Merry Christmas, Here comes the bride and bats in the belfrey

We were to the temple yesterday when we noticed some ladders near the trees on the east side of the Conference Center, where we walk to the to the temple each day. We found out, by talking to the workman there, that it was time to start putting up the Christmas lights. The base of each tree was marked by different color flags to show what color of lights were on the tree. Some how seeing Christmas lights on the trees in August didn't really put us in the Christmas spirit. It takes five months to put the lights up and two months to take them down. The special feeling of being on the Square on Christmas time does take some effort.

Today is the eighth of August 2008 or 08/08/08. Three infinity signs if turned on their sides. Well this did not escape the notice of prospective Brides. The Temple was totally overwhelmed with Weddings. There was hardly any room for pictures of the Wedding groups. The outside of the Temple, the fenced in area where pictures are to be taken was a mass of white dresses.
We were preparing to end our shift, 9:00 pm, at the west gate of Temple Square when some maintenance people came by and told us to come and see one of the secrets of the square "bats in the belfry" we went over by the Assembly Hall to watch as the bats emerged from the top of the building they came out by the side of the stained glass window under the moulding, a lot of them. I was not able to get a good picture of the bats but you can see where they came out.

We did Temple session in the morning and ran in to some of our friends from our mission in Nauvoo. They are working as Temple Workers in the Salt lake Temple. We had a good visit with them. There is going to be a Nauvoo Temple Reunion here on September the eighth, our anniversary. Should be great fun.

We had a unusual demonstration outside of the Square yesterday two stupid girls from PETA where taking a shower to protest the amount of water it takes to produce a pound of meat and also the fact that cows produce a large amount of Greenhouse gas. I guess the solution to the world's problems would to stop giving water to animals or some how figuring out to stop them from passing gas.

life on the Square

I am having a great time on Temple Square. I did get to play a hymn on the Tabernacle Organ, after a recital. Not all organists would meet my request to touch it. After he said to come up , I put my hands on the keyboard and he put on a registration. I even played two keyboards. He said "I have a hymn book if you want to play". I was so nervous, that I said "I don't need one, I am too nervous". So I played by ear "How Gentle God's Command." It may never happen again, but there was the right organist, the right place and the right time. One of God's tender mercies happened and I fulfilled a life long dream.

We have so many neat experiences here. It is fantastic to meet all the sisters. We were asked to give a short talk in Zone Conference last week. Dad told the story of our ancestor Ezra T Clark. The mission Pres then asked for the information about Ezra T Clarks son dying in Palestine and the Church being able to build the Jerusalem Center because they found his grave. Quite a story.

One of the sister missionaries, came to me after and said Ezra T Clark was also her ancestor. I guess we are distantly related. The sisters are so neat and easy to get to know. They have such a knowledge of the gospel and say it so well. When they are busy, we as Senior Missionaries get to answer peoples questions. A Jewish lady talked to me today and asked me how they thought about Jews. We had a long conversation, I hope she was pleased with what I told her. Just one example that happens allot on Temple Square.

I enjoy choir and Dad tolerates it. We sang last Sunday. I am trying to remember all the things I was taught in Ward Choir. We went to a fantastic concert Saturday night. Dad tolerated it but some of the high sounds and an uncomfortable chair made it so we left after two 2 hours. If it would have been shorter it would have been more fantastic. They were all young artists and Marvin Goldstein played the piano as a soloist and accompanist. Unbelievable, there was a thirteen year old concert pianist I am sure will be famous some day. He played for long minutes without any music. The other artist were so accomplished and had beautiful voices. Too bad it was so long.

We went to two other concerts last week. The family of Bastains was 6 people who played piano and they were so unique and talented. We get to do so many things because we are close to every thing being on Temple Square

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.

We are here !!!!

We are now in the mission field. We entered the MTC on the 9th of June and spent much time Learning what Missionaries do. We learned the first three discussions Mom was really good,

Except some times She forgot to let me talk. We spent one full week and two days. The last

Two says were spent on how to conduct tours on Temple Square. There is a tradition that the Missionaries pose in front of a large map of world pointing to there Mission. So here Mom, oops, Sister Glad and I are pointing to the State of Utah. The food at the MTC was all right if you like to eat School Lunch for every meal. It was really great to be around all of the young elders and sisters that are getting ready to go.

The Mission President, Mike Stewart who I went through Jr high and High School with, wanted us to move down town Salt Lake. The first thing we did was to go apartment hunting. It was really hard to find a furnished apartment. We did not want to buy furniture and try to move it. we were very lucky to find some people who owned a Condo in the Zions Summit Apartment who wanted a set of adult missionaries to take care of it until they could move back to Utah. The apartment is fully furnished. We only just had to load our Clothes and some food into the car and move in. They are paying the Utilities and Condo fees. Plus it is only a block and and 1/2 from Temple Square. The Swimming Pool is great. The leather furniture and the large screen Plasma TV is wonder full. It has an Large bath tub that we have been using for a hot tub. Marlene used one Bathroom and I use the other.

The View from our Balcony is just unbelievable. We are overlooking the Conference Center and Mon was somewhat worried because Angel Moroni is looking through our window.

We will be in charge of one of the Sites on the Square each day and are to make sure that the Sister Missionaries are Safe.

Our Sundays start with Sacrament Meeting at 7:30 am with all of the mission 180 Sisters and 30 old folks. Then we go to Music and The Spoken Word. Today it was very special as they did a special program for the celebration of our country as the July Fourth is coming. They sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Then Priesthood and Relief Society and on to our assignments on the Square.

We are having a very special spiritual time and love every minute of it.

Mission Call

We got our Mission Call Wednesday the 4th of June. It was a little bit different than what we were inspecting.



We got a call from the MTC in the morning wanting to set up our housing for our time there. Mom told them that we had not got our Call yet. They said that they would call back in the afternoon after our call arrived. We both thought that there was something strange about this.



The call came in the afternoon and we got all the family together for the opening.

Dad opened the Letter. We were all excited Ben said "This is just like Christmas"

Mom read the Call. She said that she did not under stand where we were going.




Dad read it. We are to go to the Salt Lake City Temple Visitors Center Mission. What!!


Ben said "Christmas when you get clothes" We are to enter the MTC on this coming Monday.
What!!



We did not know what to think. Mom tried to put her best face on it.



We called the Mission President to find up what will be expected to do. We are to get an apartment in down town Salt lake Close to the temple. We will be working 6 hours per day. Our "P" day will be Saturday. We can travel up to 100 Miles from Salt Lake City. It is OK to attend Family events as long as they do not interfere with our Mission Service. We will be working at 7 different locations. Temple Square, The Conference Center, The Tabernacle, The Humanitarian Center, The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Temple Square Visitor Centers and a Special Family History Center in Park City. Their are 180 Sister Missionaries from all over the world who are serving in the Mission. and about 30 Couples.


We are getting more excited to go. The pluses are that we can serve a Mission and still spend time with our family. We will be working with lots of people who are interested about the Church. We do not have to tract. We can learn a lot about down town Salt lake city.
We do not have to sell our car, or travel a long distance from home. We can keep an active look at how Bruce and Tera are taking care of our house. We do not have to worry about keeping our Drivers Licence current or the regrestration on the car. We are planing on dropping by the house to pick up our mail once a week so we do not have to worry about a change of address. We can take a lot more stuff from Home to our Mission.

We also found out that there are two other couples going out with us at the same time, one of the three is the Plamers from Washington State. Yup they are some of or friends that served with us in the Nauvoo Temple Mission. What a small world this is.


We are packing now to enter the MTC this coming Monday. We spent most of the day yesterday buying new stuff that We are going to need on our mission. Mom and Terra had a great time.


P. S. Sunday afternoon is Calab's Birthday Party. Todd is bringing his new "Girl Friend" for all to meet. She is a 33 year old returned missionary who has never been married. She is a Dental Assistant, Just got her degree. Todd is asking all kinds of Questions, like "Do I get to take Her though the Vail. " He said that he asked Her what was her goal in life. She said "To get Married." More to come!!