More Record Cold Temperatures

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Last Sunday was quite cold, but that was only the beginning of another cold, wet week.  On Monday, we made phone calls and planned out our week, hoping for the best but expecting to have to go to plan B, which was to sit in the apartment another day or two.  In light of the weather forecast of about 4-6 inches of snow in this part of Maryland, we canceled a couple of appointments for Tuesday and decided to stay home.  As the morning progressed, we wondered if we were just being overly cautious.  About mid morning Tuesday the snowstorm moved in.  North of us they got around a foot of new snow, north being Pennsylvania and points north.  Washington D.C. received about 10 inches.  I began to take some pictures of the snow as we sat in our apartment and watched it accumulate.  I took a few pictures during the day Tuesday, and planned to finish up with an impressive picture at the end of the storm, but the impressive end never came.  Here is what I got:

Tuesday about 1:30 p.m.

 4:00 p.m.

5:00 p.m. 

  7:00 p.m.

 8:45 p.m.

Wednesday morning 7:15 a.m.

Only a few inches on the ground.  This is the storm that disrupted traffic and closed schools for three days.  The first day government offices were closed also.  The following day, schools were closed and government offices had a two hour delay before opening.  Thursday, some schools opened but started late and others remained closed.

Here is my favorite image of this storm.

After the last storm my windshield wipers were stuck fast to the windshield, and when I was scraping the ice, one of the wiper blades was damaged.  It still did just an okay job of clearing the windshield but the other one was horrible.  The technician at the Subaru dealership suggested that I lift the wiper blades away from the windshield when I park the car outdoors in this type of weather.  I thought it looked so strange that I did not want to do it.  When I looked out the window Tuesday morning and saw the scene below me, I had to laugh and then I went down and did likewise.  I have to admit, my windshield wipers were happy this time!!

We may have received 4-5 inches of snow, but in the beginning it was still warm enough that it took a while before it was sticking on the ground.  The snow quit falling sometime Wednesday morning, but it was too icy to go anywhere that day either.

While I was sitting in my apartment missing another knitting class, I decided that I would just knit at home.  I continued to work on my current project, which was a pair of wool socks.  I completed them in time to make good use of them this week.

 Outfitted with thermals, wool socks, snow boots, and a neck scarf, I was prepared to be comfortable while we worked.  I had a choice of several scarves that I have made, but my very favorite is the red one that Katrina made me for Christmas :)

We finally drove to Lexington Park on Thursday and visited 11 sisters—almost as many as we visit in a normal week down there.  We found several at home who would not normally have been there, but they were home with their children because school was canceled again.  We had one appointment and the rest were short drop-in visits.

Most of the roads were pretty clear, but some of the less traveled streets were kind of messy and slippery.  I saw why it is a good idea not to venture out without good reason.  There are a lot of people here who haven't had much experience driving in snow.  As we turned on one less-traveled street that had not received the heavy dosing of salt that the main thoroughfares receive, we encountered a car ahead of us trying to drive up a snow-covered hill, but he was driving on the wrong side of the street.  I approached slowly as I expected he would soon move over in front of me on the right side of the road.  I think he was driving on that side of the road because it had less snow on it; never mind that he might be in the way of cars coming down the hill.  First he went slower and slower, and then he began to slide backwards and to the right side.  At this point, I decided that I would stop and back up a bit to avoid a collision.  He tried to accelerate in an effort to get to the top of the hill but he wasn't really moving, just spinning his tires as snow flipped up behind him.  Finally I decided it would be best if I tried to get around him so that at least one side of the road would be clear in case someone approached from the other direction.  I don't know if Sister Boone was nervous or not, but I just accelerated gently and my little front-wheel-drive Subaru went up the hill without a problem.  Even though I don't especially like driving in snow, I was thankful for the years of experience that I have had driving in Montana and Utah winters, but even more so for the extra help that the Lord provided us so that we would be safe that day.

By Friday the roads were decent and we drove to the Temple and enjoyed two sessions.  It was not a very fun week for us, but looking on the bright side, each passing week brings us closer to the warmer temperatures of springtime.  I am grateful for safety and protection and the blessing of good health as we were on the Lord's errand this week.

It Could Be Worse

Sunday, January 19, 2014

As I think back on this past week, I am grateful I live in this time in the history of the world.  We enjoy so many blessings as a result of technological advancements in our day.  There are a few inconveniences and discomforts, but we have it pretty good, especially in this part of the world.  The weather can be extremely cold or hot, but I have a comfortable apartment to live in.  We experience wind and rain a lot, but we have a comfortable car to drive in as we drive to our appointments.  Granted, it was frustrating when the windshield wipers weren't working properly or when the tail light connection came loose and my turn signal didn't work properly, but it could be a lot worse.  I could be without a GPS!  That would be a worst case scenario.  It is bad enough sometimes even with the GPS when we get in areas that the GPS doesn't recognize.

At 8:00 a.m. this morning when we were getting ready to leave for church, Sister Boone said, "Aren't you going to wear a coat?"  I said, I have this blazer on.  I think I will be okay."

She said, "Okay.  Well if you are going to be tough, so will I."  It was actually only about 29 degrees outside, but I was counting on the car being warm enough to make up the difference.  It was a bit more uncomfortable than I thought it would be at first, but I didn't want to admit it.  I asked Sister Boone if she was sure she didn't want to go back in and get a coat as I was getting the car started. 

Again she said, "Do you want one?"

I said, "No.  I am okay."  So she said she would be alright too.  She is always the one that takes off her coat as soon as we get going because it is too hot for her.  The worst part was the cold steering wheel and gearshift, but we were only uncomfortable for a few miles before the car warmed up.

I felt to give thanks for our comfortable transportation later in the day when we saw an Amish buggy on the highway.  We don't often see them on the main highway.  I am sure he was not quite as comfortable as we were, but I discovered that they do have buggies that are enclosed and thus a little more comfortable in adverse weather conditions.

(Not the buggy we saw, but similar)

We saw a farmhouse today that had an outdoor clothesline, and what is more, there were actually clothes hung out to dry.  You don't see that very often anymore.  We talked about the fun part of having outdoor clothes lines when we were young, that being climbing on said clothes lines.  We used to hang from the T-posts as though they were put their expressly for our gymnastic entertainment.

Then we talked about the not so fun part of having to hang the clothes on the line.  I loved the smell of air-dried linens but didn't exactly love the process of achieving it.  Denise and I had to hang out laundry from a very young age.  We had to stand on a chair to even reach the lines, so it took twice as long to do the job.  We were constantly climbing on and off of the chair to drag it across the yard as we went along.  Mom's clothespin apron was too long for us to reach the pockets if we tied it around our waists, so we tied the apron strings in a bow and hung it around our necks.  It wasn't extremely fun, but it was satisfying to see the lines finally filled with clean clothes.  It was equally disappointing when an unexpected rainstorm caught us unawares and we would have to run out and grab the clothes off the line in an attempt to gather them in before they got too wet.

Sister Boone and I then had a conversation about our experiences with washing machines and clothes dryers, cook stoves and ovens, and refrigerators and freezers over the years.  How blessed we are to have these conveniences.  Just the other day, we had an opportunity to help one of the ward sisters because of the very fact that we have a washer and dryer in our apartment.  One of the sisters recently had shoulder surgery and is not able to use her right arm.  At the end of our visit we asked if there was anything that we could do to help her.  She said it has been hard for her to keep up with the laundry.  Sister Boone offered to help start a batch of laundry.  Then it dawned on her that we could be a lot more helpful if we just took her clothes home with us and washed them at home and returned them the next day.  That way we could do a lot more than just start a batch and leave.  This we were able to do and she was grateful for the help.  This week we are going to stop by and leave a meal for her and her husband so that he doesn't have to eat oatmeal and peanut butter for every meal.  I guess that has been his meal of choice lately.

Another marvel that I thought about with gratitude today is improved communication.  The internet is a wonderful source of learning that I am grateful to have access to while I am on my mission.  Since Sister Boone will be leaving soon, I have been researching to see what I want to do about my internet service when she is gone; whether to keep Verizon or get another service and whether to get a TV plan or not for my next companion.

I love talking with my children on the phone.  It helps me feel a little closer to them and get a glimpse at their daily activities.  I even got to view over the internet as my granddaughter, Shelem, participated in a drill team competition yesterday at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.  Alvin was filming it and it was broadcast over a local television channel that is available via internet.  At one point, he sent a text that said the music was so loud it was vibrating the platform that he was on and making the picture blurry.  I could only smile as I turned down the volume on my computer.  How convenient!

It was fun to see a few close ups of Shelem and see the excitement of their team when they were announced as 5th place, 5th place, and 1st place winners in the three categories.  I also got to see a picture of Kasidy via cellphone as she attended her first cheerleading competition in Salt Lake City.  I also had the opportunity to talk on the phone with little Emma Rose who turned four years old yesterday.

I like to listen to the background noise when I talk on the phone with the kids.  I picture in my mind what else might be going on beyond what is being said.  For instance, today it was Alex that I was talking to.  It was something like this:

Me:  "Blah, blah, blah, blah."

Alex:  "Blah, blah, blah…Graham, please get down from there."

Me:  "Blah, blah, blah, blah."

Alex:  Blah, blah, blah…Reed, be careful."

I wondered what they were doing, but though I was enjoying our conversation, I thought at that point it might be a good idea to let Alex turn his full attention to his family.  For sure we will talk later.  Great for technology!

I would like to close this epistle on technology to express my gratitude for my Savior.  I am grateful to be his personal representative in Maryland for the time being.  All that we are and all that we have are a gift from God.  I bear witness that Jesus Christ lives and loves us enough to die for us.  May we love him enough to live for him.

Passage of Time or Passing the Time of Day

Sunday, January 12, 2014

I am beginning to get nervous about having Sister Boone leave me next month.  She is the one who keeps the conversations going when we visit the sisters.  I am not sure what I will do without her.  I guess when I am at a loss for words I can always pass the time of day by striking up a conversation about the weather.  The weather around here has given me plenty to think about.  Back in December we had almost a record high temperature for the first day of winter—over 70 degrees, and this past week we had extreme cold that they have not seen in Maryland in about 20 years (at least for that particular January day which was either Monday night or early Tuesday morning).  Temperatures were in the single digits—about 7 degrees here.  They have risen gradually again, reaching about 55 degrees here today.  Friday and Saturday were very, very rainy and foggy and today was warm and sunny.

Most of our time this past week was spent visiting with active sisters in the ward.  It has helped me to get acquainted with them and feel more at home when I attend meetings on Sunday.  This coming week we are going to try and see more of the less active sisters.

When I heard about the extreme cold temperatures that were forecast for Monday night/Tuesday morning, I was concerned about Rosie, our little Vietnamese sister who has no heat in her house.  For some reason way back in October when it came time for General Conference, I thought about all of the conference sessions that I watched while I was knitting or crocheting.  I decided to get some yarn and start an afghan.  It usually takes me quite a while to finish one because I don't often have much spare time to just sit and do needlework.  I figured this project would last most of my mission.  Here though I have found I can pass the time of day during the quiet evening hours by listening to recorded church messages, audio scriptures, or even Netflix movies, and do a little crocheting.  I was pretty close to finishing the afghan last weekend when I heard the forecast of the "arctic vortex" that was moving our way.  I made a concerted effort to complete the afghan so that I could give it to Rosie.  But I wasn't able to see her until after the worst of the cold had already arrived.  First chance we got on Tuesday we dropped by her house so I could give it to her.  She wasn't home, or at least was not answering the door.  Sister Boone remembered that the Relief Society President, Sister McGhee, works at the Family History Center on Tuesday mornings and sometimes takes Rosie there to sit in a warm place for a while.  We went to the church and were relieved to see that Rosie was passing the time of day in a warm place.  I gave her the afghan so that she can be a little warmer on a cold day.  Sister McGhee had thought about her sitting in the cold and went by and picked her up so she could spend the morning at the church.  In addition, she went out and bought some hot food for Rosie so she could have a hot meal because I don't think she cooks much if at all.  Sister McGhee is a wonderful example of one who heeds the Savior's plea both temporally and spiritually to "feed His sheep".

Friday I had the opportunity to pass the time of day doing one of the things I like most, visiting with family.  Anson came to Bethesda MD for a conference last week and finished up around noon Friday.  His homeward bound flight was Saturday afternoon, so we talked about trying to meet up for a visit.  Since we expected that Sister Boone would be going to the Mission Office to see President Cooke on Friday, it worked best in our schedules to get together Friday evening for dinner.  I drove to Heidi's and we drove up and met Anson who was passing the time of day in an Einstein Bros. Bagels shop next to the Silver Spring Metro stop.  He was actually standing in the rain just outside the entrance when we arrived.  He said the air was fresher out there.  After finally deciding on a Chinese restaurant nearby we decided when we got there that it wasn't really the atmosphere we were looking for to pass the next couple hours, so we went to a diner across the street and enjoyed a couple of hours together.

Even though it was quite rainy, we were able to drive to Silver Spring in about an hour.  The time we spent together over dinner seemed to pass too quickly, but that was about the only thing that went quickly that evening.  The "15 minute drive" to the hotel was much longer than anticipated but it was after all still rush hour I guess.  At one point an impatient or bold driver suddenly made a U-turn in the lane just to the left of us.  One second all lanes of traffic were completely stopped.  The next instant there was an imperceptible movement in the lane next to us and this man darted into the lane seemingly from nowhere.  He was just suddenly there, t-boned into the lane with his front bumper within inches of touching the door of the van in front of us.  And then he crept forward even more!  At that moment, time seemed to be standing still.  He just sat there trying not to look anyone in the eye.  Everyone else sat there and stared at him as if to say "what in the world do you think you are doing, buddy!?"  At least that is what we were saying.  Eventually traffic moved and the show ended as we all moved forward.  It was pretty entertaining.

The GPS was set to avoid traffic delays so it would not route us back to the Beltway.  Instead it took us almost into downtown D.C. with frequent stops and bumper to bumper traffic until we were nearly to the Suitland Parkway.  I don't know how it determined that this would be the better choice.  The drive home was over two hours.  I expressed my thanks once more that I have not been called to serve in the north part of the mission to experience that traffic on a daily basis.

Saturday we celebrated more passage of time, not just a day but an entire year that has passed since Isaiah's last birthday.  Saturday, January 11th, he turned six years old.  He had a super hero party and invited seven little super heroes to help him celebrate.  The cake was an Ironman cake, and the games all had to do with the Avenger heroes, Captain America, The Hulk, Ironman, and Thor.  The boys all came in super hero costumes.  My favorite was Max in his awesome Luigi costumeJ.  After all of their "training exercises" they had a true-life mission to save humanity.  They had to destroy a meteor (pinata) before it destroyed the earth.  While Heidi and Bryce were still staging for the event Isaiah approached the meteor, and with his Thor hammer in hand and with the speed of light he broke the pinata with one heroic blow.  Just one more illustration that you "never go in against a Sicilian (or Ironman) when death is on the line!"  I think the boys all had a good time.  They went home powered up on pizza and enough sugar to fuel a rocket, anxious to go home and play with their pinata prizes.  What a fun way to pass a rainy Saturday!

Today after Sacrament meeting I passed the time of day (actually only a few minutes) with Brother and Sister Fillmore, Bishop Lowe's aunt and uncle, who are serving as temple missionaries at the Washington D.C. Temple.  We visited a few minutes and brother Fillmore asked me where I was from.  I told him I grew up in Montana but have lived in Utah ever since I got married.  He said that he had relatives in Sidney, Montana, which is near the northeastern border about two hours away from my birthplace.  He asked if I live in Salt Lake City now.  I said "no we lived mostly in Utah County.  I have lived the last 28 years in American Fork."  He said "Oh, I lived in Spanish Fork."  I told him that we lived in Spanish Fork for about eight years on the "bench".  (We actually owned the property for about ten years, but didn't have the house there the first 3 years.)  He asked me who lived across the road from us and I tried to remember some of our neighbors' names.  I said, "Steve Hunter was right next to us and then across the highway there were the Halls, and…"  No more came to mind just then.  When I mentioned that we were in the cherry orchard he started to say something about his parents, and then it clicked as I looked at his name tag once more.  He bore a heavy resemblance to his father.  "Oh, yes, Elmer Fillmore!  We lived right across the road from them.  Are you Bruce?"  He said, "no, I am Edgar."  I was really thinking of their older son, Barry, whom we had met before, but they did have a son named Bruce as well.  Once again I discovered that I have come clear across the country to meet up with people who have connections to people in our past who were very dear to us.  I also met a new missionary this week who is from Corvallis, Oregon and knows my nephew Darren Dye's son, Devon, who is about the same age.

Anyway, Brother Fillmore told me how much he loved that big apricot tree we had in our cherry orchard.  It had the best apricots he had ever tasted.  My children loved passing the time of day sitting in that tree, especially when the apricots were ripe.  I told Brother Fillmore how much his parents had helped us over the years.  When we first moved there, we brought a milk cow with us (Red by name) which we had bought from our neighbor in Ferron.  We didn't have a barn or stanchion when we first got her and she was not easy to milk without locking her up.  Elmer offered to let us use his corral.  I would lead her to his place and tie her up in the corner of his corral, hobble her legs, and milk her and then lead her home again.  I told him how much we loved his mother, Gwen.  The kids loved to pass the time of day at Fillmore's.  I didn't tell him that usually the kids had ulterior motives when they went down the lane and across the road to visit.  She always had a treat for them when the visit was over.  She was a little perturbed when they began asking for a treat as soon as they stepped in the door.  She told them she thought they had come to visit her, so she made them wait and visit before she would give them anything.

And now, one last thought on passing time.  Today our Sacrament Meeting was about accepting callings in the church and how we can grow from the service opportunities that we are given.  The former bishop's wife talked about how their family was blessed when her husband was the bishop, and as she talked I began a trip down Pity Lane.  Sister Boone's husband was a bishop.  She has a couple of sons who are her bishop and Stake President now.  I have a couple of brothers who have been bishops.  I have sons who may someday be called to serve as bishops or stake presidents, but I personally will not know what it is like to be the wife of a bishop or stake president or mission president.  The reminder that all callings we receive in the church are given to us not only because of the service we may render to others but more importantly because of the blessings and training that they will provide to us and our families brought me back to a position of grateful contemplation.  It made me think about all of the callings I had over the years and how they helped me in raising my children.  I am grateful for the many, many years I invested in serving the Young Women (about 14 years) and Scouting (about 21 years) programs of the church.  I use the term "invested" as opposed to "spent" because spent seems to indicate something that is used up and no longer available, whereas an investment is something that is still available for future benefit.  As a leader of youth I became aware of how much Heavenly Father loves all of his children, and I am also more aware of how much I love my own children as I have had the privilege to serve them in the church and in my home.  It has been said that with every calling extended to us to serve in the church comes an automatic release.  At some point down the road, whether it is one year or ten, when we have fulfilled the calling, we will be released.  I feel blessed to be called as a missionary at this point in my life, but this will end in another 17 months.  The calling of Mother will always be the greatest calling I will ever receive, and if we all do our part, it is the one calling from which I will never be released.  I give thanks to Heavenly Father for this great privilege in both time and eternity.

Weather-Wise

Winter in Maryland has been quite interesting so far.  Since all of our missionary activities are now at least an hour away one direction or the other, I have become more dependent on my Android weather app to help me anticipate how my day and my week are going to be.

I experienced my first "ice storm" on the 8th and 9th of December.  We missed church on December 8th because of the snow/ice.  It was so icy here in Waldorf that we decided we didn't want to drive clear down to Lexington Park.  So we drove to White Plains chapel and found out that no meetings were being held there.

Our "glazed" parking lot the morning after the ice storm.

And "popsicle" trees.

The next couple weeks the weather was milder with temperatures reaching into the 70s on the first day of winter, December 21.  By Monday, the 23rd, it was quite a bit colder again.  We had some days of mixed rain and snow, but on January 3rd we had our first true snow storm.  This storm was called Hercules, but we just got the edge of it.  It was much stronger up north in Pennsylvania, and points north.  We were scheduled to have our interviews with President Cooke at noon on the 3rd, so I was a bit concerned about traveling to Kensington Park (an hour north) in the snow and high winds.  I woke up once about 2:30 a.m. and decided I couldn't do much about the storm except wait until 10:30 when we had to leave and hope it was better by then.

Eerie nighttime view.

 Not much better view in the daylight.

It takes a lot less snow to cripple this region as compared to what Utah and New England are used to getting.  Part of that is because there is such heavy traffic on the Beltway and people don't slow down sufficiently and follow too closely to avoid accidents.  Granted, there are also many accidents in the "snowy states" especially when the first snow of the season rolls in, but then the drivers are more cautious after that. When the snow comes and goes like it does here, I think it is easy to forget and they have to learn all over again with each storm.

The weather did improve enough throughout the morning that we decided we could make the trip north.  The worst part of the trip was getting out of the parking lot.  I kind of slid around the first turn approaching the road, which alerted me to approach with caution.  The rest of the trip was not icy due to the heavy amount of salt they used on the roads.  The worst part was having to clean my windshield often because of the salt spray coming off the roads from the cars in front of us.  Because it had been so cold and icy (it took me about 30-45 minutes to clean my car off before we left) my windshield wipers decided to go on strike.  The first time my windshield needed clearing, I turned on my wipers and sprayed a bit of washer fluid to help clean off the salt, but it basically just froze on contact and my wipers were powerless to clear the window.  With additional washer fluid and more wiping my side cleared up some.  We pulled over down the road a bit and Sister Boone jumped out to clear her side and check the wiper blade.  It appeared to be okay so we continued on.  My wiper did a little better job so Sis. Boone just had to deal with a blurry view.  When I got home I went to the car wash and washed the brine off.  Then I went to the dealership and got some new windshield wipers.  The tech said that he also drives a Subaru and he finds that the icy conditions just affect the blade's ability to conform to the curve of the glass, and he just lifts his blades away from the window at night to help with this.  I didn't really want my windshield wipers standing at attention all night saluting no one in particular, so I decided to leave them down and hope for the best.  This morning they were fine, but it wasn't as cold as it was a couple nights ago.  We will see what happens next time there is a storm.  My poor little car sure misses the safety and comfort of a warm garage!

You should see the seagulls around here right now.  When the days are nice, they can be seen hanging out on and around the little lakes here.  They like to perch on the housetops near the one lake.  I would be kind of irritated if I were a homeowner there, but the frequent rain helps to clean them up again.

Well, this concludes this short narrative about my December 2013 so far in Southern Maryland.  May there please be little else to be said on the matter.

Festival of Lights 2013

A Little More Christmas

December is a very busy time of year at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors Center.  The missionaries who work their daily are overloaded with the daily crowds and the nightly evening musical performances every night of December.  To help them survive, the senior missionaries and some of the temple missionaries have been asked to help carry the load by answering phones and allow them some personal time away from the Center.  We signed up for three mornings, December 23rd, 30th, and 31st from 10:00 to 3:00.

The first time we left ourselves plenty of time to get through the traffic by leaving about 8:15.  We were asked to be there about 20 minutes early for orientation and instructions so this seemed like a good idea.  The traffic was not bad at all in spite of the weather, so we arrived about 9:10 and the parking lot was empty.  Sister Boone knew the code for the back door, so we tried to go inside, but the door would not unlock.  (We found out later that it had not been working properly.)  We then waited until 10:00 so we could go through the front doors.  We had a brief introduction to our assignment.  Sister Petramalo showed us around the center and showed us how to start the videos and showed us the displays that are self-help stations that the guests could just start themselves.  She told us that they were going to go do some personal things at home and would be back at 3:00.  We were then left by ourselves to run the Visitors Center—just the two of us!  This was not what we had signed up for.  We were just supposed to answer phones; we thought there would at least be some young sister missionaries to greet and guide the guests around.  We found out that in December, Monday morning is their personal and preparation time.  The rest of the week, they take their turns as usual, beginning at 10:00.  After 3:00 all of the sister missionaries are there every day to accommodate the large afternoon and evening crowds during the Festival of Lights.

Well, things worked out okay.  Monday days are rather slow, especially the 23rd of December when there were only two more shopping days until Christmas.  I think there were only about 50 or 60 people that came while we were there so we managed just fine.  Sister Boone and I traded off answering the phone and greeting guests and answering their questions.

We traveled home safely and made final preparations for our own Christmas celebrations.  I went to Heidi's Christmas Eve and came back to Waldorf on Thursday, the 26th.  I enjoyed spending this very important day with part of my family.  We thought Sister Boone's daughter was going to be visiting her, but those plans changed, so she spent the time in the apartment by herself.  I tried to talk her into coming with me to Heidi's, but she declined the invitation.  Just to be sure she had something to do, and since she enjoys reading, I left her a gift of a couple books that I hoped she would enjoy along with some of her favorite treats to enjoy while she read.

December 30th, the following Monday at the Visitors Center was even slower than the previous week; about half as many as the week before.  Tuesday, the 31st, the young sister missionaries were back on duty so our job was easier.  After answering the phone for a few hours, I left Sister Boone in charge of the front desk and took some pictures of the creche room and the Christmas trees.

They were all beautiful and wonderful, but here are just a few pictures of my favorites:  (displays without name tags are from the United States.)

(Part of the Germany display shown above.)

And of course the German Pyramiden.

 The trees were decorated by the various Stakes in the area and give the viewer a taste of the worldwide influence as the church reaches now to all parts of the world.  

My favorite was the one which displays artwork of a Czech artist, Mikolas Ales who illustrated a children's book called Bethlehem.  All of the pictures on the tree come from the book and depict people taking gifts to Baby Jesus.

I am not sure of the theme of this last tree that I saw, but the angel ornament on it reminds me of the scripture verse in Revelation 14:6 in which John says "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth."  Also the prophet Alma who says in Alma 29:1 "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!"  (This is another of those exclamation point scriptures that Elder Bednar talked about in the most recent General Conference.)

Although we had to brave bad weather and bad roads to drive to the temple four times the last week (twice to work in the Visitors Center, once to the temple, and once for an interview with President Cooke), I am grateful for the experience of working there this month.  I love the feeling of peace associated with being on the temple grounds, both in the temple and in the Visitors Center which is a wonderful teaching center for those who want to know more about the Church.