Week of February 19, 2017

Sunday appeared to be a normal day. As we were waiting for Sacrament Meeting to start, I looked up to see Elder Quentin Cook of the Quorum of Twelve walking into our meeting. He worked his way up the aisle, shaking hands and talking to a few people, then he took his place on the stand. When the meeting started Elder Colvin was obviously a little nervous. We had three speakers scheduled, but after the second speaker they announced that Elder Cook wanted to take a few minutes to talk to us so the third speaker would be held over a week.

Elder Cook had come to thank us for our participation in helping people who came to Rootstech have such a positive experience. Then he bore his testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. He ended by bearing testimony of Christ. I was deeply impacted by his words. I know he is a special witness of Christ and I assume he has had some amazing experiences in order to bear that testimony, but his was a clear statement of knowing the Savior. It really impressed me and I have spent much time reflecting on his words.

In the evening we attended a fireside presented by the daughter of a couple in the mission. She spoke several months ago about prayer and had a profound effect on me then. Tonight she spoke about “Sleeping through Gethsemane”. She talked about the Atonement and making it a real part of our lives. One point she made was that at baptism we entered into a covenant with the Lord that gave us the option to repent and change and lay our burdens on Him. I was very touched by her message. I know the Savior has already paid the price for my sins, so I need to give them up to Him to carry instead of insisting on keeping them to myself.

Monday we had off work because of President’s Day. I got a lot done. I was able to review the lessons I’ll teach this week. I was also able to complete three more lessons toward certification. I have learned some interesting things and I’m glad I did it. I also reviewed the “How to” guide I did and had Ted test it for me. We found a couple of things that weren’t clear. Sister Barber will also test it this week then I can submit it and have it finished.

Tuesday we had inservice. We got the teaching schedule for April and I was a little disappointed. I had hoped I could teach one of the classes again before going home and it was assigned to someone else. For some reason, it really hit me. I really enjoy teaching that class and it was such a disappointment to not be able to do it again. Ironically, that was the same class I was teaching in the afternoon. As it happened, I felt quite distracted. I’m sure the students didn’t realize there was an issue, but I felt like I let myself and the process down by my feelings.

Wednesday we had inservice again. The speaker didn’t show up for the class, so we played a game about family history. We had some beads with letters on them and we were supposed to make a crossword out of the beads using family history words. It was quite fun and it was a good group activity. On the way out I spoke to one of the nurses who is going home this week, called me over. She had been in the Capstone class and tried to find a family member who needed temple work. She only had her grandparents’ names and nothing beyond that. During Capstone when she went into Family Tree, there were parents for her grandmother, but she didn’t know anything about them and wasn’t even sure who had put the names in. One of the missionaries in the class helped her look at it and she sent a message to the person who had put in the names asking about it. She had received a reply from the lady who turned out to be descended from her grandmother’s brother. She had found a death certificate for her grandpa and it named his parents. She was so excited to be able to have a family name to do work for. This was the only time on her mission she had been able to find a name in her family to do work for in the temple and she would never have even looked if it weren’t for Capstone.

Thursday the engineers didn’t show again so I did some personal research. I was able to find some household records for one of Ted’s ancestors that tell me where he was for about 20 more years. I lose the trail again at that point but I’m still looking. It will just take more work to find him again.  We then went to a rare books store where the owner spent an hour talking with us. It was really interesting. He said his goal is to get one of the original Book of Commandments. Only 29 have surfaced to date, but he’s sure there are more out there.

In the evening we had three couples we’d known in New Mexico for dinner at our apartment. It was fun to catch up and hear the story of the one sister meeting her husband. It was a good evening and we were actually able to swing the seating so everyone could eat comfortably. (We only have 7 plates so that was an issue.) I really enjoy the group.

Friday we had another class in the morning and I taught in the afternoon. Before I taught I went through the entire lesson at a computer to make sure everything was working correctly. In class the computer made me sign in every time I changed screens so it was a little frustrating. It went well though and I think the class stayed with me and most of them got something out of it.

Elder and Sister Roeth - Night out for dinner!

After class we stayed at the library for a while but I didn’t find any more information. In the evening we went to dinner at a nice restaurant and really enjoyed it. As we were getting ready to leave a couple at a nearby table asked about our mission. They had just returned from a mission to Hungary and are traveling around. It was fun to visit for a few minutes.

Salt Lake Temple - View from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Saturday we did our week at the Swap Meet sheds getting them organized. We had a lot of missionaries go home this week and the main shed was really full. I had to move several bags outside to get some things better organized and the get close enough to hang up clothes. It was quite cold but it was dry most of the time. About 11 am it started snowing so it became more difficult to work and stay dry. We finally quit around noon. I had hung up most of the clothes, but there were still 3-4 bags of things to be hung up.