Salt Temple Square Mission

January 26, 2014

A beautiful day on Temple Square

Our week has been filled with regular type of activities, nothing monumental.  I again held ESL classes for those sisters that came to the mission this transfer.   They are sweet girls struggling with their English.  I have tried to make the classes fun for them gearing into cultural words and phrases.

Abraham

 We sent our Rabbi, Abraham, home on Monday to New York City.  Taggart contacted his stake president there and found out that there are Jewish converts in his stake.  Hopefully visits will be made and associations established.  He is reading the Book of Mormon very carefully interpreting every word and still believes.  Tressa cancelled her appointment this week because of work, but hopefully we can talk to her next week.  She would like us to come to Pocatello when she attends her first Sacrament Meeting in her ward.  So, that could happen next week.  Our investigator, Jason, is trying to find a car to buy so again it was a disappointment not visiting with him.  He can only come to the Square on Saturday and that is his car shopping day.

Sorting clothes at the Humanitarian Center

 One thing that we have wanted to do our entire mission was to go to the Humanitarian Center.  We did it this week!  It is amazing to us what our Church does by way of giving to those in need and employing emigrants and teaching them English.  These people can then go forth and become productive citizens within the community.  We hope soon to go to Welfare Square which is another spot we have wanted to visit.  By having knowledge of these centers we can express our feelings of service and giving to those that come to the Square. 

Two of our Temple Square Sisters and Sister Frost at the Humanitarian Center

One of our favorite sisters, Sister Lotoa, was diagnosed with TB this week.  She comes from a small island in American Samoa where TB is prevalent.  Her grandparents contracted TB and she didn’t go through the full drug treatment program while in her country.  She is not contagious, so we have been able to drive her to appointments at the Health Department.  She is scheduled to go home in a month, but she may have to stay in the USA longer to get this disease under control.  This is a scary situation for her.

Our new mission president and his wife are settling in.  You can tell they are a very hard working couple.  We know immediately that their style of leadership will be very different from the Gillettes.  We are looking forward to the changes that may take place and want to support them.

By the way, Bob and Paula Decker surprised us the other day while we were hosting the organ recital.  They are on their way to the MTC for their forthcoming mission to Fiji.  We talked to them briefly and heard about all those good people in Cedar Falls.  We wish them well on their mission.