Week Ten…On the Road Again!

 So what did we learn this week?

Monday was mostly a regular day…working at the FSL and having FHE, but in between those two we also learned that Mom needs new glasses. She was pretty sure she needed them, but was able to go to an eye doctor to confirm that suspicion. However, when we went to choose glasses at Costco (see her many choices above…which one should she choose?) she learned that they forgot to add the “prism” aspect to her prescription…the part that helps correct her double vision. So they said she needs to go back to the doctor to get that added to her prescription. Ugh. Oh, and it snowed….AGAIN! 

On the way to the library in the morning it was still snowing! We crunched through the snow and made it there without falling. We learned the first week during our mission orientation that falling is against the rules. We are following the rules. 

Wednesday was a busy day. We had scheduled sealings with the Henkels in the Bountiful Temple at 8:30am. I tried calling the temple before we left because we had learned that they shutdown the temple last week when it snowed a lot. Well, I tried calling the temple but they didn’t answer. It said that they didn’t open until later. So we drove up there and…..any guesses?…yup they were closed. The parking lot gates were closed and there was a snowplow driving around in their trying to clear all of the snow. So we headed back to the freeway and I called the Draper Temple. They answered their phone, wahoo. I asked if they had any openings in the sealing rooms and they did. So we drove down there instead. It was actually nice because, like we learned last week, they will do more names there than most temples. It was just us and the Henkels and Brother Egan (the temple sealer) and a sister temple worker. We were able to complete almost all of the names that both of us brought in the 45 minutes or so that we had the sealing room. 

Then it was off to lunch at the Church Office Building (COB) with John Campbell, our friend from Hilo who is now working at the COB. It was a nice lunch and we learned that if we go there a little more often we may bump into tons of people that we know. I saw two of my former colleagues from Seminaries and Institutes while we were eating, and then we ran into a friend, Jim Butler, from Elk Grove. He is now working for the Church as well as head of their purchasing division. He took us into his office and showed us around a bit. Fun times seeing people we know. 

After lunch I headed off to get a haircut and Mom had one of the other missionary sisters over to teach her all her bread making tricks. I found this old barber shop called The Dollar Barber Shop and decided to try it out. I got a decent haircut and when I went to pay I learned that missionaries got a discount there…$5 instead of $10. Wow, what a deal. (I actually paid her the full $10 plus a tip and she was very happy). I think I’ll keep going back since it an old school barber shop and they don’t charge huge amounts of money for a haircut.

After the haircut and the bread making lesson we went out to dinner with the Henkels and the Watts. It was Sister Henkel’s birthday on Monday so we were celebrating. She wanted to go to a Peruvian restaurant that she likes in South Jordan. It was my first time eating Peruvian food and I learned that it’s pretty good. Mom and I got a chicken and steak pieces meal to split between the two of us and we sure were glad we did because the portions were very large. It had a very yummy sauce on the meat and those grilled red onion strips added tons of great flavor. 

Thursday we had a no snow day. What?! Time to ride! But it was our 8am day so I didn’t have time to ride in the morning, but I have learned that the Tour de France spin bike in the workout room in the COB is a pretty good substitute. Nothing like being on a real bike out on a real road, but it does change resistance and has you climb and descend hills and there is a video of the route you are doing. So I went there in the evening while Mom went to teach her sewing class. I rode one of the stages of the Tour (I can’t remember which one) and virtually rode 24 miles and climbed about 3000 feet. Not a bad workout. 

Friday morning we got up and packed our bags and got ready to hit the road again. Paige was getting baptized on Saturday and we have learned that senior missionaries in our mission can take a Leave of Absence for important family events. What a great policy. We drove down to Provo and caught an Allegiant flight to Las Vegas and then another Allegiant flight to Bellingham, arriving there about 10pm. Lots of flying, but here was our reward!

Paige asked me to give the talk on baptism and we learned that we have a very bright and spiritual granddaughter. I asked her at one point in my talk why she thought Heavenly Father gives us commandments. She replied that it was to keep us safe. I also talked about the covenant path and related it tot he paths around Bellingham. I asked what would happen if she took a side path. She replied that she might end up in a place that she wouldn’t know where she was. We were able to relate that to the path that our Savior has walked and helped us to know that we need to follow. I loved looking into her eyes and seeing a light that I am sure will keep her knowing how to live and how to be happy all of her life.

The next day was Easter Sunday. We went to Church with the family and then came back and did Easter egg hunting with the kids and dinner with JB and Debs Burley and their oldest daughter and her husband and kids. 

I ended the day reading from the New Testament about the first Easter Morning. I shared on my FB page a video of how I feel about that marvelous event. 

Today we got up early and Chris B. took us to the airport in Bellingham. We flew down to Las Vegas where Allegiant changed our flight to have a 12 hour layover instead of a 2 hour layover so Shaun came and picked us up and we spent the day we Brittany and Shaun and their kids. We had dinner at Keith and Tammy’s and are now sitting here waiting for our flight back to Provo.

Love you all. 

BE GOOD.

Elder and Sister Phillips