April & May

Richard and Elaine Holloway brought a group of youth from their ward to a special "Called to Serve" Program. It was so fun to see them.

Having dinner at the Garden in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

One of our last "Called To Serve" groups of sisters. This was a special program that we worked with for most of the year. Each week we would invite a Stake of youth to Temple Square. The Sisters would take them on a tour and then we would have a special program on the importance of missions. It was an amazing program and we loved working with the Sisters!












Some of the family at Sicily's dance competition held in Utah.

" Our cute Sicily"

Sierra had a clogging competition held at Lagoon. She is the cute one, second from left - a very talented clogger.

We have been fortunate to attend the Tabernacle Choir Broadcast almost every week while we have been here. We sit in the balcony by the women, so we almost feel like we are part of the choir. It is one of our favorite things here.

Girls Weekend

We had our annual Girls weekend the end of July. I have been blessed with wonderful daughter in laws and such a sweet daughter and we have such a fun time together. We just laugh and laugh. It was good for me to have them come and spend the weekend. Natalie furnished the accommodations, as they all stayed at her apartment. I even left my mission companion for the night and spent Friday night with them since Saturday is our P-Day. We did have a GREAT time. However, we did miss Sheri this year, as she was on the Oregon coast with her family. It just wasn't quite the same without her.......................

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 )

Where Does Time Go?

I know, I'm two months behind, but I did just post for December, so that should count for something............January just slipped in there somehow and now here it is February. I'll try to do better!

December in a nutshell...........

On the day of Elder Wirthlin's Funeral we were assigned to work at the Westgate. We were disappointed because that meant we would not be able to attend the funeral in the tabernacle. However, as it turned out, we were able to view the service via closed circuit television from the visitor's booth as well as watch the funeral cortege and all the General Authorities pass within a few feet in front of us. It was an amazing day!

Christmas Day we were working at the Beehive House. We loved the beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere! We have gained such an appreciation for Brigham Young while serving here this transfer. He was such an inspired leader and truly chosen for that time to lead the people to this valley.
The mission prepared and served a beautiful and delicious Christmas dinner for the Sisters and Senior Couples. The Elders were the servers as seen in the background. Temple Square is open 365 days a year. but we did close at 6:00 on Christmas Day. The dinner was held at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a wonderful musical program held in the chapel following the dinner.

The Three Amigos, Elders Rock, Johnson, and Bingham

(The couples that came out when we did)

How many grandkids can you fit on an airbed?

The Johnson gathering at a local church. We were fortunate enough to have our children visit a few days after Christmas. The grandkids were able to play basketball and games and we visited, exchanged gifts, ate,and it worked out well. We feel fortunate to be able to see our children once in a while, and we realize we are truly blessed!

Ryan and Sheri stayed a couple extra days and treated us to a trip to Body Worlds. What an amazing display!

Thankful Thoughts...........

We just spent a delightful week at the Park City Family Tree Center. We had spent one day each week at the Center during our last six week transfer, so we were thrilled when we received this assignment for the full week. We are still learning a lot about searching family history, so our time there has been very helpful. There is a very nice apartment on the third floor for the missionary couple, which lends to a relaxing experience. We were there during the week of Thanksgiving, so we did work a full shift on Thanksgiving day. However, we didn't have anyone wanting to do any family research that day, so we closed the Center at 4:30. We took the Sister Missionaries to Salt Lake where we joined the other 150 sisters and 25 couples for Thanksgiving dinner at Chuck-A-Rama.

Sister Albrect from Germany and Sister Kunz from Virginia, Our Tutors at the Family Tree Center in Park Center

The Pilgrims at our Thanksgiving dinner -
Our missionary friends

We went on a tour of Olympic park on our P-Day

THE CHAMPIONS!

Mitchell and Cari came to visit last week. It was so fun to see them. Of course we are always glad to see our family. The grandkids are continually growing and changing so we feel blessed we are able to see them often. They had tickets to see the BYU-Utah game with Natalie and Justin. These pictures were taken while we were riding the trax before the game. I told Alexa we would have a party while her mom and dad were at the game and asked her what she wanted to do for our party. She said she wanted to pop popcorn, have balloons, watch a movie, have caramel apples, so we did and we had a blast! We love it when the kids come!!!

Another Year Older!

Man this must have been a rough year - look what it has done to us! Actually, our mission had a Halloween party for all the missionaries and we were all suppose to dress up. For some of the
sister missionaries, it was the first time they have ever experienced halloween, so it was a new experience for them. It was a fun evening with pizza and entertainment. Temple Square closes early only three nights of the whole year (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) So at 6:00, we had a party at a ward building in a ward by the state capitol building. Normally, the Sisters are so proper and dignified, but we saw them in a totally new light. Of course, the senior couples were not the picture of refinement. It was an evening of fun and relaxation for everyone!

Our Mission President- President & Sister Stewart

The Sister Missionaries at the Halloween Party