Root Canal, Family Home Evening and Events

Monday morning I headed out into the snow to attend our Mission Devotional. Our Mission President, President Holmes talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I need to do a better job of taking notes, because my memory isn't what it used to be. He promised to send out his talk and slides, but he hasn't done that yet. He is revamping it. I remember it was very powerful and I'm looking forward to reviewing his presentation.

I walked home right after the Devotional so I could take Steve to the Endodontist for his Root Canal. He said the doctor was very good. While I waited in the lobby, I was able to work on several little projects. I took my laptop and was able to study my scriptures, work on one of my Emotional Resilience lessons, and even take care of several things for work.

When Steve was finished with his procedure he was already feeling better than he had for several days. We immediately went from there to our regular doctor for our annual exam. We both really enjoy our doctor and she lets us do our visits together. We are both healthy, and other than a few more aches and pains here and there, we are doing great.

By the time we finished both visits and stopped off to pick up Steve's prescription, our "work" day was nearly over so we went home to work there. Thankfully our work load was light so we were able to do all that needed to be done.

Family Home Evening was so much fun as usual. Elder and Sister Farnsworth were in charge. They played a very fun game that used books. I think it is called "Bring Your Own Book". All the books we had were Church books, but any books would do. There were cards that had various categories on them. Someone picked a card and read one of the categories, such as "A sitcom episode". Then everyone would look in there books to find something that went with the category and said "found it". Then a timer was set for 1 minute so everyone else could find it too. If at the end of the minutes you still couldn't find something you were to put your finger on something and use that. Then we went around the circle telling what we found and the person who read the card had to pick the best answer. For example someone may have found something like "David slew Goliath" for their Sitcom episode. Needless to say, there were lots of laughs. Elder and Sister Stevens showed up near the end so we could get pictures before they left on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday started with our Zone Devotional. Elder and Sister Ure presented. Elder Ure is always a kick. He did a really good job. He is a little technically challenged and asked me to play a song at the end of his devotional because he didn't think he could switch from his PowerPoint to the song. It all turned out great. We stopped in to say good-bye to the Merrells. They left on Thursday morning. We became fast friends early on in our mission. We will miss them. I had a follow-up meeting at 10 to see what the next steps are for getting a calendar app that Daniel wants. We had our Team meeting at 2:00. It was a little more like a Zoo for some reason. Maybe everyone had too much sugar.

Steve left after our meeting to get the car so he could go get dinner for our event that night. We supported the RootsTech 2023 Family Discovery Day Language Recording. Elder and Sister Gong participated in a panel discussion about Family History. It was really good. We had Mo' Bettahs for dinner. That is ALWAYS so good. It was so fun with visit with the interpreters. It seems like it had been forever since we were at an event.

Wednesday was a day of meetings. The Linfords supported Leadership Enrichment Series Event while we got to attend it in person. This is a series that happens every year or so that contributes to the Leadership Pattern Journey course. That course is for all employees of the Church and for any Missionaries who want to participate. It is truly incredible and I am hoping it will become available to any and everyone in the Church. So very good. Periodically they update the videos in the course. Those videos come from the Leadership Enrichment Series. Anyway, we got to hear from Elder Stevenson, Bishop Causse, and Sister Browning in the Tabernacle. There was an overflow in the Assembly Hall. We didn't head out as soon as we had hoped and were worried about getting good seats. Then I got a call from Ljiljana telling us that she got there early and was saving seats for us in the center section near the front. They were AWESOME seats. The seminar was excellent and it was a great experience. 

Afterward, we grabbed some left-over lunch we had in the fridge. Then headed to the Conference Center for our monthly Section meeting. It was so good to see the rest of the people in our Section. The only draw back on the day was how very cold it was and that we had to do a lot of walking outside. Steve's heel was bothering him quite a bit by the afternoon. So, when our section meeting was over we went back to the apartment to finish up our work. With all the meetings we hadn't been able to really do anything all day so we spent an hour or so catching up.

Thursday, we headed to the COB early. We had two morning events and then an evening event we were supporting. The two morning events were the Worldwide Youth Event with Elder Gong, President Cordon, and President Lund - January 2023 and the Webinar for New Mission Leaders - Logistics. On top of that I was giving the morning Zone Devotional. Luckily, my devotional started and was over before most of the Interpreters were even there. I did have a couple of interruptions but nothing too serious. Aaron was in charge of the Webinar for New Mission Leaders. He texted me to say he was stuck on the train and was going to be late. He hoped to be there before his event started at 9:30. 

We also found out that Curtis was not coming to the morning Worldwide Youth event because he was also doing the PM Worldwide Youth event that evening. Apparently he asked Sara to cover for him since Sara was there to Interpret only he forgot to tell us. So we were doing our best to make sure the Interpreters were all set and booths were running correctly.  I was talking with the engineers for those languages that wanted two booths to make sure they were assigned. It was all a little crazy, but eventually everything went well. We had four languages for each of the two morning events with only one language that did both events. It was a little crazy. We had two engineers, one up on the 28th floor and one on the 27th floor. Since we were going to be there in the evening too, we opted to watch the Webinar for New Mission Leaders - Logistics event. I can't believe they are already starting on New Mission Leader trainings.

That evening we supported the PM Worldwide Youth Event and watched the event. Curtis was there and I felt much better. It was AWESOME and I hope you will all watch it Sunday night when it is broadcast to the world. We had a total of 7 interpreters for each language to cover 13 speakers. There as one language that could only muster 2 interpreters and one of them was brand new! The two sisters did a fabulous job. The seasoned sister did the major parts and said she lowered her voice to sound more manly. I am in awe of these interpreters. They do so much to send out the word of the Lord into the language of the people all around the world. It is such a blessing to work with them and get to know them.

Friday was longer than I planned. I had a 9:00 AM meeting so I went in early. Elder Wilcox slept in. He REALLY slept in and finally got to the COB a little after noon. Luckily, he didn't have much to do. We had lunch with my Action partner and her husband from my Emotional Resilience class. After lunch, I went with Sister Winder to the Mission Office where she works. She is tasked to rearrange their cubicles to group people together better. She asked for my thoughts on how different arrangements work. Pros and Cons. After about an hour I headed back to the office to finish up some work I had been doing. We headed home a little after 5.

Saturday I stayed home all day. Elder Wilcox went shopping. I worked on HawkSoft and some of the lessons for the two different classes I'm taking. I also helped Elder Wilcox with some things he was working on when he got back home. 

Sunday was a wonderful day. In my Emotional Resilience class we talked about taking care of our bodies and how that effects our emotions. Diet and exercise are important for more than just losing weight. They affect our emotions in a big way too. Church was really good. We had three speakers and even though they all talked about something totally different, they all sort of talked about the same thing. The theme ended up being how we are to love and care for one another. For our second hour, President Holmes addressed us again in our 5th Sunday Forum. He talked about how he had been involved in the planning of the Come Follow Me program when he was a member of the General Young Men's Presidency. He shared some of the insight he had on the project and what the main purpose of Come Follow Me is. He then turned some time over to Sister Bennion who talked about how we all need to bring the Spirit with us to class. Neither the teacher nor the learner will benefit if they don't both have the Spirit with them. President Holmes also told us they are probably going to be organizing several more Sunday School classes so the class sizes are much smaller. That way everyone can contribute and be edified. I love it!

I love serving our mission. I love being surrounded by the Spirit of the Lord everyday. I love all the missionaries we serve with and live near. I love it all!

Have a Wonderful Week!

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox