December 22 - 28 - Sunday to Saturday

Here are a few pictures of first Christmas scenes from the area between the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the Church Office Building.

Sunday Dec 22

We started our Sunday with Music and the Spoken Word.  Today was the choir’s Christmas program. The Conference center had more people in attendance that last week.  The colors were beautiful as shown in the picture below. 

The music was inspiring and supported the Christmas theme.  Here are the musical numbers that the choir performed:  Joy to the World, Away in a Manger, Noe! Noe! (a French Carol), Good King Wenceslas, Christmas Bells Are Ringing, A Christmas Carol, and Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah.  The Spoken Word was titled “Good King Wenceslas” and told his story.   The story is shown below and was recorded in Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic.

Our Sacrament meeting was wonderful.  I prayed that all would go well as we had a combined meeting and there were some meeting logistics that we needed to plan for. We arrived early to make sure that our preparations were in place so that we would not have any disruptions that would detract from the spirit of our meeting.  Since the size of our normal congregation was roughly doubled, we needed to make sure there was seating as well as being able to pass the Sacrament to a larger congregation.  We also needed to plan for the seating on the stand with President and Sister Fenn, President McKnight and President Unger, and the Branch Presidencies from both branches.

Summary of our Sacrament Meeting prepared by Sister Tolman

    Today was the Christmas program in Sacrament Meeting.  It was a very good meeting.  Glen was not supposed to conduct but Elder Challis said he wanted him to conduct the last two weeks of the month.  I was leading the music and it was good because it was Christmas carols.  The speakers were President and Sister Fenn.  Elder Challis put the numbers for the hymns up on the wall.  He listed the first through fourth songs just fine but the fifth song was a little weird It was number 2082.  Try and find that number in our hymn book.  What it meant was we are singing # 208 and then # 202.  The main reason this was done was because we had run out of 2’s to put on the board.  It was also because we ran out of rows to put them.  Glen had to explain this and the audience got a kick out of the explanation.

    We sang the opening song and all went well.  We have no idea what happened with the Sacrament song.  It was “In Remembrance of thy Suffering”.  We started off and somehow the congregation, as a whole, were two measures behind us.  Sister VanCamp just started playing with them and I followed her and we were soon on track but we are totally baffled as to what happened.  They had 4 extra elders pass the sacrament because we had both branches combined and it went very smoothly.

    Sister Fenn was the first speaker and she told the story first of all from the scriptures about the wise men coming and bringing gifts.  She contrasted them with the shepherds and Simeon and Anna who were the first mortal witnesses of his birth.  She said they were simple people that would believe and share.  Later the wise men came and she said we have no idea how many there were that came.  They were great and noble men.  They were wealthy.  They had the scriptures and were watching for the signs of his birth and received personal revelation.  They came from the east.  They were obviously men of influence because they were able to gain an audience with the king.  They brought gifts but they were thoughtful gifts and gifts with meaning.

    She then moved to our day.  She said that we need to give important gifts.  She told the following story about Joseph F Smith who is her great-grandfather.

    “His family was never exceedingly wealthy, but it was blessed with love, the kind of love that develops when people have to learn to rely on love alone. Two of the most beautiful illustrations of this love come from his early life as a father, at which time he was existing on a wage of $3 per day—and that was in commodities.” 

    “One Christmas experience is especially poignant. After describing his destitute circumstances and his feeling that all about him seemed to have so much, he describes a trip he made to town one day before Christmas to buy “something for my chicks.”

    “I wanted something to please them, and to mark the Christmas day from all other days—but not a cent to do it with! I walked up and down Main Street, looking into the shop windows … everywhere—and then slunk out of sight of humanity and sat down and wept like a child until my poured-out grief relieved my aching heart; and after awhile returned home, as empty as when I left, and played with my children, grateful and happy … for them.” 
    She then talked about what we can give for Christmas and how there are gifts that are more important than material items.  She suggested gifts of time, service, compassion, love and faith.  She said we can come to Christ with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  She said the Savior gives the resurrection, forgiveness and eternal life. 
    She then offered us her gift of her testimony.  

   After this a Chinese choir sang “Did you think to Pray” in Chinese and it was very beautiful and touching.  All that were present could feel the spirit.
   
President Fenn then spoke and he thanked the choir.  He said that he had been praying to know what to speak about and he never wrote out his talks but this time he was inspired to do so. 
    He encouraged us as missionaries to make or renew our commitment to Jesus Christ.  He said that 233 of the 239 chapters of the Book of Mormon speak of Jesus Christ. 
   He said the Love of God is shown through the Plan of Happiness which started in our pre-earth life and continues on through a life on earth of trials that allow us to come to know our Savior.  God’s gift to us is infinite.
   He then talked about the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ.  He said that Jesus Christ is the divine and literal son of God the father and this doctrine is taught in the Book of Mormon.  In Nephi’s Dream he talks about the condescension of Jesus Christ and how he stepped down from His Heavenly Throne to accomplish the Atonement.  His father is God the Father who is immortal and His mother is Mary who is mortal.  Because of his parentage he had power to work out the Atonement.  He had to have the qualities of both mortality and immortality to accomplish this because he had to understand both and have both as part of his being. 
   The Atonement covers sin but it covers so much more.  It covers our pains our sorrows and our infirmities as well as so much more.  He has empathy and compassion and mercy for us.  He heals us.  The Atonement is infinite.  The resurrection covered all people regardless of who they are and how they have lived.
   President Fenn then talked about the gift of Repentance.  The Savior came to save us from our sins not in our sins as stated in the Book of Mormon.  The Atonement is for us but we need the Savior to accomplish all aspects of the Atonement, we cannot do all of it ourselves.  The Savior is the author and finisher of our faith.  The final blessing of the Atonement is Eternal Life in the Celestial Kingdom with our families. 
   President Fenn then talked about Covenants.  Through making covenants it helps us to more fully follow Jesus Christ and live more as he lived.  We must take up his cross daily.  When our greatest desire/is to follow Him we will receive His power to change to be more like Him and better able to take up the cross.  We will have great compassion for others and we will see them more as He saw them and love them more as He loved them.  
   Discipleship is the journey of a lifetime.  We need to regularly exam the condition of where our hearts are and through our Savior change our hearts to be more in tune with Him.  When we sacrifice we can be more like Him and we can be led to Him.  We can then experience the change of heart talked about in the Book of Mormon.  He then bore his testimony. 

   After this we sang the closing song. 

   This was the day that we gave the Christmas stockings to the Young Elders and so we sang three extra carols while we were waiting for the final preparations.

End of Sister Tolman's Summary

Young Elders with their Christmas stockings

We picked up mom and dad Senior at about 3:30pm and went to Jayne’s for dinner and visiting.  We enjoyed visiting with Jayne and Greg and their children. Their family lived in the Phoenix area in the 1990's for several years so we have a connection with them.  Sister Tolman took a macaroni salad.  She played the piano when the group sang some Christmas carols.

Monday Dec 23

This is the first P-day in a long time without meetings to attend. We spent some time working individually on our computers until about 11:30 am.  We decided to take the TRAX (mass transit) to the Clark Planetarium to watch a short video in the “Dome Theater” titled "Expedition Reef" and it was about the coral reefs around the world in the tropical areas.  Here is a picture from the video.  

A meteorite found in Nantan China in 1516 weighing over 1700 lbs

This is our first time using the TRAX.  Mass transit including buses are free within the downtown area.  After visiting the planetarium we then took the TRAX to the City Creek Mall and took some pictures of the candy displays in the windows at Macy's before eating lunch at Kneaders.  We both ate a bowl of cheese and Broccoli soup with baguettes.  This was filling and we didn’t need much for dinner. 

Macy's window display all made of candy

We walked across the street and enjoyed watching some movies in the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.   We watched several Book of Mormon Videos that the church has recently produced.  We then watch about 30 minutes of short and touch videos about Christmas experiences mostly about serving others.  Our last video was Mr. Kruger’s Christmas which is a holiday favorite of ours since it was produced in 1980.  Since we are working 8 am to 5 pm on Christmas Eve, we don’t have time for our Christmas tradition of going to a movie on Christmas Eve Day so this was our replacement.  It was an excellent replacement.

We took a few pictures of the lights on the way home.  We never get tired of the Christmas lights on Temple Square. 

Looking at the Salt Lake Temple through the Cedar of Lebanon

The cedar of Lebanon  

I talked to my brother Byron for a while.  We are planning to visit him and his wife Peggy over New Year’s.

Tuesday Dec 24

We started work at 7:45 am.  The library was not very busy today.  About six groups of people needed help.  I helped Samson Hearns from New Jersey.  He was here with his mother.  Samson had done some work on FamilySearch and ancestry.com prior to visiting the library.  We were able to add information to some of his close in ancestors which enabled us to find more sources and be able to connect to more ancestors and add more ancestors.  We were able to trace some of his African-American lines back to the early 1800’s and some other lines back farther.  I helped them for over an hour and at the end showed Samson how to add photos to the tree.  I took a picture of him and his mother and we added that photo to FamilyTree.  They were both grateful for the help.  Samson wanted to find out more about his birth father.  His mother will need to find out more about the parents and grandparents in order to make any progress.  They continued on their own for an hour or so before leaving the library.

Yesterday, I received a message on my FamilySearch account about a fourth cousin needing temple work.  This cousin descends from my 3 great-grandfather William Affleck and his wife Jane Chambers.  I reserved temple work for him and noticed that his sister needed temple work as well.  I reserved her temple work and transferred the work for her to my sister JoAnne Barlow to complete.  You can see Edward and Maria in the diagram below.   I spent time working on the family of one of their second cousins.  It was very interesting as I researched the family of this second cousin whose name is Thomas Spode Roden (born in 1846 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England).  I added his wife Isabella Corbitt their seven children to FamilyTree.  Isabella died in 1902.  Thomas married a second time in June 1903 and his wife died shortly after their marriage.  He married a third wife in the fall of 1903 and she shows living with him on the 1911 census.  This situation was a little unusual, so I documented what had happened with marriage and death records.  See the family below.  

We enjoyed a quiet evening together after returning home to our apartment after the library closed at 5pm.  Both Sister Tolman and I had good experiences as helped one guest apiece.  If the library had not been open, these individuals likely would not have experience what we were able to do to help them today.  For that reason our time spent today was worthwhile.  Sister Tolman's experience is listed below.

Dec 24 Experience at the FHL shared by Sister Tolman

     As I was checking out this one family on my tree Elder Tolman called me up to help someone.  It was a young man and his name was Alic and he was from South Carolina.  He really had no idea what to expect.  But he did think that we would be able to just from his name build his family tree without any work at all.
     We got busy and he put in his name and then his father’s name and then his mother’s name.  We ran into a little bit of a problem with his father’s name because his father had died when he was just young and his grandmother had remarried.  I told him that wasn’t a problem and then showed him how to resolve that issue. 
     We moved to the other side of his family and he had information on his mother’s father’s side and he was able to give me some information there.  However, as he entered his grandfather’s name he said more than once I can’t do this.  I felt like this was really hard for him.  As we talked, I found out that he was very close to his grandfather and many of the traits that he has like being adventuresome and liking to travel were just like his grandfather.  This made it extra hard for him.  He did get on Google and find a picture of his 

grandfather.  I told him he looked like he was a very happy person and he said he was always happy.  

     Tears formed in this young man’s eyes and he kept wiping them away.  I could tell this was really hard for him.  I talked to him a little about our belief that even though people die their spirits are still alive and they are aware of us.  I could tell this was a little difficult for him to comprehend but we kept talking.  I then had the thought that I should tell him about Kim. I told him she had passed away when she was 38 and that I knew that she was still alive and happy in the spirit world.  I also told him that I wanted people to remember her so I had started adding photos and stories and documents to her person page on Family Search.  I opened it and showed him what I had done.  He continued to cry a little and to look for pictures of family members on Google.  We added another generation and then added one of his grandmother’s brothers.  He was excited about this because we could now add the picture that he had found of him.  We talked a little longer and it was time for the library to close.  

   I told him that I knew that his grandfather loved him and that he was guiding him throughout his life.  I told him that I felt like he had been there guiding us as we worked together.  He asked me how I could know these things.  I told him that I just felt like he was near.  He said he was a little freaked out by this thought and I think he liked that idea that his grandfather was close.  I gave him a hug for Christmas because he would be leaving and driving to somewhere tomorrow, maybe Las Vegas.  End of Sister Tolman’s experience

 
We enjoyed a well-prepared dinner of mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed broccoli and pork chops.  We read and listened to the Christmas Story from Luke 2 and watched a Christmas Movie titled “The Last Straw”.

Wednesday Dec 25

Here we are celebrating our second Christmas in Utah on our mission.  Sister Tolman started a group text wishing all our girls a Merry Christmas and all responded.  We talked to Brooks and Michelle on Monday, Janny on Tuesday and Christina, Julianna and Laura today.

Sister Tolman fixed salmon and toast for breakfast. We opened our presents which consisted of two books that we purchased at Desert Book and two packages from our daughter Michelle which contained a chocolate Christmas orange and new card game.  Michelle sent us a package about two weeks ago that had small gifts for us to open every night.  Along with each gift was a short statement about a family memory from times past.  The package for today was earmarked for Christmas Day.  We looked forward to opening a gift every night.  

It was a relaxing day. We went to mom and dad Seniors just after 2pm and exchanged gifts.  We gave them gift certificates to Kneaders and Chubby’s Mexican Restaurant.  They gave us a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle, orange chocolate sticks and mint candy, popcorn and gift certificates to Hale Theater.

We went to Jayne and Greg’s for dinner and their family gift exchange.  It snowed when we got close to their house.  It ended up snowing all over the valley so Salt Lake City ended up with a white Christmas.  Fortunately the roads remained clear and our drive home was uneventful.  Here are a few pictures taken at Jayne and Greg’s home.  

Rowland and  Lois Senior opening their gifts

Two of Megan's (Jayne's oldest daughter) sons, Megan's husband Dave, 

Natalie, Joe and his wife Carlie 

Nate and his wife.  She is holding the carved figures that Grandma and Grandpa Senior 

gave to all their grandkids including our seven children.

Thursday Dec 26

Last night we decided to go to the Salt Lake Temple one more time.  We got up at 5:45am and left for the temple at 6:20am with eating breakfast.  When we arrived at the dressing rooms there was already a long line in both dressing rooms of people waiting to get to the 7am Endowment session.  Sister Tolman got to the waiting area first and saved me a seat.  We were able to participate in an extra session that started at about 7:15 am.  The session filled every seat but we were glad to be there. We didn’t finish our session until 10:15am (three hours).  We had a lot of time to ponder and think as we waited.  I felt calm and peaceful in the temple and really enjoyed being there.  I was able to come up with some ideas of what we can talk about in Sacrament meeting when we return.   

We will miss our weekly temple attendance at the Salt Lake Temple

We stopped by the JSMB and took some photographs from the 10th floor so we can see a before and after when they start working on the temple renovation.  The changes to the south and north of the temple will make the Salt Lake Temple more visible and approachable from both the south and north.  The Conference Center will be a focal point for visitors during the renovation.

The area to the left of the temple will change.  The South Visitors' Center in the lower left 

will be removed and replaced by two small visitors centers 

These two buildings north of the temple will be replaced

Back at the apartment we worked on going through things and setting aside some stuff that we are leaving behind such as our 4 ft pre-lit Christmas tree (we have sufficient Christmas trees at home).  We will take these things to the swap meet area on Saturday morning.

At the FHL I helped a Jewish woman Emily who lives in North Carolina.  I helped her for most of the 3 hours we were at the library.  Some other missionaries had helped her get started and had found a key immigration record for her grandfather on her father’s side who was born in Russia.  We got her family back several generations on her mother’s side.  This part of the family came from western Europe.  Her ancestors all immigrated to the United States in the mid to late 1800’s.  We were able to find a lot of census records and other records for them.  She was very grateful for what we were able to find and kept thanking me for all the help.

Friday Dec 27

We did some more sorting and going through things- what to take home, what to give away or what to throw away.

I received a text from Bishop Bruce Goldthorpe indicating that my golf clubs were at his home that my friend Ira Gentry took to Arizona for me.  This gives us a lot more room in the car for the things we need to take home.

I helped a Sister Green a member visiting from San Marcos, Texas which is east of New Braunfels (a suburb of San Antonio).  She is an experienced researcher who visits here about once a year.  I asked her if she had used the FamilySearch Wiki and she didn’t know what it was.  I showed her how it can help her with her research.  I also showed her "The Family History Guide" and how it could help as well.  She had a question about how to find a certain type of record and I showed her how the Wiki could help.  She uses ancestry.com and I showed her the “Card Catalog” which lists all 32,000 + record collections.  She was not familiar with that either.  She thanked me for helping her learn about these resources to help with her research.

I helped Lindsey from Los Angeles.  She was her with some of her family and was just randomly looking for information about her ancestors.  We tried to find some records on ancestry.com and only found a few records.  She had already registered with an account on FamilySearch.org so I suggested that we start from her and work back starting with her parents.  We added her grandparents and found one born in 1939.  With that information,  I was able to help her find the 1940 census and some other records and we were able to connect to ancestors already on the tree and find the information that she was searching for.  I helped her install the FamilySearch Tree app and download what she has found and continue researching wherever she goes.

I noticed that James and Linda Walden were here from St George.  I helped them some months ago.   They are serving a leader support mission in their stake under the direction of their stake president.  They are here for about a week.   To help them as they work with members in the different wards in their stake, James had been given access to more features on Member Tools.  I helped him install the app on his phone and then showed him how to use the app to help them with their missionary assignment.  We never know what different type of help we can provide on our mission here.

Saturday Dec 28

We finished our weekly cleaning and laundry.  We took some of our stuff to the swap meet area so it can be available this Saturday January 4th for other missionaries to use.  These included our two Christmas trees, some books, pictures and misc. items.  We still have more to give away. We went food shopping at Lucky’s and stopped at Smith’s to fill up the car’s gas tank. 

We started at the library at 1pm.  I worked at the front desk assigning guests to missionaries for the first two hours.  We were relatively busy and I was the only one not helping as I needed to stay at the desk to greet any new people and assign them to missionaries.  I was able to manage and make sure that all our guests had someone to help them.   

I helped a young couple work on their Family Tree.  They had been helped earlier but I stopped by to check up to see if they needed more help and they did.  I showed them how to use census records and other historical records to add family members.  They learned quickly.  Another missionary was helping the father and asked me to help them straighten out a problem where the man had connected himself directly to his grandparents.  We got that straightened out.  

A woman from Atlanta here with her children had been skiing in Park City and stopped on the way to the airport and only had 30 minutes.  She had some experience using ancestry.com so I showed her what she could do with FamilySearch and how to continue at home. 

I family of seven all of who were church member stopped by for help.  The family consisted of parents, two daughters (one daughter with her husband and two sons).  I helped the two sons who needed to connect to information from what their mother had on her tree.  I helped them add living individuals until they could connect with the deceased ancestors listed on their mother’s account.  An ancestor had died recently so we needed to change this person from living to deceased on four different accounts and then merge records.  The parents live in northern California and the daughter lives in the Salt Lake valley.  I took their picture to document the fun family event they had visiting the library.