Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Piano Guys!

Once again, we started our week with a wonderful Mission Devotional on Monday morning. Later, I participated in a video conference call on Power Automate apps and tools. I have used this tool to be able to send out emails to all the different areas around the world to get ready for General Conference. I am trying to learn if there are more ways I can use these power tools. They mentioned a free in person seminar that was to be held on Wednesday. I asked Daniel if I could go and he said YES! 

Monday evening we had a fabulous Family Home Evening. The Hiltbrands were in charge. We had our biggest turn out ever with a total of 18 people in attendance. I think there are only 8 more on our floor if we could get everyone. Elder Hiltbrand put together a wonderful Jeopardy game for us. We laughed so hard and had so much fun. Going into the "final jeopardy" the Sisters were ahead by 1000 points. We should have wagered just a little less than half our points but instead we wagered only 500. The Elders wagered their whole amount. We both got the answer right but since they wagered everything they took the lead. It was GREAT fun. After the game, Elder Hiltbrand then  presented a beautiful "lesson" on the value of the Sisters in the lives of the Elders and how they would not be the men they are without their wives. It was so sweet and beautiful and brought tears to my eyes and I think several others. Sister Hiltbrand served a delicious strawberry shortcake with homemade shortcake.

On Tuesday I had several meetings. The first was our Tuesday morning Zone Devotional. It was a wonderful presentation, although I can't remember exactly what they talked about. They are in the Church Communication department. They had a couple of slides that I really want. They are supposed to send me their PowerPoint, but I haven't received yet. I post the PowerPoint presentations on our Zone SharePoint site. At noon we had a "brown bag" luncheon in the main floor auditorium where we heard a wonderful presentation by one of the Translators who is an expert in the Bible. He presented a history on the King James Version of the Bible. It was really very fascinating. He is supposed to send me his PowerPoint presentation. He had lots of statistics that I want to keep. 

Later in the day I had a meeting with our new Finance director and Baptiste about PLUNET and Event Central. As Dave Rich (the Finance director) spelled out the problem and asked for potential solutions, I was happy to report that I had already been working on a solution for the last couple of months. He seemed grateful that we had already addressed the problem and were working hard to keep the two tables in sync with one another.

Tuesday evening we had a last minute event. The Linfords covered it as we had tickets for a play with several other missionaries. We met with 7 other couples for a delicious dinner at the Olive Garden. It was such fun. Then we headed to the theater to see Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. They did such a wonderful job. We enjoyed it very much. I wish I had some pictures. 

Wednesday was spent in the ROB (Riverton Office Building) for the all day seminar on the Power Apps and Power Automate tools. It was very interesting. My mind was racing as I tried to think of ways I can use the new technology to help our team. Unfortunately the first thing I thought of is not possible. Not because the technology can't handle it, but because to use it all parties must have a Microsoft 365 license. Since I wanted to use it with our interpreters it wasn't going to work. The second reason was because the interface I wanted to connect to isn't possible...at least not possible now. So, now I will have to rethink what I may be able to do. hahaha

The Jensens gave the 
Zone Devotional 

Thursday morning started with another wonderful Zone Devotional. This one was presented by a missionary couple in the Military department. They shared some wonderful interactions and stories of the experiences they have had. They had some technical difficulties when they tried to share their PowerPoint presentation so I had them send it to me and I was able to share it for them.

We left early so we could go to the Temple. We managed to have appointments for Initiatory, Endowment, and Sealings. It was so nice to get so much work done. I got everything done except a few sealings that we ran out of time to finish. The Linfords went with us. It was a very nice evening.

Friday, was a fairly slow day. I was able to finish my research on the new invoicing process and posted it to my group. It showed that even though it was not 100% of emails that will be sent to TRLInvoice automatically, it was still a much higher number than what is currently done manually. I pointed out that I would continue to monitor the process once it goes live so we can identify those that are not getting sent into three categories. 

    1. Those where the interpreter does NOT click the Submit for Approval button.

    2. Those who are NOT supposed to click the Submit for Approval button because they have special circumstances that require they do it the old way.

    3. And those that have a problem with their email in PLUNET. NOTE: these are the ones we need to identify and research.  

The feedback was good and I thought we were ready to turn it on. When I asked when that would be as I had several people to remind they needed to create invoices and I wanted to send the new instructions, I was told not yet. We need to solve the email problem first. Needless to say, I was not happy. The current process make it hard to identify the problem until we turn it on. PLUS more people will get their invoices submitted if we turn it on. I don't understand their reasoning to continue to wait. 

Saturday, after working on HawkSoft, we visited Vicki and Roy again. We were told a week ago they both had COVID so we couldn't visit them. Saturday, Vicki told us only she had COVID; however, they quarantined Roy for 14 days just to be sure. He never got it, which was a good thing because his health is already compromised. They had hospitalized Vicki because of her COVID; however, they determined that in addition to COVID she had had a heart attack only they didn't identify it as such. On the day she was supposed to go home, she had another more severe heart attack. They rushed her to surgery and saved her life. They said if she had not already been in the hospital, she probably wouldn't have made it. They put two stints in her heart. She is home now and recovering nicely. We visited with Vicki first. I hope we didn't wear her out. We had a very nice visit with her. Then we headed to Ogden to visit with Roy. He continues to improve slowly. They just got their insurance to grant another 30 days in the rehabilitation center for him. They have him on some pain killers that tends to make him groggy. He was very tired and his speech was somewhat slurred which made it difficult to have a conversation with him. Nonetheless, we had a nice visit before we headed home.

Sunday started with Music and the Spoken Word with The Piano Guys as the guest performers. There were at least twice or more times as many people as usual. We went early to make sure we could get a good seat. It was a good thing. The program was wonderful. What you don't get to see on the actual program are the little things The Piano Guys do when they are not on camera. They both pretended to lead the choir at different times. Steven Sharp Nelson shared several little quips before and after the program. Unfortunately we didn't get to hear most of them, but the choir did and they laughed. We also got two extra treats after the program was over. They invited those that wanted to stay to watch while they did some filming behind the scenes for one of their behind the scenes videos that The Piano Guys do. They will be doing the Hallelujah Chorus with the Tabernacle Choir at Christmas time and were putting together the behind the scenes footage. Of course we didn't see the final product, but it was fun to watch the recording. After that Jon Schmidt and the Choir organist played a duet for us called Waterfall. It was BEAUTIFUL. Then, as we were leaving to go home a Sister stepped out of a row and put her arm around me and called me by name. Kerrie Hadfield (Conover) was there with her family. We chatted for awhile. It was so nice to see her.

Sister Lloyd, our second speaker

Church was good as well. Our two speakers gave great talks. The first speaker talked about the simplicity of the Gospel and how it worked throughout his life. The second speaker talked about how the Lord has been in her life. She came from Africa when she was 25 to go to school. Her uncle sent her to get an education. She left 4 children back in Africa. About 7 months after she arrived, civil war broke out in her African home and she had to apply for political asylum. Her uncle was arrested and she had to wonder for nearly 7 years how her children were getting along. At the end of seven years she had saved enough money to send for all her children. She pointed out how the Lord had been with her in every step of the way. She has also suffered from health problems and had to return home a few months after she arrived on her mission. She recently returned to her mission and again pointed out how much the Lord has been with her. It was such a beautiful testimony that our trials are for our growth and not punishment. That the Lord can comfort us and helps us through all our trials and can make us be closer to the Lord. I was humbled listening to her talk. I need to repent of my grumblings when things don't go as planned. I need to trust MORE in the Hand of the Lord ALWAYS.

I hope you have a wonderful week. 

Love Always,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox