MTC

 

Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission

May 18, 2014

We can’t believe it but last year at this time we had only days before we entered the MTC.  Most of our mission is over now and we relish our remaining months.  We take things for granted sometimes to be close to the temple, to sit in the Brigham Young house and go into its farthest corners where others cannot go, to be in the Tabernacle with all its history, to hear the organ on a daily basis, to be at “Music and the Spoken Word” every Sunday and visit with people from all over the world and be His representatives.  Lately with all that has been going on we are totally exhausted, but isn’t it better to be exhausted than have nothing to do.  We are indeed grateful for this opportunity.

Volunteers planting flowers

All of our gorgeous tulips, daffodils and pansies were pulled out from the flower beds this week on Temple Square.  Our hearts just sank as we saw all those beautiful flowers stuffed into garbage bags, the bulbs shredded into mulch for next year.  As the days go by new summer plants are being seeded and the beds will soon be a delight again.  Hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers help with this process of planting and visitors that come to the Square are in awe that so many people so willingly help.

We were thrilled to have Sister Sherri Dew speak to us on Thursday.  She has always been one of my favorite women speakers in the church.  Taggart and I were able to greet her and what a genuine and humble individual she is.  That morning she shared her philosophy of women and the priesthood.  The three words she shared in relation to this topic were keys, authority and power.  She told us it is up to us to unlock the powers of heaven because the power is given to all.  We so appreciated what she said and how she said it and her testimony and example to all of us.  It will be a memory forever.

Some of the kinks in the Hospitality Tours have to be worked out as we found out this week.  There were many tours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with some glitches here and there. We are finding that the new Call Center at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building is making some mistakes as they schedule tours.  Hopefully these schedules can be tailored to meet our needs.  However, we did meet with some interesting people particularly from Australia, the UK and China. 

Our Part-Time Senior Couples that Assist with the Hospitality Tours

Taggart is busily working on a Full-Time Senior Handbook.  Between the Part-Time Senior Handbook and this new one, he has put in hours upon hours of work.  Both books were so needed and look terrific.  Also, another added responsibility is to provide various lunches and snacks for the sisters. Between Sister Curtis and me, we are constantly at Costco buying food for this or that.  This week and next is especially filled with food, food, food.

Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission

May 11, 2014

Our Beautiful Grandchildren - Families are Forever

We just got back from “Music and the Spoken Word.”  Today was a tribute to mothers a “Mother’s Day” special.  It was a beautiful program and I thanked my mother for loving me unconditionally.  I realize that her life was not easy and I’ve just recently learned to appreciate that fact and to see her in a different light.  I too felt loved by all the sisters, with many hugs and well wishes for a happy Mother’s Day.  I also opened up my own daughter’s cards with well wishes and am so grateful to be their mother.  Cesar stopped by the apartment and gave me a gift too…..a gift to his adopted mom.  This “Music and the Spoken Word was also a day to say goodbye to four sisters leaving the mission.  How we will miss them.

We had our first of the season hospitality tour this week.  We were able to tail a couple of these tours, one group was from China, the other from the UK.  We nodded heads and signed a lot with our Chinese friends and were able to have some good conversations with those from England.  These tours will only increase over the weeks and months.  A lot of work is ahead of us and our service in the mission has changed.  But, service is service and we are grateful for this great opportunity that we have.

We talked with Nick this week.  He is a young musician from New York and was referred to us by Sister Jen.  He was baptized several years ago and then went inactive because he had concerns about the truthfulness of the gospel.  This was our second visit with him and indeed he questions, although he is studying the Bible intensely.  He just doesn’t believe that the Book of Mormon and Bible line up.  We are going to send him some articles but we don’t think we can change his mind on certain things.  Hopefully the Holy Ghost can be a testator to him and he can come back.

Transfers are coming up next week.  About thirty-five sisters will be returning from their outbound experience and six new sisters will enter the mission.  We will have about two hundred sisters on the Square during the summer.  Next week will be busy for us because the full time couples will be in charge of several lunches, new sister’s luncheon, outbound sister’s luncheon and Tour of the Mission luncheon.  It is always so busy at the beginning of transfers.

Elder and Sister Frost - A couple forever!!!

Utah Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

May 4, 2014

Our Beautiful Temple at 9:00pm

Today is my sister’s birthday and she would have been eighty-two had she been alive.  I miss her and my family but know we are one eternal family so really we are never really alone.  Our Heavenly Father is always there for us and His Son can always bring peace and comfort to our soul.

Because so many people come from China to Salt Lake, there are many Mandarin tours each year.  The gospel cannot be preached to the Chinese so it is very difficult for the sisters to teach them.  Therefore, a new approach is going to take place with these people.  This week we learned that family history is going to be promoted within the Chinese tours because of the great respect they have for their ancestors.  So, sisters now will gear into the importance of families when they take these tours.  The twenty-two Mandarin speaking sisters were thrilled as they heard about this approach to teaching people from their country.

We had a special luncheon mid-week in the Empire Room of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  This is the place where we held our wedding reception almost forty-six years ago and it was fun to be there again.  We met with tour groups, people from various chambers of commerce and those that promote tourism from all over the state.  This was a luncheon for President and Sister Poulsen, a way to introduce them to this unique group of people.  The food was great and the discussions lively.

Again we talked with Diane and concentrated our conversation on the Articles of Faith.  As we came to the fifth Article of Faith concerning Priesthood and “the calling of man by God,” she bristled for a moment.  Taggart did a wonderful job of explaining to her the Priesthood and she said for the first time she had a better understanding of this concept.

We called our friend, Trevor Clarke, in Australia.  He is the older gentlemen in his 80’s who was on the Square last summer.  He has written us many letters but we’ve never shared the gospel with him.  He is coming back to Utah this summer and hopefully we can teach him some of our beliefs.  We have already bought an organ CD for him because he loves organ music particularly music played by Clay Christiansen.

We saw the Burtons on Saturday and gave them their last installment of training for the Hospitality Tours.  They are so excited about their service here on Temple Square.  Hopefully they will have a great experience this summer.

Cesar and Family

On Saturday we went out to breakfast with Cesar and his parents.  Even though they speak limited English, we were able to communicate quite well with the help of Cesar.  As he told us later, we were speaking spirit to spirit.  We would love the spirit to touch their hearts so they could be open to the gospel, but we can see that Cesar’s transformation from what it was has had a real impact upon them.

 One last word, we had another celebrity sighting.  As we walked into church today who should be sitting in the audience but Quentin L. Cook.  He was there with his wife, daughter and son-in-law.  The sisters did not notice him as they came in and he left before our service was finished.  However, Taggart was able to shake his hand and welcome him to our meeting.

Utah Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

April 27, 2014

This week was not as busy as last and we enjoyed the freedom of visiting with guests on the Square.  There was a very large convention that came to Salt Lake City and we were able to talk with many of the people attending that event.  We also found that our numbers at the organ recital have increased dramatically.  This is just a preview of what will be happening during the summer months.

Beautiful Flowers

 Temple Square is ablaze with so many beautiful flowers.  I have mentioned it so often, but we are amazed by the beauty as we walk here and there.  There are so many people taking pictures that sometimes they block sidewalks and hold up foot traffic.  One of our keenest memories will always be the breathtaking flowers that you find here.

 

Elder Christofferson and other Brethren

There was a very special “Music and the Spoken Word” this week.  Two guest conductors were able to lead the choir in some of their own compositions and the music was spectacular.  It was also a sad time because twenty-nine choir members were retiring including our favorite choir member, Joanne Vohres.  President Monson was present to wish them well and it was a thrill to be in his presence.  Also, Elder Christofferson sat just two rows ahead of us as we watched the broadcast.  When will we ever again be able to be amongst general authorities of the Church.

We are still teaching Diane and her heart is softening.  She loves our calls and says it is the highlight of her week to hear from us.  However, she is still hung up particularly on the Word of Wisdom and will not give up her coffee.  She tells us she is a member without being baptized.  Somehow the spirit needs to testify to her and change her mindset and ways.  We talked to her about faith this week, faith to believe and faith to change.

One of the guest organists for the organ recital, Sister Weller, played on Sunday of this week.  She is the sweet sister who reached out to us at Christmas time when it was her turn to play at the recital.  We got to talk to her and thank her for her demonstration of love to us with gifts and letters.  We look forward to seeing her again in the fall before we leave our mission.

opefully they can always stay in touch because they have very similar personalities and H

Utah Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

April 20, 2014

This was Easter week with many people coming to the Square to partake of the spirit and think about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, His atonement and resurrection.  A special film “He is Risen” was playing continuously in the North Visitors’ Center and “The Messiah” was performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Friday and Saturday nights.  “Music and the Spoken Word” was marvelous as well because all the songs were Easter related.  The concluding number “The Hallelujah Chorus” was out of this world and there was a standing ovation for the choir and Mack Wilberg, the director.

The senior couples, Curtises and Frosts, decided to put together an Easter dinner for the sisters.  So we gathered together the food for the dinner all week long.  The menu included ham, green salad, tropical fruit salad, rolls and sheet cake.  We also put together 200 plastic eggs with jelly beans in them.  It was a lot of work but the sisters were so appreciative.  I’ve never heard so many “thank yous” in my life.  I know a little taste of home means so much to them.

Elder and Sister Frost with our tool boxes to assist the Sisters

As was mentioned before, we are in charge of clean checks for the sister’s apartments this transfer.  On Wednesday of this week we performed them.  Between the Curtises and ourselves we looked at forty-two apartments.  Out of that forty-two only one failed.  We went through them rather quickly and I was surprised that it only took three hours.  In another two weeks we will do it again and hopefully the next transfer we will have a new office couple to take over this responsibility.

The Legacy Theatre in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building is getting a new film to replace “Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration.”  We were lucky enough on Thursday to preview that new film.  It is entitled, “Meet the Mormons” and is geared for those people who know very little about the Mormon faith.  There were six different scenarios of members throughout the world telling their stories.  It was terrific and of course Taggart and I cried from beginning to end.  When the spirit touches you it is almost impossible to control emotions.  Although they have not told us when the film will be out to the general public, we hope it will preview this summer.  With so many visitors coming to the Square at that time a lot of souls could be touched by this film.

Special moment with Sisters Wu and Lunddahl

We also had an opportunity to go to the temple this week and do a baptism for our sweet Chinese sister, Sister Wu.  Taggart was able to be baptized for her grandfather, Wu Jiu ming.  She was very emotional throughout the baptism and confirmation and said she felt like she had just been baptized herself.  We are hoping and praying that he will be receptive to this ordinance and embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ.