Week Thirty-two…Our Time Has Flew! (Flown?…oh well.)

So here is what we learned this week.

I don’t remember! Just kidding, I actually remember quite a bit, but I need to be better at writing things down as they happen because I really do forget. Monday was a holiday…Labor Day. We didn’t have a Mission Devotional that morning, nor FHE that night. In the library we didn’t have very many guests. We were very slow most of the day. I worked on Norway training and Mom on Italy training. I learned I was wrong last week when I said she had completed her beginning Italy training. She was almost finished. 

After our shift we went home and since there was no FHE we… (here’s where the old brains come in)…I don’t remember what we did the rest of he evening. Read? Watched tv? Ugh. Old brains! I do remember one thing. I accidentally turned my shoe over and learned that I had worn these holes in the heels of my shoes, and that the tread was getting pretty worn in the middle as well. I was kind of surprised at first, but then I started doing some calculations and I’m pretty sure that since we have arrived here in Salt Lake City I have walked about 90 miles just from our apartment to the library and back. That doesn’t count all the other walks to devotionals in the COB or JSMB, nor does it count our walks to church on Sunday or, or, or. Plus I looked it up and learned that I bought these shoes over a year ago so I need to add all the miles I put on before coming here. The uppers are still in great shape and I thought for a moment about getting them re-soled, but I don’t know a good place around here nor how much that would cost. I looked them up on Amazon and learned they were on sale so I just bought a new pair. They got here Wednesday.

Fortunately I wrote some things down for Tuesday so I remember what we learned. I decided if I was going to get my 500 miles that I pledged for The Great Cycle Challenge (GCC) I had better get out and ride, even if all I had was my mountain bike. So I put on my GCC t-shirt and off I went. I really didn’t learn much, it was just as I expected. A lot slower, but a good ride. I was able to go my planned 30 miles, it just took longer. We got into the library at noon and found it was still pretty slow. I went and signed in and started doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing based on our schedule online. But I learned that for some reason the real schedule was different. It was changed and didn’t get updated online. So I was a bit embarrassed for telling people where I thought they were supposed to be, but I was totally wrong. Fortunately everyone there is so patient and after I was set straight the rest of the day went very smoothly, even though it was another very slow day as far as guests go, especially in the evening. We were so slow we were all just working on our own projects and were rarely asked to go help someone. 

Wednesday was Pday. My new handlebars arrived Tuesday night, so I got up and installed them, then took them out for their maiden voyage. I learned pretty quickly that they weren’t adjusted quite right, but they worked fine to get my ride in. Mom went walking, then to her last Emotional Resilience class. After her class I met her at the COB to have lunch with John Campbell (remember the mix up from last week?). We had a good lunch and talked about all the recent happenings in our lives. Then we came home and, and, and I don’t remember…except that we learned that we totally blew it last night. We were supposed to go to our Hale Center Theater play, Catch Me If You Can. For some reason it didn’t get put on our library schedule and I didn’t look at my calendar much that day. Sadness, we really love those. 

Thursday we went in at 8am and were floor leads all day. We had a little busier day and I wasn’t able to work on Norway training much at all. Mom helped some more people from Italy…she’s getting pretty good at that…and I went to my meeting for the Training Revamp we are doing where I learned we are ready to move forward with working on changing some of the formatting and methodology of the lessons. Time to get creative. Right after our shift was finished we jumped in our car and headed to the Bountiful Temple with Sister Docherty and Sister Pruner. Mom had scheduled us for initiatories first and an endowment session afterwards, but somehow the endowment session didn’t get recorded. So Sister Docherty went to do sealings and Mom and I went to see if we could get into the endowment session. We made it in time to get into the 5:30 session, but Sister

Pruner wasn’t there, so we let it go by and figured we could get into the 6pm one. Well, Sister Pruner still didn’t show up, so Mom went looking for her. She found her in the sealings waiting room. Mom learned that she had thought that we were going to go do sealings with Sister Docherty so she just thought she would meet us there. Well, she changed and made it for the 6pm session, which I learned my friend and colleague Scott Wilde and his wife Sherry were also in. It was so fun to see them. After the temple we were hungry and stopped at R&R BBQ for dinner. Rib tips were the special, and both sisters got those, but Mom and I split a 3 meat plate BBQ. It is especially good when you are hungry. Then afterwards Mom felt like getting Nielsen’s Frozen Custard…yes you read that right, Mom!…so we got a concrete. Yum! 

Friday morning I got another 30 miles in and Mom went walking. We headed into the library a little later in the day and were surprised to learn that the barricade that has been blocking the work on Temple Square on this northwest corner has been taken down. We can actually see the side of the new building that is there (we have learned they are going to be bathrooms) and also some of the planter boxes they have created in that area. That’s what it is going to be, just a large garden area with flowers and trees and walkways. We got to the library for our super short Friday shift and had a nice evening. Nothing unusual or crazy.

Saturday, on the other hand, was pretty crazy. We went in and I hosted a group in the Escape Room, after which Mom hosted another group. Then we jumped in the car and ran up to the Avenues. They were having their annual street fair, where a bunch of vendors and artists and community groups have booths. Our stake hosted a Family History booth and Mom and I signed up to help for a couple of hours. It was fun. I gave out pencils and candy and asked people if they’d like help with their genealogy. Mom held a large fan chart like we have in our bedroom. I think we got about 25% of the people to stop for a moment to talk to us. I learned that most of the people wanted to

see if there was help with their family lines. We were able to explain how there was tons of free help at the library. I had two cool experiences. One was with a couple of young girls who stopped to ask what our booth was about. I learned they were Israelis and didn’t know a bunch about their heritage. I told them they could definitely find some answers at the library. I asked if they knew where the library was and the one girl, Miri (who was wearing a nice Star of David necklace like this), said that she knew where the library was because she lived in some apartments near there. She said they were across from the Conference Center. I said that I lived in apartments across from the Conference Center. We learned we were in the same apartments and on the SAME FLOOR. She and her husband James live two doors down from us. Wild! I invited them to come down anytime they want

to talk about genealogy. The second cool experience was with a lady who told me a wonderful, what she called an, Elijah Moment (even though she is not a member of the Church). She said that quite a few years ago she got the urge to do genealogy. She did a bunch of research and found some great things about her family. Years later, her father’s health was declining and he was feeling quite depressed. She suddenly had the thought come to her that she should look at her genealogy stuff. She found a 1910 census and took it with her to see her dad. She found her dad’s family and then started reading names of people on the census who lived near him. He lit up saying, “I

remember them!” and started telling stories about them. She said it made her, and him, so happy! Great example of an Elijah Moment. We then ran back to the library and closed down the night. It was another slow night. Mom went shopping with the sister missionaries at WinCo and I ran home to watch the Utah game that I had seen the results for on my ESPN app. I noticed that Texas and Alabama were playing and it was a close game, so I paused the Utah vs. Baylor game to watch that one. It was a great game... go Hook ‘em Horns! Great win by Texas. Then I turned the Utah game back on and watched it’s wild 4th quarter. I’m glad I get to watch tv as a missionary.

Today we went to church and then down to the North Office Building (NOB) to facilitate our Leadership Pattern Journey class. We have 7 participants and Mom and I took turns leading them through the discussion materials. They are a great group. I think this is going to be a fun class. Afterwards we went to the COB (Church Office Building) to what the mission is calling our One Heart Gathering. Basically it is a once a month meeting where we welcome new missionaries and say goodbye to those finishing their missions. Tonight our next door neighbors, Elder and Sister Last from Hurricane Utah, spoke. They both did a great job, but I was particularly impressed with

Elder Last. He talked about the many things he had learned while being here on this mission. He then explained that the most important thing he learned was that he is equally yoked with his wife. He said that their early marriage was filled with him getting in and going to med school while she took care of the kids. Then he started his medical career and was so busy with that and with Church callings. He said he never really took notice of how equally yoked they were and how much she was doing. It wasn’t until his mission that he was able to learn this most important lesson. I must say that I am glad I learned that long ago about Mom. She is definitely my equal and more.

Well that was our week. It sure did fly by fast. I can’t believe we are already into our 8th month.

Love you all.

BE GOOD!

Sister Mom and Elder Dad