Dataverse, Blood Drive, Events, and Surprise Visit!!!

The week started with a wonderful Mission Leader Devotional on Monday Morning. Brother Stephen Valentine, Senior Vice-President Family Search International was our speaker. He gave an awesome presentation about all the progress and great things that are happening in Family Search all around the world. Of course, he connected everything to the great blessings in the Temple, too. He pointed out that "Temples are Nourished by Names." Temples and Family Search go hand in hand. It was a wonderful devotional.

I spent much of the day watching Dataverse training videos. We went home early because it was a very slow day. We had a great Family Home Evening. Elder and Sister Ure were in charge. We had a good discussion, played a game, and had delicious refreshments. We always linger longer and visit afterward. 

Tuesday morning started with our Zone Devotional and the Wellness Center. Elder Last gave our devotional. It was nice to learn a little bit about his family as part of the presentation. He is one of our medical screeners for prospective missionaries. I found out that he and his father before him were the doctors in the town of one of our other missionary couples. So, they know him very well. It is a small world.

Shortly after I got to the office, I got a chat from Matt. He is sort of my direct report since I have been working on the Microsoft Lists. Anyway, he let me know that I finally have the authority I need to work in Dataverse. It took a little tweaking on his part before I could actually access anything, but eventually I got in. Now I could get to work on applying what I learned from all the videos I have been watching for a week. I worked for a bit on that before it was time for our weekly Team meeting. I think it was a fairly productive meeting.

Later I worked on the HawkSoft security course. We are required to take short courses on a regular basis. It is very helpful in preventing us from falling victim to phishing scams. Not long after that, Sean called looking for a little help with an SQL project he was working on. We made some progress before he had to go to an appointment. We headed home and not long after that Sean called back so we could finish the project. It was fun to talk with him and share what little help I could. I guess it is good I have used SQL on my mission, or I wouldn't have remember what to tell him. Lol.

Wednesday, after the Wellness Center, I got to work on Dataverse. I have actually made some pretty good progress on the project. It helps that I have been working with the Power Apps already using the Microsoft Lists and that made things a little easier. Dataverse has a lot more power and capabilities, so I am learning lots. About 11, Elder Linford came back holding a T-Shirt because he had just donated blood. I remembered the blood drive that I had pretty much dismissed, because I was told several years ago that I shouldn't donate anymore. I couldn't remember the reason why I shouldn't, and I really wanted the T-Shirt, so I decided to go donate. 

The donation went well so I headed back to my cubicle to pick up Elder Wilcox for lunch. We had a baptism appointment at the Jordan River Temple. It is really hard to get appointments because they are booked out so far in advance. We headed down to the cafeteria, but they had already locked the doors. We were late! So, we decided to go home and eat and then head to the Temple. It was a warm day, and the walk home was a bit difficult for me. Feeling a little weak from donating blood, not having any food yet, and the heat made for a tough walk. By the time we made it up the hill to our apartment I was out of breath...more than normal. I should have rested a bit in the lobby, but we were on a tight schedule, so we went up to the apartment. We are at the end of a VERY long hallway, last apartment on the right. About a little over halfway there I had to sit down so I sat on the floor. Steve went to our apartment and brought back a roll around office chair. I got in the chair, and he proceeded to wheel me home. I don't think it was more than 10 or 20 feet before I passed out in the chair and my feet started dragging on the floor so we couldn't proceed any further. Steve revived me and we started again only to pass out again. After the next revival he took me home and put me on our bed. By then I was feeling nauseous and couldn't eat. I started feeling better and of course I still wanted to go to the Temple. Steve didn't think that was a good idea. After I tried to sit up and failed, I agreed we probably shouldn't go. He went and bought me some soda crackers to settle my stomach and I finally started to feel normal again. Then I made the mistake of taking a shower. After the shower I felt wiped out again and laid on the bed for another 45 minutes before I was finally back to normal again. It was quite an ordeal. 😏

Grandma, Audrey, Devon, and Elder
Woodfield at the Church History Library

I sat on the couch and decided to work on a spreadsheet for our Mission Leader Seminar that is coming up next week. Technically I don't have any involvement in the project this year, but I felt impressed to work on it anyway. I called Season for some help with an excel question. While we were talking, MyLiege called and the three of us had a nice conversation. I held the phone next to the computer so MyLiege and Season could talk to each other. What amazing times we live in.

Thursday started with an early morning event. Until two or three days before this event we only had our Interpreter Screening event where we screen for new interpreters. We do this event about twice a year. Then, all of a sudden, we get two new events for the SAME day as our screening event. One was early in the morning and the other was the exact same time as the screening event. What to do? Do we move the screening event to another day? No, the screenees have already committed. We can't hold it at the same time as the other event because of the logistics with the booths. Elder Linford suggested we hold it an hour later. Brilliant! So, the Wilcoxes took the morning event of SNML President Nelson Video Language Recording. This is for the Mission Leader Seminar. The Linfords took the NANE Area Training for the Clerks. And the Wilcoxes started the Prospective Interpreter Screening event and the Linfords joined us after they finished their event. It all worked out very well.

Grandma explaining Interpretation

Anyway, after our morning event, we had our one-on-one meeting with Baptiste. We talked about what concerns I had about the Mission Leader Seminar since it was turned over to the LPM employee that will be doing PLUNET orders for us in the future. They wanted to give this to them as a starter because it is honestly the most complicated event we do in the entire year. Baptiste figured this order would reveal all the possible issues that could happen so they can be addressed before all the missionaries leave. So, I gave him a list of my major concerns. He and Aaron had a meeting later that day with Xenia and the employee that is doing our PLUNET. I didn't hear back after the meeting, so I just let it go.

Friday, we started with the second session of our Thursday morning event of SNML President Nelson Video Language Recording. Japanese was unable to make it (on short notice) to the Thursday morning event, so they did Friday morning. It went much quicker than the Thursday event. On Thursday the engineers had installed a new update on the equipment and our poor engineer had a lot of setup to do to get it up and running again. We started an hour late that day. Friday went very well and even finished early. I attended a Team Meeting on Organization right at the end of our event. I worked on Dataverse after that. It is going smoothly. Lastly, I had my Emotional Resilience class. It is our second to last class. I will miss this group. We have so much fun together and have great discussions. I am learning so much from them.

Then after we got home, I received a call from Baptiste. He had a few questions for me about where some data was on SharePoint. I showed him where it was and how to access it. Then he shared a bit about his meeting the previous day. Bottom line, he asked me if I would be willing to help with the Mission Leader setup for PLUNET. The employee created a shell for the order but that was all they were going to do. They expected the Supervisor to do the rest. NOT GOOD. Aaron is already extremely busy with all the logistics of the event. He doesn't have time to do anything with the PLUNET order. I guess my prompting on Wednesday was in preparation for this as I had already done the preliminary setup that was needed. I started working on it while we watched our shows Friday evening. 

Around 6 PM we received a text from Audrey. For some reason I missed it. Then around 8 we received another one. The first one said she and a friend were coming to Salt Lake City and wanted to stop in and say Hi. The second one said it was going to be rather late and could they spend the night with us. That one I got and answered we would love to have them.  They arrived just before midnight. We visited for a little while before everyone went to bed. Audrey took the spare bedroom, her friend, Devon, took the couch. It was so fun to visit.

Saturday, we spent touring around Temple Square. We started in the Church History Library. Then we took the underground tunnel to the COB for my traditional tour of Global Interpretation. Next, we headed over to the City Creek Food Court for lunch. From there Grandpa went home as his legs were wearing out and the three of us headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to check out the beautiful Chapel. With all the construction going on there isn't much else to see there. We then checked out the Tabernacle on Temple Square and then headed to the Church History Museum. Next we headed to the Family Search Center to pick up a large Fan Chart for Audrey. I expected that one to be a quick trip, but we ended up staying about an hour. I helped Audrey fill out a few deceased ancestors that took her chart back more than 9 generations. The Sister that helped us showed us some new software that will let you print a 9-generation fan chart. Hers looked BEAUTIFUL! I decided I wanted one too, but most of my slots were blank. I don't go back 9 generations except for two lines. So, I went back to 7 and there are still a lot of blanks, but it looks better than all the blanks for the 9 generations. 

Our last stop was the Conference Center as it was on our way home. We spent about 30 minutes there. We were able to go up to the roof top and wander around for a while. The kids said they had a lot of fun. I know I sure did. Although I was totally exhausted by the time we got back to the apartment. The kids packed up their stuff, we said our goodbyes, and they headed back to BYU-I. I think they got home around 9. It was such a surprise weekend. We loved it. I spent several hours after we got back working on the Mission Leader Seminar spreadsheet. I had some questions, so I had a nice little call with Aaron. I think we are in pretty good shape. I just have the PLUNET side to finish up, but that won't take long. I can do that on Monday.

Sunday started out sunny and turned cloudy and drizzly by the time we came home from Church. Steve got to use his new razor that he got for Father's Day, and I got to wear the beautiful new earrings that I got for my birthday. Church was good. The talks were great, and our tiny primary made up of four little boys (no girls) sang Daddy's Homecoming. The congregation sang it again with the kids for their second time. After Sacrament meeting, the few young men we have passed out big Snickers bars to the dads. I mean they literally PASSED them to the dads. It brought several laughs. 

Right after Sacrament meeting one of the counselors asked if we would be willing to help him at the Park Lane Senior Living center that is part of our Ward. Of course, we said yes. At 1:30 we met him and his wife there to setup for a small Sacrament for some of the residents. We had 8 elderly sisters attend. It was delightful. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting with them and visiting briefly before and after our short little meeting. We sang a Sacrament song, the Brethren blessed and passed the Sacrament, then they had Elder Wilcox and I each bear a brief Testimony. We enjoyed is so very much. It was a GREAT addition to our Father's Day/Birthday celebration. 

This was actually taken at the Family Search
Center in front of a Green Screen.

I hope all you fathers out there have a WONDERFUL Father's Day. 

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox