It's Spring at Temple Square!!

Just ask us how we are loving life and the beauty of the season. As we walked to work this morning and walked onto Temple Square, we met a man from Colorado and we asked him how he was doing. He said, "I am doing great. I have a God that loves me, I live in the best land in the world, look at these beautiful, peaceful surroundings how could you not be great?" That is how we feel each day we look around us. Temple Square was not even open yet, but he was here on business just soaking in the beauty and anxiously waiting for the buildings to open and the tours to begin. We had a nice visit with him and explained in as short a time as possible what we could before we had to get to our prayer meeting. He was so impressed with the beauty and cleanliness and the spirit he felt here which , of course, is the comment we hear most frequently. We did see him later with the Sister missionaries taking a tour. One of the sad things of our mission is we never get to hear the rest of the story....We do get to meet so many wonderful ,interesting , fascinating, people everyday from all over the world!

One of the downsides of our mission is that we have to say goodbye to 24 of our dear, sweet sisters whom we have grown to love and it is hard to see them leave! One positive - we have 21 new sisters coming in from the MTC! One thing is for certain at Temple Square --- There is change CONSTANTLY!

We were serving at Family Search when our friend in the Mission Presidency called our cell phone and told us that Elder Uchtdorf was speaking to the Sister missionaries at the North Visitor Center and that if our post was covered, we could come and listen to him. When Wayne told me, it took us about two seconds to gather up our things and head over to the North Visitors Center. We knew the Sisters were having a special Mission Conference with a special speaker, but they didn't announce who it was and only the Senior couples who were not on regular schedule were able to attend. It was such a wonderful opportunity for us! After the meeting, Elder Uchrtdorf answered questions and then took this picture. Wayne had to leave to get programs for our Called to Serve program which followed the meeting. We are going to scan him in. Sister Uchtdorf gave me a hug and told me they appreciate the work we are doing.

We refer to this as the Temple at Welfare Square

We have loved serving at Welfare Square this transfer. This is when Mitch and Cari came to visit us at Welfare Square.

Wayne's first tour at Welfare Square (good practice). We have gained a new appreciation of our Church Welfare Program and the service provided not only to our members but to non-members as well and to countries throughout the world. As people come and see what our church is all about they truly are amazed. We are amazed at the humanitarian aid that is given. We can all be proud to belong to such a great organization. It is certainly worth your time to visit and take a tour of Welfare Square when you are in Salt Lake!

The Sister Missionaries we worked with each week at Welfare Square.
Sister Tew from Sacramento, California and Sister Phillips from Australia

Even with our busy schedule, Elder Johnson finds time for his organ practice

This is our "Called to Serve" group of sisters

Every Wednesday night we invite a Stake of youth from the area to come to Temple Square where they are given a tour by a set of sister missionaries. They are then brought to the North Visitor Center where we have a meeting that lasts approximately one hour. They are shown a powerful video, sisters bear testimony of missionary work and sing. The purpose is to motivate the young people to serve missions. We have been the Directors of this program for the past five months and have loved working with the Sisters and the Stakes from the area. It will continue through May but does not go through the summer months when Temple Square is so busy with tourists.

I love a bargain, and this is one of my favorites! No, this is not part of our mission assignment, but it is such a great method of stress relief . This is on our P-day and The Massage School offered a 2 for 1 special, (I could not even come close to talking Wayne into such foolishness) so of course Natalie and I had to take advantage of such an opportunity!

We had such a fun surprise this past weekend when Lorna and Keith called and said they were in town and were going to come and see us! That made our whole week! We had not seen them for such a long time and it was so fun to visit. They are our long-time traveling companions, but travel has not been on our "to do list" lately! Is the world still out there waiting for us? We hope so!

Don't you all wish you were fortunate enough to have a "Personal Designer" for your blogspot?

(Thanks sooooooooo much Nat!!!! Some day I may become technologically independent )