These last two days have been amazing for the weather. It has been in the upper 40's and even got to 53 degrees! Unbelievable for this time of year. I believe the Lord did not want to shock us too quickly. I have my heavier coat and am ready for the freezing weather to come starting tonight.
Last Monday we had 24 Church Service Missionaries arrive for training. As is always the case, we had several 3rd to 8th cousins in the group. If you have not tried "relatives around me" on the family search app try it, it is so fun. Bob taught his lesson on Discover, Gather, Connect for the first time and did a great job. He is pretty handy to have around when trying to make a power point. He has helped me a lot this week as I will be teaching my first class this week. More on that in next weeks blog. We were both fully engaged this class in mentoring and doing one on one practice with the new missionaries. There is nothing like teaching that forces you to learn the material.
The construction, or should I say demolition continues to progress at an amazing speed. I often think of the Mesa Temple and hope it is continuing to move quickly forward. We look forward to being able to return as ordinance workers at the end of this mission.
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| Nothing left of the South Visitors Center January 31, 2020 |
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| One of several dumpsters loading up for removal. January 31, 2020 |
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| One of the huge backhoes moving dirt and debris . The Cedar of Lebanon still stands. January 31, 2020 |
Thursdays are our days to do sealings at the Bountiful temple. We love the Bountiful temple and are now feeling at home there as we are learning our way around. This mission has "turned our hearts" like nothing else I can imagine. We have both been finding relatives and connections like never before.
Friday we had our Go Forth Meeting with the mission Presidency as they announced the assignments for the 24 new missionaries. Our Training Zone received one, Sister Walker will be joining the zone as of tomorrow. Our zone provides the "Honey Butter Social" after that meeting. We provide, bagels, bread, juice, and bobs favorite, chocolate milk. They then meet with their new zone leaders to get a taste of what they will be doing on their missions.
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| This is the Relief Society Room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at the Honey Butter Social. Our Zone Leaders are front Elder Mike and Sister Susan Parker. |
Friday also brings in the new full time missionaries from the MTC. They have the weekend to move in and we start their training on Monday. We are so excited to have a friend from Mesa, Faye Shoemaker, join our mission. She will be a great addition. At the swap meet we met a couple from Idaho with a last name of Higginson! Can't wait to see how we are related.
Saturday I put together my class that I will be teaching on Wednesday. It is about writing your life stories. We then went for a couple of long walks with our friends, Dave and Sandy Biggs. The Boehme's joined us for a long hike down and through Memory Grove and back to the State Capital. It was a beautiful day...…….perfect for hiking even if there were a lot of big dogs. Yikes!
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| By a pretty waterfall in Memory Grove. February 1, 2020 |
Saturday night we went to the Vocal Point concert at the little theater at the conference center. They were amazing. It is an a cappella men's group from BYU. You know you are getting old when you don't know the songs they are singing till they do a flash back to the 60's? They did a Beachboys medley that had us senior missionaries dancing in our seats.
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| Vocal Point February 1, 2020 |
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| Vocal Point February 1, 2020 |
Sunday found us at Music and The Spoken Word with our Mesa friends and fellow missionaries. At Church Elder Dave Briggs was put in as a councilor to our branch presidency. He will be amazing there. The walk home from church was 10 degrees colder than when we went to church 3 hours earlier. Here comes the cold and snow!
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| Sis Brooks, Keri Sue Kleiner, Faye Shoemaker, Debra and Bob Barton |
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