Jodi and Stephen are in France on their way to Portugal to visit Stephen’s parents who are serving a mission. You can check their blog and view some awesome pictures, as well as read about their experiences.

The devotional came at a time when our family normally has FHE, so our FHE has been put on hold until Thanksgiving time when most all of us will be together. We are saddened by the news that Magan’s grandfather passed away this weekend. Magan, Grant, and Grace were already in Rexburg; Eric will be going to Rexburg for the funeral later on in the week. We express our deepest sympathy to Magan and her family; and, extend our love to her.

We still are actively attending the temple. The trip to Manti remains a highlight in our lives. We enjoy working at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and are constantly learning something new each time we go. Our work at the LDS Employment Resource Services Center in Provo continues to keep us busy with much to do in our spare time. We are learning the importance of loving others and can sense the Spirit as it prompts us while working with people. We’ve talked with homeless people, a man in his 70’s, a young single mother with two children, and yet we get really excited when someone lets us know they got a job and are happy. The Lord continues to bless our lives.

A phone call at 8:15 PM from Jodi, October 22, brought us to a realization of how important our family is and the necessity of having the Priesthood and temple covenants. Lily had an accident and the family was on their way to the Primary Chilren’s Hospital in Salt Lake City! We are so grateful for the power of the Priesthood and expert medical personnel. We are very grateful for the resiliance of a young girl. She has become our hero. We enjoyed the visit from the Parker’s, but are very thankful for Lily’s quick and speedy recovery without having to go through brain surgery. You can check out more detail about Lily’s experience by viewing Stephen and Jodi’s blog. Olivia’s picture is here just because she had such a cute pose. We love al of our grandchildren.

We have been busy lately. It seems that retirement has us doing more that we thought we would be doing. The changing of seasons is beautiful. The tree in the back yard has lost all of its leave - the changing from green leaves to deep red colored leaves was awesome to observe. Now we will be raking leaves before the snow comes for the winter. While  Patricia has been doing grandmother things - organizing costume creations and gathering gifts for grand children, I have been spending leisure time with tools. Both of us are enjoying the opportunity to create something for someone else.

Just being able to go inside the Manti Temple was well-worth the trip. It was our privilege to do two endowment sessions and one Initiatory session (spending about five hours in the temple). Some new insights into the progressive nature of the endowment came. It is difficult to describe the beauty, the wall murals, wood work (carvings), and historic nature. We asked to see some of the sealing rooms and was taken on a short tour. Someone suggested we ask if we could see the spiral staircase. The workers were very accommodating and took us to the bottom of the staircase on the Northwest corner of the temple. It was very beautiful.

Another highlight of the visit was participating in the ordination of my brother, Paul, to be a High Priest. What a blessing to be able to stand in and performthe ordination! Although mom was unable to attend, I could sense that both her and dad were pleased with the proceedings. When we returned back to mom’s place, Patricia asked her if she had received a priesthood blessing since breaking her arm. She said no but would like one. We explained to mom that there were six worthy priesthood holders there (Paul, me, LuDell, Bob, Clay, and Kathryn’s husband) and either one would be happy to pronounce the blessing. She said, “Well, I’d like the new one with all the stuff to do it!” We knew she wanted Paul so be the voice. He did a wonderful, spiritual blessing. Mom ended up having a pretty good day after being a little light headed when we returned from Stake Conference and from the ordination.

We were able to visit with family and friends. We were delivering a walking stick to Bill Griffeth who was attending Wood Badge at Krupp Scout Hollow. It is hard to describe the feeling of home that came over me as we met with the Wood Badge course and presented the walking stick to Bill.

Saturday, August 23, we went to Island Park to find some walking sticks and to have a picnic with Stephen and Jodi and their kids. At our first stop, Lily got out of the car and was bitten by a wasp! I was able to get nine walking stick blanks. I plan to carve one for Lily and put a bee on the stick! Olivia’s birthday is coming up. She found a stick just her size; now all that is left is to carve it. And, Grant’s birthday is coming up on September 3, so he needs a new walking stick. Lots to do. I wonder how I got anything done while teaching school.

Speaking of school, this past week has been really hard not being at school. I suppose the focus needs to be on our mission and our service in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

July 3, 1890 is the date when Idaho became the 43rd state. This date is also the birthday of my younger brother, Lynn. It is easy to get a little homesick on a day when we think of home. Patricia even signed us up for an online version of the Rexburg Standard Journal! We could spend a lot of time reading the paper. I’m sure she will read every article.

We spent the morning at the LDS Employment Resource Services Center in Provo, still in the MTC-phase of our mission. Today we had some instruction of Safety matters and a tour of the DI building, learning where all of the exits are, as well as being encouraged to look for un-safe things and be ready to report them. It was supposed to only take about 15 minutes but the missionary took about an hour and half, maybe spending about 10 minutes on safety. The rest of the time he was sharing stories and articles, basically giving us his philosophy of how he coaches candidates. We spent some of our time, unsupervised, reviewing the Job Openings and Scholarship handouts. We had arranged for a young man (a junior in high school) to come in. We coached him, and his mom, by checking up to see that he was making progress in applying for scholarships. We helped him submit an application for a scholarship and encouraged him to write a couple of essays and up-date his Master Application. He will be coming back in a couple of weeks for some additonal help

We delivered a walking stick to one of my students who lives in Highland. No one was home when we got there so I left the stick leaning against the front door. Hopefully, she will notice and get it before someone else comes along and likes it! I miss seeing the students.

We had Abby come over for a couple of hours this afternoon so Amy and Bridget could go shopping with less worries. Brad and Dallen came by to pick her up; they had been golfing to help Dallen get ready for try-outs next Tuesday.

I have a large University of Phoenix class - 21 students! It is too large and will really tax me over the next six weeks.

Patricia is going to Boise for a couple days next week - leaving on a late flight Sunday evening and returning on Thursday afternoon. I will be spening Monday - Thursday in Heber Valley attending a school workshop about science assessments. I can’t pass up the opportunity to get three credits at no cost! Besides, I need to get enough credits to qualify for renewing my Idaho teaching certificate, since it expires on September 1. This workshop was already arranged before we received our mission call. It’s hard to not being doing our missionary work for that week, but I think we’ll make it up when we get back together on Thursday.

We are learning that being ordinance workers in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple requires a dependence upon the Lord, especially to learn our assignment. We depend upon the Lord for all we have and the temple is helping me to re-learn that. I know I cannot help others if I try to learn the words of the covenants by myself.