This Week In The Temple, 15-18 Jul 2014

Tuesday - We are on the AM shift this week and are baptistry coordinators.  The French saints are here for the week and they have baptisms scheduled for each morning, beginning at 8:15 a.m.  We were to the temple bright and early to ready the area and be there to greet them upon arrival.  Sister Pilgrim, who speaks French, is the coordinator for them this week as they have their own sessions and several of them are temple workers and others are in training.  They are preparing to be able to work in their temple in Paris when it opens sometime in 2016.  

Sister Pilgrim greeted us to be sure we were ready for them.  She did some further training with us which was very helpful and it was good to have her around for questions and clarification here and there.  We had stacks and stacks of family file cards they brought with them and the youth went to it, completing almost 200 baptisms.

We had a father and two daughters in from Gilbert, AZ, to do baptisms.  You can imagine the great conversation we had.  Their story is unique.  The father's mother joined the church in England many years ago.  They had planned this month's vacation here in England to baptize their eight year old son in the same river his grandmother was baptized in, and they were able to do that.  The grandmother was scheduled to come with them but her plans changed last October.  They had all gone to Rocky Point for a family outing and for the first time in her life, the grandmother, at age 64, got on a four wheeler.  There was an accident and she died.  Needless to say, the planned baptismal event was not all they had hoped for but carried through with it as a memory for the grandson.

Well, today we got our heads on straight and remembered we had missed calling Carter and Pearson on their birthdays!  We had sent cards which was somewhat of a redemption.  We gave them calls and enjoyed talking with them and their parents.  Their families are healthy and enjoying the summer at present.

The evening was perfect for a walk and picture taking.

Ducks by the pond.  A path through the grounds.  Beautiful flowers.

Wednesday - Another baptismal day.  We were busy and found little time for other assignments.  The weather has held steady with being pleasant for the last couple of days.  We have turned the fan on in the late afternoon when we get home as our windows face west, right into the summer sun.

I have been reading in the Book of Kings about the building of the temple.  David did not build it due to his people being at war during his reign, but he had accumulated a lot of resources and supplies for it to be buildt during the reign of King Solomon.  As we worked in the baptistry today, I stood by the font and admired the 12 oxen that bear its weight.  Each one represents one of the sons of Israel and his tribe.  We know Joseph has two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh because Ruben relinquished his birthright due to sin.  We have fonts in our temples today fashioned after the order of the one in King Solomon's temple.

"And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other; it was round all about, and his height was five cubits, compassing the sea round about; the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.  It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward."  (I Kings 7:23-25)

The oxen here in the London temple are beautiful, each one with a distinct expression.  Their shoulders are broad, sturdy, muscular, showing forth strength and the ability to carry very heavy loads.  Their hooves are sure-footed and evenly placed to bear the burden on their backs.  Their representation of the House of Israel is the same; each tribe bears the weight of the gospel and the responsibility to keep the commandments and ordinances that will bring them back to the Father.  This is a reminder to me that the gospel is the same today, yesterday, and forever.

We went for a walk in the evening and took pictures.  We visited with other temple workers that were out for a walk.  It was relaxing and enjoyable.

"The temple is a house of God; a place of love and beauty. . ."

Thursday - Someone said summer was over?  I am not sure I believe that.  It was 86º F today with bright sunshine.  Now, for Yuma, that may not seem very hot and it really isn't, yet here it is a bit warm as we do not have any cooling in our flat.  The A/C in the baptistry is limited and we were sweating all the time we were in there today.  I called the engineers at one point and they came and did, I don't know what, but it began to be a little cooler, not much though.  We ran the table fan in our flat and with the windows open, it was quite nice.  We were sticky with high humidity today as well.

We were again early to the baptistry for the French session.  They arrived with 8 youth in tow.  Everything was readied and away they went and in a goodly fashion the 100 + baptisms and confirmations were done and they were on their way in less than 2 hours.  We cleaned up the area and got the towels and laundry loaded into the washers.

Two sisters came in at 10 a.m. for their scheduled baptism session.  They each had family file cards and they did 10 baptisms of temple file as well.  Dad did the baptizing.  It was a neat little session as neither one of them have done proxy baptisms before.  They were excited to do this work for their ancestors.  We traded out the loads in the washers into the dryers and put the new load in to wash.  We had lunch and Dad was off to other assignments.  I was back in the laundry folding clothing and towels.  Sister Strong and Brother Davis each took a turn to help in getting things ready for the afternoon shift.  We were finished up and I had a half hour for other assignments before going home.

We were off on the weekly shopping trip and Dad's appointment with the osteopath.  Most of the little shops and stores do not have air conditioning, so it was very unpleasant to be in them.  I stopped at a card shop and was sweating profusely, it literally was dripping off my face and down my neck.   We walked into Sainsbury's grocery store, and was met with cold, refreshing air conditioning!  Oh, it felt wonderful.  I told Dad we needed to go slow and be the last ones out so as to enjoy the cold longer!  We were able to find everything on our list and we were all back to our flats around 6:30 p.m.

And, we did remember to call Hanna for her birthday!  We had a delightful conversation with her.

From Home:  Jack continues to work hard in Peru.

Elder Morty and his companion.

Friday -  The humidity was pretty thick when we went to bed last night.  I had the fan blowing on me and was able to go to sleep.  About 1:30 a.m., we awoke to loud, loud thunder and flashing lightening which was shortly followed by rain.  It was a down pour, the most for us since we have been here.

The day brought sunshine and wasn't as humid as yesterday.  The flat felt pretty comfortable with the fan blowing.

I spoke with Juliann and she gave me a report on their trip to Rocky Point and Adellae's swimming.

The flowers are beautiful!

Out the door of the lodge.

The French had their last baptismal session this morning.  They were quick and efficient and were on their way.  I was in the laundry at the end when Dad came in with Tessa Tracy, one of the girls.  Since Tuesday, she and I have established a little friendship.  She seeks me out each day and even out on the grounds in the evening and we visit.  She does speak fairly good English, so we can communicate, although the other night she asked me if I was going to the campfire.  I wasn't sure what she meant and I started looking around for a campfire, not imagining one on the temple grounds.  I repeated the word campfire back to her and she said it again and then she said:  "Oh, what is it?  Oh, fireside!"  We had a good laugh.  Anyway, when she came into the laundry she greeted me and thanked me for all the help I gave her this week.  She said she really likes me and is so happy we met.  She hopes to serve a mission on Temple Square and asked that I pray for her to do that.  We exchanged several hugs and good-byes with bright smiles, and she was on her way.  She is sweet and we hope she will serve a mission on Temple Square.

We went to bed with humidity, thunder, and rain.