A Deer in the City

The picture below was taken on April 22, 2013 at 8:30 am after our Monday morning devotional.  To say the least we were FREEZING as the wind was blowing and it was COLD.  Our Mission Presidency is standing in the front and if you look really hard you might see Byde somewhere toward the back and to the left - and if you recognize my hair color you might even see it but that is extremely doubtful!!  Anyway we have a nice memory of the mission presidency and the massive amount of missionaries who serve in this mission.

Family and Church History Headquarters Mission, April 2013

 We have one day a month off for what is referred to as T & R (Training and Research) so we decided to  visit the Jordan River Temple.  From where we live it is about a 20 minute drive so we enjoyed a nice drive there and had the pleasure of doing a session. I think there must not be a temple that can compare in beauty to the Salt Lake Temple, but the temple was beautiful and we were amazed at the number of people who were there. The parking lot was very full and we ended up parking in the back 40.  On the way back to our car, much to our surprise, a deer came around the corner of the temple toward us but we weren't fast enough to get a picture before she ran the other way.  I'm told that the area where the temple sits was once farmland which may help to account for the deer siting.

We completed the first section of the Journeyman training for England and Wales which will allow us to start helping patrons in some areas of the British Floor - YEAH!! We will begin the training for Scotland this week and then move to the Ireland training.  We have learned a lot but realize how much more we have to learn. We are grateful for the opportunity to be here and looking forward to being of some service.

We have completed two months in the mission and needless to say, it has flown by. The weather this last week has been cold and WINDY!!! The Salt Lake Valley looks very picturesque right now with the beautiful flowers covering the valley floor and the surrounding mountains are still tipped with white snow. I have joked with Byde that we may just as well have served in Snowflake for the amount of cold wind that we have had but at least we have beautiful flowers of all kinds and the beautiful campus of Temple Square. The last two days the sun has shown and we haven't had to wear our coats, maybe spring will finally take over the winter; we're certainly hoping for that.

Almost every Sunday we are privileged to attend the broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and never get tired of it.  At the beginning of every broadcast we are given a time to cough (Lloyd Newell announces and  suggests we all take time to cough and get it our of our systems) so that we hopefully won't do such during the broadcast since it becomes a "recording studio" for the duration of the 30-minute taping. It is always touching at the end of the broadcast when the choir is through recording that the choir, conductor and orchestra all stand and turn toward the audience  and sing acapella "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again."  This morning they also recognized and had 17 of the young sisters who serve on Temple Square stand for applause as they are completing their 18-month assignment as missionaries on Temple Square and will be returning to their homeland. There were sisters from Samoa, Russia, Japan, Africa, Montana, Arizona, California, Washington, Idaho,
 

Singing "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" at conclusion of broadcast

Tree we pass each Monday morning on our way to devotional

, it is just beginning to bud

A Visit From Our Granddaughter

We continue to learn about doing British Research and like so many other learning experiences, the more we learn, the more we know we don’t know. Our mentors have been very patient with us as they continue their efforts to teach us how to do research. It is exciting, exhausting, challenging, and fun to be involved in this great genealogy adventure;  most of all it is very touching to learn of the special experiences that patrons have as they discover and "find" lost family members.

There have been many new updates to the Family Search site this week and I'm sure that those of you who do any work at the site have experienced some of the frustration that we are with the many new changes. If you would like some really helpful  lessons to learn more about doing genealogy and how to use the new "Trees" program in familysearch.org visit http://familysearchtraining.com/ In addition you will find some extremely helpful seminars at http://rootstech.org/. We were pleased to be able to watch several seminars presented by James Tanner whom we were acquainted with in Mesa.

4/18/2013 Falcon nesting atop the JSMB

THE FAMOUS Peregrine Falcons will be nesting again this year on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The first egg is here!! Appeared about 11:30am on April 12, 2013 - same date as 2012. Egg #2 April 15. Egg #3 April 17, Egg #4 April 20. They have used nesting locations in downtown Salt Lake City since 1984. This spring, like most, the falcons are using a nesting box located on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at South Temple and Main Street. If you're in downtown Salt Lake City, look up — if you're lucky you might catch a glimpse of these amazing birds. In the meantime if you go to this site you can see their progress.

http://slcfalcons.blogspot.com/ 

4/21/2013 Falcon nesting atop the JSMB (4th egg added 4/20/2013)

(Thanks to a diligent blogger for the falcon information)

Our granddaughter, Meg Fuller, was on Spring/Semester break from BYU Idaho and we had the pleasure of a visit with her this weekend as she was on her way back to school after visiting her family in Mesa, Arizona. We enjoyed a walk with her across Temple Square on our way to the JSMB to have dinner at The Garden which is on the 10th floor of the JSMB which provides a fantastic panoramic view of the city and a great view of the Salt Lake Temple.  It was fun to catch up on her activities comings and goings and her fun and exciting life as a student.  It is always a thrill as a grandparent to see your children/grandchildren being happy, enjoying life, and making choices that will help them to be contributing, happy adults. Meg was thrilled along with her Papa to beat Grandma in a game of "Five Crowns." Thanks Meg for coming, we loved having you.

Byde (Papa) Meg Fuller, & Grandma

We continue to delight in the opportunity to be here serving on Temple Square and feel it such a privilege to enjoy the beauty that we do everyday.  The rain this week has helped all the little flowers stand tall and bright as they continue to blossom and grow.  We just can't get enough of watching the many colors of tulips and all the other beautiful flowers and trees that are showing their full colors.

Unexpected Family and Friends

On Monday we both signed off on our Apprentice book and went home a little early.  We started the new Journeyman book on Tuesday morning and are excited to start on our new training which will go further into British research and then we'll learn how to do research in Ireland and Scotland.

Tuesday was our "half day" so we were able to go to the Temple. As we were walking back home we saw the Oscar Meyer Mobile parked in front of the conference center and couldn’t resist taking a picture.  (They were a little behind schedule as the conference crowd was all gone on Monday morning.) 

The "WeinerMobile"

We didn’t get the snow today that was forecast but the temperature dropped and with the wind chill factor it was in the high 20’s. Needless to say we brought out the heavy winter coats again..

We attended a class Tuesday night where we learned to add photos and stories to the Family Tree in Family Search. It has been so fun to learn how to do the tasks that make genealogy more exciting.  We have attached a few pictures into our “tree” and if you go there and click on the individual person you can see the picture. Log in to familysearch.org and create an account if you don't already have one; after you're at the site select the Family Tree - one of the choices across the top. After you bring up a pedigree chart and click on an individual you will see a menu that includes "view person."  When you do that you will see the picture of that person.  You will not be able to see pictures of live persons.

A friend that we knew when we lived in San Diego, Steve Wright, came to the British Floor to see us today; we hadn’t seen him since we moved from there in 1976.  He works at the library on the International Floor and we had recently reconnected on Facebook. We knew he and his  wife, Linda, and their family when we were in the same ward in San Diego from 1971 - 1976.

Byde, Steve Wright, and Pam

The tulips and other flowers on Temple Square are in full bloom; it's almost like they leaped out of the ground to make the grounds extra beautiful for the conference crowd. The tulips in the next two pictures are on the east side of the Visitor's Center.

Beautiful Tulips outside the Visitor's Center on Temple Square

Byde and Pam 4/11/2013

The blossoms on the trees behind Byde and I are a beautiful light pink although they look almost white in the picture.  While we were here having this picture taken Byde's nephew and his wife, Greg and Robin Horton, walked onto Temple Square after she had just asked Greg if he thought they might see his Uncle Byde and Aunt Pam.  They drove from Idaho to hear the same lecture that we were going to about the life of  Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie. Greg said that he had always had a great respect for apostle McConkie, and the "Men and Women of Faith" lecture series that night was "Bruce R. McConkie: A Special Witness, given by his son, Joseph Fielding McConkie.  We all enjoyed the lecture and learned greater insights into the life of Elder McConkie from the perspective of his son.  There was a question and answer period at the end of the lecture and there were several interesting comments Brother McConkie made.  He was asked if his father had a sense of humor to which he gave a long pause and answered by saying, "does any boy think his father has a sense of humor?"  The crowd enjoyed a good laugh from the comment.

Another question was asked about a special time in Viet Nam when Joseph was a chaplain there and in charge of a conference for military personnel. They were expecting Elder Ezra Taft Benson to come visit  and speak at the conference but at the last minute they decided that it was too dangerous for Elder Benson to make the visit based on his previous position as Secretary of Agriculture.  Consequently Elder Bruce R. McConkie and Elder Benson traded assignments and Elder McConkie walked in to the conference to see his son at the front conducting. Joseph had no idea that his father would be there and when Apostle McConkie entered the room he walked straight to the front and embraced him which Joseph said was a most tender moment for both of them.


Greg is the Bishop in his ward in Idaho and he mentioned that a young man from his ward, Elder Perkins, had just reported to the same mission we're serving in and will be in our Branch. We were able to make contact with Elder Perkins and deliver a treat to him from his Bishop.

Byde & Pam; Robin and Greg Horton

The Stream that runs along the south side of the Conference Center on N Temple

On Friday night we were privileged to attend a "Temple Square Performance" that was held in the Assembly Hall featuring Glori Naylor, lyric soprano; Dave Hill, baritone; Natalia Naylor Yates, harp and soprano; Bonni Hobbs, piano; and James Prigmore, piano.  It was "A night of vocal and harp performance including favorites from beloved musicals such as Les Misérables,  Phantom of the Opera, and Fiddler on the Roof. Les Misérables and Fiddler have been two of our favorite musicals beginning with the first time we saw Les Mis in New york City with Tevye played by Zero Mostel.  Dave Hill's baritone rendition of the Les Mis numbers was fantastic.

Conference Time

Our British Zone training this week has been intense as we continue to practice using the many resources available at the Family History Library to research out our ancestors. We have not begun helping patrons yet but are about to complete the "Apprentice" book which means we will get to "graduate" and go on to a "Journeyman" book which we hear is more difficult.  The Apprentice book covers the UK and Wales but when we move on we will be learning to do research for Ireland, Scotland, and Australia.  Apparently many of the early records in Ireland were destroyed by fire and other calamities so it is more difficult to research ones ancestors if that is the area they came from.

We were able to attend the Salt Lake Temple for an endowment session on Tuesday and complete some names for our daughter, Jennifer Cox. In the Mesa Temple the endowment is presented via film but here it is done "live" which is a nice change for us.

The hyacinths are in bloom and are not only beautiful to look at but smell wonderful as well.  It is a treat just to walk across Temple Square and see and smell the flowers.

 

We were fortunate to have tickets to the Saturday morning session of conference and saw a number of people from our home stake in Arizona. Our former Stake President, Ken Smith, is behind us in the picture below.  The picture was taken Saturday morning before the session started. Byde and Boyd attended Priesthood together and Dot and I went to the mall and shopped for several hours including visits with a number of Arizona friends that were there for "Ladies Night Out."  The lines to get in to Deseret Book were all the way down the block so we only went to Macy's.  Apparently Marie Osmond was at the bookstore to sign her new book.

Our former Stake President Ken Smith with friends Boyd & Dot Williams

Boyd and Dot Williams are serving in the same mission we are; Boyd is the Zone Leader on the International floor. They have been serving as the assistant to the housing director which means they are responsible to get the apartments ready for new missionaries as previous missionaries leave.  They called us last Friday to see if we wanted some Christmas decorations that were left behind by someone so we now have a Christmas tree, lights and decorations.  We are ready for the season even if it is WAY too early!!

Boyd & Dot preparing an apartment

Christmas decorations in April