MTC Devotional,  RootsTech Begins, J Reuben Clark Law School, and Toothache!

The Spanish Team - Luis and Genesis

Monday was a holiday, which was nice as we needed a little more time to work on our recovery. We had a WONDERFUL Family Home Evening with our apartment floor. It seemed like it had been forever since we last met. The Stevens were in charge for the last time. They are ending their mission this coming week.😭We are going to miss them so much. We have several others on our floor that are leaving soon. The Beeches will be leaving on the 31st. 😭😭This is the hardest part about being on a mission. Anyway, the Stevens played a game similar to "The Newly Wed Game" but a little different. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Elder Wilcox and I WON!!!! He then used the game to introduce some fun ways to jump-start writing our family history. All of the questions he used were ways to spark a family history topic. It was great.

Vilma from the Portuguese Team

Tuesday started with a Zone Devotional give by President Jackson of the Mission Presidency. He talked about the "Be Attitudes". We have moved our Team meetings to Tuesdays for a few different reasons. One is a directive from our Section leaders. They would like all the Teams to hold their meetings on Tuesdays. All employees are to be in the office the 1st and 3rd Tuesday so we can mingle together. Our section meeting will be on the 4th Wednesday every month so that is the third time all employees will be in the office. Their new work schedule is to be in the office only three times a month. Of course our Supervisors have to come in more often because of various events they have. So, we had our Team meeting in the afternoon. 

Tuesday evening, Elder Wilcox and I supported the MTC Devotional with Elder Christofferson. For some reason it was really late getting set up so we didn't have time to order a meal from the cafeteria. So Elder Wilcox went to IHop. We had a great dinner. Elder Christofferson's talk was really good, but I'm sorry I can't remember any specifics.

The French Team - Emmanuel,
Marie, and Alexis

On Wednesday, the Linfords supported the beginning RootsTech event. We will be doing a number of pre-recordings in preparation for the live event in March. This year they will be doing a huge event that will be both In Person at the Salt Palace and Online so everyone around the world can participate. Consequently we are going to be very busy between now and then. If you have a chance to participate either in person or online it is well worth it. Participation online is FREE!

On Thursday we had another wonderful Zone Devotional. Elder and Sister Larsen gave a great presentation on what they have learned from their mission. They will be going home this week as well. But since they live in South Jordan and have actually worked from their home for their entire mission, they don't have to pack anything. lol

Later during the day, I noticed that Elder Wilcox had some Tylenol on his desk. I asked him about it and he said he had a little toothache. Thursday evening we headed to the Jordan River Temple. It has been so long since we have been to the Temple because of our trip and being sick when we got back. We did Initiatory. It was so good to be there. On the way home, Elder Wilcox mentioned he wasn't feeling well and his tooth was hurting worse. He didn't say much and kind of sluffed it off so I wasn't too worried. He didn't sleep at all Thursday night and spent much of the night tossing and turning on the couch because he didn't want to disturb me. I didn't even know he left.

Friday morning I started looking for a dentist first thing. I found one that took our insurance and called. They scheduled us for noon that day. Elder Wilcox was miserable. He was not happy about waiting 4 more hours. While I was telling him about the appointment the dentist called back to say they had a cancellation if we wanted to come in right away. Needless to say we jumped in the car and arrived about 15 minutes later. They took x-rays and found an abscess in a tooth that already had a root canal done years ago. It requires another root canal. The dentist said he needed an Endodontist. He couldn't find anyone that would take him on Friday, but he gave me the name of two. We made an appointment with the first one for Monday morning. The dentist then prescribed a pain killer and antibiotic to help with the infection. He started feeling better not long after taking the pain pill. Elder Linford and Elder Stevens came over not long after we got home from the dentist and gave Steve a blessing. He had a much better afternoon and evening. He slept a lot.

Saturday he slept more and felt pretty good. We noticed his jaw was swelling pretty bad. But the pain was manageable. I did some grocery shopping and got him some Chicken Noodle Soup as he can't chew much because of the tooth ache. He had a good day.

Sunday morning the swelling was worse. I told him he looked like Harry Potter after the stinging spell and made his face swell up. Other than the swelling, he is doing much better. He stayed home while I went to Church. It had been snowing all night and was still snowing in the morning so I drove to Church. It was kind of an emotional meeting. This is one of the largest groups of missionaries going home at the same time. President Holmes had them all stand. Then, with tears in his eyes and a choked up voice he told us how much he loves each and everyone of them. Several of them work closely with him so I know that is going to be hard on him. I know I was very touched and teared up as well. He then proceeded to change the closing song to "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good". I could hardly get through the song. We are going to miss them so much.

I am enrolled in an Emotional Resilience class each Sunday morning before Church. It is SOOOOOO good. I am learning so much about myself. My Action Partner is awesome. We chatted several times this past week as we encouraged each other on our commitments. We discussed what we are learning and how we can help each other. It was so good. My take aways were how I can draw closer to Heavenly Father. I want to pray more sincerely and the truly listen for my answers. I know I get plenty of promptings but I don't always recognize them as promptings. I want to do a better job of that.

But, we have lots of new missionaries coming too. It won't be long and we will be loving them just as much. To quote Kermit the Frog, "Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it." That is what happens on a mission. It is all good.

Please keep Elder Wilcox in your prayers for tomorrow's root canal.  

I hope you have a WONDERFUL week. I can't believe January is almost over. Time flies when you hare having fun!

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox