Devotionals, Potluck Luncheon with Daniel, Tour, Temple, Several Events, and Mission Recommendation Forms

The Burgoynes and the Wilcoxes

Another slow work week, but we tried to stay busy. We had a wonderful Mission Devotional Monday morning. The Supervisors were at an Offsite meeting all day so our day was very quiet. We were also having some problems with PLUNET and our master spreadsheet. So, we sent the Linfords to visit the Saratoga Springs Temple Open House since they hadn't gone yet. It was there turn to take a P-Day.

The Offsite meeting was on the 27th floor. I got everything set up for them before our Mission Devotional. We didn't see or hear from them until the end of the day. They said it was a very productive meeting.

The Farnsworths, Durrants, Burgoynes
and Wilcoxes

I spent the day fixing the master spreadsheet for the Linfords. I also worked on my Power App so we stayed busy throughout the day. I'm not sure what Elder Wilcox worked on. We left around 4:30, after we cleaned up after the Offsite meeting. There wasn't much to clean up, but we had to lock doors to the snack closet and take back a roll around white board. I continued working on the spreadsheet after we got home and finally finished just as we were about to start our Family Home Evening.

Originally we were supposed to have a Mission evening devotional, but the speaker had to postpone at the last minute. So, since we didn't have a scheduled couple in charge we decided to just have a game night. Everyone brought a game to share. Some were pretty silly and we had lots of fun. We prepared Strawberry Shortcake for our desert. It was the official last FHE with the Burgoynes. They will be here for one more week, but next Monday will be the Mission evening devotional speaker that had to postpone. We will cross our fingers as it is the second time they have postponed. Maybe the third time is the charm. 

Our Family Home Evening Group

Tuesday was a very busy day. We started with our Zone Devotional by President Jackson. I watched it while working out at the Wellness Center. I'm so grateful for modern technology that allows me to watch it on my phone and still work out. After studying scriptures and working some on my Power App, we headed to the 27th floor for a "farewell" luncheon for Daniel. We had a wonderful potluck with a variety of foods from around the world. The entire team showed up, which hasn't happened in a while. We enjoyed good food, good company, and a wonderful time sharing thoughts and feelings about Daniel. The spirit was strong and I think everyone really enjoyed it.

The Whole Team plus Daniel. From left to 
right front row: Eunlan, Sister Linford,
Sister Wilcox, and Ljiljana,
Back row: Elder Wilcox, Baptiste, Aaron,
Curtis, Daniel, Jarod, and Venky

I spent a frustrating afternoon working on my Power App and did not make much progress. We decided to go home around 4 as I was not making any progress and almost everyone else had left for the day. Just as we were packing up, a Brother showed up on our floor looking for one of our Interpreters. I told him that the Interpreter didn't work on the floor, but only worked for different events and asked if I could help him. He said he and several other people from various parts of the world were in a leadership training meeting and the Interpreter had said he would give him a tour if they wanted. I told him I could give them a tour since the Interpreter was not there. 

Gorgeous Sunset

I met about a dozen people on the 26th floor and gave them about a 15 or 20 minute abbreviated tour of the 26th and 27th floor. Just as we were starting the Interpreter showed up and I asked if he wanted to do the tour. He told me to go ahead and give it. We went to the 27th floor and I took them to one of the booths to talk about Interpretation and what it takes to be an Interpreter. Rob, the Interpreter, jumped in from time to time to add to or confirm what I was saying. The group had lots of questions and we had a really good time. Rob's Indonesian Booth is right across the isle from the engineering booth that I show them last. So he got to show them his booth. He put on his headset so they could take pictures and he even spoke Indonesian for them. It was fun.

At home, we worked on Steve's devotional that he gave on Thursday. We also had our Mission interview with Bishop Evans. He opened the new portal for us to begin the paperwork process. 

Wednesday I made some progress on the Power App. That is pretty much what I worked on all day. That evening we had and event called The Power of Jesus Christ and True Doctrine with Elder Neil L. Andersen. It was for Seminary and Institute. What we saw of it as good, but since Curtis was our Supervisor, the first part of the evening he was showing one of the Interpreters all about his Joseph Smith daguerreotype presentation that he will be giving in New York at the Mormon History Association conference in Rochester. The interpreter that he was talking to accidently came on the wrong day. He was scheduled for Thursday night but got his dates mixed up. The Linfords were supporting the Thursday event. They also did the Tuesday night MTC Devotional. This event is covering two sessions on two different days to accommodate the 40 languages we are doing.

Elder Wilcox's PowerPoint Presentation

Thursday morning Elder Wilcox did the Zone Devotional. He decided to do it on Grandpa's Personal Grandchild Progression Program. We created a PowerPoint presentation that showed the progression from the 8-year-old Baptism plaque, to the 12-year-old Armor of God pictures, to the 14-year-old shields, to the 16-year-old Pearl of Great Price, to the Graduation Challenge Coin, and culminating with the Sword presented at their wedding day. He did a GREAT job and every one seemed to enjoy his presentation. 

Eight-Year-Old Slide

After the Devotional I went to the Wellness Center and then to my office. We had a one-on-one with Baptiste at 10:30. I finally fixed a major problem I was having with my Power App so I was happy about that. In the afternoon we went to the Temple.

Friday morning we had our second event of the week. We did the Webinar for New Mission Leaders - Training Review. Aaron was in charge. It was pretty interesting. Elder Nash ran the webinar. They had several very large monitors in the auditorium were they could see all the new Mission Leaders from around the world. This is the last training webinar leading up to the in person meeting the end of June at the Provo MTC. We don't get to go this year. 😢I'm so glad we were able to go last year.

Twelve-Year-Old Slide

Elder Wilcox got to be an Uber that morning. Baptiste had to drop his car off at Costco to get his snow tires changed and needed a ride to the office. He said he would call an Uber and Elder Wilcox volunteered to pick him up. The event had already started so he was good to go. While he was gone I finally got a hold of Global Support. We had been having problems trying to access our new Mission Portal so we could fill out our paperwork. Bishop even cancelled and reinitiated our Portal but we still couldn't get in. I called Global Support and the guy said, "let me try this different URL". Voila, I was in. We just didn't have the right link to get in. So I started on my paperwork (actually it is computer work.) We have to fill out and answer a bunch of questions, provide copies of different documents, and lastly, have a doctor and dentist form filled out and sent to Bishop before we can submit everything to the mission department. 

Fourteen-Year-Old Slide

As a thank you for picking him up and then later dropping him off, Baptiste "took us to lunch" at the cafeteria. We sat with one of our Interpreters who had to hang around for something else he was doing later in the day. We had a wonderful lunch with them. While sitting there, Jody Bean came by with her husband and son and a friend from Gladstone. It was fun to visit with them for a bit. Oh, and while we were still supporting the morning event, I got a text from LeAnn Jenson. She and Ken are coming to Utah the first week in June and want to visit with us. I offered them our spare room and LeAnn said they had already booked a room at The Kimball, a cute little hotel right across the street from the Conference Center. I told her it was right next door to our apartment!  We are so looking forward to seeing them. I'm hoping we will have an event they can come and observe. Since things are so slow, I think we will be able to visit with them a lot. 

Laila's, Djeryd's, and Montana's Shields

After lunch I had my Emotional Resilience class. Sister Farnsworth had texted me the day before to say that she and Sister Roberts would not make it as they were both going to be out of town. Well, Sister Farnsworth's plans changed drastically later that day when she tripped and fell down on an uneven sidewalk. She landed on her left shoulder and broke it severely. Needless to say, she did not go out of town. She will see the doctor again on Tuesday to see if they can schedule surgery for Thursday. Please keep her in your prayers. When the class started, Sister Ure told me Elder Ure was at a conference for his department in Heber. They work at Ensign College. Then I got a text telling me that Sister Bauer and Sister Nielson would be late because their "go forth" meeting for new missionaries was going to run over. They never did show up. So our class was only four others and myself. We still had a great discussion, but without the 5 extra people our discussions were shorter than usual so we ended about 20 minutes early. Just as the class was ending, Elder Wilcox had to drop Baptiste off so they left. The Linfords left to go to the Temple so I worked alone for a while. I decided to get back to my Mission application as I was stuck again on my App and didn't want the frustration for the end of the day. lol

Sixteen-Year-Old Slide

Saturday, Steve went to the store first thing. We are making dinner for the Farnsworths for Monday and we needed to get a few things. I worked on my Mission Application and finished everything I could except for the doctor and dentist forms. When Steve got back from the store he started on his Mission Application and I worked on HawkSoft. He managed to get everything done as well. So, on Monday we will call and see if we can get or forms signed and sent in. I think we actually have to have a simple doctor's visit so that may take a little longer to get an appointment for that. I'm hoping to be able to submit everything by the end of the month.

Graduation Slide

Sunday was our last official day as the Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission Branch. After a shorter Sacrament meeting, It was basically a Testimony meeting. Then we went out in the foyer and picked up an envelope with our new Ward Assignment. We met back in the Chapel where President Holmes addressed us that included a question and answer time. We ended at 3:30. After that we had a Linger Longer social with yummy food. 

The Culmination of the Program

It is with mixed emotions that we embrace this. I am looking forward to being in a family ward again and hopefully having some different mission experiences. We have been assigned to the 12th Ward. We get to meet in the big blue building where we have had some team meetings. 

I am also going to miss the amazing experience we have had living in Zion! Where else can you have an entire ward made up with the wonderful people we have associated with for the last two years. Every single person is active, strong, Temple worthy, willing to do whatever they are asked to do, and just plain amazing. We will still have mission socials and devotionals so it isn't like we won't still have wonderful experiences, we just won't meet together in Church each week and we won't get to meet in the beautiful Joseph Smith Chapel anymore. 😢

Our new Meeting House.

Have a wonderful week.

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox