Week 22

Happy birthday today to my great-great-grandfather Robert Grant! He would be 222 years old today. He was born in Scotland on January 26, 1798 and died sometime before 1851. I know that because his wife Susannah came to Utah by herself with her two youngest children - Thomas and Elizabeth. Thomas was my great-grandfather. Robert's name used to be recorded on the family group sheets as Robert Collier Grant, but it turns out that collier was his occupation. It was sometimes written as coal hewer - he was a coal miner, a hard worker I'm sure. The family lived in Bo'ness where Camille and I found the family graveyard. I attached a picture. Robert was likely buried here because the first marker that we saw while exploring was for his parents John and Catherine Grant. 

 

Here's another progress report on the Temple Square demolition. This week they moved the old olive tree that was on the southwest corner of the temple. If you enlarge the picture by the yellow crane you can see it. Probably all of my kids had your wedding picture taken there, but I could only find the one for Caryn & Jon. I learned the story of that tree! Apparently, it's over 100 years old and was found in Arizona. When someone saw it, they approached the farmer and told him that it needed to be at the Salt Lake Temple, so he consented to have it moved here. They moved it to the roof of the Conference Center until the temple construction is finished, and then it will be moved back to its cherished spot.

I thought you'd like to meet Sister Paul. She was born in Guyana, which is a country in South America. She came to Wisconsin and lived there before serving her mission. She taught seminary there. Sister Paul is singing in the mission's Elijah Choir and has no experience whatsoever. So every week she goes to the theory class that Sister Watkins teaches before rehearsal. Still she struggles, so she came to me for help. We clap out the rhythms and study the notes so that she can sing with the choir. I found some simple theory pages online and printed them out for her to practice on. She is the cutest sister here and I just love her enthusiasm and humility. I wish I had Caryn's experience teaching music to beginners! 

Our mission president's counselor, President Unger, gave a devotional message this week that I'd like to share with you. First, he talked about the ship that brought Lehi's family to the promised land, and he asked, "What happened to the ship?" The point was that we don't know! There's never another mention of that ship, even though it was important in getting them to their destination. It's the journey that mattered, not the ship. President Eyring said, "If you're on the right path, it will always be uphill." We have lots of challenges in this life, and we can succeed if we learn from the past. We need to make the decision to do what Jesus Christ has asked us to do. President Unger closed his message with the video of Elder Holland's talk "An High Priest of Good Things to Come (October 1999)." It's the story of when he was a young father and his car broke down multiple times with his wife and two small children. Read the talk or find the video. It's sweet, especially the tear rolling down his cheek at the end! And here's the sweetest part of all - the quote at the end which was on the wall for months when Doug was working so hard to get well. "Don't give up, boy. Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead - a lot of it... You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."

We can get through our hard times if we focus on the good ahead. I know that's true! There are many blessings waiting for us if we press forward and focus on the good things ahead.