Week of December 20, 2015

Monday one of the teachers who was scheduled to teach on Tuesday called to say she wouldn’t make it. I was asked if I was prepared to teach one of the three hours. It was a class I have been preparing to teach in a week so I agreed. I was actually pretty excited. Because we are changing curriculum in January, only the first hour of this class will be taught in the future. So I had the opportunity to teach my first class. I spent most of the evening revising my notes to make sure I had the proper examples and instructions. On Tuesday when I taught the teacher for the second hour went over her time and only left me with about half an hour. It turned out to be just the right amount of time and I felt like it went well. I am going to enjoy this.

Salt Lake in the snow

Heather and Scott were in town so after class we hurried to the food court at City Creek to meet Heather and the children. I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to come because our morning rain had turned to snow and it was much heavier in Utah Valley. We enjoyed the time with them and got back to the teaching lab in time to help with the last class of the day.

Utah State Capitol Building

Sidewalk Street Sign by Capitol Building -- Oops!

Thursday the library was closed. We went for a walk in the afternoon, climbing some pretty steep hills. We ended at the capitol building but we saw some beautiful old homes along the way, most of which are converted into apartments or bed and breakfasts and several of which are Utah Historical Sites. We were able to go inside to the capitol building. It is a beautiful building with lots of marble on the walls and floors. We were able to find the statue of Philo Farnsworth who is credited with inventing the television. He is a cousin of my mom so we took a picture. 

Philo Taylor Farnsworth, Father of Television

After we returned home we drove to Orem to be with my sister Sue Flick and family for their Christmas Eve. We had a yummy meal then a fun program. Each family had a talent number and shared a memory of Sue and Roger. I was very touched by the things they did with their family. One of their grandsons, Steven Mitchell , is on a mission in Philadelphia. His brother had a video of him playing the piano and singing “Nearer My God to Thee”, partly in English and partly in Spanish. (Of note, he did not play the piano when he left home.) It was very touching and a surprise to everyone.

When it was time to leave we discovered it had started snowing. It was a little scary on the roads when we couldn’t see the lanes. We had a prayer for protection then forged ahead, thinking the freeway would be better—it was not. We went 30-40 mph most of the way, trying to follow in the tracks of vehicles in front of us. The snow was falling fairly heavily although it was small flakes. Somewhere in the area of the Point of the Mountain we began to lose traction. The car slid a bit to the left then to the right; we turned about 90 degrees to the left and then back to the right. We started turning in a full circle to the left—a donut. All of this was with a fair amount of traffic in the vicinity--it was a wonder we were not hit. When we had gone nearly the entire circle, we headed straight toward the concrete barriers at the side of the road. I was sure we would hit them although I do remember thinking the rear of the car would catch the hit. I also remember thinking we were for sure going to hit the barriers fairly hard. As we neared the concrete, somehow the car straightened itself and came to a stop about 12 inches away from the concrete blocks, facing the right direction. I was so scared I was in tears, but immediately I had the thought that the Lord had protected us. I was so touched by this blessing and this evidence of God’s hand in our lives. (Ironically, as we got a short distance into the Salt Lake Valley, the snow slowed, the roads cleared, and the snow stopped completely. The roads were dry like there had been no snow at all.)

Friday, Christmas morning, I woke fairly early and lay in bed reflecting on our experience Christmas Eve. I felt an overwhelming sense of Heavenly Father’s love for me and I felt a great testimony of the reality of God’s hand in our lives and the love and protection He gives us. I pondered this as I drifted in and out of sleep, but each time I thought about the events of our drive Christmas Eve I had a new impression that this was evidence of God’s love and His support in my life. I am so grateful for this tremendous event and the impressions I received. It brought me great peace.

Christmas Brunch--Sisters from (back) England, India, Tasmania, (Ted), visitor, Ireland; (front) France, Australia

As I post this Christmas message, I would like to wish all a very merry Christmas and encourage all to take the time to reflect on the great blessing we have because of Our Savior Jesus Christ and His love for us. While we could have had serious physical damage if our car had crashed, we would be subject to greater spiritual anguish without the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He has made it possible for all of us to return to be with Him and Our Father in Heaven. I am eternally grateful for that and indebted to Him for all He does to bless our lives. Merry Christmas!

Week of December 13, 2015

This has been a week like most others but with some interesting twists. We began the week with a stake conference where we were able to hear Elder M. Russell Ballard, one of the apostles of the Church. I was touched by his remarks. He was in Greece three weeks prior and was impressed by the number of refugees there. It struck him that most of them have no idea who Jesus Christ is and no knowledge of His gospel. He reflected that we all know who we are and why we are here. We know where we are going and how to get there. There are so many of Heavenly Father’s children that have no understanding of the purpose of life. It was a sweet talk and I felt like I need to do better about expressing my love to others and letting them know God loves them and has a plan for them. He suggested we reach out to others to invite them to come to Christ during this season as a gift of gratitude to the Savior. I am including a link to a video produced by the Church called A Savior Is Born. ( https://www.mormon.org/christmas ) Please take a minute to watch it and reflect on the joy of the message.

Monday we had a full-blown winter wonderland. It snowed during the night and we had about 6 inches by morning. It was beautiful, but cold and wet! We bundled up and headed out. We worked with another missionary developing a class for our new curriculum. This will be the last class taught and focuses on practical application: How would you help a guest who asks the following? We had some good discussion and it became very apparent that everyone approaches the solutions differently, but that we have several ways to resolve issues. About mid-afternoon we had a lady poke her head into the room we were in to tell us the library was closing in 15 minutes due to weather. It was snowing fairly hard outside and they wanted everyone to get home safely.

The rest of the week we spent either in classes for departing missionaries or working on preparation for classes to be taught. I am learning so much, but I sometimes feel like a fire hose has been unleashed in my direction. I can’t put everything into the classes because of limits on time and course objectives. It’s an interesting position to be in.

Thursday we had a group lunch as a Christmas celebration. After lunch I went back to the computer 

lab to work for a while—Ted wanted to listen to the singers in the foyer of the Joseph Smith Building so he stayed behind for a few minutes. Just as I got into the lab, I heard Ted banging on the door and went to see what was up. He was standing there with Pres. Batt, our mission president from the Farmington New Mexico Mission. He called his wife who was across the street and she came. We had a short but fun visit. Before they left we went into the Family Search Center and had our pictures taken in the setup that depicts Ellis Island. It was so good to see them.

Elder and Sister Roeth -- President and Sister Batt (Farmington New Mexico Mission)

In the evening, we went to the Conference Center across the street for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program. We had seats in the Balcony in the very last section next by the wall. We actually sat next to the first aisle and had pretty good seats. A friend we’ve known from the Las Vegas Temple was seated two rows in front of us—it is amazing the number of people we see here. The program was excellent and we enjoyed it. We have really enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to have so many amazing events so close by.

Week of December 6, 2015

Sunday church was a little strange. None of the young elders were at church. They were attending somewhere else for two weeks and it made a strange difference. Since our mission does no proselyting, the young elders don’t get opportunity to teach people. Each week after our church meetings, they pair up with senior missionaries to teach them so they have the opportunity to develop their teaching skills and have more normal mission experiences. When our branch was moved to 2:30, it became difficult to give them teaching time after church. Our meetings are being moved to another building so we have an earlier meeting time, but we don’t know when. In the evening we attended the First Presidency Devotional. It was wonderful and a great way to get into the spirit of Christmas.

Elder and Sister Roeth at First Presidency Devotional

Monday our group went over the upcoming teaching schedule. Our leader asked me to prepare to teach a class at the end of the month on an editing tool and to be prepared to teach another class in January on searching historical records. I was thrilled to get those assignments. We are modifying the curriculum in January and several changes are being made to classes. Both Ted and I were asked to help develop a class that will use actual questions asked by library guests to help the students think about how they would help the guests find what they need. That should be fun.

Tuesday we started classes with a new group of Church Service Missionaries. This group was really sharp. They didn’t need much help in any of the classes. One lady needed some extra help, so we had one of us sit by her during each of the modules. I enjoyed that experience and she was very grateful.

About half way through the morning we were told we needed to change our schedule for January. There will be no full-time senior missionaries coming in January. They wanted to move the other missionaries coming then and wanted to know how we could accommodate the change in schedule. They are starting a major remodeling of the main floor of the library and classrooms are at a premium. I made a suggestion that was ultimately approved and I’m sure it was a bit of inspiration. It immediately became apparent that this change would be a real blessing to our group because it would give us a full week to try out our new classes and work out the bugs.

Tabernacle Choir at end of broadcast

Wednesday I printed up a card for the students to write their passwords on and we found plastic sleeves for them to attach to their security cards. The sleeves had cards for computer shortcuts but they were out of date so I am updating them.

Thursday the classes went well. I learned some good things and was able to help quite a bit. The big storm we expected turned out to be a little rain so we were happy.

Friday we finished our classes. I enjoyed this group of students. It is amazing to me, with my very limited experience, how different each group is. This group was great at helping each other and offering suggestions and ideas. I really enjoy the people I’m working with and their willingness to help and encourage.

Tabernacle Choir as you don't often see them

Saturday Ted and I worked through a set of questions in preparation for our meeting to plan the class on helping guests to decide what we would tell them if we were helping them. We had a good discussion about some of the different answers we had. It was a good exercise. I also spent some time working on one of my classes. I know basically what needs to be taught but I need to decide how I want to do it. When I teach in December I will have two hours for the class, but after that there will only be one hour allocated. The cuts that are coming in January will be a challenge and I’m interested in seeing how it all works out.

Week of November 29, 2015

Sunday Lloyd Newell spoke after the broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. It was his 25^th anniversary with the program so it was a bit nostalgic for him. He does a great job and I always enjoy his thoughts. I spent time with my sister Cathy on the phone trying to untie a couple of knots on the family tree. We managed to clean up one part of one family. And it was fun. After church we walked around Temple Square to see the lights. It was beautiful, but it was extremely cold and my gloves were not nearly warm enough.

Nativity on reflection pond next to Salt Lake Temple

Monday after our mission devotional we met with our group. They want us to be in the classes as students for one cycle of classes. We need to learn the modules before we can teach. The afternoon was spent on our own studying the modules they will be teaching in January. I’d really like to be more help.

Tuesday we sat in on the training classes. I learned several things, and I was able to help a couple of students during the second module taught so that made me feel good. We had a long break at lunch so we walked home—we only live 1 ½ blocks away. Ted had received an email saying our buyers had signed their documents over the weekend and it was possible we would close on our house sale this week. After classes Ted and I stayed for about an hour to review some of the things we’d learned. It is a gradual process but I think we’ll get it.

Wednesday we had more classes. We had a call from the escrow company telling us we would close the sale of our home tomorrow. We signed the last papers and emailed them. I feel sad to think we will no longer have our same neighbors. But it feels so good to be this close to ending this drama.

Thursday we were supposed to attend a class that was being taught, but they needed us to give up our computers because they had a full house and they also needed us to help the attendees. Since I had been through the module in my studies on Monday I sort of knew what was being taught. It was fun to be walking around helping even if I only knew part of what was happening.

At noon we had a presentation by Elder Stuart Grow about the birth of Christ. It was wonderful. This was an annual Christmas Devotional and luncheon for the Family Search Department. Later in the day we were told the sale of the home was recorded and we were officially homeless. It is really hard to believe it is over after so many months of trying to sell the house and having three sales. I’m so glad one finally went through. I’m so grateful for the Lord’s handling this the way He knew best.

Friday was our Temple and Research day so we started with a trip to the temple. After we returned home, we did a bit of organizing our work then went to the Family History Library. I did some cleanup work on one of my lines while Ted looked at his Swedish line. He was able to visit with a man that gave him good direction and encouragement about what is available for Swedish research. I had to tear him away when it was time to leave. I made some progress, but it seemed that every time I cleaned up and added sources on one of the children in the family I was working on, I found a new set of records for the parents—way too much duplication on this group at least.

We decided to walk over to City Creek to the food court for dinner and to look around. It was fairly cold, but we enjoyed the walk. We had no idea how to get to where we were going, but we wandered and followed signs and finally got there. I had no idea it was so extensive. On the way back we ran into Jon and Susan Bunker from Las Vegas with some of their children and grandchildren. Small world. We wandered into the Assembly Hall and listened to a concert by a high school choir that did a wonderful job. We have really enjoyed the opportunity to attend so many wonderful events.

Salt Lake Temple with Christmas lights

Saturday I worked on an assignment from our supervisor. We suddenly realized it was almost time for the monthly swap meet so we hurriedly rushed out to make sure we got our share of stuff. There wasn’t much that I wanted, but we managed to fill our bag with stuff we could use. I found one glove (no match) that was perfect for keeping my hands warm. I am hoping I can figure out where to get a pair just like it, but in the meantime, I plan to wear unmatched gloves so at least one hand is warm. (That sounds fairly pathetic, but I am desperate to not have cold hands.) After we finished there we went to the DI to get the stuff we really needed and hadn’t been able to get at the swap meet. I was not able to find a mixer, but I did discover, from talking to a man that only speaks Spanish, that the mixers and the beaters are sold in two different departments so next time I’ll be better prepared for the hunt. In the evening we went to the Assembly Hall and enjoyed a wonderful presentation by a local high school that we enjoyed.