January 19-23 - Sunday to Thursday

These two pictures were take on Saturday January 18.

Salt Lake Temple at night taken from the 10th floor of the JSMB

Demolition is well under way for the South Visitors Center on Temple Square

Picture taken on Wednesday morning showing more demolition

Sunday Jan 19

We attended Music and the Spoken Word for the last time.  The theme related to Martin Luther King and the music was really good.  The songs sung were mostly African-American Spirituals:  “Down by the Riverside”, “Peace Like a River”, “Fill the World with Love”, “I’m Runnin’ On”.  The closing song was “Battle Hymn of the Republic” which is totally inspiring when sung by the choir.

Spoken Word by Lloyd Newell

How does a group of individuals, all with different backgrounds and different perspectives on life, become a united community? Well-known author and newspaper columnist David Brooks believes that the answer lies in how we see each other. “That’s what a community is,” he says, “a bunch of people looking after each other. A bunch of people seeing each other, and seeing each other deeply. Taking the time to really enter into relationships with each other and to depend upon one another. … That’s the glue that’s holding us together."

Can that really happen? Brooks believes it can and it does—when great teachers see deeply into their students, when loving spouses see deeply into each other. This kind of seeing goes beyond stereotypes and outward appearances, building bridges of understanding.

The aspen tree is an excellent metaphor for the unity and strength that can come from community. Above the ground, each aspen may appear solitary and strong in its beauty and majesty. Yet if we could see deeply, below the ground, we would find that each tree is connected with its neighbors through an enormous root system. An aspen gets its strength from its connection with the aspens that surround it. In a sense, the entire aspen forest is really one plant—one of the largest living organisms in the world. A single grove in central Utah, called Pando or “the trembling giant,” spans 106 acres, weighs an estimated 13 million pounds, and consists of over 40,000 trees, all with the same genetic makeup.

If we open our eyes to see and our hearts to understand, we can build a community in a similar way. After all, we all share, if not the same DNA, then a common humanity. We all want happiness and peace; we all want to make a difference. Because we’re more alike in important ways than we are different, we already have it in us to see and know each other deeply, to look after each other, to build a strong community.

None of us is truly solitary, alone in this world. We are more like aspen trees. If we see and know each other deeply, we will come to understand that we all share common roots. We all need each other. That’s where we get our strength. That’s what a community is.

Picture taken at our last Music and the Spoken Word

We attended a presentation at the stake center sponsored by the International Zone at the library.  We heard from a retired architect who has worked for the church for over 20 years.  He shared with us background on the Rome Italy Temple and the renovation of the Salt Lake Temple.

Monday Jan 20

We finished working on our talks for Sacrament Meeting this coming Sunday.

My brother Byron and his wife Peggy visited us today from about 11:45 to 4:30pm.  We ate lunch at the City Creek Mall Food Court, stopped at Desert Book and then went to the Family History Library.  Byron and Peggy wanted to see what we did at the library on our mission.  We gave them a tour of the third floor.  We showed them how the photo scanning software worked.  I helped Byron and Lynne helped Peggy and we gave them a personal tutorial about FamilySearch.  So they experienced first hand what we do as we help guests who visit the library.  We finished on the Discovery Floor as they both experience what happens there.  They both printed out a 9 generation color fan chart.  Here is a picture taken of the four of us.  

While at the library we did get a chance to see several missionaries whom we didn’t get to see last week including Elder and Sister Disque and Sister Thomas. 

We enjoyed our “Hail and Farewell” dinner for our City Creek Branch.  It was good to get a chance to say goodbye to our many friends.  We sat at a table with Elder and Sister Olsen, Elder and Sister Sherrill and Elder and Sister Challis.  The four of us Elders served in the branch presidency.  Elder Challis and I served with Elder Sherrill and Elder Olsen served with Elder Challis and me. 

Elder & Sister Tolman, Sister Penny Sessions from Arizona

The missionaries leaving this month and next

 

Tuesday Jan 21

Lynne fixed a tasty breakfast of toast, eggs, hash browns and little sausages.  After breakfast we walked over to the JSMB to take back the parking pass that we used for Byron and Peggy and took one set of keys to the couple who takes care of the apartments for the mission.

Today I did most of the packing so that we can leave on Wednesday.  It took about four hours but the trunk is fully packed and loaded and the back seat is partly loaded.  I needed to leave room as we have some food items to take to mom and dad Senior including a half-gallon of ice cream.

I completed the change of address form for the post office to forward any mail that is sent to our Salt Lake address.  I had turned in change of address form for all but social security and I will make that change when we return home.

We went to dinner with mom and dad Senior and David joined us.  We couldn’t use our car to drive to Chubby’s Mexican Restaurant so we parked our car the their garage and used their car to drive to the restaurant which is not too far.  All five of us fit in the car and I drove.  Their car is also a Chevy Impala.  Mom is able to get in and out of the front seat relatively easily compared to other vehicles so she always sits in the front seat when we drive them places.   The dinner was very good and we had an enjoyable visit.  We had a short visit with them when we took them home and said goodbye face to face for the last time during our time here on our mission.

Wednesday Jan 22

Today was our last day in our mission and in our apartment which has been our home for 18 months.  We finished packing the car and it is totally full.  We managed to get everything packed except for a blanket that we purchased at Costco.  When we were coming back into the apartment we met the Parks and they had missionary couple waiting for their visas who aren’t warm enough so they took the blanket for them.   I cancelled the internet service as the last item to complete on our checklist.

We had an exit interview with President and Sister Fenn at 10:45am. We enjoyed meeting with them and he offered a prayer in our behalf at the end.  We had a wonderful luncheon at 12 noon for all the exiting full-time Senior missionaries in the Jade Room which is where we hold the second hour meetings on Sunday.  We sat at the same table with President and Sister Fenn.  The food was rolls and salad, very tender roast beef, asparagus and mashed potatoes.  Here is a group picture taken after lunch.

We stopped at Terry and Kathy Dahlin’s in Orem to visit with them.  They were our Zone leaders for about a year of our mission.  We visited for nearly two hours and then traveled to JoAnne and Craig Barlow’s.  They fixed dinner for us and we stayed the night with them.  The dinner was salmon, salad and home-grown squash.  We had a good visit with them.

Thursday Jan 23

We ate a simple breakfast of juice and cold cereal and then left for Las Vegas.  Here is a picture of the four of us.

I took a couple of pictures of the car in front of JoAnne and Craig’s house.   The car is totally full.  I have a small hole to see directly behind through the stuff piled high in the back seat.

We  traveled from Santaquin to St George and stopped for lunch at Wendy’s.  We ate sandwiches in the parking lot and had a frosty inside.  We then traveled to the Las Vegas Temple and arrived there at about 2:30pm and attended the 3pm Endowment session and were asked to be the witness couple.

After leaving the temple It took us over an hour to go the 16 miles to our resort the Desert Paradise Resort that is just west of the Las Vegas strip. We have a nice two bedroom unit and the resort is in a secured area.  Lynne fixed us dinner consisting of sandwiches, fruit, cookies and juice.  We didn't feel like going out.  Julianna gave us a call and we talked to her.  We also called our grandson Elijah St. Onge and congratulated him on completing his board of review for his Eagle award.

We are excited to be on our way home to Tempe Friday morning.