Week of January 24, 2016

The week started with rain late Saturday afternoon. It rained into the night and when we got up Sunday morning there was a thin layer of snow. It snowed lightly all day, keeping the air cold and wet. In spite of the weather, I have felt the hand of the Lord in my life in the details, tender mercies. It has been a real testimony to me of His love for me.

Monday we met to evaluate the first teaching week on the new curriculum. We had a good discussion about our direction and some things we could do to improve. We also spent time putting together the teaching schedule for February. I will be preparing a new class to teach so that should be challenging. We will lose three really good teachers in the next few months so we will probably get some new missionaries before they go, but we need to be able to carry the program until they are ready to teach.

Our social group had a fireside with Pres. Herbert Klopfer. He shared the amazing story of his escape from East Germany during the war and his experiences in life. His father became mission president in Germany when the war broke out and all the Americans were pulled out of Europe. Pres. Klopfer is a member of the Church music committee. He also plays the piano during the lunch hour in the Church Office Building cafeteria. That started 18 years ago when they were remodeling the cafeteria and they moved to the 20^th floor where there were 3 grand pianos. Pres. Hinckley suggested they could use some music during lunch and he’s never been released.

The most touching experience to me was while he was on his mission, the Swiss Temple was opened. His mission president had been asked to provide two elders for three months at a time to help with the work. Elder Klopfer helped arrange housing for members who came to the temple from all over Europe. On one occasion he was setting up housing for a group of 100 members from East Germany, the area he was from. As he looked at the list he found the names of his three living grand-parents who were coming to the temple. They did not even know he was alive since they could not have any correspondence since his escape to West Berlin. They had a very happy reunion.

Stained glass of First Vision in our former chapel

I spent time updating the calendars for the new month and sending them out to the zone leaders. We had to modify our teaching schedule since we are using the new curriculum, but we are not ready to use the new schedule. We are condensing a couple of the classes to accommodate the transition. I also had to add our teaching assignments to the trainers’ calendar and print it for the trainers.

Friday we had rain that continued through the night and Saturday morning we woke to rain. A storm warning had been issued, but they don’t seem to materialize here. We planned to go to the Provo City Center Temple Open House with a group. Ted left a few minutes early to check the battery—it was still raining. When I left 5 minutes later, it was snowing and there was about an inch on the ground. I went back to put on my boots. When the group was gathered, we had a prayer then loaded into our cars and left. The roads were a mess with snow and ice already, but we decided if we took it slowly we’d be OK. It really was a mess until we got into the south end of the valley then the snowy roads began to clear and by the point of the mountain the roads were dry and there was nothing coming down. Utah Valley was completely dry.

Apartment Complex Saturday afternoon, cold and icy

The open house was wonderful. The temple is really beautiful and it was good to walk through again. They created a new film for temple open houses and it is really much better at explaining what temples are for. After the tour we drove to the Manti Temple. As we left Provo there was a light rain falling, but the roads were excellent so there was no worry. One of the sisters had arranged for us to work in a room at the top of one of two spiral staircases—151 stairs up. The staircases were amazing—they each have six full circles in them. The chairs in the room were all covered with beautiful needlepoint stitchery. Someone had done an incredible job of doing the work on them.

When we had finished our work and were going down the opposite spiral staircase we looked out the window to see fairly heavy snow falling. We left immediately in hopes of getting past the storm before the roads became bad. They were starting to get a little covered by the time we were nearing Nephi, but the Lord protected us and we arrived safely. We took the freeway from Nephi and it was fairly good. As we neared Provo and the point of the mountain the storm cleared and there were blue skies ahead. It was a real blessing to us to have been able to go and drive safely.

We had a couple from England riding with us and we had a delightful visit. They know one of my mission companions from when I was in Scotland. It was fun to get to know them and the other missionaries who went with us.