't be Christmas without games.

Connie and Tom Larsen with the Christmas lights.

Saturday December 28 was Weston's 16th birthday and he wanted to be home in Mesa with his friends and so they are home safely.  We have blessed with a feeling of "home" with all the visitors but also a reminder that wherever the spirit of Christmas and the Savior are, there is home!  We were able to do one more sealing session on Saturday, the last night before the temple closes for 4-5 years.

Bob and Debra on the stairs at the East doors.  We had our wedding pictures in the same place 46 years ago

We are loving our mission and learning so much about Family Search.  Whoever knew there was so much to learn!  We are getting better at navigating our way around the site and pray that the Lord will bless us to be able to serve the missionaries when they come in on January 6th for training.  We now have our computers and a place to work, now if we can just learn what we need to.
 

Bob and Debra at our desks and computers.  We are on the third floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building North East side.

Sunday found us at Music and the Spoken Word.  It is so fun to walk across the street and be at the Conference Center.  How blessed we are with great family, friends, and missionaries.

It's A wonderful Life Around the Square

What a "Wonderful Life"  That is one of my favorite Christmas Shows and it truly describes what it is like to be serving here around the square with all the beautiful lights, nativities, and the warm spirit.  It has not been too cold this week and no snow expected till Christmas Eve.

We haven't seen this kind of frost yet but it is a beautiful picture given to us by one of our missionaries.

We are on a steep learning curve and the more we learn the more we realize how much we don't know.  Family search is so amazing!  I had no idea how fun it can be and how easy they have tried to make it for everyone to be able to do it.  This past week we observed enrichment classes being taught. (we will one day be teaching them) When new missionaries are not coming in we do classes for any of the missionaries already serving to learn more about what they can do with their family history.  We learned about My Heritage, Puzzilla and finding cousins, Tiles and Stories, Indexing, Attaching External Sources, and finding things in the Family Search Catalog.  The Church has provided so many tools we really have no excuse not to dive in.  This mission is pushing Bob and me off the diving board.  I think we definitely needed the push!  It has been reinforced "That with God all things are possible.

We were able to do a sealing session at the Salt Lake Temple with our Training Zone.  It is crazy busy but all was peaceful in our special sealing room.  Six more days and the temple will close for 4 years for renovations and making it earthquake safe.  We were told the conference center and the temple when it is finished can withstand an 8.2 earthquake with hardly a shake of the chandeliers.

A favorite spot on the plaza for taking pictures

For Christmas (early) Bob got a new suit that was purchased by Alea, our granddaughter, who works at Kohls.  It looks very handsome on him.

Bob's new Christmas Suit.  Thanks Alea!

I got a used Yamaha 88 keyboard so I can have a piano like instrument in our apartment.  We joined the Elijah Choir. (the mission choir)  It is under the direction of Vanja Y. Watkins who has written and published a lot of church music.  She is an amazing director and it should be a great learning experience.  We needed the keyboard for my sanity and to practice our music.

Debra at her new keyboard and $3 chair from DI

Our mission Christmas "tree"  notice the ornaments hanging from his nose and buttons!

We visited with Bruce and Vicky Haws our friends from years gone by.  He was Bobs best man at our wedding.  We also visited with Trisha and Grant Madsen, friends from our Nauvoo days.  She is truly a walking talking miracle as she was in a horrendous car accident in Mesa 5 years ago.  She was in the hospital for 7 months and in rehab for 3 more months.  She is one amazing woman.  Both she and Grant are service missionaries in our mission.  She plays the organ for her ward and also for the Salt Lake Temple.

Our new Mission friends, Sandy and Dave Briggs from Lovell Wyoming.

Bob and I were able to attend Savior of the World, a beautiful play about the Saviors Birth and Resurrection at the Conference Center Theater.  There is so much to see and do around the square, especially at Christmastime.
We got this picture from Heidi and Wynn on Saturday.  They went to the house to get oranges for us and to do the yard and found our lemon tree split right down the middle. I don't think it will survive but they are working on it.

Lemon tree with a big portion broken off.

Today after church all the young Elders in our mission lined up by the tree at the Joseph Smith Memorial building to receive their Christmas Stockings neatly placed around the Tree.  We Senior Missionaries stood around the Mezzanine to watch.  They are such great young men.

Young Elders getting their Christmas Stockings

Mission life is so good.  We are both enjoying our assignments and the sweet people and missionaries we rub shoulders with.

Tis The Season To Be Freezin

Here is our first post for our Salt Lake Headquarters Mission. The reason we named our post All Around The Square is because we work in the buildings all around Temple Square. We have the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Church Office Building, The Church History Museum, The Family Search Library, and the Church History Library.

Picture of the Salt Lake Temple from the Jade Room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

We reported to the MTC in Provo Utah December 2. There are four couples and 14 single senior Sisters going to our mission. They tell us this is a big group and it has been fun getting to know them. There of course were about 100 other missionaries going to every part of the world. It is always exciting to hear where they are all going. It was so different and much better than our previous two times. The "wraps" were delicious as always and it was nice not to have to fix meals. We left Friday at noon and drove to Salt Lake, got the keys to our apartment at 185 North West Temple #209. 

West Temple Apartment Building (Our new Home)

We had young Elders assigned to help us and all the other senior missionaries move all of our things up to our room. Thank goodness we had an elevator! They were great but had the work out of their lives. We settled in on Friday night and Saturday and were exhausted by Sunday. We meet for church in the Joseph Smith Memorial Chapel. The organ there is very unique, it has black keys and white sharps and flats. Monday we had a great devotional with the Mission President, President Jerry Fenn. He is quite the scriptorian. We then had a delicious catered lunch in the Jade Room in the Joseph Smith Memorial building. We trained in Salt Lake for the next week. 

Add Christmas lights on Temple Square 2019

There are 14 different Zones in our mission and we all had an anxious week not knowing what we would be doing. We learned much about Family Search and toured the buildings around Temple Square. On Friday we had our "Go Forth To Serve" meeting and were given our assignments. Bob and I are assigned to the Training Zone to train new missionaries as they come to the mission. How is that---the newbies training the newbies! or as our granddaughter put it - "The blind leading the blind". That makes me feel real good ;-} They assure us that we will be ready when they set us loose. More training to come. This actually will suit us very well.

We walk everywhere and that is a good thing. Friday after our assignments we all went on a session at the Salt Lake Temple. I have never seen so many people! We were there an hour early and barely made it into the session with 202 other patrons. Some people have waited three hours to get into a session. Everyone from everywhere wants to see the temple one last time before it closes for four years for major renovations. It is so beautiful if just takes your breath away.

Our granddaughter, Alea, came up and we went to the Utah Millennial Choir Concert at Abravanel Hall. The concert was good; the company better. She also helped us get our printer up and working. Oh the techy brains of these young ones. 

Alea connecting the printer to the computer after we tried for 4 frustrating hours

We attended the churches Christmas concert with Kellie O Hara and Richard Thomas. It was beautiful but we ran home in a hail storm. The traffic is so bad around here right now with all the lights, concerts, and people we are grateful we don't have to drive or park to get anywhere. Tonight we are going to Abravanel Hall for the Utah Symphony Christmas Concert. There is so much to see and do especially at this time of year. It is colder than we are used to but the people and the surroundings are so warm with the spirit. We have had our first snowstorm and know there will be many more.