MTC Devotional, BYU Law Symposium, and Wedding

We decided to go into the office on Monday rather than take the day off since we were taking a trip to Idaho at the end of the week. It was a good thing we did. I spent most of the week working on getting Interpreters into the system that only do General Conference. Being the newbie, I asked why they weren't in the system so I could add them to the programs I use. Most of them are either volunteers or Employees that don't get paid for interpreting for General Conference so they have never been entered into the system. Well, I found out they are still supposed to be entered into the system and validated that they are authorized to do interpretations for us. So now we are scrambling like crazy to try and get them in the system by next Saturday. We have made great progress. I asked our manager what do we do with the ones we can't get into the system in time, since they have interpreted for us in the past without being in the system. Since we have been informed why they must be in the system and to be compliant he said we won't be able to use them if they are not in the system so we are working really hard to make it so.

We were responsible for our Family Home Evening message Monday night so we decided to share what we had learned from Curtis a few days before about the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. (See last week's blog.) I put together a little Power Point presentation and it went pretty good.

This week was full of time changes. We had several special interpretations for a few General Authorities that have to take place before General Conference. Usually they use just one Interpreter and that person goes to the office of the General Authority to do the Interpretation. It is a very special experience for them. We, of course, don't get to experience that; but, it is great to listen to the Interpreters tell us of their experiences. This week we had a few that had to be rescheduled at the last minute for various reasons. Plus we had at least two or three that got added at the last minute. We are also scheduling General Conference recordings for General Authorities that are pre-recording their talks. There are a handful that we are doing. Those tend to come at the last minute as well, so I've been busy trying to keep up on those. All the while I'm trying to research Interpreters that need to be fast tracked into the system for General Conference. 

On top of that we had an MTC Devotional with Elder Gong on Tuesday evening. The time got bumped up 1/2 because the Engineer wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to do mic checks before the event since it was live. Lucky for us the meal time remained the same. Elder Gong's wife spoke first. She shared how she and Elder Gong met at the MTC and how it is a very special place for them. She focused her talk on keeping the commandments and how that blesses our lives as well as the lives of those around us. She also testified how the Atonement heals us when we break commandments. She used an image of a broken china plate as how we may feel we are broken when we fail to keep the commandments. When we turn to Jesus Christ, He can make us whole again. We are never so broken that we can't be made whole again through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She talked about how artists will use a special glue to put together broken pottery and then sprinkle the repaired piece with gold dusting. The repaired piece is even more beautiful, stronger and more valuable then the original piece. They call the broken pieces "Precious Scars". That is what we can become when we turn to Jesus Christ and let Him heal us.

Elder Gong talked about some things the Savior invites us to do in the scriptures. One of them is to prepare every needful thing. One way to do this, he said, is to make our living place a place of prayer, and fasting, and faith. A place of order. We make our living space a place to receive revelation. He gave several examples on how to study the scriptures and how to get the most out of our study. He shared how to notice the many times things are repeated in the verses and see what they teach us. He showed how everything is tied together. It was pretty awesome to watch him put all that together a piece at a time and then see the finished result. I'm going to look at my scriptures a whole new way.

Wednesday and Thursday I was able to spend much of the day working on my Interpreter research project. We were able to activate quite a few interpreters. We still have a lot left, but I'm hoping to make a lot of progress this coming week. I enlisted the help of one of our part time language coordinators. She sent out a bunch of emails on Friday to our External Language coordinators so we could get those interpreters in the system. That was my largest group of people. Most of those are employees and volunteers. Our manager said if we could get the documents signed and returned before conference we could use them even if they weren't completely set up in the system yet. That will help a lot.

Thursday was another day for changes. We had the BYU Law & Religion Symposium. They changed the time on us three different times. It was pre-recorded so that made it easier for them to change times. Originally it was for noon with a lunch to be served. It would end at 3PM. That was perfect for us as we were leaving right after the event to head to Idaho for Djeryd and Eva's wedding. Well, on Thursday they notified us it was changed to 6:00 PM instead with a 5:00 call time and dinner. A little later they changed the call time to 4:30 but kept the dinner at 5:00. Our wonderful supervisors in charge told us to go ahead and leave just as soon as the meal was over so we left about 5:45. 

We were already packed and ready to go so we left immediately. When we got to Idaho Falls, MyLiege called and wanted to know if we wanted to swing by Djeryd and Eva's apartment as they really wanted to show us, and we all met there about 9:00 PM. They have a cute little place and had fun showing it off to us. Then we headed to St. Anthony where MyLiege and Sean rented a big beautiful house. Paul and Carol were with us, too. We stayed up way too late talking before we finally went to bed. 

We slept in on Friday before digging in to prepare for the bar-b-que / reception that evening. I jumped

on the computer for a while to make sure I caught anything I needed to take care of.  We had a little "celebration" for our 50th anniversary since we were alone the week before. Sierra sent a beautiful family wall hanging to keep track of all our birthdays and extra tokens to add all the new family members we are gaining.  I just love it.  MyLiege had several of her gorgeous photographs from Silver Creek Falls blown up and mounted to beautify our new apartment. They give a us a little piece of home to look at everyday. Thank you again girls. 

Later we did some quick shopping for a few things we needed, like balloons to mark the path to get to the house. Then we headed to Rexburg to pick up Madison so she could attend too. It was so fun to see her and learn all about the fun college life she is living now. We met Eva's family from Texas. Everyone just fit in so nice as if we have known each other for years instead of just a couple of hours. Djeryd's Senior Missionary Couple from his last area in Fiji live in Idaho so they came too. It was fun to get to know them and hear some of the stories they had to share. Steve made his Sword presentation and then Djeryd and Eva cut the cheesecake with the sword. It was fun. Oh, I had a nice surprise when one of Djeryd's room mates (and Eva's boss) showed up. He is a funny guy. Just before he left I found out that his Aunt Tristin is married to my nephew Scotty, who is my youngest brother's (Kris) son. When Mason left he said we were now related and that we had a great family reunion. lol

Saturday morning couldn't have been more beautiful. The weather was perfect. They sun was shining and all was right with the world.  The sealing was wonderful. The Sealer was very personable which made it feel like he was family. The next wedding the Temple had scheduled was at noon so they let Sean and MyLiege's girls wait in the anteroom next to the recommend desk in the Temple. That was a special treat for them. 

After the sealing we had time to take a lot of pictures. After pictures, Djeryd and Eva took off for a Honeymoon in Arizona and the Grand Canyon. 

The rest of us went back to the house and just relaxed for the rest of the day.

We got up early this morning and all headed home. We made it back to Salt Lake City in time to attend our meetings which was very nice.

It has been a wonderful and full week for us. Now comes the busiest week of our mission as we gear up for General Conference this coming weekend. Wish us luck!!!

Love you ALL and have a GREAT week.