The Week before Christmas

The week before Christmas.... Still pretty cold but eventful!  We enjoyed Family Home Evening with Elder & Sister Robinson from Nampa. They are a lovely couple that seem curiously familiar to us.  Tuesday we had a special prayer meeting where we were taught about dealing with difficult people & maintaining a heart at peace. A former Instructor from BYU is teaching the 2 wk. class. He ended with a quote from Robert D. Hales:  “When we do not retaliate—when we turn the other cheek & resist feelings of anger—we too stand with the Savior. We show forth his love, which is the only power that can subdue the adversary & answer our accusers without accusing them in return. That is not weakness. That is Christian courage. “

We work hard to pass off the 17 modules in the FHL & we are learning how to research family names. WOW, this is much more complicated then we expected. It was a nice break on Wednesday to receive a visit from my favorite brother. We showed him around & looked up some family history stories. Then we went to lunch at the Lion House. I wish we would have thought to take a pic!!!

That night we made a phone call to Dr. Haderlie in Idaho Falls. A good friend & bicycle buddy of Elder Ferney. He was able to access my medical records & see the results to the tests. In a matter of minutes he could see the problem with my kidneys & called in a stronger prescription for me. Each day the swelling has gone down & I am confident I will be ready to fly out on Jan. 8th. An answer to our prayers. On Friday we did an endowment session at the temple. It was our 1st time to go through and what a treat!!  It is absolutely gorgeous. We payed close attention to the live session & were able to do the work for one of our ancestors. That afternoon Jameson’s Family came to visit. How wonderful to hold them & smooch on them!  Those six little chicklets are so full of love. We enjoyed the Christmas lights & had dinner at City Creek. On Saturday we all went to Brigham Young’s house. A 1st for us. It was very fun to see the beautifully decorated rooms & visit with the Sister missionaries. 

Sunday evening after church, Wally & Nancy Stewart from our home ward in I.F. met us at Temple Square to see the lights. Their daughter Lindsay was with them & we certainly enjoyed sharing the holiday spirit with them. 

It is Christmas Day today & we feel like it has been one of the most special Christmases ever!  Since we have been here we have sung the Christmas hymns over & over & over. What could be more fun or bring in more Christmas Spirit??  We have heard the most beautiful prayers offered up at as we spend Christmas away from our loved ones. Truly the real meaning of Christmas is in our hearts. We are so blessed to have each other. We are counting on the Lord to guide & protect you all while we are away. We already know you will look out & support each other & that gives us much comfort. We will do our best to labor in the vineyard & we pray that you will all have love & harmony in abundance in your homes.

Unexpected week.

We have had a most unexpected week. It all started out with training in the Family Search Building. We meet our Zone Leader, Elder Cote & his wife who run the Center. Lots of very friendly, elderly Elders & Sisters work there. We had instructions to start training on a computer program. So we started out following the steps. A silver haired Sister Howell came over to  me as I had my family fan chart up. She asked if she could take it so she could put it in order. Not having a clue what she meant I said “sure”. The next 3 days she sat by my side working deliriously. Tapping her pencil on my screen indicating every click to make. We printed maps of Denmark then marked & studied them. She knew their customs & could speak a little Danish. We searched many different census & went to google to find Danish Church records. It was quite an intense experience. In the meantime, I was not feeling up to par & we decided to get checked out at Urgent Care at the University. Sister Cote gave us a lift & for the next nine hours a doctor tried to determine the cause of my swollen feet & ankles. I also had a bad red-splotchy rash from head to toe. After several tests, two bags of intervinous feeding bags & a bag of antibiotics I was released. Sister Cote came & picked us up & told us to not worry about coming in to work the next day. However, we did attend our Mission Conference in the Assembly Hall. Our Mission President & his wife (Bruce R. McConkie’s daughter) did a presentation about 

The Birth if Christ. Very detailed & new information enlightened us all!! What a thrill. One thing we have really noticed is the higher amount of hymns we sing at each meeting.. the lyrics add to the spirit and are enjoyed by all. Later that afternoon, as we were walking home through Temple Square, we were approached from someone behind. It was our dear neighbors the Anderson’s from Hibbard. He was serving as Bishop when we moved. They are now serving their 4th mission in the Church Office Building. 

They invited us to stand in line with them to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert. After standing in the stand-by line for two hours, we finally got tickets & headed to the Conference Center. What a marvelous production!! The music was heavenly & Hugh Bonneville’s Christmas story was powerful. It was truly a great evening. Today is our P-day. 

Elder Ferney volunteered to do the laundry so I could keep my feet up to help with the swelling. He brought lunch over from the JSMB & we are again studying the Book of Mormon.

Music and the Spoken word.

Our short Stay in Salt Lake Working in the Family History Center

 Sabbath Day in The Joseph Smith Memorial Building

The 2 Story Christmas Tree in the JSMB. Choirs from surrounding High Schools perform beautiful Christmas music starting at noon on every hour. They sing in the mezzanine. We Love it!

Hey Guys!

Today was one of the most wonderful days ever!! We held Services in one of the two brand new buildings at the MTC. They are especially designed to enhance learning & to calm the soul. They house spectacular murals that are lit up from behind.   They also have pondering areas and lots of sky lights & big windows.  😳  Our Sacrament meeting was with the International branch. They performed a beautiful musical number in several different languages. Wow! We love all these young missionaries already!  We had a combined Priesthood & Relief Society where we shared all the tender mercies that happened to us while preparing for our missions. We could clearly see all the small miracles & recognize the Lords hand in each of the four couples that were there. This has been called a rarified atmosphere. Tomorrow, ninety senior couples will arrive. We are excited to meet them & make more friends. 

We just finished lunch & then this evening we will have a devotional.   We send our love & hope you have a blessed day.   ❤️

GG & Gramps 😘😘

This is our district Starting on the left, Brother Zufelt, Elder and Sister Peterson, Elder and Sister Powelson, us, Elder and Sister Lambson. Elder Ferney is the District Leader.

We just finished the most productive week ever!  It was rewarding & fun. The skills they taught us in the Preach My Gospel classes make it simple & effective. We have loved every minute!!  Tomorrow we will attend our own little branch. (Last Sunday we went to the International Ward).

Then we start office training on Monday morning. Can’t wait 😁.  We are learning lots of technology skills. A bit of a challenge for me but we think it will really help us. We found out how to tag, & use notes in LDS library AND better use LDS Media. Yeah!!!!  We have met many WONDERFUL people of all ages. We love the strong spirit that is here. 😇😘😘😘😘😘😘

Some of Our New Missionary Friends! We love them all!

While I am thinking of it, one of the couples testified of the power of Family Councils. We were so impressed with their success in setting guidelines & making plans together. They actually use it as a tool to reach out to a daughter that has gone inactive. We could see how that could really bless the lives of a family. Isn’t there a new book out on this??🤔

Dad & I thought it would be nice to try it with you all once or twice a year. Mom

And We're are Off !

Family Farewell Dinner