Great Experiences
It has been a delightful week. We had a couple of stakes from northern Spain visiting the temple this week. It was the largest group of helpers we have ever had. They all showed up everyday, on time, and stayed until the very end. Each one of them worked so hard, and had the greatest attitudes of any group. Since I was shift coordinator on Thursday, I was so happy that the biggest problem I had was finding something for everyone to do. We were so impressed with them all and hated to say good-bye when it was time for them to leave.
My favorite day was Saturday. Much to my surprise and delight, I was assigned the children's room. There was a Nigerian family being sealed. They had 3 little girls ages 2, 5, and 8, that spoke English. I have never had that assignment before since most of the children that come to the temple either speak Spanish or Portuguese. These children were so darling. I had them for almost 5 hours. That is a long time to entertain children with a rather poor stock of toys and books. But they were very good, and it was fun to play with children again. I really miss my grandchildren and I had a nice time playing grandma to these darling girls. It was fun to dress them up in their pretty white dresses, and it was very touching to me when it came time to take them into the sealing room to be with their parents and place them around the altar. It is always emotional to me to see the making of an eternal family. After the sealing they went outside in their whites to take pictures. I ran home really quick to get my camera so I could get a picture of them as well, but I was too late.
Yesterday I had the privilege to be an attendant for a young woman taking out her endowment. She is from the Philippines but living in Rome at this time. She speaks perfect English and preferred to have her endowments in English. Thus, I got another grand opportunity. After finishing my part I took her to the endowment room along with her escort, a friend from Rome who is Italian, but speaks English as well. I said my good-byes and headed to my next assignment. But before I could get far, someone came to get me saying that the escort had taken ill, and I would need to step in. I felt bad for the friend, but had the biggest grin on my face. It was such a privilege and honor to sit beside this lovely and precious young woman. She just glowed with excitement and goodness. We got to visit a bit afterwards and I took her on a little tour of the temple. We really bonded, and when she returned today we had a good long hug and visited some more. She will return tomorrow, and I think I have a friend for life.
We had our monthly mission conference on Monday. It was a great meeting, with a wonderful lunch, and another inspired discussion by President Tenney. He always seems to know what we are needing, and I love to hear what he has to say. Afterwards we got a group picture. I was put in charge of it, and I did a terrible job. By the time I discovered how bad it was, it was too late to do anything about it. I called my brother Sam, and he did his best to fix it, which I very much appreciated. Then I got an email from another missionary saying he also got a single picture and sent it to me. It was better than mine, so I was very relieved.
It has been a delightful week. We had a couple of stakes from northern Spain visiting the temple this week. It was the largest group of helpers we have ever had. They all showed up everyday, on time, and stayed until the very end. Each one of them worked so hard, and had the greatest attitudes of any group. Since I was shift coordinator on Thursday, I was so happy that the biggest problem I had was finding something for everyone to do. We were so impressed with them all and hated to say good-bye when it was time for them to leave.
My favorite day was Saturday. Much to my surprise and delight, I was assigned the children's room. There was a Nigerian family being sealed. They had 3 little girls ages 2, 5, and 8, that spoke English. I have never had that assignment before since most of the children that come to the temple either speak Spanish or Portuguese. These children were so darling. I had them for almost 5 hours. That is a long time to entertain children with a rather poor stock of toys and books. But they were very good, and it was fun to play with children again. I really miss my grandchildren and I had a nice time playing grandma to these darling girls. It was fun to dress them up in their pretty white dresses, and it was very touching to me when it came time to take them into the sealing room to be with their parents and place them around the altar. It is always emotional to me to see the making of an eternal family. After the sealing they went outside in their whites to take pictures. I ran home really quick to get my camera so I could get a picture of them as well, but I was too late.
Yesterday I had the privilege to be an attendant for a young woman taking out her endowment. She is from the Philippines but living in Rome at this time. She speaks perfect English and preferred to have her endowments in English. Thus, I got another grand opportunity. After finishing my part I took her to the endowment room along with her escort, a friend from Rome who is Italian, but speaks English as well. I said my good-byes and headed to my next assignment. But before I could get far, someone came to get me saying that the escort had taken ill, and I would need to step in. I felt bad for the friend, but had the biggest grin on my face. It was such a privilege and honor to sit beside this lovely and precious young woman. She just glowed with excitement and goodness. We got to visit a bit afterwards and I took her on a little tour of the temple. We really bonded, and when she returned today we had a good long hug and visited some more. She will return tomorrow, and I think I have a friend for life.
We had our monthly mission conference on Monday. It was a great meeting, with a wonderful lunch, and another inspired discussion by President Tenney. He always seems to know what we are needing, and I love to hear what he has to say. Afterwards we got a group picture. I was put in charge of it, and I did a terrible job. By the time I discovered how bad it was, it was too late to do anything about it. I called my brother Sam, and he did his best to fix it, which I very much appreciated. Then I got an email from another missionary saying he also got a single picture and sent it to me. It was better than mine, so I was very relieved.
| In the center is President Tenney and his wife. To the right of President Tenney is President Somoza and his wife. Next to Sister Somoza is my bffs Gloria Melendez and Ana Mancini. The rest are too many to name, but I love them all. |
| The new counselor in the temple presidency, President and Sister Montoya. The are Spanish, and speak no English. Yet, we are somehow able to communicate. They are fantastic.
I'm not going to go any further with this post, as I'm afraid of losing what I have, so I will publish this and work on the rest later.
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