Temple Week Blessings

Pictures taken in front of the Bountiful Temple. Sister Crowther, John, Sister Juarez, Kathryn, Elder Rees, Sister Chung from Korea, and Sister Kudo from Japan.

This has been a good week. I have had some remarkable experiences with my student. One day in the library we were looking through some microfilms and she commented, “I feel like I’m just passing by my relatives.” The next day we continued to look in FamilySearch Pilot and found that her impression was correct—several of her family members were found in that very census. The FamilySearch Pilot has extracted records and some images including Texas death certificates. Some of the microfilms of states in Mexico are now on line so we don’t even have to go to the Family History Library to look up the microfilms. It was miraculous to see her pedigree grow by two generations with careful documentation including many children and their marriages. Though Sister Chung and Sister Kudo haven't been our students, we have enjoyed seeing what their genealogy sheets look like with Korean and Japanese characters. The dates are interesting. The emperor or ruler is listed first, then the year of his reign. This information has to then be tranfered into our system of year, month, and day. Their records go back 4000-4500 years. What wonderful missionaries we get to know and love!

This has also been a precious temple week. Tuesday I did baptisms in the Jordan River Temple along with Sister Sasine from the Training Zone, an unplanned blessing. Wednesday John and I did initiatory work. Friday was our Go Forth Day and we went with our missionaries and new mission presidency to Bountiful Temple because the Salt Lake Temple was closed. John drove one of the vans. I was glad because it was filled with missionaries we needed to shepherd which would have been harder if we had taken our own car. The tender mercy of that day was that Dan Rogers, John's cousin, was the officiator for our temple session. Later, by tender "coincidence" Dan assisted John at the veil.

Saturday morning we had the privilege of doing family sealings in the Jordan River Temple with Melody and Brandon Roberts who are visiting from Kansas City, Missiouri. We did 8 couples, 3 sons, and 14 daughters. It was a very sacred experience when the sealer was overcome with emotion as he sealed three sisters to their parents from Neal Carter's family. John has had some tender sand powerful experiences doing the work for the Stead names on collateral lines he is researching. We look forward to next Thursday in doing endowments with most of our family in the Jordan River Temple.

This has also been a very busy time for the Elijah Choir as we prepare for the special Pioneer Day Devotional next Monday. There are nine musical numbers with narration. Elder Brague has compiled wonderful pictures and video clips to add to the presentation. Pres. Simmons will also be speaking.

Melody and Brandon's flight arrived safely from Kansas City on Friday night. They went to Boise, Idaho, to visit his parents with his sister Kelsey and her family and will return on Monday. Tuesday will their day with his other sister Britney then the rest of the week they will be with us at Bear Lake before they go home Monday, July 26. Brandon got back part of the results from his medical school tests and he scored very well!

Julie and Jason went to the Manti Temple with their ward on Saturday.

Mark and Kristilyn have put up a nice swing set in their yard next to the sandpile. They leveled the land and put down weed retardent fabric. Next week wood chips will be delivered to cover the area and make it safer.

Keith had laser surgery on his eyes and is doing well. His new job is going well.

Katrina and Neal will be flying into Utah from New York on Monday night, July 19, for two weeks. Neal had a good trip to Ireland.

Mike and Desi will be driving to Utah from Colorado on July 20 so we will have all of our children and grandchildren together for a few days. We have a big house at Bear Lake reserved and are looking forward to spending time together as a family.