December 2022

 Life has just been crazy!  Trying to settle into our new calling "mission" in the Twin Falls Idaho Temple has been harder and more time consuming than we imaged it would be.  We have so much to learn but we are loving it.  We started the month out on the morning shift Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  We always try to get a nap in on Saturday so we can stay up later and get up early.  We've been working on our talks for Sunday.

Sunday morning we headed to the Paul Stake to speak.  We left about 9:00 with the sun shining in Jerome.  We just got past the Hazelton exit when the rain came and within a few miles, it turned to ice and snow.  It was a blizzard out and the roads were awful.  Suddenly we hear this loud thumping noise coming from under the car.  We can't stop because of the traffic and the blizzard so we inch along till we get to the Ridgeway exit and we pull off.  It sounds like the car is going to break into!  Lon looks under and discovers that a cover on the bottom of the car has come off, except for one bolt that is still holding it on.  The rest of the cover is dragging on the road.  He tries to pull it off but can't.  I try to call roadside assistance but can't make sense of the internet - surprise!!  Lon gets out again and tries once more to get it broken off and this time he succeeds.  Now, we have to decide whether to try to go on or turn back.  It is so slick out that Lon can hardly walk on the road.  Cars and semi's are sliding off all around us.  We are closer to Paul than home.  We know we will be late to the conference, but we decide to move forward and head to Paul.  We get off the freeway as soon as we can to get away from traffic, on the Kasota Road.  It is much better as the road is just snow covered and there is very little traffic. We arrive at the conference just after the opening song and prayer have been given.  The Stake President doesn't know who we are, so we walk in and sit on the front row.  Lon gets the Stake President's attention and mouths to him that we are from the temple.  After the first speaker, we are motioned to come up and sit on the stand.  We were thankful for a couple of talks before we had to speak.  It gave us time to relax and get our nerves settled down.  I did my usual, singing "I Love to See the Temple" and talking about it and Lon used our experience to talk about the plan of Salvation, how easy our trip was as we started out, then as the snow and freezing rains came how we wanted to give up but that we pushed through the trials and reached our destination.  It turned out to be a very good message for all.  We enjoyed the conference and afterword, many of our Hazelton friends came to visit with us.  We hadn't known that this was the Stake that Hazelton had joined.  The ride home was uneventful but there were about 4 semi's being up righted and towed away from the medium and sides of the road.  We delivered Christmas gifts to the Howell's and Clarkson's later that day.  We are thankful for those angels that were with us and helped guide us safely home.

Monday morning, we took the car out to Fred's to have him check out what had happened.  We had just had it serviced and evidently the mechanic hadn't put the bolts in correctly, so they fixed it for us.  Lon had to go to the temple this afternoon for training on new audio equipment that was installed.  We have big changes coming to the temple, but we are not to say anything about it for now, and since I am typing this in March, it's ok to say that after the fact.  He got home in time for us to take Meryl Zysett his supper.  We take in food every other week and visit with him for a while.  His dementia is getting worse, so we just listen and let him talk and try to encourage him to eat.  

All went well at the temple all week; we were on nights the week of the 6-10th.  

P-day, Monday the 12th.  Lon installed a new water heater for Kip in one of our old rentals.  I did some grocery shopping and visited with Mom.  

On our week off, we always have presidency meetings on Tuesday's, and the couple with the week off conducts the mid-shift preparation meeting so we get to the temple about 9:15.  After presidency meeting, which usually lasts for 2-3 hours, we attend the 2:30 and 4:00 sessions then go to Idaho Joes for supper.  It's our date night. We also try to attend the temple on Wednesday evenings, either doing iniatory or sealings and then the Spanish Session at 7pm.  

Mornings again the week of the 20th.  We try not to schedule anything on these weeks.  We need to get to bed early so we can get up in the middle of the night😂 at 3:30 on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and at 2:30 on Wednesdays.  

The temple closed on the 24th for Christmas so we headed out to visit and deliver pies to friends; Kim and George Orr, Russ and Jackie Howell, Dan and Jolene Wallace.  Then we headed to Burley to visit with Larry Thompson at the care center.

We don't think that he knew who we were, but we let him do the talking and had a nice visit.  We drove by the Burley Temple again to see how the construction is going.

The spire and stairs are visible.

We spent Christmas Eve at Tracy and Sarah's house.  We had a nice meal and enjoyed time with family.  Ashton called from the MTC so we got to visit with him also.  We got home around 8:30 and Raul brought over some tamales for us.  

Christmas Sunday.  Our ward choir sang (we really were not prepared) but the program was good.  We spent the day together and loved it.  We talked to the kids and some of Lon's brothers called to wish him a Happy Birthday.  He turned 73.  Wow, when did we ever get so old?  Probably our favorite gift came from Ken and Lynn.  They found this picture of Willis and had it framed for us.

  I can't believe that we didn't take even one picture.  I think we are just tired and living day to day right now.  The temple is ever on our minds and we feel lost when we are not there.  We keep thinking that things will slow down and we will be able to settle into this calling, but with the changes coming, right now we are busier than ever.

It was a very relaxing weekend, and we are on the PM shift this last week of 2022.

President Harris felt very strong that we needed to be open for half a day on the 31st.  We were scheduled to be closed so we didn't want to make the Saturday shifts change any of their plans as it was scheduled to be closed for the whole year.  We had a total volunteer staff come to open the temple at 6am.  President and Sister Harris opened.  The morning was filled!  We came on at 9:30, again with a total volunteer staff and again the temple remained filled.  The spirit in the temple was electric.  All who were in the temple were there because they wanted to serve, not because it was their shift and needed to serve.  It was a completely different feeling.  We had people there from all over who had come to be with family for the holidays.  We didn't get home till 3pm.  What a perfect way to end 2022.  

These last 4 months have been amazing!  We are learning and growing as we serve our workers, our patrons in the Magic Valley and those on the other side of the veil.  We see and receive miracles and tender mercies from our loving Heavenly Father daily.  We wish we could share them all with you, but as you know from our former temple missions, sacred things are to be kept in the temple and not discussed outside the temple.  We are being blessed with health and strength to keep up with the exhausting schedule.  We thank our family and friends for their prayers in our behalf.  We are excited for 2023, it's going to be a great year.