Dear Family and Friends,
How can it be time for me to write again? It seems
like I just did this yesterday. But a lot has happened since last week,
so I better get it down in writing before I forget. I have probably
forgot more than I remember as it is.
Today was transfers. This is always a happy, sad
day. Those who are going home are excited, scared and sad. They have
loved their missions and truly want to stay and continue sharing the gospel
with others. But it is time for them to start a new chapter in their
journals. We lost some stellar Sister's today and I keep wondering how we
will replace them. They were fearless, dedicated and totally committed to
inviting others to come unto to Christ. But then tomorrow a new bunch
will arrive and my mouth will drop in amazement at their mad skills. You
have to love it!!! So we said a teary goodbye to Sister Shoemaker, Schaffer,
Phagwah and Liu.
The other hard thing is the transfers. Even though
some of the Sisters aren't going home, they are moved out-bound. Again, a
couple of our best are leaving the Visitor Center. I am really going to
miss Sister Nicholls. She and I would work on her memorization of 1
Corinthians 13. She is memorizing the entire chapter and when things were a
little slow in the center she would have me help her. We also had
scripture chases. I would give the Sister's a word, like "endure"
and the first Sister to find a scripture with the word in it, without using the
topical guide, would get a point. This would get pretty heated. The
Sisters are very competitive but have a great knowledge of the scriptures which
also helps me.
We attended the lecture by Susan Easton Black Durrant. (she
tells us if she gets any more last names, they won't be able to fit on her
headstone) She spoke on Lorenzo Snow. It was fascinating as usual,
but unfortunately she burst a few bubbles or Mormon myths about the
"Windows of Heaven" or tithing talk. We were taught in Seminary
and Sunday School, that Lorenzo Snow received the revelation on tithing while
giving his talk in the Tabernacle in St. George. The true part of the
story is, The Church was in deep debt. The Lord did impress upon him to
go to St. George and there was a drought in Southern Utah. But, for a
passing remark about tithing during his sermon, he did not stop mid-talk and
look heavenward and receive the revelation then open his bible and read Malachi
3:8-10 . That night after the meeting, he met with the General and Local
Authorities and told them the Lord had reveled to him the importance of tithing
and it was time for the Saints to pay a full tithing. At this time, only
slightly over 17% of the members were paying tithing. On his way home he
did not stop at every settlement to give the same message. He stopped at
16 communities and and told them, not only were they to rededicate themselves
to the paying of a full tithe, but that it would now be a requirement to
receive a Temple Recommend. Also, his journey and sermon did not end the
drought. The drought cycle continued until 1902. Southern Utah did
receive some rain after President Snow left, about 2 months later, which was enough
for them to harvest a few crops but not the bumper crops we were told. So
there were a few in the audience who were surprised. Our generation was
raised on "The Windows Of Heaven Movie" which was filmed by the
Church in 1963. I remember seeing this several times at seminary and
other church meetings. I guess the writers and directors took literary
license with the story. Just goes to show that we should not use
embellishments to share a story. Its gets passed down as truth generation
after generation. After the lecture, Sister Durrant gave the Sr. Missionaries
the paper showing the research on this subject and it is fascinating.
We are starting to get busy again at the sites. It
slowed down a little after Christmas, but is getting busy again. On
Sunday, we went to Church at 9:00, opened Brigham Young's at 10:00, gave tours
to 75 guests, met with our cute family and taught Mosiah chapter 4, then did a
second shift at the Visitor Center til 8:00 pm. Needless to say we were
pooped! 12-13 hour days are hard on old bodies, but we seem to be able to
keep up. (knock on wood) We are starting to implement a new program
at the Visitor Center, titled, "A Day at the Center." We will
be reaching out to the Stakes and Wards to invite them to bring any group to
the VC for lectures, tours, "Meet The Mormon's, etc." They will
be able to request, lectures or presentations from the VC Director, Temple
President, Mission President, Durrant's or the Sister or Sr.
Missionaries. We hope this will encourage the Wards to bring their less
active, non member friends or just their ward members to the VC to see what a
wonderful resource it is. We will keep you posted as to our
success. We have 3 reservations from Wards since we introduced it last
Thursday, so we will see.
P-Day today!!! We
decided to head out to the "Glitter Pit". This is where the early
settlers went to get Gypsum to grind up and put in the plaster used on the
Temple. As its name states, it glitters. This was what gave this
Temple its brilliant glow. Its out in the middle of no-where. We got lost
and ended up on the wrong road. However, it took us to Fort Pearce, an
outpost Erastus Snow had built in 1866, to protect the cowboys who were grazing
cattle. Again in the middle of no-where, but fascinating. He instructed
it to be built with one gun-port on each wall and one door. He was
certain it could be protected with two well armed cowboys. There is a
stream available for water, but so remote. I cannot fathom how these
early pioneers did this. We owe them so much, not sure we will ever be able to
match up. We ran into some other travelers out in the boonies who told us
there were dinosaur tracks just a few miles down the road, so off we
went. Sure enough we found the tracks. Actually the surroundings do
look like dinosaurs would roam there. Finally, we turned around and
retraced our path to find the correct road for the "PIT". Yup,
its a pit, not a very big one, but it does glitter. Sadly it is not being
protected and 4-wheelers have climbed the sides and are destroying the
site. But to imagine the pioneers traveling 20-30 miles south of St.
George in a wagon and gathering these rocks to grind up to beautify the Temple
is amazing. Now we would just go on the Internet and have it delivered
the next day.
I've rambled enough, so I'll just send love to all of
you. We think of you often and miss being with you, but we are loving our
mission. Hugs and Kisses, since it will be Valentines Day next
Friday. Eat chocolate and guys give a great piece of jewelry to your best
gal.
Love to All and Stay Safe,
Bruce and Dawna
Elder and Sister
PS---Happy Birthday on the 6th to our great son-in-law
Dave. Make sure and do something fun and eat cake. Also,
congratulations to our daughter Jodi and her husband Eldon for the upcoming
birth of their new little daughter.
YEA---we will have grand daughter number 4 for a total of 11 fantastic,
wonderful, intelligent and cute grandchildren.
No comments:
Post a Comment