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.