Special Friends from Arizona

It's always nice to have visitors from home and we had that treat this week. Our good quilting friends, Cindy and Jaylyn Allen flew in Thursday night for a little R & R from the kiddos.  We were able to do a session with them in the Salt Lake Temple on Friday morning then worked on some genealogy to both find and clarify a few dead people. We had a great time together and felt like we accomplished both fun and productive activities.

Cindy and Jaylyn Allen, friends from Arizona, in the Family History Library

We three girls had a trip to the quilt shop on Saturday morning as well as the Tai Pan Trading Company. Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner together at the Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square.

Picture taken at Trolley Square

I'm thinking all the folks of Salt Lake should be thanking the Allens for coming from Arizona and bringing the Arizona sunshine with them.  During the last couple of weeks we've had some pretty cold weather but the last few days have been perfect fall weather and a light jacket was more than sufficient. From what the weatherman says next week it is going to get cold again.

This week there has been a NuSkin convention in Salt Lake City and from the looks of the pedestrian traffic you would have thought you were in Japan.  It's always fun to see the diversity of visitors on Temple Square and this week there seemed to be more busloads than usual.

We rarely miss a Sunday going to the Tab Choir Broadcast and love hearing the choir as well as the Spoken Word. The message today was about the importance of prayer with the closing thought being the reminder that "we should turn to heaven at all times and all places not when all else fails." At the conclusion of the broadcast those attending are invited to take a tour directed by the young Sister Missionaries. They speak over 30 different languages so there's a good chance you will be able to hear it in your own tongue.

Sign on Temple Square inviting for a tour

Sister Missionaries at conclusion of Broadcast inviting crowd for a tour (sister on right is signing for the deaf)

Trees just south of Salt Lake Temple

Crowd after the broadcast; Elder & Sister Harris from Arizona in foreground (they are from a Stake in South Mesa)

Beautiful fall colors on Temple Square

Scotland Maps and Gazetteers

What a great week we've had at the library! Actually, we have lots of great weeks at the library! We spend our days with some very awesome people who make it a delight to be serving there. Being able to help the patrons when they come to do research is pure joy! I don't think there's anything in the whole world that makes one feel better than serving someone else.

I had the opportunity to teach one of the "Lab" classes to fellow missionaries.  On a volunteer basis we get to teach both inservice and lab classes. I was asked to teach a class on "Scotland Maps and Gazetteers." Following the example of a class taught by one of the full-time consultants I developed a self  directed class to explore online sites.  There are many good Gazetteers in the Library but with the continued advancement of technology it was great to explore some of the many websites that are available.  With a little chocolate for bribing, the class went very well. Why a class on maps and gazetteers you may ask.  I quote from a recent post I read by James Tanner called "Genealogy's Star" to answer the question:

"Old maps are fascinating. In the past, they were rare and hard to find. If you actually had an old map, it was likely a collectors item and not something you could pull out on a trip to find a location. Today, if there is one area of genealogy that is practically saturated by digital images it is maps. We have detailed satellite images of every square inch of the earth. With Google Maps Street View, I can look at most of the paved roads in many parts of the world as if I were actually driving down the road. Additionally, there are hundreds of thousands of maps online, complete, digitized and available, for the most part, free to the public with an Internet connection.

But so what? What use is there for this vast resource of digitized historical maps? How do you go about using maps in your genealogy? Maps are a tool and like any tool, there are certain skills associated with using them. Without those skills, the maps are nothing but pretty images. With those skills maps become a valuable historical and genealogical resource.

One of the reasons why old maps are valuable is because they give us a graphic representation of the ways our ancestors viewed the world and named the geographical features that surrounded them. Without searching an old map, sometimes references in our ancestors' histories are virtually undecipherable. Old maps open the door to understanding where our ancestors lived, or thought they lived. Maps, old or new, also give us a physically demonstrable connection with our ancestors' lives. If we can see where they lived, we know more about how they lived and can better understand the challenges of their lives. The first thing I always do when I am asked about finding an ancestor is go to the maps to see exactly where these people lived. That gives me an image in my mind to start my research. My experience is that the solution to many, if not most, genealogical mysteries can be assisted by carefully locating the events on old and new maps."

Wednesday, on our P-Day, we were in the Temple and the former YW General President, Elaine Dalton, was in our session. It's always fun to see these "famous" people in day-to-day settings. I know that she has been an influence for good in the lives of many young people.

With the summer over, our social calendar has diminished; from June through August we went to concerts almost every Tuesday and Friday night in the park and on Saturday night in the Assembly Hall.  It's too cold now for that and with school back in session the concerts are only held on Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday night we attended "The Austrian Cello Concerto and a Russian Symphony" in the Tabernacle conducted by Igor Gruppman with special guest cellist, Dan Gaisford.  They performed Concerto no. 1 in C Major for Cello and Orchestra by Franz Joseph Haydn, and Symphony no. 2 in E Minor, op 27  by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It was a great concert performed to a full house in the Tabernacle.

On Sunday morning we had the privilege of being in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square for Stake Conference and heard wonderful messages about rescuing those who are "lost."  This old building is so beautiful that we feel privileged to be able to go there for conference.  Notice the tree at the corner of the building that has totally changed color. Many of the flower beds have been planted with pansies and tulip bulbs that will bloom in the spring.

Our Stake Members leaving the Assembly Hall after conference

Beds just east of the Tabernacle (along with falling yellow leaves)

Last but not least, one of the sister missionaries on our floor brought this cute fruit tray to share. She carved it from a cantaloupe and added green bell peppers for the ears. YUMMY, delicious, and CUTE all in one!

Cantaloupe pumpkin

Arizona Visitors

What a great week for us as we had our daughter-in-law, Heather, and our 2 granddaughters, Afton and Jorja come to visit from Gilbert, Arizona.  We went to the library to show them where we spend our days, to the Church History Museum and then to the State Capitol Building. In the evening we were able to go to familysearch.org and do some sourcing on Heather's line. Nothing better than having a visit from our family.

Log Cabin that was originally located about 2 miles away

Jorja, the Spanish dancer

Afton trying her hand at "translating"

Afton "fishing" in the Church History Museum

Example of granite cut so that you have this kaleidoscope effect ( if you look closely you can see the seams)

Notice the mirror image of the stone because of the way it was cut

Byde, Pam, Heather, Afton, and Jorja

There is a beautiful water feature in front of the Church Office Building (COB) but I am not there very often to see it "go off." On Monday we went to the Lion House to eat and it was "performing" so I got a picture.  It is normally just a flat body of water and you wouldn't even know that it is so beautiful.  As near as I can tell it erupts around noon - 1 o'clock each day.

Water feature in front of the COB

Beautiful fall colors just west of the Conference Center

More Fall Colors west of Conference Center

View of the trees on West  of Conference Center - outside our apartment

Youth prior to the all-state concert

On Saturday night we went to the Tabernacle to  listen to the "Grand  Festival Concert" which was performed by the Utah All-State Choir as well as the the Utah Valley University Chamber Choir. The State Choir was conducted by Guest Conductor, Lynne Gackle, Professor of Ensembles at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. There were over 600 youth who participated. They filled the seats the Tabernacle Choir uses as well as they brought in bleachers and they stood in front all the way across the front of the Tabernacle.  The Tabernacle was totally packed (it holds about 7000 people, including the choir area).

There are a number of chestnut trees around Temple Square and they have been covered with what looks like (according to Byde) porcupine eggs. Those "eggs" are now ripe and falling off the tree to reveal the beautiful brown nut that is inside. I have been picking them up each morning as I go on my walk around Temple Square and now have quite a collection.  I poke a hole in the top of them and dry them in the oven.  From what I can read on the internet, these are horse chestnuts and are inedible but I'm hoping I'll find something creative to do with them; any ideas?

Chestnuts - beautiful wood-grained shell

Last but not least we attended the Tab Choir Broadcast and so enjoyed the music as well as the Spoken word by Lloyd Newell. He told the story of Victor Frankl which has always inspired me.  He told a piece of it which I didn't know.

     "In 1941, Viktor Frankl was a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna, Austria. The threat of Nazi concentration camps was increasing, but Victor had found a way out: a visa that would allow hjim to take hw new wife and his promising career to America - and to safety.

     But Viktor knew that when the Nazis came, they would take the elderly first - including, likely, his aging parents. They would need his care and support. Anguished, he searched his soul and sought heavenly guidance about what to do.

     Then, one day, he came home to find a piece of marble on the table. His father explained that he had retrieved it from the rubble of a nearby synagogue that the Nazis had destroyed. Coincidentally, it was a fragment from an engraving of one of the Ten Commandments: 'Honour thy father and thy mother.'

     Viktor had his answer. He stayed with his parents in Austria, and within a few months, Viktor, his wife, and his parents were arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

     Over the next three years, Viktor discoverd an important difference between those who survived the camps and those who did not: a sense of meaning. The ability to find meaning even in horrific circumstances, he observed, gave prisoners resilience in the face of suffering.

     After the war was over, Viktor wrote a book, Man's Search for Meaning, describing what he learned. It took him nine days to write and eventually sold millions of copies. The Library of Congress has listed it as one of the 10 most influential books in the United States.

     In one way or another, we are all involved in our own search for meaning. Our ability to find it depends a lot on where we're looking. We're likely to discover, as Viktor Frankl did, that life's true meaning does not come from pursuing our own happiness but from sacrificing for something bigger. Whatever that something is - family and friends, faith and community, volunteering and serving others - it can give our lives more purpose than we could ever find in just ourselves."

Conference Weekend

We are excited to be in Salt Lake City for General Conference for the second time since serving in the mission.  We are fortunate to have had several guests this week as well.  Mark and Brenda Stevens came by the library and we got to visit with them for about half an hour but we didn't get a picture. Jerry and  Becky Phelps came by to see us Friday afternoon and we got to have dinner with them at "The Garden" in the JSMB.

Best of all our son, David, his wife, Kim and their 4 boys, Austin, Zach, Dallin, and Micah, came and stayed with us. They arrived Saturday night and will be leaving on Monday morning. They were all able to get in to the Saturday morning session of conference which was nothing short of a miracle that we were able to get tickets.

Kim, David, Austin, Zachary, Dallin, and Micah

There have been more sightings of snow around the valley and we have worn our full winter gear to work this week and are thinking we need to invest in some insulated underthings to survive the cold we are expecting. According to the Farmer's Almanac this winter is supposed to be as bad as last years which we're told has been the coldest on record for 75 years. The trees are turning color as you can see from the picture below and we are seeing a whole new beauty as the Fall colors are showing their heads.

Pretty yellow leaves  (Costco parking lot in Bountiful)

With the Phelps on Temple Square

David's family with Sister Boyd (a sister missionary in the British Zone)

Dave, Kim, Austin, Zachary, Dallin and Micah

New flowers in front of our apartment building

As we come to the conclusion of the Sunday General Conference, I feel so grateful for a prophet and for the opportunity we've had this weekend to hear him and the other brethren speak. One of my favorite quotes was something Elder Richard J. Maynes said, "Become the rock the river cannot wash away." Another that I think was from President Uchtdorf, "Doubt your doubts, not your faith." Now the task is to incorporate the great feelings from conference into action to make improvements in my life. How grateful I am for General Conference and for the inspired words from our leaders.