Hmmm... If you wonder why I don't have pictures, it is because I wait until Spencer writes so that we don't duplicate. He literally used every picture (but two) from this past week! So I'll tell about the final picture. When the church was buying the land for the temple, President Perez had negotiated to buy the land down the hill from us as well. Some one from the temple department made a counter offer and it ticked off the owners so they withdrew the offer. During the past year they started working on it and to our dismay we learned that they were building a 10 story apartment building in front of the temple. When Elder Cook was visiting in January he learned about this situation. He reported it to the General Authorities. Now the church has purchased the land immediately in front of and down the hill from the temple and in the contract, the owners agreed to never build anything higher than the first floor of the temple. Whew. We dodged that bullet. So now the view of the temple sitting on the hill won't be obstructed. Here is the property we bought (on the front side of the aluminum fence) and the other property beyond it.
One other story you will enjoy involves Spencer. Patricia Mortenson has been submitting a lot of names for temple work. She needed baptisms done and sent word she wanted Spencer to be baptized--partly because one of the names was "Brown". So kind, willing Spencer agreed. The problem was that they couldn't get him completely under the water! There were many incomplete baptisms that had to be repeated. He tried placing his knees different ways and tried to help. And then when the baptizer would get him under the water, he had a terrible time getting him back up!! Everyone in the baptistry was getting a kick out of it. I wish I had been there!! So "Spencer, el bautista" does better when he is the one doing the baptizing than being baptized!
As you have probably noted, I like looking at dates and locations of names and birth places when ordinances are performed. It makes it more real for me. I was very touched this week, to do a veil presentation for a woman born in 1596. It didn't give her birthplace, but her name was hispanic. Wow--400 years is a long time to wait. It is hard for our grandkids to wait even a few months when their baptism is getting close.
We had a nice treat last Tuesday morning. The president asked all missionaries to be at the temple for a 5:30 AM session on Tuesday. He didn't say why. I was really touched when I saw the the second new film has been translated into Spanish. It is beautiful. It was available in English last January, but we had never seen it. It isn't in any other languages yet. I wonder if the third new film is also being translated. I guess time will tell. All temple workers had the opportunity to participate in a session this week. What a nice surprise.
I LOVED conference. I've typed up my notes--but they are too long to share. There seemed to be some themes: Personal agency/accountability/responsibility; sacrament; receiving personal revelation; following the prophet; Heavenly Father's love for us; and loving one another/missionary work/reactivation (which go together). I pray that those of you who were looking for answers received them--either thru hearing a talk, or being taught by the Holy Ghost.
I continue to study hard on Spanish. I'm using the MTC program of 6 months of infield tutoring for senior missionaries. I'm pretty OCD about doing well each week, so consequently many days I spend 2-3 hours studying. Subjunctive mood is hard! We don't have it in English, so it really takes a lot of work to understand when to use it and when not to.. Oh, well. Studies have shown that one of the best ways to prevent Alzheimers or other dementias is to learn a foreign language after the age of 45. I'm way past that and I continue learning more all the time, so it should save all of my family from having to take care of me in a really demented state of mind!
I love you all--hope you are enjoying our news. If you want to comment or respond, you can't just hit "reply". That is a "no-reply" address if you notice. Either send us an email--which I would LOVE! or go to the actual blog to add a comment at the end of a post. Many of you have been responding and we never knew it. But we would love to hear from you in any way shape or form. It gets pretty lonely down here. This is the last note I received from some of you.
One other story you will enjoy involves Spencer. Patricia Mortenson has been submitting a lot of names for temple work. She needed baptisms done and sent word she wanted Spencer to be baptized--partly because one of the names was "Brown". So kind, willing Spencer agreed. The problem was that they couldn't get him completely under the water! There were many incomplete baptisms that had to be repeated. He tried placing his knees different ways and tried to help. And then when the baptizer would get him under the water, he had a terrible time getting him back up!! Everyone in the baptistry was getting a kick out of it. I wish I had been there!! So "Spencer, el bautista" does better when he is the one doing the baptizing than being baptized!
As you have probably noted, I like looking at dates and locations of names and birth places when ordinances are performed. It makes it more real for me. I was very touched this week, to do a veil presentation for a woman born in 1596. It didn't give her birthplace, but her name was hispanic. Wow--400 years is a long time to wait. It is hard for our grandkids to wait even a few months when their baptism is getting close.
We had a nice treat last Tuesday morning. The president asked all missionaries to be at the temple for a 5:30 AM session on Tuesday. He didn't say why. I was really touched when I saw the the second new film has been translated into Spanish. It is beautiful. It was available in English last January, but we had never seen it. It isn't in any other languages yet. I wonder if the third new film is also being translated. I guess time will tell. All temple workers had the opportunity to participate in a session this week. What a nice surprise.
I LOVED conference. I've typed up my notes--but they are too long to share. There seemed to be some themes: Personal agency/accountability/responsibility; sacrament; receiving personal revelation; following the prophet; Heavenly Father's love for us; and loving one another/missionary work/reactivation (which go together). I pray that those of you who were looking for answers received them--either thru hearing a talk, or being taught by the Holy Ghost.
I continue to study hard on Spanish. I'm using the MTC program of 6 months of infield tutoring for senior missionaries. I'm pretty OCD about doing well each week, so consequently many days I spend 2-3 hours studying. Subjunctive mood is hard! We don't have it in English, so it really takes a lot of work to understand when to use it and when not to.. Oh, well. Studies have shown that one of the best ways to prevent Alzheimers or other dementias is to learn a foreign language after the age of 45. I'm way past that and I continue learning more all the time, so it should save all of my family from having to take care of me in a really demented state of mind!
I love you all--hope you are enjoying our news. If you want to comment or respond, you can't just hit "reply". That is a "no-reply" address if you notice. Either send us an email--which I would LOVE! or go to the actual blog to add a comment at the end of a post. Many of you have been responding and we never knew it. But we would love to hear from you in any way shape or form. It gets pretty lonely down here. This is the last note I received from some of you.
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