February 1st through February 7th

February 1^st through February 7^th:   Monday My day always starts with me at the computer writing our blog.  This can take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, depending on the number of pictures and just how much I need to write.  I can’t post until Chris, my editorial consultant, approves and corrects my grammar.  She was an English major and somehow can make sense of my run-on sentences.  Then we take all the temple missionaries grocery shopping.  This entails a trip first to Walmart and then a visit to Price Smart, a Costco type store. It is interesting that some weeks you can find something you are looking for, like Root Beer, and the next week it will be gone and you never know if and when it will ever be back.  So the rule is “if you see it, buy it”.  This trip gets us home about 11:00am. 

The temple is getting all of it's towers cleaned. This was our view as we left for shopping.

I bought some steaks and cooked them on our gas barbecue in the back yard. It was the first time I have used the BBQ and it was great.  I can’t believe how addicting family history can become.  I spend on the average 2 to 3 hours a day checking names by attaching sources and adding children, spouses and parents.  I average finding an additional 4 to 5 names for every name I check.  I started with over 2000 names to check from the two lines I did descendency work on. At first, I didn’t find as many additional names, but I have gotten better at knowing what to look for and how to find additional relatives.  I still have over 1000 names to check but we are getting a lot of the work completed.  I figure we have done the work for over 2000 people and have about 1000 names that are at some point in the process.  I sent John B. a hundred names for his ward’s youth to take to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations. 

The stack of family names we have completed.

Tuesday we had the morning shift so we get up at 5:00am and are at the temple at 6:00am.  We get done at 1:30pm and are home eating lunch by 2:00 to 2:30pm.  It is a late lunch and so we just have a snack in the evening.  Wednesday we had the afternoon shift.  We always have presidency meeting at 11:00am, so we brought a sandwich to the temple and then stayed for the afternoon shift. We got filled in by the other member of the Presidency, who had the morning shift, and then we finished up about 9:30 pm.  We have received a lot of notes from people who have visited the open house for the Provo temple and I would like to share with those who read this blog and don't have the opportunity to go to the open house the following video.  Clink on the link below.

 https://www.youtube.com/embed/lXLEODwYTGk?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0

Video of the Provo Temple

Thursday we were off and Eder Allred had organized a visit to the Arboretum at the University of San Carlos.  He and Elder Hurst and Sister Hurst walked down and I drove the rest of the group.  He had made arrangements to have docents take us on a tour of the gardens. The three young people who took us through the gardens were so excited to have a group in English.  They tried real hard to explain things in English, but we had to help them with about every fourth or fifth word.  They were cute and we enjoyed their help.  First, we walked through a museum of rock, plants and animals of Guatemala. 

This is for Ginny and her girls.  They like rocks.

We had a nice time and learned a lot about the plants of Guatemala.  There were over 10,000 species of plants in the gardens and 80% of them were from Guatemala. 

Arboretum of the University of San Carlos.

We are listening to an explanation about something, but now I can't remember.

This tree got sick and they had to cut it down so it would not infect other trees.

Mom hates this shirt. She says it makes me look old and fat, but I love it and anyway, I am old and fat.  (I did NOT say that.  I said it is too long and I want to hem it.)

Very tall palms.

We did do a far amount of looking up at trees.

A lonely bench that never gets used.

This tree stores water in it's roots and has a natural bug repellent that protects it from ants and other insects.

Elder Allred and Mom.

The color of the flowers were so vivid and bright.

Mom's favorite color.

I think Chris just gets prettier every year.

Many beautiful flowers.

Anyone know the name of this flower?

Mom is standing in front of a statue of the man who started the botanical garden.

This enormous tree looks like a cactus, but they said it is from Africa and is not a cactus.

Many interesting plants.

A rose by any other name would still be a rose.  (Mom said no one would get my humor)

Mom with two of our guides.

Our group L to R  Elder and Sister Price, Elder and Sister Wilson, one of our guides, Sister and Elder Hurst, Elder Allred in the back, me, mom and one of our other guides.

After we got back from the arboretum, we went over to the temple and did some of our family names in initiatory.  All of the temple missionaries work the afternoon shift.  We have a harder time getting workers who can come and stay through the evening.  The buses stop at 6:00pm and those that don’t have a car have to leave really early and so without the missionaries we couldn’t finish out the afternoon shifts.  Friday we were back on the morning shift.  Saturday we had the afternoon shift again.  Sunday we did not have a stake conference assignment and so we got to go to the ward right here next to the temple.  It was so nice to be able to take the sacrament and participate in the meetings.  I bore my testimony in fast and testimony meeting.  I explained that we were “inactive” members of the ward.  That got a chuckle from everyone.  I testified of the power of the sacrament and of Christ and that He is in His house.  I love feeling the Spirit witness and comfort and wrap me in the loving arms of my Savior.  I felt so blessed and loved, my heart was full.  We came home and I did family history and mom made a salad for our Break-the-Fast dinner at 5:00pm at the area offices.  We had a nice dinner with the other senior couples that are here serving in lots of different capacities.  Sister Price, one of our temple missionaries, came up to me and told me that I remind her of her father and she thanked me for my testimony.  She said that I cry just like he did and that it made her miss him.  As we started our dinner with a song and a prayer, we sang “Lord, I would follow Thee”, and I got choked up and felt the power of that song. I could not sing, tears came to my eyes and I wanted so deeply to truly follow the Lord.  I had a great Sunday.  It was truly a delight.  It is this kind of a day that energizes me and make all the sacrifices seem so worth it.