Week Thirty…Art is “Perty”!

Wow, it’s week number thirty in the books. Here’s what we learned this week.

Monday morning was a mission conference and we heard from the counselors in the mission presidency and their wives. President Faerber did a little object lesson. He asked us all to raise our hand up as high as we could. Then he said, “Now raise it a little higher.” I was surprised that I could raise it higher, thinking I already had it up as high as I could. I learned that many times we think we have reached our peak performance in a certain area, but there’s always more we can do. Pretty cool.

We went into the library and had a fun day. I was able to complete the revision of the last 1/4 of the lessons that I have been working on as well as help a few people in between. That night was Family Home Evening with the other missionaries in our apartment building and the Ragars were in charge of the lesson. They asked everyone to share how they study and mark their scriptures. I wasn’t going to share anything, but I learned that there were a couple of others who have a similar way of studying like I do, so I decided to share. I learned long ago for me that if I highlight the most important words and phrases of a verse, that zeroes me in on the principle or main idea that I believe Mormon or Daniel or Peter was trying to teach, and then I could read everything leading up to that verse and after it in context with that principle. I also shared how I gave up on paper scriptures many years ago and LOVE the ability to add my own footnotes and cross references to my scriptures. I also shared that I study 6 different things…Old Testament, Book of Mormon, General Conference, Come Follow Me (currently the New Testament), Liahona magazine and Revelations in Context. I meant to explain that I learned as a young Institute teacher that studying more than one book of scripture helped me see more truths and themes and I was going to share that, but the comments that came out were, “Wow, over achiever.” and I got embarrassed and flustered and just said that I don’t always study as regularly as I should. 

Tuesday it was raining on and off so we decided to go to the COB and use their gym to exercise. Mom walked on the treadmill and I did my normal weight workout then jumped on a Tour de France stationary bike to do a ride. I learned that their preprogrammed rides are nice, but the readout speed and gradient information leave a lot to be desired. I chose the Col du Tourmalet ride and there were sections that were in the 15% grade range and I was holding a 5-6mph speed going up that grade. I know in real life that I am usually going about 4mph when I hit a 9-10% grade, so there is no way I could do that. I did get in a little over an hour ride and it told me in the end summary that I did over 3400 feet of climbing. Again, I didn’t feel like I was doing that much climbing, but my legs did feel tired and I was sweating pretty good, so it was a decent workout!

We then went into the library where we both started working on our training…Mom for Italy and me for Norway. Both of us were hitting snags in our research projects they were asking us to do. We have learned when you hit snags, instead of beating your head against the desk and getting nowhere, go ask someone for some help. They can usually give you some direction and hints that really save tons of headaches. Also, we ask each other for help now and then, mostly looking at records to see if we can help read that old handwriting. Fun times! The last half of the day I trained some of the missionaries from our floor on how to run the Escape Room and then took a peek at how the US/Canada Zone uses an iPad to sign their missionaries into he Help System. I learned that they have set up their computer monitors differently than ours so that they can see people coming off of the elevators better and the iPad sign-in system makes it easier to have missionaries get in the system without crowding the reference desk. So I went back to our floor and told them what I learned and said that I am going to try moving things around on our floor and we ought to request an iPad. They liked the idea.

Wednesday we worked out in the morning…Mom walked and I rode…then she went off to her class. I got a text from her asking if I wanted to meet her at the COB cafeteria because she heard they have good soft-serve ice cream. So I of course said yes…ICE CREAM!…and walked over there. But when I got there we learned that their soft-serve machine wasn’t up and running that day, but they did have fro-yo. So Mom got some fro-yo and we decided to go see the Minerva Teichert art exhibit at the Church History Museum. We have been walking past there every day and keep saying that we want to see the exhibit, so we finally did. Here is a link to the pics we took. https://photos.app.goo.gl/pSHfHVRbrQ4ADQyn6  We were trying to decide what our favorite picture

was. I really liked that part of her training had her doing caricatures along with landscapes and portraits. It made her a well-rounded artist. Mom likes the one with the lambs as well as Christ in the Red Robe. What’s your favorite? I thought that her painting of Alma at the Waters of Mormon was very similar in its layout to Arnold Friberg’s painting of the same event. Of course the style and colors were very different, but there were lots of similarities. Mom especially liked that the exhibit told her life story and added memories from her kids and grandkids. We also learned, and  thought it was pretty cool, that she was a normal farm girl. She worked on the farm during the day and at night she painted. They turned her living room into her art studio. 

Thursday Tim and Sue brought Kayla down to our floor. We learned that she is living in Murray and was visiting the Ramsdens to bring them some cookies and came to see us as well. I trained some more folks for the Escape Room and we were floor leads the whole day as usual. We did learn that they have added a table up in the 3rd floor lunchroom for people to bring food to share. Mom brought bread and just put it on the counter. We’re still sad we can’t have food on our floor.

After our shift was finished we jumped in our car with Sister Pruner from Canada and went and did sealings at the Bountiful Temple. The first sealer was very efficient and we got all of the people whose names we brought, sealed to their families. We had signed up for a second session, so we just had what was left of Sister Pruner’s names to do. We were able to get all but 5 or 6 of hers done, and that was good because she came with about 25 of them. When we came out of the temple we learned that a storm was blowing in. It was very windy. We stopped at Culver’s for a burger and frozen custard. Yum!

Friday morning I got up and went for a ride. I had planned to get up early, but slept in a bit so I didn’t have as much time for my ride as I wanted. So I did a shorter ride, but pushed harder. Good workout! I got back just in time to go help Sister Rainey move. She is a senior service missionary who has been serving at the library for 8 years. She lives in our apartment building and is completing her mission and moving to 

Idaho. Her granddaughter? brought the moving truck and me and two other missionaries did the loading. Mom and Sister Engstrom helped her pack up more things that weren’t packed yet. It wasn’t a huge move, but it was a decent amount of stuff and we were there for about 3 1/2 hours. Good workout!

Then we went into the library for a short shift where I learned that I had forgotten that I had set up another training for the Escape Room with two of the sister missionaries on our floor. Luckily for me, they forgot as well. Whew. We worked on our Italy and Norway training and then helped clean all of the computers on our floor. We learned last month that it is the Friday shift’s turn to do that each week. We get a spray bottle filled with distilled water and a microfiber rag and wipe down keyboards and mice and monitors. We got home and did a quick change and headed out to the KOA campground on North Temple St. We learned that the Henkels have their trailer parked over there getting it ready for their after-mission travels and they wanted to have us come out for a BBQ. They made us hamburgers and ‘tater salad and corn on the cob. Usually Mom and I split a burger, but this time we both ate our own. Needless to say we were VERY full after dinner. Then they brought out apple cake and ice cream. Now we were OVER full. We stayed around and talked for quite awhile and finally headed back to our apartment after 9:30. Long day! I was tired and went right to sleep when I hit the mattress.

Yesterday we were tired from our helping Sister Rainey move, and our day at the library and our night with the Henkels (I am learning that I tire more easily as I get older) so we didn’t go walking or riding. Mom made some sourdough bread and into the library we went. We both got to help some people and I was steward for 4 hours…btw I changed the monitor placement and everyone seemed to like it…and we both worked on our Italy and Norway training. Mom was able to shadow Ali, who is really good at Italy research, while she helped a couple of different people and I was able to crack the craziness of Norway Farmbooks to find the people I am supposed to find in the last case study for my beginner training. I think we are both ready to pass off this phase. Wahoo. After our shift we went out in front of the library where we met Sister Maria Eppich. She has a friend with a sizable garden that wants to share her veggies. The sourdough bread was from Mom to her to say thanks for all of the fresh veggies. 

We woke up later today and casually got ready for church. We have learned that it takes about 22-25 minutes to walk to church so we left a little before 9:30 and got there about 10 minutes before 10. Church was nice and they had a little linger longer afterwards. We talked with Alex for awhile. He is has a masters in linguistics from the University of Washington and is currently looking for a job doing that or maybe teaching. We then walked home and I started on this blog post. I paused to head back up the hill for Stake Priesthood meeting. When I got there this is what the parking lot looked like. I opened our ward newsletter on my phone and learned that the meeting is postponed until October 29th. I guess I should read my ward newsletter when it arrives. So I am back and finished with this post and want to eat some zupa toscana that Mom made for dinner.

Love you all. 

BE GOOD!

Sister and Elder Phillips