Missionary Grandson off to Chihuahua, Mexico

The highlight of our week was to have the privilege of spending time with our oldest grandson, Jamen Cox, who is leaving for a mission to Chihuahua, Mexico. We picked him up at the airport on Tuesday and were able to attend a session in the Salt Lake Temple and spend some time in the Family History Library to look for some British ancestors that Jamen and his mom had been working on. We enjoyed a GREAT visit with him prior to taking him to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) at  BYU.

Prior to dropping Jamen off we stopped by In-N-Out-Burger for lunch knowing that his first meal at the MTC would be dinner.  There must have been at least 6 other missionaries there with their families  getting ready to enter the MTC. An older gentleman came to our table to ask who was the missionary as Byde and I had on our tags and Jamen hadn't acquired his yet. He told us he usually came to that particular In-N-Out to eat on Wednesdays as there were usually a number of families having their "last supper" with their departing missionary.  As we were leaving there were a couple of apparent returned missionaries who asked where Jamen was going and told him he would be a great missionary and that the people in Mexico were going to love his red hair.

We were the first in the long line of cars dropping off new missionaries. There was a lineup of  "old" missionaries waiting to greet the incoming missionaries.  They asked Jamen his name and where he was from and then helped him unload his luggage and they were off.

Jamen's P-Day (Preparation Day) is Saturday so he was able to send a letter home which his mother shared with us. I'll just share a short paragraph of him telling about his first week.

"Well! I have not served a full week in the  MTC  but I am loving it here! Mi Companero's nombre es Elder Neuman. He is from (drum roll......) MESA ARIZONA!!!! He went to Mesa High and we already have decided that we have forgiven each other for going a una no buena esquela. We work well together! He was in foster care for 2 years of his life and then was adopted into a home than converted to the gospel with his family at age 16. He is also going to Chihuahua, Mexico. There are a total of 4 companionships in my District and 3 of them are going to Chihuahua Mexico and the other two are going to Madrid Spain!"

11/20/2013 - The day we took Jamen to the MTC

We drove by the construction site of the Temple being built in downtown Provo. The shell of the building is what is left after a fire gutted the building in 2010 and it was determined to make the building a temple.  When we drove through Provo on our way to Salt Lake in February you could see where the building was up on "stilts" as they were beginning the project.

The old Provo Tabernacle is being remodeled/repurposed and will become a Temple

Provo Temple under construction

On Tuesday night we had our monthly Zone potluck in the social room in our apartment building.  The Boyd's from Ireland were in charge and as always we had plenty of good food and a fun time as well.  Elder Boyd told us several jokes one of which was a mother-in-law joke.  He said he had a friend (a stand-up comedian) who told him when his mother-in-law knocked on the door the mice in the house threw themselves on the mouse traps. Elder Boyd always has a fun story to tell, one that comes to mind is that they were walking in a cemetery in Ireland one day and read on a tombstone, "I told you I was sick."

Sharon Long, Jo Latimer, and Trudi Boyd at a Zone Potluck Tuesday night

Flat Stanley came from our granddaughter, Jocie, who lives in Ohio to visit us on Thursday and we have been having fun ever since trying to show him around Temple Square. For those of you who have never heard of Flat Stanley let me explain:

Flat Stanley comes to visit Papa and Grandma in Salt Lake City

How it works

In the Flat Stanley children's books, Stanley travels the world in envelopes. Students who read the books send the paper doll and written notes to students in other parts of the world through conventional mail and e-mail. Children exchange ideas, photographs, questions and culture with students/family all over the world. To find out more about him you can visit the following website: www.flatstanleyproject.com

Jewish Cantor Emmanuel Perlman

 On Saturday night we went to a Concert of Praise for God's Word sponsored by the National Bible Association. They named Salt Lake City its National Bible City for 2013 and then asked the LDS Church to sponsor the event in the Tabernacle.

The program included Bible readings by Hollywood actress Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel) and her husband, producer Mark Burnett (The Voice). The program also featured musical performances by The Singing Sensations, a gospel choir from Baltimore, Maryland; Jewish Cantor Emmanuel Perlman; the Salt Lake University Institute Singers; and the BYU Singers. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave remarks.

Elder and Sister Christofferson with Richard Glickstein, President, National Bible Association