Practice Makes Perfect!

July 7, 2013

(This part written by Grandma Carolee)

   Even after years of experience as ordinance workers in the Provo Temple, it is important that the ordinances be performed “word perfect”. That is the phase dad is in right now. The London Temple Presidency and Matrons personally certify our ability to perform our work properly. This is the process of maintaining the integrity of the work. We have both done it all many times but it requires concentration and effort to do it right.  So dad’s still trying to get those checks on his pass-off card. But he does have it all memorized.

    I had a wonderful experience in initiatory, doing work with three new patrons. One was going to be sealed and two were going on missions. It was my first time to do this, and I can vividly remember how special it was for me when I was a first-timer.  They all three came in with that “deer in the head-lights” look, even though we tried very hard to make them feel welcome and comfortable. I started the first sister and didn’t get very far into the ordinance when I, yes me, started to bawl. The second sister came in and sat down and you could see right off that she was really feeling the Spirit because she started to tear up and then we both cried through the whole ordinance. The third sister was not so emotional and we made it through great. Anyway, I loved doing it. Great experience.

   As we were walking into Sacrament Meeting, we were nabbed to teach the seven-year-olds next Sunday. As far as I can remember this will be Dad’s first opportunity to teach primary. We will let you know how it goes.

   Don't know whether we told you, but last week Donny Osmond, his wife and 15-year-old son came to the temple. His is in London doing a show. They called the temple and someone from the temple picked them up at the train station so that they could come and do some temple work. It was the topic of conversation for the week.

 Our temple president, President Lowery, informed us that he would be taking a break from the temple for a few days or maybe longer to take care of issues with his wife whose cancer has reoccurred. She is scheduled for surgery in a week and also his mother is in her mid-90s and is obviously close to leaving this life. We are grateful for him and his attitude and the way he let us know, but he will be gone for a while. In fact, this weekend, all the members of the Temple Presidency left to go, so, our “HI”, as they call it here, when you introduce yourself to other temple workers was postponed for one week. Dad doesn’t know what he is going to reveal about himself and is taking a totally passive approach, saying whatever comes to his mind when it's his turn to speak. However, he is sure he’ll come up with something about how great our children and grandchildren are.

(written by Grandpa Niel)
It has been quite an eye opener to see how many different nationalities attend this temple. For example this week we had French patrons and next week they are scheduled to come in by the dozens. Some of them are set apart temple workers and can assist their own come through the temple. I was privileged to help two fellows who came in from France, one spoke absolutely no English, the other was somewhat fluent in English. He and his wife were active participants in the session. Next week we will tell you about our “French” experience.

I spent some time in the sealing room as an observer and I noticed on the cards that were being used for reference to some of the temple work for these people have been done and temples all around the world, I mean all over the world, from Australia, New Zealand faraway places from England and Mom said that she gave some cards to Julie and Will to do in Korea. So that must happen a lot.

My leg continues to improve, just a tiny bit at a time. It gets very stiff at the end of each day. The “Bakers Cyst” is not huge but is evident. I have been taking an hour to an hour and a half off each day of my shift to try to relax and get it elevated and get the weight off it. That's my primary problem right now is that I'm overweight and am putting a lot of pressure on it. I'm not going to feel better unless I back off a little bit and spend more time resting my leg, keeping weight off of it and doing other things that are helping to regenerate it. When the knee is bent or straightened out, this pocket of fluid puts pressure on the tendons etc. It can be very painful at times.

Elder and Sister Masih

In this week’s report, I have given you a picture of Elder and Sister Masih (pronounced Massey). We serve in the temple with brother and sister Masih. They are very humble people and are from India. He came at age 25 and through an “arranged” marriage, as is their custom, they were married. She wears Indian clothes and has offered to teach Mom how to cook real “good” Indian food that isn't like what's in the restaurant she says. She told us their conversion story, in which they had a friend who he worked with him in the post office who changed from being a drinker and womanizer and became a totally different person and so they questioned him one day about why he had changed so much. He said, let me have two young men come and visit with you and tell you why I've changed and of course the missionaries came. It was very hard for them to join the church because Brother Masih's uncle, who was that the family patriarch did not want them to be members of the church. He would not give his okay for them to join the church for a long time and she was so thankful that the missionaries stuck with them and kept encouraging them until they could get permission to be baptized. She is struggling a little due to having had a stroke and has a hard time with her memory. She works so hard to memorize just a few parts. She comes and serves faithfully and is always very concerned and kind to everyone else. We have really enjoyed working with them.

We want to wish Anna happy birthday and know that Will and Jay’s are coming up. We want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY in case we forget. We’ll still try calling face-time with some of you on your birthdays. Beckie, that means you had better start answering your phone. We’ve been trying several times to reach you.

   We are now getting close to going into our fourth week as missionaries. Personally, I'm (Dad speaking) starting to adapt to the surroundings, people we work with, our tiny apartment and being very regimented in our lives. I'm also feeling more of the Spirit of temple work each day and that has been a blessing to me. As I sit in the temple in areas where I can meditate, I've come to realize even more that this really is a wonderful experience for your mother and I, being able to do the work of the Lord in such a beautiful spiritual place.  I do get terribly homesick at times, but I know I’m doing what the Lord would want me to do in building up this part of His vineyard.

Today after church I walked around the temple grounds for a few minutes or I should say limped around the temple grounds at least on the north and east side of the temple and took some photos of some of the facilities just to give you an idea of what the temple landscaping looks like right now. It changes, depending on the time of year. If you will notice, one of the photos is of a field with a horse, taken right out the east gate of the temple. You'll see the gate in the picture across the road and then you'll see the wonderful setting of the temple with a pasture right across the street. (See these pictures in the previous post)

In terms of what we will be doing during the break, which will start on September 4th and go to November 15^th, we haven't been given any specific direction, other than we will be asked to Family History work in the facility provided here. Mom wants to do her genealogy in the Buckleberry, Berkshire area, which is probably about a 45 minute drive from here and I am interested to see what I can find out about my fifth great-grandfather James Strong  born in 1727 somewhere in northern Ireland or England. My goal is to try to follow him, maybe backtrack, from Ireland. His ship probably left from the very top part of Ireland or he might have come back across the channel and left from England. I hope to have a good experience tracking his birth place down.

I notice in NewFamily Search, someone has pinned him in northern England and gave him parents, and sealed him to them. I’ll look at that information and if they documented it correctly, it would be great. If they did not get that kind of information then that will be a good task during the break. One drawback about the areas that he was in when he left England or Ireland is that it is nearly 1,000 miles away from where we are. So I don't know exactly how we can work that out yet.

We continue to spend time with Steve and Ruth Littlefield from Lehi. I may not have told you they were best friends with Terri Curtis and Terri’s wife who was a Boyer from Brookside. Terri’s father and mother were Carl and Renee Curtis just around the corner from where I grew up. On Monday we are having a big barbecue out back of the gardener’s sheds. The weather has been beautiful, but slightly warm. It really feels like late spring in Utah, which is okay, but there is no air conditioning anywhere. It even gets kind of humid and warm in the temple.

Elder and Sister Kelly

Elder Kelly, my temple trainer. Love this little guy.

Happy 45th Anniversary from Dad to Mom

The David O. McKay Oak Tree. Blessed in the 1950's to survive and thrive.

We love you all. Thank you for reading our ramblings. Ashley (Hermana Lancaster) www.sisterlancaster.blogspot.com you are truly wonderful. Hang in there, girl.

With all our love, 

Elder and Sister Strong