Week 27

March came in like a lion today! It was 60 degrees yesterday and we woke up to snow today. The picture attached shows Elder Agren (who we decided looks like a Ninja and not a terrorist:) and Elder Cline cleaning off my car after church at the branch today. I had already cleaned it off once before going to church. I MISS MY GARAGE! 

This week was busy in the office. We're getting several sets of missionaries either being delayed or sent home from missions in Asia because of the coronavirus. Most couples are coming from Hong Kong; others are from Thailand; one couple can't get to Taiwan because they are going to serve a temple mission and the temple is closed. I'm sure we aren't the only mission receiving these missionaries. So far it's just senior couples being sent out of these missions because they are the most susceptible to the virus. Stay healthy out there! ❣

I saw three general authorities this week! On Wednesday I almost ran in to Elder Soares as I was leaving the little elevator that leads to the parking garage - he was coming around the corner to the elevator. He said "Hello." 😊Those of you who have visited me can picture it. 😉 Then on Thursday I rode that elevator with Elder Peter Johnson of the Seventy. You'll remember his talk from General Conference - "Every Day. Every Day. Every Day." I loved that talk! We chatted a bit because he was wearing his name tag from RootsTech - It's a big family history conference they hold every year at the Salt Palace. I asked him if he had spoken and he told me that he had just been there to listen to a friend speak. They as we were walking to the garage "we" ran in to Elder Terence Vinson. He's from Australia.

Speaking of RootsTech, I have been watching the video archive and there have been some wonderful sessions. You can watch them too! There have been some very interesting speakers. One day the keynote was Leigh Ann Touhy who was the mom from the movie "The Blind Side." On Friday David Hume Kennerly gave a really interesting talk. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and has been the White House photographer for several presidents. Yesterday Emmit Smith of football fame spoke. That was really interesting. Also, it was Family Discovery Day and Elder Stevenson and his wife spoke. They told stories about their family, including how they met. They encouraged us to share these stories with our families - so here you go! 😍

Doug and I met on a Seminary field trip to Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in September of 1964. I was interested in his friend, Doug Black. We got permission for me to change buses and ride the bus home with him; and since there was no extra seat on the bus, I rode the entire trip sitting on their laps (I was sixteen, OK?). Doug (C) was pining for his girlfriend, Pat Packer, so we were trying to console him about that. Well, turns out that I was quite fickle. I thought Doug

(C) was cuter than Doug (B). I'm not sure at what point Doug (C) thought I was cuter than Pat P. Anyway, our first date was to the Donkey Basketball game in November. We dated quite steadily through our junior and senior years of high school. Doug went on his mission the September (1966) after we graduated while I started at BYU. We wrote letters faithfully while he was gone until about three months before his release. Then I wrote him a "Dear John" of sorts. At least it was the "I'm not sure I feel the same about you" letter. So we didn't write for those last three months. When he got home, he came over to exchange our pictures and things and he invited me to his homecoming. Well, I was smitten all over again. He gave the most amazing talk - I still have never heard such a talk from a returning missionary. He asked me out to the State Fair, which was our new first date. We were engaged on October 25, 1968. My ring was in my corsage for the BYU Homecoming Dance. We were married on June 19, 1969, in the Salt Lake Temple, and lived happily ever after!