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.