Week 27 - Starting our Last Week
Dearest Children, Grandchildren, Family and Friends!!
We are at the end of a very long day so I am going to give you a quick blog. Great Grandma asked if I could share my talk so I will put that in on Tuesday, maybe, and send it out. For right now, I will share this week.
Monday was good at the temple and in the afternoon we went to see how maple syrup was made. Dad is sharing that with pics....really cool.
Tuesday we got a lot done. We had to organize our underneath bins because another missionary couple didn't have room for some of their things....they are going home early on Tuesday...and we offered to let them use one of our bins. We got all our regular stuff done and organized and did some things to prepare to go home....so sad....but exciting also because we are anxious to see all of you!!!
Wednesday I worked in the office in the morning and got to know a sister that I haven't worked with before. She told me her conversion story. She grew up in Palmyra but had to move away to Oklahoma to be introduced to the gospel and join the church. She married for the first time at age 51 and has 5 kids...not her biological ones but she claims them all the same. During our evening shift, I was waiting in the waiting room to go into a session and a sister came in with her young son to wait while her husband and other two sons were going into the baptistry. As soon as she came in she stopped and said, "I know you! I'm Alison Hansen." I knew her in that instant and she looked at my name tag and figured out where she knew me. It is so funny when you see people out of context it takes a minute to figure out where you know them. She was a principal at an elementary school in our school district while I taught two of her children. Then, she and I worked on several committees on the district while she was at the elementary school and when she went up to the district. She is now a principal again and loving it. She is still mad at me for retiring before I taught the rest of her kids....not really...but that's what she says. It was good to visit for a few minutes and catch up before I had to go. It is certainly a small world in the church!!!
Thursday we went on our last Thursday activity to Letchworth park. Dad shared about that as well. It was fun to be with the group!!! So sad that this is all ending!!!
Friday was moderately busy at the temple. It is amazing because they told us that it would be so quiet at the temple in October but so far we have had quite a few local patrons as well as those from out of state. It has been fairly busy. After our shift, Richard finally got to go to a Greek restaurant. He's been wanting to go since we got here. It was actually quite good, although a little too much olive oil for my taste. It was so fun to be with three other couples. We just sat there and talked and talked. I think we all feel that the time is getting short.
Saturday was so amazing at the temple. I had a tender experience. Before the temple, I was thinking about the fact that we were going to be having several people who were receiving their own endowment. I wondered if I would get to be a guide. I was able to be a guide in May but haven't since although others have done it many times. I had decided that I had goofed it up and the coordinators had been told that I shouldn't be asked. I was not as worried about not doing it as I was about the fact that I might have offended someone or done something wrong. I started praying, asking Heavenly Father to forgive me if I had caused offense and asked Him to help those involved to be comforted and to forget if I had caused any problems. I told Him that I didn't need to be assigned, I just wanted to make everything right. So, I got to the temple and saw that my first post was the Greeter post and there were so many things happening right then that I went immediately to my post....baptisms, endowment patrons, a sister and her fiance who were receiving their own endowment. I got everyone where they needed to be and there was a lull in the busyness. I sat down to look at the rest of my "line" or scheduled responsibilities for the shift. There it was!!! I was assigned to be an Own Endowment Guide for the second sister coming for the 11:00 session. I just started crying at the tender message from a loving Heavenly Father that I was okay. It was sweet....but I had to dry my eyes quickly because more people came in at that time and I had to help them!!! I was also assigned to help in the very first ordinances for the first and the second sisters who had come to the temple for the first time. Sooooooo sweet. I love doing it but it was particularly tender that day!!
Today was a very long tiring day but it was good!!! I spoke in church and will share that with you later. Our lesson was good and I loved that the sister who will be replacing us was there. She is amazing. She has only been a member of the church since August and I am so proud of her. She is so faithful and humble. The Branch President told her that she and the youth will teach each other and we told her the same thing. Because of the nature of our lesson, we were able to explain a bit about the concept behind "Teaching in the Savior's Way". She will be there next week when we talk about loving those you teach....hmmm.... You can't tell me that the Lord's hand is not in the choice of lessons we felt impressed to make. A sister who has been a member of the church since February taught RS and she did as well as people who have been members all their life. The key was that she was teaching by the Spirit which was strong during her lesson.
Tonight, we had the Temple Worker's Devotional. I accompanied the choir and yesterday during our morning shift the Temple President came to me and asked if I would play the organ as well. The sister, who was the director of the choir and who was playing the organ, was with her husband who was in intensive care after a tree had fallen on him. We found out tonight that his spleen had been punctured and had to be removed. He was still in intensive care tonight and was facing another surgery tomorrow after he was stabilized a bit. His daughter sang in the choir with us. I was happy to serve. I was a bit nervous because a member of the Twelve as well as one of the Presidents of Seventy were to be there. I prayed that the Lord would help me and all went well. So glad it is over, though. At the end, I ended up playing postlude music for over a half hour at Elder Stevenson's request so that he could shake hands with everyone.
It was a wonderful evening. Sister Hobson, one of the other 6-mo temple missionaries played the violin and I could listen to her forever. It is such heavenly music!! Sister Black, the temple matron, talked about the blessings of being able to work in the temple. President Black talked about his love for the temple workers and for the temple. He told a story of a brother who had come to the temple on Friday to do the work for his deceased wife and to be sealed to her. She had been diagnosed with cancer and was not a member of the church. One night this brother asked her if she would join the church so that they could be together forever. She began to cry and said that was what she wanted to do. She did join the church and the First Presidency granted permission for her to be sealed before the year was up. Unfortunately, she died before that could be done. This dear brother shared with the President that his wife was there with him. Elder Christensen talked about the work we do in the temple and how missionary work is the same on this side of the veil as on the other except when the people on the other side of the veil accept the gospel they must wait for their work to be done. We have a great work to do!! Elder Stevenson spoke about the Savior, the Atonement and bore strong, solemn testimony that the Savior lives and that the Father and the Son truly appeared to the boy Joseph just beyond where we were sitting. It was powerful to hear a member of the Quorum of the Twelve bear testimony. It was sweet to shake his hand, even though I was the last person because I had been playing the organ. I know he had to leave but he waited for me.
To end, I just want to share a few pictures. I LOVE nature!!
I see this out my window at Zion's Camp.
These next pictures were taken on the way home from Church today. They aren't as clear as they could be because they were taken from inside the car tearing along the freeway at 70 mph. There is a bit of haze also because of the high humidity!! You get the idea, though.
Well dear ones, thus ends the next to the last week of our mission. It is so hard to believe that the time has gone so quickly!!! Until next week....or I share my talk....whichever comes first. I don't make any promises because the next week is a busy, busy week.
Love you all and miss you!!!
Mom/Grandma/Sandy oxooxoxoxoxox
We are at the end of a very long day so I am going to give you a quick blog. Great Grandma asked if I could share my talk so I will put that in on Tuesday, maybe, and send it out. For right now, I will share this week.
Monday was good at the temple and in the afternoon we went to see how maple syrup was made. Dad is sharing that with pics....really cool.
Tuesday we got a lot done. We had to organize our underneath bins because another missionary couple didn't have room for some of their things....they are going home early on Tuesday...and we offered to let them use one of our bins. We got all our regular stuff done and organized and did some things to prepare to go home....so sad....but exciting also because we are anxious to see all of you!!!
Wednesday I worked in the office in the morning and got to know a sister that I haven't worked with before. She told me her conversion story. She grew up in Palmyra but had to move away to Oklahoma to be introduced to the gospel and join the church. She married for the first time at age 51 and has 5 kids...not her biological ones but she claims them all the same. During our evening shift, I was waiting in the waiting room to go into a session and a sister came in with her young son to wait while her husband and other two sons were going into the baptistry. As soon as she came in she stopped and said, "I know you! I'm Alison Hansen." I knew her in that instant and she looked at my name tag and figured out where she knew me. It is so funny when you see people out of context it takes a minute to figure out where you know them. She was a principal at an elementary school in our school district while I taught two of her children. Then, she and I worked on several committees on the district while she was at the elementary school and when she went up to the district. She is now a principal again and loving it. She is still mad at me for retiring before I taught the rest of her kids....not really...but that's what she says. It was good to visit for a few minutes and catch up before I had to go. It is certainly a small world in the church!!!
Thursday we went on our last Thursday activity to Letchworth park. Dad shared about that as well. It was fun to be with the group!!! So sad that this is all ending!!!
Friday was moderately busy at the temple. It is amazing because they told us that it would be so quiet at the temple in October but so far we have had quite a few local patrons as well as those from out of state. It has been fairly busy. After our shift, Richard finally got to go to a Greek restaurant. He's been wanting to go since we got here. It was actually quite good, although a little too much olive oil for my taste. It was so fun to be with three other couples. We just sat there and talked and talked. I think we all feel that the time is getting short.
Saturday was so amazing at the temple. I had a tender experience. Before the temple, I was thinking about the fact that we were going to be having several people who were receiving their own endowment. I wondered if I would get to be a guide. I was able to be a guide in May but haven't since although others have done it many times. I had decided that I had goofed it up and the coordinators had been told that I shouldn't be asked. I was not as worried about not doing it as I was about the fact that I might have offended someone or done something wrong. I started praying, asking Heavenly Father to forgive me if I had caused offense and asked Him to help those involved to be comforted and to forget if I had caused any problems. I told Him that I didn't need to be assigned, I just wanted to make everything right. So, I got to the temple and saw that my first post was the Greeter post and there were so many things happening right then that I went immediately to my post....baptisms, endowment patrons, a sister and her fiance who were receiving their own endowment. I got everyone where they needed to be and there was a lull in the busyness. I sat down to look at the rest of my "line" or scheduled responsibilities for the shift. There it was!!! I was assigned to be an Own Endowment Guide for the second sister coming for the 11:00 session. I just started crying at the tender message from a loving Heavenly Father that I was okay. It was sweet....but I had to dry my eyes quickly because more people came in at that time and I had to help them!!! I was also assigned to help in the very first ordinances for the first and the second sisters who had come to the temple for the first time. Sooooooo sweet. I love doing it but it was particularly tender that day!!
Today was a very long tiring day but it was good!!! I spoke in church and will share that with you later. Our lesson was good and I loved that the sister who will be replacing us was there. She is amazing. She has only been a member of the church since August and I am so proud of her. She is so faithful and humble. The Branch President told her that she and the youth will teach each other and we told her the same thing. Because of the nature of our lesson, we were able to explain a bit about the concept behind "Teaching in the Savior's Way". She will be there next week when we talk about loving those you teach....hmmm.... You can't tell me that the Lord's hand is not in the choice of lessons we felt impressed to make. A sister who has been a member of the church since February taught RS and she did as well as people who have been members all their life. The key was that she was teaching by the Spirit which was strong during her lesson.
Tonight, we had the Temple Worker's Devotional. I accompanied the choir and yesterday during our morning shift the Temple President came to me and asked if I would play the organ as well. The sister, who was the director of the choir and who was playing the organ, was with her husband who was in intensive care after a tree had fallen on him. We found out tonight that his spleen had been punctured and had to be removed. He was still in intensive care tonight and was facing another surgery tomorrow after he was stabilized a bit. His daughter sang in the choir with us. I was happy to serve. I was a bit nervous because a member of the Twelve as well as one of the Presidents of Seventy were to be there. I prayed that the Lord would help me and all went well. So glad it is over, though. At the end, I ended up playing postlude music for over a half hour at Elder Stevenson's request so that he could shake hands with everyone.
It was a wonderful evening. Sister Hobson, one of the other 6-mo temple missionaries played the violin and I could listen to her forever. It is such heavenly music!! Sister Black, the temple matron, talked about the blessings of being able to work in the temple. President Black talked about his love for the temple workers and for the temple. He told a story of a brother who had come to the temple on Friday to do the work for his deceased wife and to be sealed to her. She had been diagnosed with cancer and was not a member of the church. One night this brother asked her if she would join the church so that they could be together forever. She began to cry and said that was what she wanted to do. She did join the church and the First Presidency granted permission for her to be sealed before the year was up. Unfortunately, she died before that could be done. This dear brother shared with the President that his wife was there with him. Elder Christensen talked about the work we do in the temple and how missionary work is the same on this side of the veil as on the other except when the people on the other side of the veil accept the gospel they must wait for their work to be done. We have a great work to do!! Elder Stevenson spoke about the Savior, the Atonement and bore strong, solemn testimony that the Savior lives and that the Father and the Son truly appeared to the boy Joseph just beyond where we were sitting. It was powerful to hear a member of the Quorum of the Twelve bear testimony. It was sweet to shake his hand, even though I was the last person because I had been playing the organ. I know he had to leave but he waited for me.
To end, I just want to share a few pictures. I LOVE nature!!
Well dear ones, thus ends the next to the last week of our mission. It is so hard to believe that the time has gone so quickly!!! Until next week....or I share my talk....whichever comes first. I don't make any promises because the next week is a busy, busy week.
Love you all and miss you!!!
Mom/Grandma/Sandy oxooxoxoxoxox
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