Week 24

Well I made it home from Seattle on Monday, in case you were wondering. 😀 The flight was on time and smooth - enough. I waded through about eight inches of snow to get to my car and had to scrape it off. I'm really grateful for my windshield cover! It has saved me of many minutes of scraping. What a great invention! When I was walking through the courtyard to my building, a cute little snow angel greeted me. I imagine a nice young elder couldn't resist!

 

As you know, the Salt Lake Temple has been decommissioned and will be undergoing a four-year renovation. This decommissioning involves removing sacred items such as temple clothing, temple records, and other items used to complete the temple ordinances. Then it is no longer a dedicated temple and construction workers can enter without a temple recommend. This week someone came in to the office all excited telling us that the temple doors were open and they were taking things out. So of course we had to rush over with our phones to take pictures of this next step. It's not a sight I've ever seen through these doors. We guessed that they were removing some of the large paintings, especially since the one in my picture took six men to guide it down the board-turned-ramp. 

On February 6 of this week I was reminded by FamilySearch that it was the birthday of my great-grandmother, Melissa Coray Swan.

We all know a lot about her mother Melissa Burton Coray, but not as much about William and Melissa's only surviving child. Melissa was born February 6, 1849, just one month before her father William died. She was raised by her mother and step-father in Park City and later Salt Lake City. Melissa married Douglas Archibald Swan in 1873, and just two years later Douglas was called to serve a mission to Australia. They wrote sweet letters to each other, which of course took weeks to arrive because the only transport was by ship. When Melissa was in her early forties, she was stricken with arthritis, and struggled for the rest of her life. When she was in her early fifties, the doctor told her that if she spent another winter in Salt Lake she would die. So she went to southern California to regain her strength. She was able to return to be with Douglas that next spring and remained there until Douglas died in 1907. After making several trips to California, she decided to build a home there in Ocean Park, where she died in 1940. She is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Yesterday was a fun baby shower for Sharelle Baldwin. Lots of the Christensen cousins and aunts were there. It was fun to be with them!

One final thought - I played the organ for the little branch this morning, and two of the young elders spoke. A thought from one of the talks struck me, and I want to share it today. He was talking about the three pillars of the gospel - Faith, Hope, and Charity. He said that all three of these require action on our part. However, the Lord doesn't require us to be perfect in all things. But He DOES ask that we be perfect in our EFFORT. May your efforts be perfect this week!