Week of Feb. 5th

February 5^th through 11^th:  This week has been much slower than all of last month.  The youth all went back to school this week so we will have fewer groups coming to the temple until the winter break in July and August.  But still there is a steady flow of missionaries leaving and families coming to be sealed.  So even though we don’t have huge crowds, we have enough to keep life interesting.  On Wednesday I went with Pres. Crayk to pick up a new sister missionary, Sister Monroy.  She is originally from Cuenca, Ecuador, but has been living in the states for 25 years.  She lives with her daughter in Brighton Colorado.  When I heard this, I asked if she knew Rex Johnson, the dentist.  She replied, “Is he also the stake president?”  I said, “That’s the one and he is also married to my niece!” “Well, he set me apart 2 nights ago.  He gave me a hug and said I was his favorite sister missionary.”  Rex made her feel special. On Friday, our day off, I spent the morning cooking Chinese.  We had invited the Perez and the new sister missionary and another single sister to have lunch with us.  At 1:30pm when the Perez showed up, I called up to the temple to see where the other two were and they were in the cafeteria and had ordered lunch.  They said they forgot.  So I hurried and called Pres. Crayk and Connie and the Cardons to come and eat.  Luckily they hadn’t started cooking anything.  So we did get just about the right amount of help to eat all that I had cooked. 

Left to Right, Sister and Brother Perez, Pres. and Connie, Tamera and Bob Cardon, Mom

I think I have finally been able to perfect a good Kung Pao chicken dish; we also had spicy cucumbers and orange chicken.  Everyone enjoyed the food and it was a good to be together.

 Sunday, Pres. Crayk and Connie and Chris and I all went to the America Ward.  This is the ward that mom spoke in last week to the RS sisters about how to help people prepare to come to the temple. She talked about what they should wear and calling for a reservation and well, a whole checklist of things they should do.   It was the mission farewell for the son of the stake president.  He is going to Venezuela.  The missionary spoke, then Pres. Crayk and then his father.  Pres. Paredes told about joining the church as a young man and leaving for his mission.  He was afraid to tell his father he was leaving, because he was the only member in his family and he knew he would be very angry.   He had it all planned out and waited until he had only a couple of hours before he needed to go to the airport.  He was dressed in his suit and ready to leave when he knocked on his father’s bedroom door.  He expected his father to roar at him, but his father asked, “Why did you not tell me sooner, I could have helped you get ready?”  He was stunned at his father’s reaction and then he asked, “What about your schooling?”  He said to his father, “The Lord comes first and then I am second.”  With that his father gave him a hug and he left.  He was very emotional and tearful.  It is very unusual to see a Latin man so emotional.  The four of us then came back to the patron housing building for a fireside with a group of young single adults from La Paz. 

Young Single Adult Group from La Paz.

We all spoke and I have to say this was the highlight of the week.  It was so spiritual and uplifting.  These meetings for me are like a big payday.  They make all the hard things so worth it.  We then had dinner at the Crayk’s home with Sister Monroy and the other single sister, Sister Fabris.  Good food and good company.

Left to Right, Sister Fabris, Sister Monroy, Pres. Crayk, Connie, and Mom