This week our mission president's wife, Sara Fenn, gave our morning devotional. I think I mentioned that she is Bruce R. McConkie's daughter. She brought two sets of scriptures. The first was a copy that was given to her father by his wife Amelia with a sweet note inside.
The other was a copy that belonged to her mother, who was the daughter of President Joseph Fielding Smith, with a note from him inside.
We got to pass them around and see the marking inside (lots of it). It was really special to hold them and know who had owned them. She then talked about the project that Elder McConkie was assigned to in reformatting our current standard works, which included adding all the footnotes. President Monson was the chief editor for the project and President Packer was also on the committee. All or almost all of the chapter headings were written by Elder McConkie. I think it was Elder Packer who said that the project would never have been completed without the work of Elder McConkie. She also told of a miracle in getting the copies of the Book of Mormon printed by the start of the school year for the seminary students. This was in 1981 (the Bible was finished in 1979). It was ready to go by the end of June, but the printers took the whole month of July off as part of their union privileges. President Monson had toured the facility and knew they had four large presses that could do the printing. He asked if they couldn't keep just one press running. So they went to the unions to ask - not expecting that they would. The union reps came back and agreed to do the printing. They said they didn't like taking off in July anyway because everything was always so busy. The books got done in time.
I learned of an amazing project that is being done at the Family History Library. It has been going on for about seven years and still has work to be done. They are trying to teach computers to read Chinese characters. Can you think of the implications of that for family history and temple work? This will be incredibly valuable in inputting all the Chinese family histories so that temple work can be done for them. Apparently many years ago under communist rule they ordered the people to destroy their family records, but family was so precious to them that they buried the records in their gardens or hid them behind their walls. Now the current head of China values the family so the people have uncovered their records - some dating back more than 2000 years. The Lord is preparing a way now for these records to be digitized and read by computers, which will greatly help in getting the temple work done when the time comes that it is allowed.
On Friday they started tearing down the south visitors center. I'm sure you all have been there at one point. It's the one with the model of the temple which has now been moved to the Conference Center along with a lot of the other displays that were there. There was quite a stir in the office as the demolition started, so we all headed to that side of the building to take pictures.
My mind immediately went to times I had been in the visitors center with my family. Made me a little sad, but I'm sure in four years we'll all love seeing the new building which will replace it.
I had a fun time last night with Alyssa and Chad! They came up to a Jazz game and wanted to meet for dinner before the game. We thought about Crown Burger, but it was insanely busy with everybody else who had the same idea. So we decided to try a place that had been recommended by a fellow missionary. It's a burger place nearby called California Burgers and Deli and is owned by a Korean family. 😃 Anyway, the food was great and especially the fries. Go figure!
Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support!
Moroni 7:30 - For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness. - Jon's Favorite Scripture
I'm trying to learn to be better at ministering! 💕
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