Week Seventeen…The Biscuit and Hogs was Really Keen!

Aloha wonderful children. Let me tell you what we learned this week!

Monday we had our “Disney Training” and as part of it we were supposed to go to some sort of store or service center and take pictures of things that speak to their visitors. Our group chose the Church History Library and we learned that you definitely see things differently when your purpose is different. We first visited this library our first week on the mission as part of our orientation. We learned then about what happens there and what missionary assignments were in that building. That’s all we were focused on then. This time, going to the building to see how it speaks we saw it very differently. I noticed the very high ceiling and the very formal features of the entryway. They seemed to say that this place was very important and dignified and you need to behave yourself when you are in there. It houses tons of historical documents and items from allover the world. Pretty cool stuff. I think we need to go back again with the purpose of being Church members just seeing our history.

That evening we had a great mission devotional where Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi and his wife Amy Anne came and talked about their time as mission leaders (the new term for mission president) and how much they loved senior missionaries. We learned they are a very dynamic couple.

After the devotional we went back to the apartment and said farewell to Elder and Sister Watts. They lived just down the hall from us and it was Diane (Sister Watts) and Sonya (Sister Henkel) who started up all the activities here in our apartment building and from whom we have inherited that responsibility along with the Engstroms. Also Diane was Mom’s sewing instructor partner. They will be missed. They are heading home to Colorado. 

Tuesday was our go in at noon day. We used our morning to exercise. Mom walked and I rode my mountain bike. Then we went in and had a good day in the library. We worked on our training, Mom on Dutch and me on Sweden. We have learned that it is harder to get that training finished when you keep getting interrupted to go help someone, but that is what we are in the library for and it is actually way more fun than the training. In our prayer meeting we had an in service training about using the online maps that are available through FamilySearch. That evening I was sent to help a lady with her Ireland research because here was no specialist available. I learned that she was trying to read a court document where her great great grandfather was mentioned. I helped her read the difficult handwriting and we were able to discover that he was from a town called Bleanmore. She was wondering where that was. Aha, I just learned how to use online maps! So away we went and after looking at two different maps we found it on the 3rd one. She was soooooo excited to see that place on the map and know that was where her ancestor came from. What a great moment I was able to share with her. 

Wednesday was our Pday, but we had our last day of “Disney Training” so we rode and walked quickly in the morning and got into the library by 11:30 for that. It was a great last day and we learned a lot about good customer care. We learned that Walt Disney really was a visionary man. After that we can’t remember (old brains) what we did the rest of the evening.

Thursday we went in early to the library and were floor leaders. Everything went well and we had a good day. That evening I went and worked out at the COB and then worked on a new SharePoint site for our West Temple Apartments Missionaries. Since we are assistants to the Ministering Coordinators for the apartments we thought it might be nice to have a site for everyone to be able to go to to find info about events and contact info. So I learned how to create a SharePoint site and started to fill in the needed info and links. It was fun, but also a little frustrating because I learned that it is harder to do on an iPad. 

Friday started early. We learned that the Ogden Temple had room for us to do initiatories, but only at 6:45am. So we got up early and headed up there. Wow, that temple looks sooooo different! I’m guessing you can probably tell that the old temple is the one on the left and the one on the right is the newly remodeled one which was finished in 2014. We finished our initiatories quickly and decided to go out for breakfast. So Mom did a Yelp searched and found a fun sounding restaurant…The Biscuit and Hogs. 

We learned that the Yelp reviewers were right. This place was a fun restaurant as well as a good restaurant. We ordered the Smokehouse plate which came with the option of having toast or a pancake or a French toast biscuit or biscuits and gravy. We chose a biscuit and gravy and learned it was a great choice. Yum! Of course we shared the plate and it was plenty for the two of us. We then stopped at Lowe’s to pick up some soil for Mom’s gardening project. She decided to add to her hanging tomato plants a small children’s pool with dirt in it in which to plant her cucumbers. We brought it all home and since we had started so early learned we had plenty of time for Mom to get dirty before going into the library. She got everything planted and then we got ready and went in. Since it was our temple day we had the first half off so we just went in for the second half of the day. I forgot to mention that Mom was hoping to pass off her intermediate Dutch on Tuesday, but the specialist never got around to her. Sadness. I was hoping to pass off my intermediate Swedish on Friday, but learned that I

would experience the same sadness as Mom.  My Swedish specialist was too busy as well. 

We finished there and headed to Orem to see Bruce and Laura and Leland. We had planned to go down for Leland’s birthday on the 13th, but we got sick so we rescheduled for Friday night. We brought pizza and a gift for Leland, who of course whooped me playing video games. We also learned that Bruce has been doing the Atkins diet and has lost a good bit of weight. I might need to join him, since I seem to be gaining a bit more weigh then I would like…it is noticeable when I have to climb hills on my bike. We stayed a little longer than we had planned and got home a bit late. Ugh. 

We went in earlier on Saturday morning than we usually do because we were covering for some other missionaries who are on leave. We were a bit tired and were worried it was going to be tough day, but we learned it was going to be a great day. He two specialists that were assigned to work that day were the ones that do Dutch and Swedish training. So both Mom and I were able to pass off our intermediate training. Wahoo! On to advanced. Also, we learned that they do their prayer meeting a little different on Saturday morning and we made it even different than that, we just sat around in a little circle and said a prayer and then asked if anyone had a inspirational thought they would like to share. We had a few of them do that, and of course they were great, and then we went to work. Everyone said they loved the casual prayer meeting. Maybe we started something.

Saturday night we played games with some of the other couples here in our apartments and we learned a new game called Bank!  It is very simple and pretty fun. There is an app you download to keep score and all you need is two dice.

Today we went to our new ward, Salt Lake 20th Ward. It is held in an old building that is very different in architecture which is very cool, We learned that it was built in 1924 after they tore down the original chapel that was built in 1856. Whew, a little history here. Our new ward is a very normal ward, with enough young men to administer the sacrament and enough babies to keep sacrament meeting lively. We were greeted warmly and I learned quickly that I am related to many in the ward. I met a brother Terry who is a cousin related to me from a brother of the Terry’s I am descended from. He also told me there was another Terry in the ward that he thought is from the same line as I am. Then I used the Relatives Around Me app with another sister and found out we were 10th cousins. Mom chose a tow to sit in behind a couple with 3 young children, all under the age of 4. The baby was very smiley and it was fun to interact with her. The talks were great and it was nice to hear from some younger people than senior missionaries. 

Before we headed off to Elders Quorum and Relief Society, while I was chatting with my 10th cousin, Mom was approached by this wonderful

couple. They are Megan and Wes, friends of Zoë from the Bellingham YSA Branch. Mom learned that they were here visiting some of Megan’s family who lives in our ward. Small world. 

We then went off to our classes and they were both good. After that the ward had a linger longer in the cultural hall where we all enjoyed a great pasta salad that a sister named Melissa (can’t remember right now her last name) and it was very good. So good that I decided to go up to her and ask about the dressing she put on it. I learned it was a recipe that her mother-in-law shared with her, a recipe that she actually entered in a recipe contest and I think she said she won with it. Ugh, old brains, I wish I could remember everything she told me. She even told me I could Google the recipe and find it online, but she would send it to me if I asked via text. As soon as I have access to the ward directory I’m going to do it and I’ll share the recipe with all of you.

Well that is what we learned this week. Hope you are all learning much as well.

Love you.

BE GOOD!

Sister and Elder Phillips

Extra photos for fun…