Third Week of Our Mission

Our First Day on Temple Square as Missionaries

Mission President seated next to Sister Frost and other Senior Couples

Beehive House - We open the Beehive House 5 of 7 Mornings

The Tabernacle - We facilitate the Organ Recital at Noon

 

Third Week of Our Mission

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

June 23, 2013

Officially we had our first full week of missionary work together.  Kimm struggled with her health but made it through without incident.  We realize how joyful and exciting but draining this work can be.  When we are on the Square we have strength and energy, but coming home is a different story.  We find we must have naps before we can function again.  We were hopeful that we could explore Salt Lake, but are finding it difficult.  Hopefully our endurance will increase soon.

We have had some terrific experiences so far.  We are meeting people from all over the world and from all backgrounds, members and non-members.  They just seem to flow to Temple Square and are so excited to be here.  We have answered questions, borne testimony, felt the spirit in abundance and are really feeling like we are His witnesses.  The sister missionaries are amazing and we are beginning to treasure their friendship.  They work so hard and are such good examples to us of righteous living. 

The Palmers (another senior couple) are officially gone now and we are taking their assignments.  We begin our day at the Beehive House and are opening it up for visitors.  We have each taken several groups through the house and are thoroughly enjoying it.  It is such a special place where Brigham Young lived and worked that we feel privileged to be part of telling visitors about this home.  We love to relate the history of the house, but more importantly we want the visitors to feel the spirit that exists in this special place.  We feel we are on sacred ground.  The beauty of the home is amazing and the grounds with the extraordinary flowers are impressive.

Usually we finish at the Beehive House by about 10:30 am or before.  We then are off to the Tabernacle to prepare ourselves for the organ recitals each day.  We clear the area of people by 11:15 am in preparation for the 12:00 noon organ recital.  Because it is summer, the crowds of people who attend are amazing.  On Saturday 375 people attended!  This is a place where we are really feeling comfortable meeting and greeting.  People have many questions and these questions lead to gospel discussions.

We had a zone conference up at “This is the Place Heritage Park.”  The sisters have such a special spirit and good leadership skills that it was fun being with them for most of the day.  After the motivational talks, we were able to explore the area.  We always wanted to go there to visit and now feel it is important to take our grandchildren there as well.

We had two potential contacts this last week.  We met a gal from San Antonio, Texas along with her uncle.  She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army and is stationed at Fort Sam Houston, where Taggart served.  She has a new position there with the army in organizational development so she and Taggart really clicked.  She really wanted to talk about OD, but seemed to have an interest in the church.  Hopefully, this connection with OD will lead to something else.  We are hopeful because she was such a special girl so we definitely will keep in touch with her.  Then we met a mother who came in with her son and daughter-in-law.  Wow, the daughter-in-law had such a special spirit, she just glowed.  Her mother explained that she was investigating the church, so we answered her questions.  After our visit, we got her name and phone number because she was interested in staying in touch.  As Taggart got home that night and was transferring her information from the IPAD, he lost part of her phone number.  We were just sick and couldn’t find her number online.  However, a small miracle happened when on Sunday we saw her again after “Music and the Spoken Word.”  Kimm’s mouth dropped as they met again and retrieved the information they had lost.