Dear All -
Delkys pointed out that we don't have many pictures from this week. That is probably because we haven't gone out much. I did take one picture of the temple, but I can't get it to transfer from my phone to my computer. Anyway, I knew the clouds weren't really what I wanted, but then I noticed a large vulture sitting on Moroni's trumpet. He was happy there, but may have detracted from the spirituality of the picture.
President Garcia has decided that we will have one shift all week, so last week they had the morning, Delkys and I had the afternoon, and the Rodriguez's didn't have an assigned shift. Since Sister Rodriguez is recovering from cataract surgery President Rodriguez just helped out wherever he could. I expect this week Delkys and I will get the joy of opening the temple in the morning, so we will be popping out of bed a little earlier than we have been used to.
Part of the good news for this week was that we were able to make masks optional for the workers. In most meetings when I announced that one or two workers would quietly slide off their masks, but yesterday I think all the brother workers took theirs off. I discovered that no one looks like I expected them to. Since I have only known everybody with masks on I had unknowingly formed a picture of what the rest of their faces looked like. One brother I had recognized because of his perfectly bald head, which should have looked about the same without a mask, but when I saw him I didn't even realize who he was. Anyway, no masks required.
Many of our workers and patrons depend on buses to get to the temple, and some live quite a distance away. Consequently they have to get up at atrocious times to get to the temple on time. It really makes me appreciate their dedication and love for the temple. It also makes me appreciate my stroll across the parking lot to get to the temple. One of the things I have learned since starting in the presidency is why temple presidency members always express appreciation for the workers in training meetings. My gratitude for them and their work grows hugely with each passing day. One evening I was watching a group of brethren as they worked and felt that my heart might burst with joy from seeing their humble dedication to their callings.
Yesterday afternoon there were several things that did not go smoothly in the temple. We have a meeting with the coordinators at the end of each shift to review the work, and we spent a lot of time discussing what had gone wrong, and how we may be able to address it differently in the future. At the end of the meeting I realized we had spent a lot of time concentrating on problems, so I said "We might also consider the number of things that went right today! There were hundreds of those." And it is true that we should not just look at the problems. I can quickly start beating myself up if I spend too much time on what went wrong.
The Lord has been quietly blessing us through this work. We find greater insights in the scriptures, and a greater closeness to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have felt the love of the other members of the presidency, as well as of the workers and the patrons. I thought about two comments from the Temple Leadership training - one matron had over a thousand sister temple workers in her temple, another matron commented that since their temple is smaller she has been able to get to know many of the regular patrons. Although I am still struggling to get names right, I am certainly recognizing more and more people. Certainly one of the blessings of temple work is that it is always done one person at a time, so it is easy to concentrate on individuals.
So perhaps not much to share, but I just want you to know that we are doing well and loving our work here.
Love,
President and Sister Reading
aka
John and Delkys
No comments:
Post a Comment