Week Four…Here’s More

So I know you must be saying “What happened to week 3?”. Well last Sunday was pretty busy and I totally forgot about doing the blog…sorry. But here’s this week’s blog (and there might be a bit from week 3 in here as well).

So what did we learn this week? (or last week?)

We learned that getting our own internet might be harder than we thought it would be. There are apartments in the complex that have mission-paid-for internet and have shared the login and password with the rest of us to use. But as you may have quickly guessed the connection isn’t great and the speed is poor. So we decided to look into getting our own internet. We found that they have prewired a coaxial cable connection in our front closet (and it looks like they are planning for future fiber optic as well, since a tube-like connection is pulled into there as well) so we found that it is for Xfinity. The cost was competitive and the speed is very good. So we signed up. They sent us the modem in the mail and I hooked it all up. Then I went to my phone app to get it set up and it said there was no internet connection. So I tightened the connection and reset it and tried again. Still no connection. I then noticed that the screws holding the little plate that covers the coaxial connector were lose. So I unscrewed them and found that there is no cable hooked up to the back side of that connector. What!!??

After calling the apartment manager and having an Xfinity guy come out, it was determined that the guys pulling the cable lines during this apartment’s remodel missed our apartment. Ugh. So no internet. But our wonderful friends from across the hall, the Henkels, brought over their hotspot box that they use when they are traveling, and all has been well. It’s been two weeks now and still no resolution about who and when a cable will be brought to our apartment. We’ll keep you informed.

So the last two weeks have been filled with training on the computer in the Family Search Library (FSL). We sit for about 7 hours a day doing lessons that teach us how to do research and use the programs available to everyone that comes into the FSL. We have learned that it can be tedious and frustrating and downright overwhelming! Mom has shed quite a few tears and I have had some long talks with my Father about why it is that we have been chosen to do this work. I must admit my heart was not fully in it. But we have been doing our best and little things, like the reading for Come Follow Me and listening to some conference talks, have softened our hearts and given us the inspiration to know what we need to do. As we went to bed one night, after I had had another “chat” with my Heavenly Father about this assignment, I got up from my knees and mom asked “What were you taking so long praying about?”. So I told her and she began to tear up and express her frustrations as well. I then felt I should ask her if she needed a blessing? She said yes, and I gave her one right there in bed. It wasn’t anything earth-shattering or revealing, but it was the confirmation that our Father knew who she was and what He was asking her to do and that the help would be there for her to accomplish the task…AND prepare her for upcoming missionS (I  emphasize the plural S at the end of missionS) . I remember distinctly getting that impression to say “missions” (plural) and knowing mom is not really wanting to be gone that much I hesitated to say it, but I was constrained by the Spirit and said what I was being prompted to say. So we learned there are definitely more missions ahead for us. 

I have been moving along in the training a bit faster than mom. I joked at the beginning of the week that I’d get the training done that they were giving us two weeks to get done, done in 2 days…but of course that didn’t happen. It took me most of the whole first week. I have moved along and got the second half of the training done this last week, and mom’s blessing has kicked in and she got the first half done this week as well and is right on schedule! Wahooo. We learned that things do get easier the more you do them.

We got hit by a big storm this last week. They told anyone that was traveling in from afar to just stay home and those of us that were here in the apartments went in and manned the FHL. We didn’t think we would have any patrons coming in, but we were wrong! There were quite a few people who braved the storm and came in and I got to help get some people get started with their research and then hand them off to a specialist. I learned how fun it is to teach someone about the resources found online to search for their ancestors. Of course that shouldn’t have surprised me at all, because I was teaching…and I love teaching! 

We also had quite a few dentist and doctor appointments this week, and we learned that we can indeed drive in the snow! The AWD CR-V helps a lot, but it is pretty wild driving when there is tons of snow covering all of the roads. The snow was falling so fast that the snowplows couldn’t keep up with it, but the car did great and my snow-driving skills that I learned 35 years ago when we used to live here came right back. 

We found out where the infamous “Box B” is located. We got to go on a tour of the Beehive House (after hours) because one of the missionaries in our mission contacted the missionaries that give the tours there and arranged it for us. Perks of being in this mission! It was pretty cool. They plan to close the place down in a month or two to do renovations on it, just like what is happening on he rest of temple square, so it was nice that we were able to see it before that happens.

We learned that the Church Office Building used to be housed in the front part of the Beehive house. President Young and family lived in the back half of the house.  In the next picture you can see “Box B”. That is where all of the mail that came to and from the office building was organized. I am sure you have heard about people getting mission calls in letters that were mailed to them and the return address on the envelope said Box B. I just watched last Sunday The Other Side of Heaven 2: Fire of Faith and saw that Elder Groberg received his call to be president of the Tongan Mission in a letter with the return address being Box B. Kind of cool to know that it came from that very office in which we were standing. The last picture was of the office that the President of the Church used upstairs in his home. The picture mom is standing in front of is one that President Joseph F. Smith had painted and is of a scene from his mission to Hawaii. Aloha!!! 

  

We ended our week this week by attending Music and the Spoken Word again. This time we were surprised by the announcer that began the broadcast. It was Thurl Bailey.

We learned that this ex-Jazz basketball player grew up loving music. His parents would sing together with all the family in the mornings in their home and he just loved it. When he was drafted by the Jazz in 1983 he joked that maybe he could become one of the Osmond Brothers. Well it was a great performance by the Tabernacle Choir and the Symphony and a great way to end/begin our week.

Love you all!

Be Good!

Mom and Dad