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| Yours truly outside a teepee at Soldiers Hollow |
10th of June Began day with our 7:30 AM Mission Devotional. Everything went smoothly for the opening announcements, welcome of new Missionaries, opening hymn and opening prayer. President Peterson announced the speakers (those asked to give their 3-minute biographies and the first speaker began. Sister Watson is one of my close friends and I knew she was anxious over standing up in front of all those people and speaking. She was glad she was first to get it over with. She was about 30 seconds into her talk when a weird alarm sounded and it went on for a few seconds and then a voice said there was an emergency and we all needed to quickly evacuate the building. Everyone is looking around and really aren't sure what is going on. It took a bit for the brain to process but then we filed quite calmly to the stairs and started down and out. The voice told us not to use the elevator and we were on the 6th floor. Mind you there were over 1,000 people, most elderly and some in wheel chairs and walkers. They asked the few young elders to carry people in wheel chairs down. There are two sets of stairs and it was all very calm and orderly.
We had only been outside a few minutes and we were told it was ok to go back in. So in we went and up to the chapel and to the same seats we had been in prior to the siren. Sister Watson went to the stand and said "Now, where was I?" She picked up where she let off and the rest of the program went on without a hitch. Oh, by the way on the first floor is the Nauvoo Cafe and they had burned the bacon and it caused the alarm to go off. It smelled around the building downstairs for awhile. That was an exciting start to the day and at least we had a calm fire drill. The rest of the work day went smoothly thereafter. I ate lunch with Elder and Sister Watson in the cafeteria of the Church Office Building.
After work I had to rush home to make a carry in dish for a pot luck Aloha Dinner to welcome the new missionaries and to sing good bye to the ones that are leaving. We do an Aloha Dinner every other month. It is bitter sweet. My zone is loosing 3 couples and one single sister. We will miss them so much. We also were saying good-bye to our mission presidency.
We had a special treat for the entertainment this evening. We were delighted to welcome Janice Kapp Perry and Brother Doug Perry. What a treat that was. She has 10 songs in the Children's Song Book and we sang about half of them with her. Such fun! The Spirit was so strong to have over 500 people sing "As Sister's in Zion" with her. Afterward she signed the song sheets for those who desired (I did) and even posed for pictures. Sister Perry played and sang a song she wrote and recorded with her whole family. Even grandchildren. It was called the Perry Family Song. It was wonderful and so entertaining. She then sang the song she wrote for her husband for their 55th anniversary. We all felt privileged to hear it.
While at work today I received a phone call from Diane Clawson. She is someone from our distant past. She came to Germany with her brand new husband and Don and I picked them up at the airport. We met Dave when we first joined the Church in Germany. He flew home to marry and bring his bride back with him. Dave died a few years ago but I always kept in touch with her at Christmas. Well, today I learn she works just across the street from where I work. She is coming to meet me on the 6th floor and I will take her on a tour of where I work and then we will go for lunch. I can't wait to see her.
I told President Peterson about Daniel's mission call tonight and he gave me permission to see him but he said it will be up to Daniel's mission president whether I see him after he leaves the MTC.
11 June The morning went on as usual with 8 AM prayer meeting and work at my desk. At 11:30 I met my home/visiting teachers for lunch in the lower level of the building. We had a nice chat about our missions, life and our families. The home teaching lesson was from a talking in the Ensign by President Uchtdorf called "Walking in Circles." Because I didn't have an Ensign he gave me his copy. Elder Schannaveldt said he could easily get another. After finishing work for the day I had my "4 month into my mission" interview with President Eckel down in the Mission Conference Room. The interview was very pleasant with President and Sister Eckel and with the new counselor (To formally begin on July 1st) President and Sister Dewey. The Eckels are training the Deweys for the new calling. All were kind and truly interested in me and my life.
After the interview I walked home and did the mundane things of life. You know...I cooked dinner (stuffed green pepper) did the dishes and vacuumed the apartment. I then read for awhile until I began to doze on the sofa... so I went to bed at 9:30. Amazingly I slept straight through the night.
12 June My, My...did the staff in Data Quality ever surprise us missionaries today. As it turned out it was their Missionary Appreciation Day and it went on for the entire day. It began when we entered through our locked doors at the west end of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. There was a huge sign telling us it was the Happiest Zone on the Earth. We then went to our desks and everyone's area was decorated with crepe paper, balloons, and confetti. We each had a lime green rubber bracelet with a poem attached to it with a ribbon. There was a neat coupon for free admitance to a lunch hour movie and treat. We all went to prayer meeting at 8 and all the staff were there. We usually have one or two for announcements but today they were all there. Men and women. After the prayers they all left the room and immediately they came back and proceeded to pile all kinds of food on the big conference table. There were several platters of donuts, bags of all kinds of bagels, platters of fresh strawberries, watermelon, grapes etc. Several kinds of cream cheese and jams, milk and two kinds of juice. They thought of everything. After we enjoyed this breakfast they had two games for us where we had to look for things around our unit and part of a unit on the 5th floor. There was a treat for each of us as we finished. Some time during the morning someone came through with a cellophane bag with candies. By the way the theme throughout was Disney characters. One of the games was that we had to find the "Golden Mickey Mouses." At noon we went to a conference room for a movie and to eat our lunches. The movie was an old Mickey Mouse movie and we were all given a sucker like treat made from an oreo cookie to look like Mickey on a stick. So cute!
We were then told to go to a specific room on the mezzanine at 2:30. All day we continued to try and get some real work done at our desks. We all were so diligent! About 2:25 we turned off our computers for the day and went downstairs. When we went into the room they had round tables and chairs arranged and at the long buffet table they had artfully arranged plates and platters of all varieties of cupcakes without frosting. There were 5 or 6 containers of different frosting and bowls and bowls of different candies and stuff to decorate the cupcakes with. The young elders really loved this. At the end of the tables were tall glasses with sherbet and Sprite floats. After we played, talked and ate we played a game. One of the staff designed a Jeopardy game with categories that pertained to our work. The answers all had to do with Disney characters and movies. Angela was really cleaver in how she did the game. Very talented. At the end our units manager, Shon, gave a little speech and told us how much they loved us and how grateful they were to have us work with them. He then gave each of us beautiful certificates that looked professionally printed. Some beautiful memories were made today. We will long remember being so loved and appreciated. We were then dismissed early to go home and were told not to help at all with the clean-up. I went down to the front lobby and sat near the grand piano and listened to a brother about my age play a variety of pieces. He was very nice and he and I talked when he wasn't playing. He had served a mission many years ago in southern Germany so we talked about our love of Germany. I then left him to meet some friends and go to the temple. It was a wonderful day. If you think today was great wait til after I live tomorrow and write about it. It promises to be full and entertaining, too. I feel so spoiled and blessed. Good nite!
13 June 13 Well hi this evening. I just got home from another great fireside at the Assembly Hall but before I tell you about that I want to tell you about the "Lunch and Learn" held in the auditorium at the Church Office Building. The guest speaker was T.C. Christiansen who was the producer and director of "Ephraim's Rescue" and "17 Miracles" and many many more LDS and non LDS productions. He showed us clips from Ephraim's Rescue and then told us the rest of the story. It was so interesting. A couple of the clips I even cried in ... again even though I had seen the movie. I won't spoil the movie for you just know that you need to see it. Brother Christiansen answered questions from the audience for the last 8 minutes. At the very end he asked the audience to stand if they were descended from any of the hand cart pioneers or the rescuers. Fully a third of the audience stood up. He then said that could be one of the reasons the pioneers suffered was to raise a large posterity who were firmly rooted in the gospel and the church. Those pioneers were not alone. They had lots of help from Legions of angels and the Spirit of the Lord.
The lecture at the Assembly Hall was called "My Mother was Always Praying: Latter-day Saint Women in East Germany during World War II." The entire talk was vignettes about various members of the church in Germany during the war. Real stories that were gleaned from research done over several years by professors and students at BYU. They published a book called "In Harm's Way" as a result of their work. These women had to hold there families together when they men were called off to war. There was so much tragedy, deprivation and hunger and they kept praying, listening to the spirit and moving on. They were survivors. Between these two groups of people I was given a lot of food for thought and example and I continue to "plow" through my own life. I am soooo grateful to have lived when I am living and so blessed to have found the church over 37 years ago. With my understanding of Heavenly Father's plan I can accept Don's death and know that he and I and all of our children will be together in Heaven. That is what held the pioneers together and was the force behind the German Saints. That knowledge fortifies us all. I consider myself a German Saint as we were baptized in Germany and I have German Ancestry. I pray that I can leave a legacy of faith, courage and love for my posterity.
14 June Started day with 8 AM prayer meeting then worked at computer until noon. At 12 I went out to the elevators and waited for my special visitor. 36 years ago in Germany Diane and Dave Clawson were in our ward. They were a young couple then and had their first baby born in Germany. We had kept in touch with each other over the years on Christmas and other times of the year. Dave passed away about 11 years ago and Diane began working in downtown SLC. She called me the other day and we decided to meet and go to lunch. I toured her through my zone's end of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and then we ate at the restaurant in the lobby level. We then walked over to the building where she works on the 8th floor. She has beautiful views of the mountains from the windows. I told her I must come back someday with my camera.
After we said good-bye for now I walked over to the Family History Library and did some research for a few hours. Went home for some supper and talked with Kris and Robb on the phone and then I went with some friends to a concert in the park. The park was the Brigham Young Historic park and the music was provided by a Marine Corp Band made up of men and women of the Marine National Guard. During a chat with a flute/picalo player I learn that all but two of the band members were LDS. She was a wife and mother of two who has been in the National Guard for 17 years. As today was Flag Day the majority of the pieces they played were Patriotic in nature. It was fabulous! So many feet going in time with the music was fun to do and to watch others. They played a medley of the songs of the five branches of the service. The band leader requested those in the audience that were in that branch or had a loved one in that branch to stand up when that branches song was played. I could have stood with them all: Don, of course, was in the Army but I have a step-son that was in the Coast Guard; a son in Army National Guard; son in Air Force National Guard; son with 17 years of active duty Army; 3 grandsons and grand-son-in-law Army; grandson Marines; brother, two brothers-in-law, and two nephews in the Navy. My Father also served in the Army. I am very proud and grateful for all the years of service my loved ones have given to our country. It was a tender Mercy when I felt my phone vibrate during the second last branch's song. I answered it because it was my son, Wade, calling. I said to him "Just listen, Wade, I am at a concert in the park and they are honoring the military and the next song with be for the Army. He was listening to it and I was proudly standing with my son and for my husband and other loved ones. It was a special moment for me. The timing couldn't have been better and incidentally, Wade was serving his two weeks of drill for the year.
My phone just rang and Sister McKnight and I have been invited to a special shindig tomorrow. I will tell you all about it tomorrow night. I have already set my camera out and will post pictures from it. Saturday may prove to be very interesting. Good night for now.
15 June Got up early to leave for a special outing with three other sisters. Sister Bignell is one of my trainers in the zone and her friend, Sister Wooley, are from Austrailia. We went to the Heber Valley near Midway and to Soldiers Hollow where there was a big Native American Pow Wow. The various Native American tribes were competing in dance, music and singing. It was by age categories. The young girls were called granddaughters and the boys grandsons but all the ages were represented. The costumes were outstanding and I took lots of pictures and ate some great food. I had Indian frybread and hot roasted corn on the cob. They were delicious. We were very hot and tired when we got home but were so glad that Sister Bignell invited us. I will post some pictures here.
16 June This was a quiet day. Puttered around the apartment this morning and read all my lessons. Went to church for 1-4 and then walked home with friends. I had four sisters come over this evening and watched a movie. The plan was to watch "The Testaments" but the DVD wouldn't work so we quickly choose something else. Had a nice evening and chatted some afterward. Early to bed tonight as we have to be in the Chapel by 7:30 AM for Devotional. This has been a very busy week. I don't think next week will be so full. Love you all and this work is going along great. We all love our mission. Only two weeks until we say good-bye to our awesome Mission President...Wayne Peterson.
