The Week That Was

This was a week worth highlighting.  On Monday, the temple opened again!!! It's all shiny and clean thanks to Spiderman.  And buzzing with temple goers and weddings. We all feel a sense of exquisite joy again.  Wednesday night was the culmination of months of preparing for Jon Schmidt of The Piano Guys to come perform at the Tabernacle.  This was going to be the biggest event we've had at the Tabernacle and we weren't quite sure what to expect.  Well, the crowds came; we fit them in; he was spectacular and it was all we hoped for.  (The Tabernacle holds 814.  We put some downstairs where they could hear but not see and we squeezed in 1056.  Don't tell any one. It may be against fire code!)  Some left of their own accord because they couldn't sit.  I doubt if there were very many more in the building when Lorenzo Snow delivered his famous "Windows of Heaven" address (about tithing) there 116 years ago when the people were much smaller!  Then the next morning he spoke and performed for just the missionaries at the Visitors' Center!  Us!  As talented as he is, the most impressive thing about him is his dedication to the gospel.  The Lord first, career second.  That is the feeling of all The Piano Guys. It is even written into their contracts: they can not be asked to do anything against their religious beliefs.   Love it!!!

The next day President Uchtdorf walked into the VC!  We were not fortunate enough to be there but it created quite a stir for the next few days.  I heard about and imagined the whole thing.  It was a short "passing by" visit but the Sisters got pictures and handshakes.

That same  day I got a visit from my dear friend Jeanne Douglas!  Only the second time we've seen each other in three years because of their mission to the Philipines and ours here!  It was like the sons of Mosiah and Alma seeing each other again after their labors in the field!! What joy!

Last but not least was a visit to the VC on Saturday from a Brother who the Navajos call Rainbow Dancer. He came in to pick up 4 copies of the Book of Mormon to share--one each in English, Navajo, German and French.  They call him Rainbow Dancer  because he brings them hope--the hope of crossing over into heaven through Jesus Christ.  And he uses the Book of Mormon to do it.  He carries them wherever he goes.  As a young missionary he felt inspired to share the Book of Mormon with everyone and gave out 800 copies.  That's more than 2 a day.  He has never stopped since and shares them wherever he is: cases to the Indians where he delivers sheep and hay, by the hundreds to visitors he meets at tourist stops.  This time an Indian woman told him she had a dream that she was given a stack of plates with writing on them. They were heavy she said but she didn't drop them.  "I can give you the writings", he said and came in to pick up a Navajo copy for her.  He has a gift for sharing the Book of Mormon.  What is(are) your gift(s) for sharing the gospel?

What To Do When the Temple Closes

When the temple closes for a month there is still a lot of activity but the kind of activity changes. The parking lot is empty but people still come with their temple bags only to find that it's closed for a month.  I can feel their disappointment.  There is no greater joy than to serve in the Lord's holy house. (Check temple schedules before you venture too far on a temple trip!)

It is still alive with activty within but it is in the form of wallpapering, painting, cleaning, and remodeling.  We volunteered on two days and covered chairs with paper and tape so arms and legs could be repainted. We met a beautiful young mother of 5 who taped with us and has spent almost every day for the last three months in the temple as much as possible since her husband was killed in a truck crash.  He was driving his own truck on a freeway, delivering a pre-fab house when a tire popped.  He was thrown over the median in to on coming traffic and instead of hitting head on and surely killing those in a passenger car he swerved the truck across the lanes and over a cliff.  The incredible impact buried the truck in the sand.  Sister Beutler seemed to be an angel on earth.  I'm sure her husband was the same way.  In fact she said his whole life was one continual display of acts of service one after another.  Have you ever read  the book "The Message" by Lance Robinson?  It is a sermon about service.  I highly recommend it.

Well I couldn't send pictures of our maintenance experiences in the temple (watching the progress in the baptistry, climbing the spiral staircase, changing 4 foot fluorescent light bulbs in the foyer, taping chairs, putting on white scrubs, watching the cleaning, wallpapering etc.)  But I can of the maintenance outside the temple!  Here's Brother McBride (aka Spiderman) mountain climber, repeller, cleaning business owner and temple recommend holder taking a week to wash the outside of the temple.  That's one way it stays so white.  Another is a new paint job every 5 years.  But the secret is in the calcite plaster that glistens in the sun through the white paint!

When the temple is closed we can look for another temple to go to as long as we travel back home at night and stay in our apartment.  (If we have to stay over night we need permission from the mission president.)  So we took a preparation day and met our Utah kids at the Payson temple on Oct. 10th. What joy! Family--at the temple!  My two favorite things!!  

Then my next favorite thing--eating out!  Mexican in Payson at Los 4 Amigos (I think that was the name).  Thanks for coming kids! It made a missionary mom's heart very happy!!!