Missionary Email #16

 Dear All -

Wow, change my Sunday schedule a little, and it's hard to get the email written.  That said, I loved General Conference.  The messages were definitely timely and meaningful for me.  Each time a speaker mentioned the temple I could look over my left shoulder at the temple, which was also pretty nice.

Speaking of which, I have been reflecting on the value of having our apartment overlook the temple.  Besides the beauty of the view it is a real blessing to look out the window the last time at night and see the temple, and when I get up in the morning the first thing I see out the window is the temple.  We are obviously centering our lives around the temple anyway, but just the visual reinforcement is precious.  Of course, what I really see is all that the temple represents in terms of our relationship to Jesus Christ and his gospel.

Saturday I had changed my clothes and was preparing to walk out of the temple when I saw three young men talking with the temple recorder.  They were casually dressed, but said they were from Ecuador and had come to the temple in the hopes of participating in some ordinances.  All the workers from the morning shift had left, and the recorder suggested they could wait an hour or so until the afternoon shift showed up, but I asked if he would be willing to stay a little longer and he and I could do some initiatory ordinances with them.  He agreed, and we spent a half an hour or so doing initiatories.  After they left I thought about what a special experience that had been.  We emphasize so much making sure that all who enter in the temple - workers and patrons - have a positive experience and it was nice to be able to make that happen.

Since I mentioned temple views, I'll share this one.  It is hard for me to get an exact sense of scale, but that vulture sitting on Moroni's trumpet is pretty big.

Last Monday we went to Price Smart to do some larger-scale shopping.  Price Smart sells Member's Mark products, so I assume they are affiliated with Costco.  Although we found a lot of good items, I was very disappointed that they didn't have the big tubs of ice cream.  So when we followed up with a visit to the grocery store around the corner from here I went to look at their ice cream.  I discovered that all of their ice cream was melting.  So we are having to struggle through on just the ice cream that I had on hand.  Hopefully today we can find some.

So even if I am late getting the email out, we are doing fine, and the Church is true.  We love you and enjoy hearing from you.

Love,

John and Delkys