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