this and that

The last week has passed, with some very good things going on in the Temple Square Mission. We were working in the Legacy Theater Tuesday, when I saw Sister Glad talking on the phone with tears in Her eyes. We call people who come to the Square and do not leave a referral but fill out a comment card. We call to thank them for coming to the square, a thank you call, normally very little comes from these calls. She got to talk to two families who wanted to have the missionaries come to visit them.

One man asked if he could get a better Book of Mormon as he found a very small print one as he was helping a friend move. It must have been from the set that are given to LDS men before they go in to the military service. He had been reading it and would like to know more about the Church.

Second was from a man who had his brother come come Temple Square and obtain a DVD about the Church. The two of them had been watching it and he would like to more about the Church.

A couple of days before that, She had been calling a family who had a daughter, 16 years old, who had come to the Square with some friends. The young ladies mother answered the phone. Mom had a good conversation with her that ended with the mother giving permission for missionaries to come and give her daughter the lessons.

Sister Glad has a great ability to talk to any one on the phone with great success. I think it is due to all of the practice she has has had on talking on the phone for most of her life.

summer heat

Summer has hit here with a vengeance, it was 101 F today. The only hope is that there is a lot of shady spots on the square and/or all of the buildings are air conditioned. Everything is a mess due to construction work to replace most of the pavement. The work is to be completed before October Conference.

The enemies of the Church are still trying every thing they can to stir up unknowing and unthinking people to react against the Church. Security asked two inebriated gay men who where sitting on a bench on the plaza late at night passionately kissing and groping each other to leave. The result was a confrontation when the men reacted angrily refusing to leave and using abusive language. The Police were called and they were arrested for trespass. The false story was given out to the press that they were harassed by church security because of a simple kiss on the cheek and that the security men roughed them up. The arrest record indicated that they were drunk and they was no evidence of any physical abuse. We have had a demonstration last Sunday, called a kiss in. where people wearing pink hearts came here to protest the Church's right to control inappropriate behavior here. They attempted to come on the Plaza and were informed by the City authorities that they would be arrested for trespass if they came onto Church property. Some removed their pink hearts and came on to the plaza, the others left.

The same people have been trying to stir up more controversy. I was a Tabernacle last Thursday when a man wearing a pink heart walked by waving inappropriate magazines for all to see. Security asked him to leave Temple Square. Two more Protesters were escorted off the Square earlier the same day. There is another demonstration planned for this Sunday. The sad part is that some families and other unthinking liberal types are involved in this mess. They think that the right of the Church to control improper behavior on its own private property is some how in violation of civil rights. This is an other attempt by the Rocky Anderson and group to cause trouble for the Church.

I found out the other day that four of our Sister Missionaries are first cousins, kind of neat to have such a large group from one family to be here. We had two sisters that were here serving here last winter, they ended up as companions.

We are starting to reap some good stuff from our garden at home. I had to remove some of the green tomatoes because they were becoming too thick and heavy for the plants. We picked some cucumbers and zucchini today.

We have been assigned to be the North Visitors Center Coordinators. We are in charge of the building making sure that everything is proper from insuring that all of of the pamphlets are in place to insuring that the proper procedures are used in the tours and displays in that building, most of the work there has to be done after our assignment time so we are becoming even more busy.

pioneers and fun

We had Roy and Angel and Grand kids came to visit us last week. We went to "This is the Place Historical Park". The State Park is at the mouth of Emigration Canyon behind the Monument.

Many of the old homes that the Pioneers lived in have been relocated to the park. Other sites have been recreated as the were in the pioneer period. People in period clothing are at many of the locations.

Nathan, Megan and Tyler were able to make many craft items and they participated in a kids rodeo. Tyler was in a "Stick Horse Race". He was ahead at he half way point but did not turn around to the finish line. He won if every one was to go the way he went. Megan was in the Lamb chase and Nathan was in the sheep chase. They all did well but not get the ribbon.

Megan loved the rag doll that She made at the home of Mary F. Smith. They all made leather key chains and branded a block of wood. We all helped to make a rope and the children loved riding the horses.

The whole Glad clan met at our home for a Barbecue of hot dogs and Hamburgers and shared birthday gifts. The best gift was from Bruce and Tara who told all that they are expecting a baby. The new grandchild will make twelve are they cheaper by the dozen?

Where is time gone?

I cannot believe it has been a year since our first experience at the MTC to start our mission.!

This is such a wonderful experience! How fantastic the Lord called us here. 

We meet people from all over the world.  We tell them about the restored gospel. I get to testify to them somewhere everyday. This builds my testimony.

things I have done on our mission. 

1. Meet and mingle with the beautiful Sisters on Temple Square. There are about 200 or them. 

We  just get to know them and 20 of them go to areas to teach and preach in other States. They have such strong testimonies. They are so spiritual and kind.  I had the priviledge to mentor two sisters from Brazil. I will always treasure this experience. I learned to love them very much.

2. We have enjoyed sharing our talents. I have played the piano for alot of the meetings and conducted the music. I had the neat experience of playing for a Christmas program last Dec. There were 8 songs I played  the paino with the organ and improvised for the congregational singing.! 

Dwayne even conducted the singing in couples meeting last week. I was the organist. We did a pretty good job.! I take the opportunity  of talking to and hearing recitals of the Tabernacle Choir organists .They are marvelous. One of them helped me sit at the organ and play a hymn. 

When my schedule allows I attend Music and the Spoken Word. It is such a marvelous experience. I have also attended alot of concerts and Choir performances.

3. We work with fantastic giants everyday. The Senior Couples have been Stake Pres. school teachers, professors. They are all humble people. The mission Pres. Holmes is so spiritual and is doing alot of special changes  to improve the mission.!

3. Serve in alot of  venues. Call Center,  Beehive House, Legacy Theater, Welfare Square, Humanitarian Center, West Gate, South Gate, South Visitors Center, North Visitors Center, Assembly Hall, Family Search and in Park City Family Tree. So I have learned alot.!

4. We have read all the scriptures , plus Preach My Gospel. I do the dishes sometimes while he reads to me. I would never have done this without our mission.

5. We attend the temple about 2 times a month. Until I dislocated my elbow. Last Tuesday, we finally got back after my  elbow healed well enough. We were chosen to be the wittness couple in the Salt Lake Temple.! what a tender mercy.

6. Moved to a beautiful apartment downtown. We have an unbelievable view of the temple in our patio window. How blest we have been to find this place. It is like a vacation to be here sometimes. We can also see our children here.

7. I have learned so much of this Garden of Eden on our mission. There is still more to learn.! This is just some of the things I wanted to share of our experiences. of the Best Mission on Earth.

Thanks Sister and Elder Glad

Work Work

While we are away from home, we have been spending time improving our house.  We have been busy the last few days with painting the bedroom and the "T. V." room.  It feels good to be able to get some thing accomplished as we prepare to resume our lives at the end of our mission.  We have less than six months left and the lease for the apartment downtown ends the end of August.  We will be living at home for the last three months of our mission. 

Our garden at Sandy is doing well, with the tomatoes doing the best.  The Zunccni show signs of snails eating the leaves so I put a lot of bait around the plants.  

It is still raining every day, we now have had some rain each day for the last eight days and everything is getting very wet. We are suppose to have rain for the next four days.  There has been some flooding in the state.

We took a ride on the "Front Runner", the Railroad that runs from Salt Lake to Ogden.  The ride took one hour each way.  There is a Railroad Museum in Ogden but it is still a long ride.

We are working in the Beehive House again it is very busy this time of year.  Last time we had the assignment it was in February and was very slow.  Our job is to greet the Guests and tell them about the house to hold them while they wait for the next tour by the Sister Missionaries. The tours have to have more than ten minutes between them.   Sister Glad and I were talking continuously for our six hour shift as we had a never ending flow of people.  It is fun to talk about the Church but very exhausting.   

 

Park City in June

     We spent last week working in Park City, everything was great.  A trip on the Mirror lake Road was really great.  We went to the Bald Mountain over look and then turned around as the weather was starting to look touchy and being there in a snow storm would not be really fun.  Moose Horn lake was frozen over and we were not in a mood to go Ice fishing.  It was so peaceful up there.

     

     The Doctor took off Moms Splint so she can now use her arm.  She was told to work her arm each day so she can recover the full range of motion, and to not fall down again.  While were up in the Mountains she was walking over to a overlook when She slipped and fell down.  It scared me to death, but luckily she was skinned up but did not land on her elbow.  So She is all right some abrasions and mostly fright and loss of pride.  I asked her what she missed most while her arm was unusable.  It was not cooking, dish washing or doting on her husband but playing the piano.  

     We met some really nice young people while we were at the "Family Tree" in Park City one of the ladies from Central America asked for the Missionaries to visit her and teach more about the Church.  I was at the Tabernacle the other day when I was asked if our Church excepted converts and how to join. 

     I have started to us a photo sharing web site my URL is flickr.com/photos/wdglad   I am going to post the best photos that we have taken on our mission there.  Enjoy    

    

               

park city

We are at Park City for the Week. We are at the Family Tree a Site to have visitors at Park City to come to find about their families and become acquainted with the Church, our shift is from 3:00 pm until 9:00 Pm so we have the mornings free. Sister Glad and I walked down to the tram, chair lift, a walk of about one and half miles. The ride to the top of the mountain takes more than one hour and it was starting to look cloudy so we did not go. We found on our way back to the apartment that there is a free bus that took us right in front of the Family Tree. After we were back to our apartment it started to hail and rain, really bad hail about the size of small marbles. We made a great decision not to go.
Moms arm is doing much better she is going with out the sling for about half the time and seems to have very little loss of movement. She is going to see the doctor this Thursday.
Saturday we spent painting the bedroom in our house. It is a Blue grey color with blue trim it looks pretty good. We are going to Paint the TV room, Angels old bedroom, next Saturday. We are going to be moving from our apartment down town the end of August as the lease will be up. The last three months of our mission will be spent at home.