Week 44

Our mission president is going home on Tuesday, and it has been a very busy week helping with that transition. He has had some last minute requests for me which have really stretched my abilities. But I'm really grateful that he asked me to do them because I realized that my poor aging brain can still learn new tricks. One of the projects required learning how to edit, combine files, and attach links in Adobe PDF files. I had to do it from home because I downloaded the free trial week of Adobe. So my nights and weekends have been very busy. For his entire tenure there has been a weekly newsletter consisting of articles written by members of the mission presidency and their wives, "tender mercies" submitted by individual missionaries, and articles including "Elijah moments" which were experiences with family history. So each of those 150+ newsletters needed to be slightly edited by taking out the extra pages of announcements and fliers, etc. Then I had to combine these files in to one document. I learned that Google and You Tube are my friends! Then thankfully the editor of the newsletter had kept a running index of all the articles, but I had to take that and double-check that it actually matched the 970 pages. After fixing it I added it to the front of the giant document and learned how to make each line in the contents page jump to the actual page in the giant document. Then I decided I should probably check those links  to make sure that they all actually when to the correct page. Only one didn't, but I'm still glad I found it. Then I had to make the cover to match the newsletters and add it to the front. Whew! It will be an amazing resource with incredible doctrinal content and mission memories. All the missionaries past and present will get a flash drive with the newsletters ("The Vineyard"). In addition, the president has written a book while he's here called Doctrines of the Restoration. He has written about 30 chapters of various doctrines, and then he also added all the scriptures and conference talks in those same subjects. The book was finished, but he asked me to do the same with the contents by attaching the links. This will also be included on the flash drive as well as the mission history and 80+ photos that the young elders have put together. I'm excited to get it!

Friday and Saturday of this week involved transcribing the last mission conference from the video recording of the WebEx. I had been asked to do it at about the same time as the Vineyard project, but the counselor in the presidency who asked me to do it said that it could take second priority. I think it took me about 16 hours to transcribe a 90-minute meeting. I had the computer-generated transcript to compare to, but it still took a lot of editing. He was very pleased to get it for the deaf missionaries who will be able to read it. Tonight's conference will have an ASL interpreter, so hopefully that will take care of me not having to do it again! 

I'm grateful that all those years learning a computer by trial and error can now be used to bless the lives here on my mission. My friend in the office who just went home last week texted me that I was put in the office "for such a time as this." If that's true, I'm grateful to know that maybe that's why I'm here.

I've met some wonderful people while here. John and Susan Temple hosted a dinner last week with Jim and Kathleen Gordon who went home. They have become dear friends. The Gordons live in Rexburg, and the Temples moved here permanently from Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.

Susan & John Temple

Jim & Kathleen Gordon, Me, Susan & John Temple

Another dear friend is going home this week, Sister Robin Fuellenbach. We met my first week here because she is in the Training Zone, but we have become good friends in the last few months as we go on our evening or morning walks together. She lives in Salmon, Idaho, wherever that is! I'll really miss her and may not get get too much walking done without her!

Robin was the editor of "The Vineyard" for two years. She did an amazing job!

Last night was an outdoor walk-and-wave-goodbye for the President & Sister Fenn and the 32 young elders who will all go home on Tuesday. They will be greatly missed. Here are a few pictures from the night:

Sister McKnight & Sister Unger (wives of the two counselors)

President Unger & President McKnight (the two counselors)

Elder Bastian in the mask was one of our technical support elders. He was so sour and dark all the time but I softened him up. He's not smiling here, but I actually saw his eyes smiling above his mask last night. I keep telling him he's going to miss me!

Elder Dunn is one of the current APs.

Elder Eades is the other AP.

My memories & experiences here are priceless. I'll be home two months from yesterday - if they actually let me out of here!! President Fenn said last night, "If I were still going to be your mission president, I'd grab you by the arm and never let you leave!" It's nice to be appreciated!

Week 43 - Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! My sons and sons-in-law are such amazing fathers! I'm so grateful for you all and for the wonderful fathers you are to my grandchildren. 

I'd like to tell you a little about my father today. I didn't know him very well because he died when I was just 6.  I have very few memories of my own and only one picture with me that I could find. 

There are more stories and pictures on FamilySearch, but here's a little bit about his life:

Charles Burton Swan, Jr.,  was called Charley, and his friends called him Chick.

He met Julia at a 4th of July dance while playing at a baseball tournament in Moroni.

He told his brother "There's my blond - she's the girl I'm going to marry."

They married that October after getting to know each other through writing love letters.

He loved to hunt and fish.

He was an electrician by profession and worked for Utah Power & Light Co.

He managed the substation in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

He worked for Geneva Steel after they moved to Orem.

He was charter member of the Orem Volunteer Fire Department.

He owned an electrical supply store on State Street in Orem, right about where the Zupa's is.

The store burned down just days before Orem got their first fire truck.

He was a good man and was loved by all who knew him.

He died of a massive heart attack just a few months before his 47th birthday.

Doug/Dad/Papa was a wonderful father! He was such a good example to his sons of how to love their children and respect their mother. I'm grateful for his life and our eternal family. It was our 51st anniversary this week. Somehow he got the message to my friend Kathleen Gordon that I needed flowers. 💙 I'm so grateful that Coray and Cameron got all of his best qualities. A little bit of him rubbed off on all of us. We all honor him today! 

Week 42

Some days lately feel like every other day. The world is kind of coming back to life around us, but for me here in the mission my days are pretty much the same as the day before. I'm grateful that there are days when I can go in to the mission office to work, but most days I'm still working from my apartment. I try to stay productive - at least during the daytime hours - but one day pretty much looks like the one before.

I adore President Unger. He's the counselor in the mission presidency over my zone, and because the mission is so large, his responsibilities are much more like a mission president's. We have a zone devotional three times a week, and President Unger gave the thought this week. He told us of a time when he and Sister Unger were serving as missionaries at the bishop's storehouse. There was a young service missionary there who was Downs Syndrome and significantly challenged. Her assignment every day was to pick up two ice cream buckets. One bucket was empty, and in the other bucket were twist ties similar to the ones you'd see on loaves of bread. She would take two twist ties out of one bucket, twist them together, and put them in the empty bucket. All day. At the end of the day, her empty bucket was full, and she would put the buckets back on the shelf. The next day this sister missionary went to the shelf to get her buckets. Her job that day was to take those twisted ties out of the full bucket, untwist them, and put them in the other bucket. All day. She did her job perfectly and to the best of her ability without complaint. I have put these ties in my journal with a note about this sister. I hope to remember her story and precious example of service the next time I feel like I'm not contributing much or that my assignment isn't all that exciting. We can all serve, and as long as we continue serving to the best of our ability, the Lord will accept our offering and bless us beyond our ability to receive.

Week 41

I've had some pretty fun experiences while serving my mission. One happened to me this week. I have a friend who is in the Training Zone - Sister Robin Fuellenbach. She goes home at the end of the month to Salmon, Idaho, and I'll miss her. We walk together most days for our exercise and fresh air. We were talking with President Fenn the other day, and she mentioned to him that she had a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon in her locker at the office, and would he like to see it. I wanted to raise my hand and say I DO! He didn't have time just then, but I did. It has quite the story behind it. As you can see from the photos, it has lost its cover and there is significant water damage. However, all the pages are there. Her husband inherited the book from his father who was a missionary in Germany at the beginning of World War II. Because of the war he was sent back to the US to finish his mission in Tennessee. While tracting there in the backwoods, he came across a "hillbilly" who told him that he had a copy of that Book of Mormon. Of course he was curious and wanted to see it. The man told him that it had been pulled out of the mud in the Johnstown Flood [1889 catastrophic flood in Pennsylvania]. The missionary told the man that he would like the book and asked him what he would trade for it. The man said he needed a pair of pants, so the deal was struck and they made the trade. The family has since authenticated the book, and it truly is a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon. One of the features they look for is the diamond indentations in the paper, which you can see in the cover page. The expert they saw told them not to have the book recovered. He said that the story behind the book makes it so much more special. 

I held the book and turned the pages. It was an experience I'll never have again. But I realize today that no matter whether we hold a first edition or a paperback, whether we read it from our phones or listen wirelessly, it is priceless. My testimony of the Book of Mormon grows daily, as well as my gratitude for Joseph Smith and his prophetic abilities to bring the Book to this dispensation and make it available to me. A few years ago President Nelson spoke about the Book of Mormon in General Conference and asked us to consider what our lives would be like without it. I know that one thing I wouldn't know is the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ to take upon Him not only our sins, but every pain and sorrow, every burden and trial. I'm grateful for that reality and blessing in my life as I've felt carried through difficult times. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and evidence of His love for us, His children. I'm grateful for the sacrifices that have been made for me to be a member of the Church and for the Book of Mormon which blesses my life. And yours!