General Conference and then some

Jerod and others at check-in

The week leading up to General Conference and the week after General Conference were very busy and in some ways very difficult. The week before we continued with General Authority pre-recordings of their talks in different languages. We did 4 on September 27 and one on the 28th. We also started the Oct 2022 General Conference Leadership Meetings that consisted of 6 different sessions over the course of several days from September 29th through October 4th. Most of those meetings we had to support, unlike the General Authority pre-recordings that took place in the studios at the Conference Center and didn't involve us directly other than setting up the event so the Interpreters could get paid.   

Xenia and Amanda passing out envelopes

We had a VERY last minute scramble on September 28th caused by a mix up. As part of the Oct 2022 General Conference Leadership Meetings they held a General Authorities Wives meeting on September 30th just after lunch time. On September 28th we had our monthly General Authorities Wives Luncheon. However, the supervisor who was over both events thought those two meetings were one in the same and failed to schedule the regular monthly meeting. To be fair, he was also over all the GA pre-recordings as well as all the GC Leadership meetings so he was very, very busy. Anyway, Eunlan somehow discovered we didn't have anything in place for the monthly GA Wives Luncheon. The other supervisor was currently in one of those General Authority pre-recording sessions. I had come in early that day because I had a number of things to do. So Eunlan and I scrambled to get the event together. We kept the other supervisor in the loop and he did what he could from where he was. Needless to say we pulled it together and got interpreters and everything set up. It all worked out.

The full check-in crew for Saturday morning

We had three meetings on Sept 29th that went from 8 AM to 3:00 PM. Elder Wilcox and I covered those three events. They were very cool meetings where we got to hear from the entire First Precedency. Each one spoke at one of the meetings. These meetings are not recorded and no transcripts are kept. We are not allowed to say what we heard. The General Authorities at the meeting were allowed to take notes, but were told not to discuss it outside of those meetings. Suffice it to say, it was a very special experience for us.

Amanda, Xenia, and Sister Petty

September 30th was the GA Wives Meeting as part of the Leadership Training. It was also the day before General Conference. The Friday before and a few days after every October General Conference there is a huge Military Chaplin's convention. They don't do interpretations so we are not involved with the meetings. However, they have a big banquet on that Friday before Conference in the banquet room on the 26th floor. They don't usually finish until well after 8. There is a LOT of setup that we have to do before General Conference. Some of that setup takes place on the 26th floor. 

Ljiljana, Xenia, and a Missionary

So, this is what our Friday consisted of until about 10:00 pm that night. The first thing we had to tackle was WHERE setup was going to be. Normally we do it on the lower level near the Cafeteria where everyone comes in from the parking garage. Well, we had been bounced around all week. Every tour I gave the missionaries that were coming to help us I told them a different place we were going to be. First it was the lower level in two locations; one near the door for check-in and one station across from the security desk in a little alcove with a big stair case that leads up to the main floor lobby in the east wing. It would have been perfect. However, the cafeteria people did not want us there because of all the people that come in for meals that help with ushering at the Conference Center. So they moved us to the lower level in front of the parking office near the elevators that go to the parking garage. That didn't last as the parking people kicked us out. Next they were going to put us in the main floor lobby (which is where we wanted to go after they kicked us off the lower level). Then we were back on the lower level before we got told we couldn't be there again. So Friday morning, Eunlan and I got on the phone with the head of security to ask WHERE we could be. We even suggested we could be on the 26th floor out of the way of everyone IF (and that was a big IF), we could give a list of names to Security so they would let our interpreters up to the 26th floor without a badge if they didn't have one. We knew that wouldn't fly so we asked again, "If we have to be able to hand out badges to people who need them, where do you want us to be?" After a bit of a discussion he finally agreed to let us set up in the main floor lobby on the south side of the lobby. YAY!!! 

Interpreters reviewing 
their talks during conference

I was just getting ready to send out a MASS email to all the interpreters and the helping missionaries (because we had already told everyone to check-in on the lower level) as we had a quick team meeting at 10:00 am to decide who was going to do what to set up for conference. Eunlan mentioned that we would be checking in on the main floor lobby and Daniel immediately told us NO. We were going to be on 1L (the lower level). We explained that we had been kicked out again and he said he would take care of it. So, I did not send out an email. We finished the meeting and passed out assignments.

Everyone that was going to help arrived at 3:00 pm in the Library on the 27th floor. The GA Wives Meeting was still going on so we had to postpone until the meeting ended at 3:30. The Linfords were supporting that event. I was heavily involved in finishing putting together the packets containing the access badges, parking passes, and credentials for interpreters who needed them. Elder Wilcox as also involved in that requesting all the last minute stuff. After a brief meeting at 3:30 to make final assignments were were ready to get started. Around 4 or so we got word from Daniel, who was excited to say we were going to check in on the Main Floor Lobby south side. That was exactly what we had told him before. He thought we were talking about the east lobby and said that wouldn't work. Anyway, all was good now. I quickly put together a email to send out to everyone and hoped they would read their email before the next morning. We set to work to get everything set up.

Daniel and others in the 
Command Center

Here are just a few things we had to do. Elder Linford and Venky hung signs ALL OVER the place. They put signs in the parking garage with arrows pointing to where we were for Check-in. They put them in the elevators, in halls, on walls, and anywhere else they could think of. Elder Wilcox was busy MAKING signs with the changes of where we were going to be. Several people passed out 68 flower arrangements to all the interpreter booths as well as to a few other places such as check-in. We couldn't setup up check-in yet because the area was setup for the Military Chaplin Banquet check-in. We had them leave the tables for us. Because of the banquet, we couldn't setup the 26th floor with all the stuff we needed there. The IT people came very early Saturday morning to setup printers and laptops for interpreters to print out last minute revisions of their talks. We stayed until after the banquet to put little table signs on all of the tables as well as a few other things we needed. Agendas and Speaker times and word speeds were printed and hung in every single booth. Elder Wilcox and Elder Linford and Eunlan took the per diem envelops and any access badge envelops to the hotel where our out of town interpreters were staying to hand out as much as possible before General Conference. On their way back they picked up dinner for the team that was helping. We wrapped things up around 9:30 or so and went home to shower and sleep.

Curtis - what else can I say?

We started Saturday at 6:30. Interpreters weren't supposed to be there until 8:00 am; however, we had a handful show up well before 7. I was still trying to set up the check-in station. We had 5 laptops to use for check-in so I quickly got them setup and signed in so they could be used to check them in. We actually made them wait because we were trying to have a simple prayer meeting and spiritual thought before we began our very busy day. We also had to setup the boxes of envelops for Sister Petty to hand out. After the initial small group that arrived so early, everyone else came in at the expected time. I had 5 of us checking people in and there were no long lines. Also, because we had giving out so many envelops before General Conference, we didn't have a bog down at the at that station either. It was amazing that everything ran so smoothly. Oh, we had a few glitches here and there, but nothing that couldn't be taken care of quickly. Between the two days we checked in nearly 400 interpreters, many of whom worked multiple sessions but were only checked in once per day.

Our Beloved Sara!

Our missionary helpers were great. We had a total of 38 over the 5 sessions. In addition we also had 4 additional employees from our new section come and help too. It was a good thing, because we were unable to use Aaron, Sara, and Ljiljana for much of conference because of other obligations. Sara and Ljiljana were both interpreting nearly every session for their respective languages of Italian and Serbian. Aaron was also running the 29th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium that ran from Oct 1 thru Oct 5, mostly at the MTC in Provo. I think he was able to help with only two sessions.

Our Senior Missionaries in the Choir

I got to hear bits and pieces from all the sessions, but not any session completely. Saturday afternoon was very fun to watch as our Elijah Choir joined a couple hundred more missionaries to sing for that session. It was such fun seeing so many of our dear friends sing in the choir. The music was so beautiful. As soon as that session ended, three wonderful couples rushed over to help us for the Saturday Evening session. Since our call time was 4:00 and our choir member missionaries couldn't be there until after 4, I had to scramble to get a few pinch hitters to cover the check in and credentials desk. It all worked out perfectly. We finished Saturday night around 9; however, Elder Ure's daughter's family was at Conference and he asked if we could give them a tour. He and his wife helped us Saturday night and they were in the choir which is why his daughter came. So we gave them a tour. When we got to the 27th floor, Curtis was still there. He had a fresh audience so he tempted them with his Joseph Smith research of the daguerreotype picture of the Prophet Joseph Smith. They loved it, but that meant we didn't get out of there until a little after 10. (He also cornered some of our missionaries when I was giving them tours before General Conference.) It is his passion. Sunday went well and we managed to leave just before 6 after doing all our clean up.

Hanging out on the 26th Floor 

We slept in a little on Monday, but headed in so we could start inputting hours for our Interpreters. It took me a little while to get everything ready to start calculating and running the reports. I reminded the multi-language coordinators to make sure they made ALL their changes in Event Central as that is my only way to know who was supposed to be there. We had our check in report, but that doesn't tell me what sessions they were doing and we pay them per session. I finally ran the preliminary report for Elder Linford to input hours at about 4:00. I discovered a few people were missing from the report because of the changes in the way I have to connect the different files together. 

One of our Devotionals

So on Tuesday, as he was entering the hours, I was going through the report one language at a time to see if I was missing anyone and correcting my data files so they would show up on the report. I then updated the spreadsheet so Elder Linford could go back and add any that were missed. When I finished that, I became a second pair of eyes to go through the PLUNET order and verify the hours and approve the jobs so the Interpreters could create their invoices. I finished that on Wednesday by 7 pm just three days from General Conference.

Meal time

All but a few Interpreters were ready to invoice. The last two conferences we did it was a couple of weeks before that was finished. Part of that was because we had to wait for spreadsheets to be sent to us with hours for those that didn't interpret in the COB. This time ALL our SLC languages were in the COB doing live interpretations so we had everything we needed. The handful that can't invoice yet are still not active in PLUNET. They sent in their signed contracts before Conference, but didn't get "activated" yet. We were told we could use them as long as the signed contract was sent in. I think I'm still waiting on 6 people. The reason they are still not active is the gal that does the activating has been out sick for at least part of this past week.

President and Sister Parker

Our Monday Evening Mission Devotional was sad. Normally we don't have a Mission Devotional the day after General Conference; but President and Sister Parker (1st Counselor) are being released. They were due to be released soon, but with Sister Parker's knee replacement recovery, they decided leave a couple weeks early. We are so very sad to see them go. They are WONDERFUL. It was a beautiful devotional. 

The rest of the week we finished up the Oct 2022 General Conference Leadership Meetings. Tuesday had the last two sessions. The Linfords did the morning and we were going to do the evening. 

Help for printing and studying talks

That afternoon, we got a call from Elder Wilcox's sister-in-law about Roy's condition. He was not doing well at all. Vicki asked if we could come and give him a blessing so the Linfords took our evening event and we headed to Ogden Medical Center to see Roy. When we got there, he was in the emergency room. They had discovered he was bleeding internally and they didn't know where it was coming from. He could only have two visitors. Holly, Roy and Vicki's daughter, was sitting in the waiting room so we sat with her. Her brother came out and Steve went on back. I visited with Holly and she gave me the update. The doctors didn't think they could do anything. If they did surgery to find where he was bleeding he wouldn't survive the surgery because he was so week. They recommended they take him home and call hospice. So the next day hospice helped get Roy setup at home and comfortable. We told Vicki we would come out on Saturday to see him again. 

Roy and Vicki

Cody and Steve

When we got there on Saturday, the hospice nurse was just leaving. He said he didn't think Roy would make it through the night. He recommended Vicki call all her kids to come and say their goodbyes. Only one was too far to make it in time. We stayed for most of the day as Vicki asked Steve to give him a final blessing of release. She wanted as many of her kids there so we waited for them to show. They had recently moved a couple of weeks before; but because of Roy being in the hospital, they had yet to get to the new ward. Their new Bishop felt inspired to stop by on Saturday to get to meet the new Ward family. He stayed for several hours to be there for the blessing. We have known Holly for years, but it was nice to meet the rest of the kids. We found out that Cody, Holly's younger brother, knows Brian Call. He took a picture of us and then one of him and Steve to send to Brian. Brian responded with, "NO WAY! Seriously? We go way back! He's like family!" After the last child arrived we were ready for the blessing and family prayer. Steve did a beautiful job. Roy wanted his brother to do it. He was also asked to dedicate the grave when the time comes. Holly texted me at 3:58 AM Sunday morning that Roy passed at 2:32 AM. He was hanging on for Steve and his kids to be there to say goodbye. 😢

Sara and one of our
Interpreters

The other hard part was some news we received about our Team. The week before General Conference we were told some changes were going to be happening. The hardest one for us was that Sara's initial contract was going to expire in April and they had no intention of extending it. She was originally hired temporarily to help with the Sacred Materials project. As she transitioned out of that into a full fledged Supervisor to replace Baptiste when he moved to Translation, she was given a lot of additional responsibilities. We were told most of those will be removed from her almost immediately and will be moved to people in translation. They are the more administrative jobs she does. She can continue to do Events until April. We are all so devastated and can't believe this is happening. Next they said they won't be replacing her as a supervisor so we will be down to only three supervisors. This doesn't make sense because our 4 supervisors are all overworked. I'm not sure how they are going to cover more events each. We were told some of their responsibilities will also be moved to the translation department. We are not sure what responsibilities they are talking about. We were then told they will not be replacing the missionaries. We will finish our missions but they won't be getting any new missionaries. At our meeting on Wednesday, Oct 5, Sister Petty and I were told we are no longer part of the Interpretation team but are moving to a new team. Physically we will stay were we are, but we won't be doing what we were doing before. Sister Petty has three months left on her mission. She doesn't know what she is supposed to do for three months. They told her they would find her something to do. At least I will be working on something I think will help interpretations. They want me to work on a new database that will integrate translators, interpreters, and sacred materials people in one. We are also hoping to have it interface with Event Central and PLUNET. Halleluiah!!! However, I also want to keep helping people in Interpretations. They didn't say anything about who will do what I've been doing. Needless to say, we (our team) is fasting for understanding, and peace, and comfort, and especially that Sara will be able to get a permanent position with us. They are saying they will be hiring other people so we are hoping Sara will be one of those people. We love her so much and don't want to lose her. 

Command Center Watching Conference

This week we got tons of new events so there is no rest for the weary. Most of the ones that came in will all be ones we can support. We are excited for that. I just hope I can still support events in my "new position". 

Church was great. We got a new counselor in the Mission Presidency. We had our monthly Break the Fast on our floor at our apartments. That is always a favorite of mine. We love visiting with all our missionary friends.

We love all of you so very much. I hope you were able to enjoy General Conference. Please share with us your favorite talk or message. We are now ready to start listening to a little of conference each day. 

The Command Center

Love Always and Forever,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox