Meetings, Temple, and Tabernacle

I think I finally got enough sleep over the weekend. I'm not sure how long it will last before I'm behind again.

Monday morning we had our Mission Conference. It was really great. We got to hear from Sister Randall for the first time in several months. She had hip surgery several months ago and has been recovering for awhile. She gave a GREAT talk and managed to relate it to her recovery. Basically she pointed out how nothing happens overnight. Everything takes time, especially as we strive to perfect ourselves to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.

President Randall spoke next. He shared one of the things he learned from his weeklong meetings with several General Authorities, other Mission Presidents, Stake Presidents, and others. He said he came away with about 35 different things that he wants to share with us. Much of it centered on the Doctrine of Christ. I think it was Elder Christofferson that had asked the group what was the Doctrine of Christ. No one answered. Sister Randall was sure her husband would stand up shout out what the Doctrine of Christ is because they have been talking about it for months. President Randall didn't say a word. Anyway he shared much of what Elder Christofferson taught. Basically, the doctrine of Christ is: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism (or ordinances), the gift of the Holy Ghost (or power of the Priesthood), and Enduring to the End. 

Later that evening we had our Leadership Pattern Journey at our apartment. We got to facilitate the class that night. It was fun. We had a great discussion on different ways we can "accomplish the work". Part of that involves empowering the people we work with to be able to be more than they currently are. We also discussed "rendering and account" or "return and report". We asked what the benefits come from being able to report how we are doing. It was awesome.

On Tuesday we started the day with our Zone Devotional.  President Parker, 1st Counselor in the Mission Presidency, followed up with what President Randall talked about on Monday morning. He further developed the Doctrine of Christ and related it to the lessor Priesthood and the greater Priesthood. He compared it with all that goes on in the Temple. It was very enlightening.

I spent much of the day in impromptu meetings and phone calls. One call, in particular, was very beneficial.  We talked about how we can revamp the contract renewal process to make it easier for our Interpreters to renew their contract. I commented that it is easier to buy a 1/2 million dollar house than it is to renew their contract. I asked why we had to have this big gathering information form if most of what is on the form never changes and most of what might change gets caught in another form that the vendor send them to fill out. We spend countless hours just trying to get them to fill out the gathering information form before we can even get started on the renewal process.  It turns out we don't have to use any form to begin the process. So, we created 4 or 5 simple questions that we send them that they can just reply to the email. If most everything is the same, we can just start the process. They can respond in about as long as it takes to open the email and read a few questions. It should make the process so much better. I'm excited to get it implemented.

Tuesday evening we had the MTC Devotional.  Elder Stevenson and his wife gave great talks. Sister Stevenson talked about shoes. She mentioned how our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. She then showed a picture of two pairs of shoes. She said it wasn't staged, they just happened to be next to each other. One pair was brand new. She said it reminded her of a new missionary heading out into the mission field. They are filled with hope and excitement and power. The other pair of shows as old and worn out. She equated that to a missionary at the end of his mission. The many miles he walked, the work he did, the people he taught. He truly wore himself out in the Service of the Lord.

Elder Stevenson talked about the great blessing it is to be called to be a missionary. He reminded them that their call and assignment come to each of them from God the Father to a Prophet of the Lord who assigns them to where they are to serve. He shared examples from his own mission as a young missionary. He shared many of the helps missionaries have to learn and to grow. He called it their survival kit. He also talked about the process of how missionaries are assigned, since that is one of his particular assignments at this time. It was a GREAT talk.

Wednesday was a very unusual day. The Linfords started with an early morning Event. In the middle of the Event we participated in the Great Utah Shakeout. Basically it was an earthquake drill. We had to duck and hide under our desks. Afterword we talked as a team what we would do if it was an actual earthquake. We took over the Event around noon as it was an all day event. We didn't get to see much because right after we took over, it was time for the supervisor meeting on the 27th floor. They had to  turn the Event off. Elder Wilcox was upstairs working on a few things that needed attention. I stayed and supported the Event. I was a "fly" on the wall for the supervisor meeting as I still needed to support the event. I am always amazed at how many things are talked about in both the supervisor's meeting and our team meeting that follows right after the supervisor meeting. At 2:00 the rest of the missionaries joined us on the 27th floor and others joined the meeting via Teams. Daniel was in a happy mood and we had a fun meeting. I take the minutes for that meeting. Sometime during the meeting the Event ended. We went over, as usual, so I was late to my PLUNET meeting. Several things were brought up in our team meeting that I needed to bring up in the PLUNET meeting. Of course, who knows if they will actually be implemented. lol

After the meetings we, and the Linfords headed out to go to the Bountiful Temple. The Linfords recently moved into our apartment building and now live just down the hall from us.  They kept the keys to their old apartment because their new bathroom was not finished completely yet. The shower curtain bar was not hung and the tub still needs to be painted. Anyway, they have been taking showers at the old apartment. We all stopped at the apartments first and then headed for the Temple. It is so nice to leave the cares of the world behind when we enter those sacred, hallowed doors. After our session we went to the Bountiful Tabernacle. They had a full scale model of the Tabernacle of Moses. The exhibits and tour were wonderful. They had the youth run almost the whole event and they did a marvelous job. I kept thinking how prepared these kids are going to be when the eventually go to the Temple to receive their own Endowment. I'm sure the similarities between Moses's Tabernacle and modern day Temples will come to back their minds. After the tour we went out for ice cream cones so we could sit and visit about the events of the evening. It was a well deserved break from our everyday duties. 

On Thursday we had several guys show up and make lots of noise. They brought power tools, ladders, and were measuring things. I wasn't sure if they were remodeling. I, of course, was on the phone and had great difficulty hearing. After my call, I asked the guys what they were doing. It turns out they were installing some heavy metal supports so the window washers could hang out the windows to wash them on the outside. I was surprised because they put at least some of the supports near the center of the room. I didn't quite understand how it will all work. However, I did tell the rest of the team that "see, now we can repel out the window during an earthquake instead of running down 28 floors of stairs.

Most of Thursday was spent trying to get access to the new SQL Enterprise server the Church has. Apparently, my little request of a free version of SQL Express made it up the chain to some big wigs. It appears they don't want me to use SQL Express because it isn't very secure. Since my data may contain user information and must be protected, it needs to be on a secure server. With that secure server comes a lot more security options and approvals. Thursday was spent trying to obtain all that, and to get me setup in the environment. Bryan was the tech support I worked with. He setup up my user profile in the Enterprise server, but I still didn't have access to the SQL server just yet.

Friday was more of the same. I finally got complete access to the SQL Enterprise server so I could start populating my database. However, my script to automatically insert records into my tables would not work. Apparently there are more permissions and such that surround the BULK Insert command. This was not Bryce's field of expertise so he was unable to help me. Now I need to get the name of the person who can help me. In the meantime, I spent almost the entire day manually populating each table, which of course, had a multitude of problems. I have to get the script or permissions or whatever the secret is fixed. I have to update those tables frequently and doing it manually is NOT an option. What is frustrating, is it worked perfectly in my SQL Express version!

On Saturday, Elder Wilcox ran errands and did grocery shopping. I prepared a lesson for Relief Society that I taught on Sunday. I also worked on HawkSoft for a few hours. And finally, I finished creating the monthly report scripts for Elder Linford. The weather was kind of yucky all day so I was glad I was home nice and cozy. 

Sunday started at 5:00 AM as we had an early morning event to cover. We supported the Lansing Michigan Stake Conference with some Spanish Interpretation. We only had Carmen, Genesis, and Enrique so it was a nice, little breakfast together. We always enjoy visiting with our wonderful interpreters. Curtis was our Supervisor and he is always funny. This was one of the few times we actually heard most of the event. Usually, Curtis goes into teaching mode and takes up the whole time. It is always educational and entertaining. The conference was good. Elder Soares was the visiting General Authority. I love listening to him talk. I love his accent, his stories, his messages and instructions. He shared several impressions he has received from God that he felt impressed that needed to be shared. These were not new, but more like reminders that needed to be emphasized more. For example, he talked about being close to the Spirit so we can receive our personal revelation. Listening and heading the impressions we receive. Studying the Scriptures was another one. He also mentioned that he really felt impressed that he needed to attend the Temple more often as occasions arise. He shared how good being in the Temple makes him feel. He said that all the evil of the world disappears and he feels only the peace and love that Heavenly Father has to offer. He said, with those feelings why wouldn't he want to spend more time in the Temple. I agree with him 100%. I love how the cares of the world are left at the door when I enter the Temple. All the thoughts that normally clutter my brain disappear, at least for a few hours. I love to be in the Temple and I'm so glad we get to go often.

My lesson went very well. I love to teach. Actually, I don't so much as teach, but I ask a bunch of questions. I worked hard yesterday to come up with a list of questions I wanted to ask and that did get me started. But then as the Sisters started answering I just let the discussion move the "lesson" in the direction the Holy Ghost wanted it to go. We had a fabulous discussion with so much participation for lots of different Sisters. It was amazing. We discussed Elder Bednar's talk entitled "We Headed Them Not". I realized how much I miss teaching. It was fun.

We we went to an AMAZING fireside tonight in Bountiful that completed the whole Tabernacle of Moses event. It was an interfaith fireside with speakers from several different faiths in and around Salt Lake. I learned so many wonderful things. The most important thing I learned is that we are more alike than we are different. The Muslim Imam talked about how true Muslims believe in Jesus Christ and recognize Him as the true Messiah. He also shared how the Tabernacle of Moses is an important part of their religion. He finished by saying "we are the most Christ loving non-Christians around". We heard from an Orthodox Catholic Priest and he talked about the connection to the Jewish faith as the basis if the Catholic church. We heard from a BYU professor of Old Testament and ancient Hebrew who shared some of the etymology of several words in a few verses in the Old Testament pertaining to the Tabernacle. It was fascinating. An Evangelical Pastor talked about what they believe and also mentioned the Jewish ties to their faith. We also heard from a delightful Jewish Rabbi. He had a great sense of humor and shared many wonderful things. He spoke mostly of Mercy and its connection to the Tabernacle. He also talked about some of the etymology of some of the same words the BYU professor talked about and added several other words that he clarified for us. Our concluding two short speakers were Elders from the Church. One was from the Seventy, but I can't remember his name. He introduced the other Elder who is in the Mission Presidency of the Stake that is hosting the Tabernacle exhibition. He basically shared a brief testimony of the personal experiences he has had with the whole exhibition. It the end, the thing everyone agreed on was how we all need to love and respect each other and recognize that we all have more in common that we have different. And it is OK to have differences. We can still love and respect each other. It was a little proof that truly we can all get along in the world if we want to.

Have a Great week!

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox