Preach My Gospel

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!