Week of July 24, 2016

Sunday the choir was amazing again. We were on the third row in the Conference Center so we could see really well. The King Singers were there as well and the group sang selections from the concert they’d done. They were recording afterward so the concert may be on CD soon. Ted spent the evening rearranging the rides for the Goshen trip so there wouldn’t be a conflict of people going two different places afterward. It was fairly frustrating for him.

Getting Ready for the Parade

Monday morning we attended a community breakfast sponsored by one of the stakes on the Avenues. From there we went to the staging area for the parade. We had seats in the shade and saw everything that went out. The bands couldn’t play until the starting point, but it was nice not being in the sun for hours. Afterward we hiked to the DUP museum for their open house only to find it wasn’t happening until noon so we went home.

Family History Float

After lunch we again walked up to the DUP museum. We watched a blacksmith make a lid lifter for a Dutch oven. It had a ram’s head on one end and a steer on the other end. It was really beautiful. It was also really hot. Inside I went to where you can get biographies of ancestors and found they didn’t have anything on John or Sarah Rodwell, my ancestors that were in the Martin Handcart Company. There was a painting on the wall of a tree showing the descendants of Samuel Rose Parkinson. I found Vivian, my Grandpa Hales’ second wife. She would have been about 20 at the time of the painting and probably hadn’t married Lester Taylor yet. She was the youngest of 33 children from 3 polygamous wives. We had some cold lemonade and water then we walked home.

Tuesday we started with devotional at the JSMB with the training zone. This was the week we were double booked, so the zone moved downstairs for their inservice and we held the enrichment class in their lab. After lunch I taught IrfanView to the new missionaries. It was the most unusual class I have ever taught. It took every bit of concentration to get through it. They asked so many questions, not all pertinent to the class. We managed to get almost everything covered, but it was strange.

In the evening we walked toward the park for the concert. About half way there we found it had been moved to the Assembly Hall because it was so hot. The heat is much more oppressive than Las Vegas, probably because it is more humid. All week it was hot.

Wednesday Ted taught one of the three classes. Two of the other teachers were teaching in two other locations at the same time in the morning, so we didn’t have much support in any location. The classes really didn’t need a lot of help, so I was surprised when one of the men told me he had been really frustrated by the first two classes and was having trouble catching the information. In the evening my legs were hurting me, probably from the steep walking up and down to the DUP Museum on Monday, so I couldn’t walk with my friend.

Thursday I taught Searching Historical Records. My friend that had trouble with the previous classes told me he got it—mostly—so that made me feel good. I felt like I related well to the students and it was a good class. I was surprised when one of the new missionaries later told me she had zero results on the exercise we did at the end of class. We had worked on it for about half an hour, so I’m not sure why she didn’t say anything during class. We’ve never had anyone get zero results. It is truly an unusual class.

Our daughter and family stopped on their way to a family reunion. It was really fun to see them and hold the baby.

The Swap Meet sheds are a bit of a frustration. People bring things all the time and leave them outside. Whoever puts the stuff into the sheds is usually in a hurry so they don’t have time to do much with it. By the end of the week it is a jumble and needs to be reorganized. To me it is a bit of a puzzle to organize.

Friday I taught the enrichment class on Beginning IrfanView. Elder Barber was the only one available to help me so it got a little crazy at times. I thought it went really well though and several people told me how much they’d learned. That always feels good. The other trainers were doing another class so again we were pretty thin.

In the evening we attended the concert at the Assembly Hall. It was the Jenny Oaks Baker String Workshop performing. Jenny did a couple of numbers by herself and she did a couple more with just her kids. The entire program was really good. Her daughter who played the piano was amazing. They played a Copeland number and she really pounded it out. At one point she was playing standing up. It was intense.

Saturday we drove to the Church Motion Picture Studio at Elberta, near Goshen. It was really a good experience. We did sweeping in the Court of the Women. My French friend didn’t have a broom, so we traded off with me sweeping a step then her sweeping a step. We worked for about half an hour then we had a tour. The guide told us about what was filmed where and some of the stories of special experiences showing the hand of the Lord in building the set and making the movies. It was really a good experience. The blocks of the wall were made of Styrofoam, very high density, painted to look like stone. It was quite hot, but they had plenty of water and tried to keep us in the shade as much as possible.

After the tour we went to a barbeque at a senior couple’s home in the area. We were nearly two hours late, but there were people still eating and they had kept the food out for us. It was really nice and we had a good visit. They are part of our group from the MTC and they already have a call to go to Guatemala in December to be the Area Medical Advisor. We were hot and tired by the time we got home, but it was really a good day.