Our Mission to Palmyra

Dearest Children, Grandchildren, Family and Friends, In many ways this has been a quiet, peaceful week. It has been a bit physically demanding, at least for me, but it has been good. The temple is a lot more quiet than it was the first part of the summer. We can tell that school has started in many parts of the country because we aren’t getting many family groups into the baptistry and no more youth conferences and groups from far away. School doesn’t start in most places in the East until after Labor Day so groups around here have come but we just don’t the get volume we had in July. We cherish each patron who comes, though, and try to make their experience perfect for them. We were able to do quite a bit of work for our own family this week as we have been assigned as patrons and it was wonderful to be able to do that work. I suspect as we work through our last two months here that we will be doing a lot of patron work. But, that is good!!! One experience we had that will...

Dear grandchildren, children and friends Monday was the eclipse. The Temple went well. Grandma wasn't feeling up to going up the Hill, so I let her use my eclipse glasses so she could enjoy it, then I walked up.  Lots of fun with other missionaries on top, then I felt I needed to walk down. There was a couple using a paper plate to watch in the south parking lot. They were afraid I was coming to kick them out, but I told them I was just walking. When I saw they didn't have glasses, I lent them mine and they enjoyed that. I then headed for the Visitors center. The missionaries there only had a piece of paper to watch, so I gave them my glasses which had come initially from Brother Fielding. Later that night we went to PF Changs for dinner with the 6-month temple missionaries and the site missionaries.  One of the sisters asked how I could give such spiritual prayers in the Temple and then goof around outside (nothing bad, just joking with people.) Even the Prophet Joseph (...