Nineteenth Week of Our Mission

Nineteenth Week

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission
October 13, 2013

Creers, Frosts, & Elder and Sister Curtis
This week was interesting in that we trained the new senior couple (the Curtises) all week.  The Creers (the other senior couple) will be leaving on Wednesday and then we will be the oldest (in terms of time here) senior couple here on Temple Square.  We took the Curtis’ everywhere, loaded them with facts, initiated passwords, and got to know them well.  They are genuinely excited about being here and beginning their missionary service and we look forward to serving with them.  We also will have a new schedule and a new “P Day.”  This next week we will have Monday off and then be working more nights.  Our days at the Beehive House and the Organ Recital will be limited now.  We will be doing more administrative things and be wandering the Square and making contacts.  Also, as the winter approaches we will spend more time in the Call Center answering questions and chatting with people.

 

We can’t believe it but we are going into our fourth transfer.  The sister missionaries judge how long they have left on their mission by the number of transfers they have.  Each transfer lasts six weeks, so generally they complete fourteen transfers before going home.  Twenty-four sisters are going home this transfer and we will miss them tremendously.  At “Music and the Spoken Word” they were honored today and of course Taggart and I cried.  They have become so dear to us that we hate to see them go.  However on Wednesday thirty-three sisters will be joining us from the MTC and we will have to learn names again.  Personally, I have given up learning those names because with two hundred and twenty-three sisters it is almost an impossible task.  The Transfer Conference will take place tomorrow with new companionships announced, those going outbound learning where they will go, and of course honoring those sisters going home.  It is a time with lots of tears and screams of joy.

 

An interesting experience happened this week.  Many dignitaries were visiting Temple Square and the Church Office Building.  Apparently, they were from all corners of the world with important positions in their government and countries.  We just happened to go to the Church Office Building Cafeteria where they were meeting.  As we ate our lunch to our amazement four of the twelve apostles walked right in front of us.  They were Elder Holland, Oakes, Christofferson, and Nelson.  I just sat in amazement as they walked past.  Also, we met up with Richard Hinckley in the elevator this last week.  Really, where could we have such wonderful experiences and see so many Church leaders?

We had hoped to go to Pocatello today to visit Tressa, but she was working.  However, we do have a discussion with her on the phone Tuesday and she is seeing if she can get next Sunday off for a visit with us.  We are hopeful that this will take place.  Also, we had a “member present” discussion this last week with two great sister missionaries.  They were having trouble with a man who they were working with reading and understanding the Book of Mormon.  They asked us to participate in the discussion.  It was interesting because all four of us could not get connected, so Taggart and I shared our cell phone as we talked with him.  He certainly was a man who was sincere and genuinely interested in finding truth.

Today was a marvelous day in that we met with three women from Texas.  We spent most of the morning with them in discussion, laughing, teaching and building bridges.  One gal was 92 years old, the next was her niece in her mid-seventies, last of all was the daughter in her fifties.  They decided to go on a road trip together and were they ever fun.  They all accepted the Book of Mormon and readily asked questions.  We have their personal information and will keep in contact with them over the next few months.  The youngest gal said she had many more questions and we told her we would be very happy to answer any queries.

 

The saddest thing to report this week is that the flowers around Temple Square were pulled out and bulbs were planted for next spring.  As was mentioned in other entries, we dreaded the day when this would happen.  On Saturday, youth from all over Salt Lake were doing this task. Now we truly can say it is the end of the summer and our plush gardens.

Elder Frost with his beautiful granddaughter Avery on the porch of the Beehive House