Fourteenth Week of Our Mission

Mimi with her Husband and In-Laws at her Baptism

The James Taylor and Choir Concert

 

 

 

Fourteenth Week of Our Mission

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

September 8, 2013

 

Probably the greatest news of this week is that Mimi White was baptized in Kentucky!  Yesterday was the big day and we were privileged to talk with her prior to the baptism.  She has been in our hearts and prayers for two and a half months.  She wavered at times and we didn’t know if this baptism would occur.  We are so proud of her even though the support from her husband may not always have been there.  But hopefully because of her example, Rick will come back wholeheartedly to the Church and they can be married in the temple within a year.  Because of her example too, the children may in the future embrace the gospel.  This event was truly a miracle for us!

As we mentioned in another entry, we are teaching Tressa from Pocatello, Idaho.  This last week we had a discussion on Tuesday and it went very well.  Everything we said she seemed to agree with and had no questions or concerns.  Then we were able to see her in person on Friday along with her friend, Ron, because they came to the James Taylor Concert at the Conference Center.  We were able to take them around the North Visitor’s Center and actually have several discussions.  It was great to talk face-to-face with them because when you teach via the phone the personal touch is not really there.  She seemed to accept everything we said, but she did have concerns about her position as a non-mother.  She wondered what her role was in the scheme of things in this Church.  We are going to be sending her a great talk by Sheri Dew which should give her a lot of comfort on this subject.  We have another discussion scheduled for Wednesday night.  We can’t believe that this golden contact fell right into our hands.  Tressa believes it was divine intervention and so do we.

Speaking of the James Taylor concert, we went on Friday and then again on Saturday until intermission.  This was quite the concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony.  James Taylor has always been one of Taggart’s favorite recording artists, so it was really exciting for him to be there.  The usual conservative audience went wild and he played several encore numbers amid the roars from the crowd.  It is really amazing to us and the guests on Temple Square how the community and Church can provide such a wonderful event for free.  Actually each day we are astonished by the beauty of the Square and the care that is taken to make everything look so perfect, clean, beautiful, and all venues are complimentary.  What a wonderful church we belong to!

We had our first “Hospitality Tour” this week.  There were about 45 guests in the group coming from all across the country.  They were escorted around the Square by the sister missionaries with us hanging out in the rear to answer any questions. The group then went to dinner at The Garden Restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  Actually, we had some great doctrinal discussions as we were walking around.  This was my first confrontation with questions about women in the Church, Blacks and the Priesthood.  Hopefully they went away with sound information and less negative feelings.  Taggart had two great discussions with men who shared their beliefs and wanted to know so much more about the Church.  These men seemed like perfect contacts and future members.  We shared our business card but had to be careful because of the nature of the tour to share a Book of Mormon.

We are preparing this week for Zone Conference.  President Gillette asked us to take a few moments to share a concept with the sisters.  We chose to talk about the Book of Mormon.  Taggart has worked so diligently on the presentation, as he always does.  Hopefully the spirit will be with us as we share our testimonies of this great book and the importance of its use in missionary work.

We missed one significant item for this week.  As we were walking to the Beehive House on Labor Day, Elder L. Tom Perry was walking toward us.  He was so kind and generous to us because he stopped and talked to us.  He was wearing casual clothes and he said no one usually recognized him when he was in informal attire.  We had a good chat about his son who Taggart went to school with and then he went on his way.  What other place but Temple Square could you see and meet an apostle of the Lord.  What a thrill for us!