Pioneer Day on the Square

We had a great 24th of July on Temple Square. We went to a Sunrise service at 7:00 am in the Tabernacle It was just great. Elder Tingey the President of the first Quourm of the 70 was the speaker.
The Parade Started at 9:00 am. We were at the very first of the Event. Cody's Band from Kearns High School marched in the Parade. Cody is on the outside second row from the back.

Elder and Sister Glad Watching the Parade.

Some of the Clowns getting ready to march.

We think that Elder Parry lives in our building. We see him lots of times on his morning walks. he was enjoying the floats

This was my favarote float. It was a bunch of Seagulls barbequeing Crickets.

The Pirates of the Carribaen were also there.

The Sister Missionaries were really enjoying the Parade.

All of the Family came over to the house to swim and eat. We had reserved the Garden Room so we would all fit. Grandma and I watched the fireworks from our balcony.

Saturday the 26th the Osmonds and the Choir had a special Pioneer Day Concert in the Conference Center. We are going tonight.

Special things on the Square.

1. A tourist said that Grandpa looked like Andy Rooney.

2. A tourist said that Grandpa looked like Mit Rommey. (I like the second one better).

3. A lady ask Grandpa if He was the Elder Glad who served his mission in Richmond Va. She then told Garndpa about his saying that he was going to name his first Son Yallbe Glad and Second Son Yuntsbe Glad. She was a Member of the Power family that I knew 49 Years ago on my mission.

4. Had a great conversation with a tall black man from the Sudan. He told me that the UN took some of his People out of the war several years ago and that he and 200 others were sent to Salt Lake City. He told me about the effort that the church has made in his country and the lack of help that had come from other Christan religions. He has joined the church and is wondering what he can do the introduce the church to his people in the Sudan when he returns in December. He may be the only Member of the Church in his country. We talked for a long time about his opportunity to be the first one to bring the gospel to his country.

5. Grandma had been in 7th heaven. We work in the Tabernacle every Tuesday morning. There is a Organ Recital at noon. The man who played the Organ asked her to play it. She is still recovering from the thrill.

luau

The Mission had its annual Luau last night at the Spruces Camp Ground up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The reason it is called a Luau is because it is a chance for the Polynesian Sisters to share some of their culture. We had barbecued chicken and pork with all the fixings. Then some Watermelon and at last we had smores cooked over the campfire.

The sisters then danced some of their Traditional dances. We have Sisters from Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti. The dance program was completed the Sister from Nepal doing a traditional dance from her country. Her family sent her the costume. The event ended with a tug of war.

We had three Sisters ride up with us to the camp ground one from from Korea one from from Switzerland and one from Pennsylvania.

Mom took some more pictures of our apartment that she wanted to be posted.

Great Times

We are in Temple Square 6 days a week. It has been wonderful but really tiring.

We greet guests as they come in to the square at the South Gate, there is very little shade there, and I have to keep my suit on and be outside to talk to people as they come in. Mom sits in a air conditioned booth and handles the handouts and takes care of the phone. I brought two wool suits with me one black and one dark brown. So one of the things we have done is to buy me two light weight suits light grey and tan.

We take care of the Beehive house. We start the Tours by telling the story of the office and reception room. The dialog has to be varied so as to make the tours the Sister Missionaries ten minuets apart. This is great fun because some times we have to talk for fifteen to twenty minutes, when we have large groups as a Tour can not exceed twenty persons. Some times when it is slow we may just introduce our selves and send them on the Tour. Mom is doing pretty good now on telling some of the stories.

We take care of the Tabernacle. Greet the people as they come in and assist the Sisters on their presentations. They do a demonstration of the sound by dropping a pin up in the front and every one can hear it. We do a lot of mixing and talking about the church.

We help in the Family Search area. This gives Mom time to work with the New Family Search Program which is not yet available in Utah. The Temple Square Missionaries are given access to the program. We have found two names to do work for.

We are in charge of the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We open it up for the day. We then Start the movie after explaining to the people about it. The Movie starts every one and half hours so this can be a slow day.

We are in Charge of the North Visitors Center. Very busy time. We make sure that everything is working and the crowds are under control. There are two movies we start, Legacy and Testament. This is also a Theater that can show any of the movies plus the DVDs that the church has published.

We work at the West Gate where all of the Bus tours come. We make sure the Sisters with the right language skills are there to take the Tours. We also welcome people and help them by giving them Maps and Helping them under stand what they can see here.

The South Visitor Center is pretty easy as there is no Movie so we just try to keep things under control and answer questions.

We some times will be assigned for a week to Park City to work in the Family Tree Center there. The church has an Apartment there for the Senior Missionaries to stay in.

We will also we some times working at Welfare Square or the Humanitarian Center as there is Tours as both places.

We are busy, busy, busy. The Sister Missionaries are very special to work with there are 160 of them on the Square and they can speak 60 different languages. We have people from all over the World come here and it such a surprised to them to take on a tour in their native tongue.

We Come home at the end of the day and crash, but we love it. We get to share our Testimony often and answer questions about the church by people who really want to know.