Week of April 10, 2016

Sunday my missionary companion and her sister came over to spend the day with us. We took them home teaching with us. One of the sisters has inherited her father’s many years of family history research in the form of about 30 old Book of Remembrances. She wants to verify that the information in them is in the Tree, but the only way to do that is to go through it all page by page. Fortunately, her dad’s printing is very legible and most of the records are documented. As we thumbed through one of the books we stumbled across a connection to Alfred the Great in the 900’s. My comp laughed and said that he is mostly remembered for burning cake. He had been left by a servant to tend the cake in the oven and let it burn, so everyone says, “Alfred, the Great; the one who burned the cake.” 

Monday after devotional I went to the office area to print a few things. Our leader handed me a pack of handouts for the classes that he wanted me to review to make sure all the handouts that should be there were. I added several, corrected a few, and commented on the overall collection. I am really impressed with all they are trying to do. I was really tired by the time I finished everything and totally exhausted by the end of the day.

In the evening Ted and I watched a couple of versions of the Provo City Center Temple Cultural Celebration. It was really uplifting. I was so touched by the music that had been written. The theme was “Beauty from Ashes” and there were many applications of that thought.

Tuesday we began our Capstone classes. There are a lot of missionaries going home in the next few months so the mission is concerned about having sufficient numbers. We left our phone at the library and weren’t able to find it today. It’s mostly an inconvenience, but most of our phone numbers are in it so we are a little crippled without it.

In the afternoon we went to the temple to do sealings. We had a good group and we were able to get all 24 of our ordinances done and lots of them for the other attendees we worked with. I’m so relieved to get them all done. I just have a few more and my list will be cleaned out.

Wednesday we both taught. I thought the classes went well. I spent some time at the library researching At home I was able to get packed and also go for a walk with Sister Tauzin. I really enjoy our visits even though there is a definite language barrier. I’m sure we each miss about half of what is said. It rained off and on all day but was clear enough for us to walk.

It had rained off and on through the day and I was not particularly wanting to walk to the Trax station in the rain pulling my suitcase behind. I had fervently asked the Lord to help us have dry weather on Thursday morning to walk to the Trax stop. When we woke up the weather was fairly clear and dry. We readied ourselves and walked to the train. We had planned to be there early because we were not familiar with the airport and airline. As it turned out, not much was different than any other flight and all went smoothly.

While we waited for our flight, Ted and I reviewed some files for classes being taught. As we sat there we noticed it was raining fairly hard outside. I was so grateful for the Lord’s tender mercy in allowing us to have dry weather long enough to get on the train. Just as we finished reviewing the files, it was time to board the plane. The plane was fairly small with two seats on each side of the aisle. While we waited for our second flight in Houston, I worked on adding some sources to Family Tree from several of the documents I had been finding.

Snake found on one of our evening walks

It was good to be with Nathan and Caroline and family for the weekend and for Natalie’s baptism and were grateful for the opportunity to be there with them.