Temple Devotional & General Conference

At the Monday Missionary Devotional they had the outgoing missionaries stand while we sang “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.” Every month they welcome a new group of missionaries and say good-bye to an old group with a series of events.  There is a lot of eating involved. The outgoing missionaries speak of leaving “the Bubble” and how much they have loved serving here.

Tuesday this week Sister Calandra, Sister Munger, and I were invited to dinner by the Wards, a couple in our social group.  They live in the West Temple apartments just east of us and even closer to the Conference Center than us (north of our parking lot). Anyway, it was nice of them.  We all brought something and put it together to make a pretty good meal.

Wednesday after work (at 5:30 p.m. in the Salt Lake City temple chapel) I went to my first temple devotional.  Elder Marlin K. Jensen was the speaker, his last time with our mission.  He will soon receive emeritus status when he turns 70 years old. He spoke of his upcoming transition to emeritus status and said all of us experience transition.  The one constant is that there will always be change.  He reminded us that the temple is the place to go to get our bearings.  Heavenly Father’s plan for us gives us our context for everything we do.  Elder Jensen has been pondering “what would be of most worth for him to do next?”  He always speaks with humor, humility, and good stories.

It was my assignment to take notes on his talk and then write him a thank you letter the next morning for all the times he spoke at our mission during his term of service.  I work in a place where you can bow your head and pray over your assignment.  I have a great job. 

Thursday Sister Shelley (the secretary who is training me to replace her) wasn’t feeling well so she went home and left me on my own for the rest of the day.  Everything worked out.  I was able to figure out what to do and where to find information.  I worked on tasks I already know how to do and I did things I’ve never done before.  At the end of the day we got one phone call from some incoming missionaries that needed some information after the people who take care of that department had gone for the day, but a few of us put our heads together and came up with an answer for them. Every time President Peterson walked by he would point at me and say, “You’re doing a great job!”  See what I mean about my job?

Friday was supposed to be my T&R ½ day (Temple & Family History Research), but I have only two opportunities to train with Sister Vermillion who is going home.  She does “the Big Run” so I decided I’d better stay for the whole process.  They have decided to give that job to me when Sister Shelley leaves.  It is a series of reports that go out on the last day of the month.  It takes a good part of the day to do, and that’s with doing some parts of it ahead of time.

Friday after work Sister Munger and I walked over to the Church History Library and invited Sister Calandra to eat dinner with us at the Blue Lemon in the new City Creek Center.  While we waited for her to get off work, we went across the street and explored the Brigham Young Historic Park.

At the City Creek Center there was a holiday atmosphere, partly because the place is brand new, partly because there are so many people in town for conference, and partly because the weather was so fine.  It was very pleasant to stroll around and talk to people.  We went in to the Deseret Book store and had a free evening of entertainment.  Mindy Gledhill was there singing “Anchor” and Stephanie Nielson and her husband were there being interviewed and signing her new book. People were walking around with silver platters passing out cake bites (cake balls dipped in chocolate bark).  I love living in downtown Salt Lake City!

Yesterday and today we went to conference, of course!  I had tickets for the Saturday and Sunday afternoon sessions.  Before and in between sessions I hustled to do loads of laundry and went to the store. Saturday night we gathered at Sister Munger’s apartment.  We just rehashed the talks like you would a movie after you got home.  It gave me a chance to test my digital voice recorder (My solution to taking minutes in staff meeting every week). I can just put on earphones and type every word.

The thing that struck me most about the Conference Center (beside the incredible edifice) was the large number of Mormons gathered in one place.  When we all stood up to sing “Called to Serve” together I couldn’t get the smile off my face. I took notes and enjoyed all the talks. I especially enjoyed Elder Holland’s talk.  He does have a way with words.