So this was “temples” week. It was fun to see the differences in each temple. We learned that some could have been designed to have a better traffic flow and some were just historically cool.
Monday was Memorial Day and there was no devotional. So we just went into the library at 8:30 and got into normal work flow. Not long after we were there I was asked to help a couple up on the main floor with Swedish ancestors. When I got to the computer I learned that it was Elder and Sister Hansen who live in our apartments and serve in the COB. He had a family he was trying to find the mother of. So into the records we went and were able to find out some interesting details about the family. We learned that his man’s first wife died in childbirth, we think because the woman’s death date was actually listed as the day before the child’s birthdate. It could be that the priest got there the next day and recorded the birthdate as the day later. Anyway, the man then married a second wife and three years later, right after she had a baby, she divorced him and left
the child behind. Then the man had a baby with a third woman and married her after the baby was born. In the records it showed that the baby was recorded as
oakta (illegitimate) but the priest later scratched that out after he married her. They had two more children together. It is so interesting to see how these records
can tell a little bit of a story just by what is written down. The Hansens then had to leave and I needed to head to lunch with Mom. We got back and I was asked to help a family from Indonesia find their Netherlands roots. That was fun. We were able to search their family names and figure out who was he first one born in the Netherlands that left for Indonesia. The rest of the day I spent working on my French training and we closed the library an hour early at 5pm because it was Memorial Day. I think I learned long ago that Memorial Day is the
kickoff for BBQ season and so since we didn’t have a grill I told Mom I wanted to go buy BBQ. I had read about a good place not far south of us, so we went to find it. We failed. I couldn’t find the place. So instead there was an R&R BBQ near there and we went there instead. It was really good! I got their special, a BBQ pork and pineapple sandwich, and Mom got a two meat platter. Yum! Not quite like having your own BBQ but it’ll have to do.
Tuesday was Pday. We headed over to Costco so Mom could get a couple of things she needed and I went and used my free haircut coupon, that I got from giving platelets, to get my hair cut. Then we went home and changed into a suit and a dress so we could go to Manti to attend the temple there. It just opened back up this month and had huge lines for the open house. We decided to avoid those lines and just come for an endowment session after it opened. It was very cool. They have preserved the original rooms and flow of the temple that has that symbolic upward progression, but they have installed projectors and screens in each room so that the endowment is presented that way instead of with live actors like it
originally did. After finishing our session we wanted to see some of the other rooms so we wandered down the hall to the sealing rooms. Mom asked if there was anyway we could actually do some sealings and they said sure! So we got a sealer and three temple workers to help and a room all to ourselves. We were able to do 12 girls, 12 boys and 7 couples. Wahoo! We were so surprised that they weren’t super booked up like so many other temples seem to be. Maybe it’s because they are so far away and in their own little valley with not a ton of people living there, although you may remember that they announced a temple in Ephraim, which is only 6 miles away, but they do have Snow College there and I am assuming they think that the students will keep that place pretty busy, much like the Rexburg temple.
On the way in to Manti we passed through Ephraim and we noticed this little Malt Shop on the side of the road. Mom mentioned that we might have to stop there on the way back to get
a malt or shake or fries or a burger…or all of those. Well we decided on the burger, fries and a shake…no malt. It was all very good. The whole place was super retro like the original malt shops back in the 50’s, at least that’s what we have heard because, contrary to popular belief we were not alive in the 50’s. Anyway we then took off and headed for home. It was about a two hour drive, so we got home around 6:30. We just relaxed the rest of the day and I watched the movie
Breach about how they caught one of the most notorious spies of the late 1900’s. It was pretty well done I thought.
Wednesday was back to the library. I wasn’t there long when one of our missionaries, Tom, came up to me and said, “Do you want to learn how to make both of our computer screens touch screens?” In the library we have a main monitor that is touch screen and the other that is not. Well he had found on the internet a command prompt that would make the second screen also a touch screen. It was pretty cool, but it didn’t work on every computer. Not sure why. But still very cool. I then was asked to go up to the main floor to do
a tour. When I got up there they said that they didn’t have anyone that asked for a tour, so I went back down to our floor and checked the
WaitWhile computer. It said that the request came from a computer station on the main floor. So back up I went. When I found the computer there was a helper from the Discovery floor helping the guest, so I assumed he had hit the tour by mistake and went back down to our floor and told them to cancel the request. Two minutes later they came to me and said that the request had been resubmitted. So back up I went again. I found a Brother Zabriskie there who wanted a tour of the library. Usually I start on the top floor and finish at the bottom, but for some reason felt like doing it the opposite way. So we went to B2 and I told him about our book collection. He told me that many moons ago he had found a family history book of his Zabriskie line. So we looked it up and learned that we had it in our library up on the third floor. So we finished the tour on the third floor and looked for his book. We found it pretty quickly and sure enough found his name in the book. He was very happy! The rest of the day was spent working on Italy and French training and looking for Anders Segerstedt’s parents. Mom got into her training so much so that she wasn’t ready to leave when it was time to go home. We stayed about a half hour later so that she could finish one of her assignments.
Thursday was a pretty normal day. Mom got to help someone with Italy and me with some more French guests. We then got an extended lunch hour. The staff has decided to give us one day a month as an
R&R day where we get a two hour break and they take over the library. It was pretty busy on our floor and I asked the staff if they were sure they wanted us to leave and they said, “Yup, we can handle it.” So we went to the COB and had a nice leisurely lunch with some other missionaries from our zone. Then afterwards we walked over to Deseret Book so Mom could get some new garments and I bought a white shirt. It says it is wrinkle free and only cost $23, so I thought I’d try it. When we got back to the library all was well, they survived without us. At the end of the shift we gathered our Sister missionaries and headed to the Bountiful temple for our second temple visit of the week. We did an endowment session and afterwards Sister Hirama said that she wanted to go to Costco. So off we went. Sister Docherty wasn’t feeling really well and decided to just wait in the car. We bought some more candy that Mom gives away to the sister missionaries and I took them out to the car while Mom waited for the other two sisters. Day done.
Friday we didn’t have any meetings and it was our T/R day so we only had to be in for three hours, then we got a lunch break. We went to the COB and I got a pizza, a full sized cauliflower crust one his time. I only ate one fourth and had some of Mom’s salad. Then we hurried home and changed and went to pick up Sister Beesely who wanted to go with us to the Saratoga Springs Temple. Traffic was horrible but we made it in time for our 3:45 session. Third temple this week! This temple was dedicated last August, but I kept forgetting to try to get an appointment there. It is usually pretty busy. We learned when we got there that whoever designed the traffic flow didn’t do a very good job. Too many spots where people moving to and from changing rooms and going to endowment rooms have to cross paths. But it is very pretty and has purple chairs and flowers in its Celestial Room and a purple carpet in front foyer. Afterwards we booked it home to get to a surprise get together for Terese, one of the missionaries here in our apartment that we play Mah Jongg with. Her husband bought donuts and we just sat around and chatted.
Saturday morning I was going to get up and try to do a short mountain bike ride, but didn’t get moving in time. Excuses. We got into the library and it wasn’t super busy yet, but slowly picked up. I was asked to help a man and his son from France. They wanted to see what we could find. I was able to find a few records, death records and a family tree on
Geneanet, but not everything they were hoping for. So I checked a bunch of other places and found an index stating their one relative was married on a certain date and his record was number 3 in the marriage book. But the book wasn’t available online. Ugh! We were bummed. Just then Delia, one of our missionaries who speaks French and has been a missionary for many years, came by so I asked her to check to see if I had covered all my bases. I was very pleased to find that I had looked everywhere she had recommended. I was able to set them up with a FamilySearch account and showed them how to do research when they get home. The
son mentioned that it was like a game. I agreed. The rest of the day we helped here and there. Mom had a success with helping a guest with Italy and I finished the first part of my three part final
capstone project for France training. Wahoo. We got home and just crashed the rest of the night. I went online and found an
Airbnb for us to stay at with Lacey, Mason and Savannah when we take them to Disney World in January. It is a condo in a resort setup much like the hotel that we went to with Tori, Zoë and Lindsay and then again with Jake and Roxy. This one has three bedrooms though, which is what we need with three grandkids. I then went to see about buying tickets and after chatting with a Disney employee learned that they aren’t available yet. Weird. I would think you can buy them anytime, but I guess I will wait. Then I checked flights and learned that they are “normal” priced now and will most likely drop when we get a little closer, so I’ll wait a few months to get those. Wahoo, it’s gonna be fun!
Today we walked to church like normal, but it was warm enough that I carried my suit coat. Mom was alone this week to teach her primary class so I went along to be the second teacher. She taught a great lesson about Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah being visited by an angel to help wake them up and extend an offer to repent. She did a fun little game with them about having a frowning face when they do something bad, but changing it to a smiling face when they say sorry and ask to be forgiven. When Mom asked them if they could think of something that they might do that would cause a frowning face one little girl said, “Dropping someone off a cliff onto an octopus.” Kids. So now we are back and working on this blog post and waiting for our
Break-the-Fast dinner with the other missionaries in the apartments.
We are back from
Break-the-Fast and had our largest turnout yet. I think I counted 48 people. Mom and I actually went and sat in the little conference room around the corner because we ran out of chairs. As per usual there was plenty of food and I especially enjoyed that the Ganschows brought Kirkland Signature ice cream. I started there with a half a scoop of ice cream and a little dab of some sort of rocky road cake. Then I actually got food, but went back for some cake and a larger scoop of ice cream after I got finished with my meal. So now I am satisfied and ready to relax. Mom just let me know that she set up a Mah Jongg appointment with the Engstroms, so we’ll be heading there in 15 minutes.
I hope you all had a great week.
Love you baie!
BE GOOD!
Mom and Dad
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