Service in its Many Forms

We love to serve in all the different ways that come our way. We also love to see and be part of the service so many others give in so many ways. For example, this past week as we are getting closer to General Conference we have had a lot more one on one interpretations for General Authorities. We don't get so see or be a part of that particular service, other than to do the computer work to make it happen. However, we do get to ponder about what the Interpreter is going to experience being with the General Authority. They are not stuck in a booth for these jobs. They are right there with the General Authority. They make it possible for the individuals to hear a General Authority in their native tongue, thus allowing it to truly penetrate them to their very soul. I have on occasion been able to talk with the Interpreters later about their experience. Most of the time they simply don't have words to convey what they felt or experienced.

We only had one event this week that we participated in. It ended up being a very interesting and even complicated experience for us. We first got wind of the event last Sunday evening when Sara, one of our Supervisors, chatted me with a heads up that this was coming and would take place both Monday and Tuesday.  We were doing some pre-recordings for a Face to Face with Elder Bednar that is coming up on Sept 12. Some of the participants in the Face to Face don't speak English so they wanted to pre-record those segments. One of the participants was in Japan and was not familiar with Zoom. We had our Interpreter meet with them Monday morning to familiarize them with how Zoom works so they would be ready for the Tuesday recording. 

On Monday (our so called day off hahaha) we got more details about the event and found out we needed a breakfast on Tuesday morning for 10 people. Steve got busy on that. He checked with COB Catering to see if we could get a last minute breakfast for the next morning. They usually prefer a week lead time. They said they could do it so he sent in the order. I took care of setting up the job and getting it all set up in our invoicing system so I could send out the work orders. Again, these are usually done at least two days before an event. By mid afternoon we felt we had it all under control. We took care of a few errands and prepared for our Family Home Evening Group.

Just before the end of the day we got notified that there would be two more languages added. We scrambled to get it all set up and sent an update breakfast order for 14 instead of 10. We got a confirmation email so all was good.

Then, right after FHE started I got a Teams video call from Sara. I jumped on to see if I could call her back when she said quickly that the two extra languages were no longer doing it. I didn't have much to do because I didn't have the names before so I couldn't set up anything or send out emails. Steve, however, needed to send out another email to remove 4 meals. It was after hours and we weren't sure they would see it the next morning.

Tuesday began fairly early with breakfast. They sent us meals for 14 as it was too late to change the number. Sooooo, since it was also the day for our Team meeting and most of our team were in the office we invited them to breakfast. We didn't get to see much of the broadcast, because our Team meeting was scheduled for the same time and it occurred in the conference room where we normally watch the broadcast.  We had a lively meeting and enjoyed being together. They are such a fun group to work with. We accomplished quite a lot.

After the meeting, our event was still going on. It was scheduled for 2 hours and went nearly 4. They had to do a lot of retakes for various reasons. That is probably the main reason they wanted to pre-record these segments. What we did get to see was wonderful and I can't wait to see the completed broadcast on Sept 12. That will mostly be live as we will be Interpreting that event next Sunday. They will intersperse the pre-recorded segments into the live broadcast.

That night we went to the Temple with our Zone. They have opened it up to more people. We had nearly a full session. It was wonderful to be in the House of the Lord again. We can now schedule our own times so I don't think we will have anymore Zone sessions. I have scheduled Sealings but couldn't get a time that would work for us until November. I'm excited to get those done. I have so many to do. After our session we went to Elder and Sister Larsen's house who live practically next door to the Temple. She made a ton of refreshments for everyone. It was so nice to just socialize together for a while. Through the sliding glass door right behind the Larsen's you can see the top of the Jordan River Temple. It was a glorious site. I didn't want them to close the curtains.

The rest of the week was busy even though we didn't have any other events. I have been working on several large projects including setting up General Conference, adding new jobs to a special project I am working on with nearly as many languages as General Conference, and preparing a simplified procedural manual from the 90 page book our trainers put together. Our manager wants a shorter and simpler book of no more than 10 pages so I am stripping out a lot of "fluff". Daniel, our manager, said he wants it to say "1. get water", not "1. take three steps, 2. turn left, 3. walk down the hall to the closet that has the water in it, 4. put the key in the lock", etc.  You get the picture. He wasn't exaggerating.  Those 90 pages are just what Steve does. I have another book that is almost as long for what I do. It needs to be simplified as well.

Well, we almost had a new missionary join us. President Randall called us to tell us he had a single Sister Missionary that he thought would be prefect for us and wondered if we could work with a single sister. We said YES; but, it would be helpful if she had a companion, at least a Service Missionary part time, that could attend some of the events to give us a break when we have some many back to back and nearly every day. We were very excited. The next day, however, he emailed to say he decided not to assign her to us and that he is still looking. So, at this point it looks like we will be doing General Conference on our own. I feel pretty good that we can do this. With the uptick in COVID our numbers will not be the normal amount that we will have to take care of.  Instead of 300 Interpreters, we will have about 60 with another 12 in supporting staff. Plus there is an Events Coordinator in a different department that will be organizing the meals for us. We just need to help.

With the holiday weekend we didn't have any events. We actually got to sleep in and just hang out on Saturday.  I did do some catch up work in the morning, mainly that special project stuff I've been working on, and then we decided to go see a cool statue garden near us. Season sent us a link to "107 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Utah." One of them was Gilgal Gardens. It is a garden of 14 different rock sculptures mostly based on the Bible. They were very cool.

Today we have our Break the Fast dinner at our permanent apartment building. We took a peek this week when we picked up our mail and it looks like we will be moving pretty soon. It is all done for the most part. They had little blue tape around the apartment for touch up work and then it should be ready for us. Of course that could still take weeks to do. We haven't heard of a move date yet. This is the month I've been expecting all along so I guess they are right on schedule.

Have a GREAT Labor Day and a GREAT week. Love you ALL!!!