Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

February 24, 2014

Spring has come early to the Square

It is the end of February and we can’t believe it!  Temperatures over the last week have been so mild that all the spring flowers are starting to peek out.  We keep telling the flowers that it is too early to do that, but they don’t listen to us.  Also, spring cleanup is starting to take place on the Square and the lawns are greening up as well.  It is probably premature, but we hope the snows are over.

Flowers in February

Transfers occurred this week.  Those six week periods fly by so quickly the sisters go home, others arrive and some go outbound.  We will miss so much those good sisters who left the mission, they were some of the best, twenty-three in all.  Seventeen new sisters arrived and there was only one from the United States.  Personally, I am finding it so difficult to remember all the names of the sisters, so many Asian gals.  Taggart really works at learning names and is so good at recognizing each sister.  Sister Curtis and I provided meals for all the incoming and returning sisters at a luncheon.  Thank goodness for Costco!

We visited with our investigator, Diane, this week from New York.  She is a delightful gal full of personality but has some real hang-ups.  She has been studying the LDS religion for three years and has been taught by many missionaries.  We don’t know if we will change her way of thinking, but she says she is praying and wants to receive a testimony.  However, plural marriage, prophets and the Word of Wisdom are hard for her to accept.  She loves the discussions because she is a learner, eager to know more.  We will continue teaching her next week.  Taggart also talked with Junior the Jewish man who wants to make his point concerning the Jewish faith.  He would like to continue the discussions with Taggart but now it has to be on our terms.  Taggart will teach him the principles of the Gospel.  .  Nayelli also came to the Square on Thursday and we took her to the film, “Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration.”  She seemed genuinely touched by the presentation, however because it was late in the evening we really didn’t have a lot of time to talk to her.  Hopefully, we will see her next week.

A couple dancing in Relief Society

At Relief Society this week we were asked to participate by dancing.  The whole point of the lesson was how to show love for your companion.  Taggart was to raise his hand and say that he shows love to me by dancing, crazy huh, because he is a non-dancer.  Anyway the sisters went wild as we got up and danced and I became very dizzy, probably because of my new toric lens put in my eye.

 

Hospitality Tours started this week with the first one held on Saturday.  We were able to be the senior couple assigned to this group.  There were thirty-four in all coming from St. Louis.  They were a bit suspicious of us at first but the barriers broke down and in the end they seemed to open up.  Personally, one lady drilled me about the church for quite some time.  Hopefully, I gave her some good information and she has a better knowledge of the gospel.  Of course, this is the beginning of many tours that will occur through spring, summer and fall.

Billy Casper at Music and the  Spoken Word

One last item is that we had a celebrity sighting again at “Music and the Spoken Word.”  In front of us today was Billy Casper, the golfer.  Taggart introduced himself to him and from there they talked and talked.  He had brought with him a couple who presided over a golf club in San Diego.  Instead of talking golf, Taggart and Billy talked religion.  What a thrill it was for Taggart to talk religion with Billy Casper, a man who he has respected over the years.

Billy and Shirley Casper and Elder Frost with his eyes closed

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

February 16, 2014

Elder and Sister Curtis

This week we celebrated Valentine’s Day.   As senior couples we put together valentine treat bags for all the sisters.  With so many sisters, it becomes quite the process to organize, fill and tie these little bags.  Our Valentine’s Day was fun in that we went out to dinner with Elder and Sister Curtis and then attended the BYU Young Ambassadors at the Conference Center Little Theatre.  We exchanged cards and gifts and had a very happy time.

Cesar gave his first official talk in Sacrament Meeting this week.  The day before he was to give the talk, he came to the Square for some tips on how to present his topic.  On Sunday, the day of the talk, he was very nervous but did a fine job in relating the reasons why people leave the church or go inactive.  We are so proud of his progress and the steps he has made in coming closer to Christ.  His little cousin, Nayelli, had another discussion with the sisters and me.  She has such a sweet spirit but momentarily is reluctant to join the church until she is a bit older.  Discussions will continue with the hope that she will change her mind about baptism.

Jason, our investigator from China who is living here in Salt Lake, came to the Square Saturday for further discussions.  He is eager to learn about Christianity but where this will lead we do not know.  As we were about to review the Godhead with him, he said, “This world is so dark.  Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus Christ could be on the earth today.”  What a concept for him!  We know that he is learning about the true nature of Christ and His wonderful attributes.  We look forward to seeing him again possibly next week.

We have been in the Call Center a lot lately.  As we were cleaning up some of the investigator names on our record, we decided to call a girl named Alicia Soto from Florida.  Her name had been transferred to us from another sister who had gone home.  Much to our surprise as we called, we found out she had been baptized!  Although we had nothing to do with the conversion, we got credit for that baptism.  Another person we contacted was a woman named Diane from New York.  She had been taught over a long period of time but had some issues with the Church.  She is a very vivacious woman, eager to learn, but stubborn about some concepts.  We will continue to call her and see if the Spirit can guide us in our discussions.

Elder Frost, Dale Murphy and his wife Nancy

As we went to Music and the Spoken Word today, they introduced a man in the audience who happened to be Dale Murphy.  Of course, he is the great baseball player who played for the Atlanta Braves a number of years back.  Taggart was very excited and went up to talk to him.  In the summer a player and coach who had played with Dale had some very good things to say about him in how he lived his religion.  Taggart wanted to share those experiences with him.  He was so cordial and kind and asked if there was someone to take him and his friends on a tour.  A tour was arranged and it was a fun interaction to be remembered.

Richard Elloitt - Principal Organist - Full-time since 1991

One of our goals lately has been to gather pictures of all five Tabernacle organists.  Since we are privileged each week to initiate the organ recitals, we have been blessed to get those pictures.  What talent they have!

Clay Christiansen - Full-time since 1982

Andrew Unsworth - Full-time since 2007

Bonnie Goodliffe - Part-time since 1979

Linda Margetts - Part-time since 1984

Sister Frost - the best organist ever!!!

Elder Frost - Not permitted to play - never

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

February 9, 2014

We were disappointed this week when Abraham called and told us he didn’t want to be baptized.  However, we were concerned when he went back to New York and met with the senior missionaries there.  He seemed to have an agenda in what he wanted to do after joining the Church.  It appeared he desired to add his Jewish teachings to the Gospel doctrine and of course consult with the prophet.  In essence, combine two religions.  This was an amazing experience for us to meet him because we learned so much about the Jewish faith.  Another Jewish man made contact with Taggart this week and had a multitude of questions.  He doesn’t really desire to explore the Mormon faith but wants to keep in contact with Taggart and explore various doctrinal questions.

Sister Joanne Vohres

As was mentioned a few weeks back, we wanted to meet Joanne Vohres a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  We had an opportunity to do that this week.  What a delightful woman she was and her countenance so angelic, just like the person we see on TV.  Because she is retiring in April, it was especially moving to visit with her.

Elder and Sister Frost with Joanne in the basement of the Tabernacle

 

Farewell to President Seppi

 One of the members of our mission presidency, President Paul Seppi, left the mission.  What a wonderful humble caring man he is.  He will be greatly missed.  He was recognized in a special farewell meeting with the sisters.  It was a surprise to him and again many tears were shed.  He and his wife will be heading to Thailand for a two year mission.  A new member of the presidency is being called and we will meet him probably next week.

We saw Cesar again this week along with his eleven year old cousin.  She has experienced some bullying and Cesar felt the Gospel would help her.  What a delightful young lady she is so bright and beautiful.  The sisters taught her about the restoration and we came and reinforced what was taught.  She is so young but has a desire to be loved and fellowshipped.

We have the privilege of going to so many wonderful activities on Temple Square and one of those events was the BYU Ballroom Dancers.  These talented young people put on such a great show.  Next week on Valentine’s Day we will see the Young Ambassadors.  It has been awhile since we saw them.  Our last experience was in Denmark many years ago.

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

February 2, 2014

Sister and Elder Frost (The Dragon)

February is here and wicked January is behind us.  The days are getting longer, but it still is very cold on the Square.  We are all looking forward to spring and the pansies and tulips in abundance.  For many of our Chinese sisters, this was the week when the Chinese New Year is celebrated.  We had our own celebration with Chinese traditions talked about and all sorts of rice treats eaten.  Sister Wu gave us a red hanging cord which is a symbol of luck.  We hung it on our door to scare off the red dragon.  (The red dragon leaves when he sees red.)

President and Sister Poulsen and Sisters at our Chinese New Year

Jonathan Hicks at his Baptism

We have not talked about Jonathan Hicks, but he is a sixty-one year old man who through great sister missionaries was baptized this week.  Taggart had the honor of baptizing him.  He was a man who came to the Square very down trodden and really didn’t believe in God.  After months of ups and downs and reading the Book of Mormon twice he consented to be baptized.  The baptism was the highlight of our week, many tears were shed and strong testimonies borne.  To us this is a great example of the Gospel in action, seeing a person change so dramatically.

Taggart made several calls to Abraham this week and to the senior missionaries that are teaching him.  He is still embracing the Gospel and wants more than anything to move to Salt Lake City.  We did some preliminary checking on apartments for him, but it is going to be challenging to find something in his price range.  We did not hear from Tressa which was disappointing.  We may be back to square one with her again but hope for the best.

Our Beautiful Eternal Family

Our son-in-law’s grandfather passed away and so Michael and Jenny and family were in town for a few short days.  On Saturday we had the opportunity to celebrate our grandson’s birthday with them.  (Alec will be five on February 10^th.)  Later April, Jenny and their families came to the Square.  The crowning moment was going through “God’s Plan for Families.”  How special to be gathered together and see these inspirational film vignettes.  Cesar joined us as well because he is our adopted son.  The only people missing were Heather and Paul.  How we wish that they could join us for these special moments.