Well, let me tell you something—the end came and we lived through it! What a week. I’ve never worked so hard, physically, in a long, long time. The temple was moderately busy, but Dad and I worked for the first time in the baptistry. Everyone who has worked there told us how much fun we would have and that it wouldn’t be hard at all. We discovered that they were just saying that because they were SO happy to have another couple learn the ropes down there so that they wouldn’t have to serve there all the time. It is hard work, physically. You have to do haul and retrieve laundry, which means sorting and loading huge machines, then sorting by size and hanging up all the baptismal suits etc. into small closets (made in the 1950’s). This requires a lot of hefting, and grunting to accomplish. My arms really needed the work out, though, and it was good for me. Dad, on the other hand had to stand and oversee the baptismal font etc. There is a small flight of stairs going up to the font and he got real good at negotiating them. (It really about did him in.) Oh, did I mention the towels? There are towels for the floor and towels for the patrons and towels to mop my brow and towels to clean up in the locker rooms. We aren’t talking about towels, we are talking about BIG TOWELS. Thank heavens they are all white. But you know what?
IT WAS A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!!
We came back to our flat each day and literally flopped onto the beds, but we loved every minute of it. Working with the young people, little or big, was a spiritual experience. Just to watch them climb those stairs and see the font and watch the excitement on their faces as they waited for their turn was truly wonderful. Some were nervous and a little frightened, but their ward members helped them through it. So, now we have been trained on running the baptistry. So many of the couples who have finished their temple assignments and have gone home took that knowledge with them and some of us new couples needed to learn it for when the temple opens again on November 12th.
Something else came into my mind this week as I was thinking of what I could say in our
letter. It is a quote from my little quote book by a George McDonald.
“Imagine yourself as a house. The Lord comes in and starts to bang about and build in a way that begins to hurt. The Lord changes many things; he takes out a wing and adds new floors, wings and rooms. You thought that you would be a nice little cottage
and He was building a mansion.”
This is a lesson that we all have to learn in life. The Lord wants us to be better than we think we need to be. We have to grow and adapt to His ways all the time. It can be painful, but in the end for our good. We, on the other hand, need to have our houses (ourselves) in order, clean and ready for whatever He will send our way. In this time, and in the days to come, it will be more important than anyone can imagine for us to be ready, prepared, and open to the Spirit. Times are going to get harder and harder. It is my desire and hope that all my children and grandchildren will stand in holy places, that your homes will be ‘islands of heaven’ and places of refuge from the world and especially from Satan. He is so dang crafty, devious, evil and smart, but don’t you dare let him win!
This next week (Monday), we are traveling to Preston. We are going by train, which is fairly expensive, but will be worth it. We will be seeing and visiting the church history sites of England. We will take pictures and report on our trip next week. (See previous post for pictures of this trip)
Everyone have a good week. We love, love, love you all.
Granny, Mom, Carolee
Let me say amen to Carolee’s comments above. I found working in the temple baptistry to be a wonderful experience. The first day, while receiving instruction, I was taken to the baptistry room. I had the wonderful experience of feeling the rush of the Spirit come to me as I observed the font built upon those twelve oxen. The spirit continued all week. It was very humid. Thank goodness you can remove your coat while working in the font area.
We met young men and women from several stakes during the week. They were awesome kids and you could feel their love for the work they were doing.
The temple is now closed for ten weeks and we have planned many activities and holidays to fill the time – assuming the money doesn’t run out. We also hope everything we learned the past two months stays in our minds and is recalled easily. Love you all. Hope you are praying for us as hard as we are praying for you.
Be good and stay safe.
Much Love, Dad and Granddad
So sorry that Niel didn’t send our letter last week. Really, he couldn’t have done it because we ran out of internet time (again). We did travel by train to Preston, however, it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. We took the train from Lingfield to Victoria Station (down town London) and then dragged all our luggage down to the underground and rode the blue line to the Euston Station, where we dragged all our luggage up and I mean up to the train station and caught a semi-bullet train to Chorley (where the temple is). The train was indeed fast, going about 100 mph, but extremely bumpy and kinda rough. Then we dragged all our luggage across the road to the bus depot, where we caught a bus that took us near the temple. We are reconsidering just how worth the extra money going by train was. Both Dad and I were pretty beat up from lugging our luggage around. (Pictures in previous post)
May I say that the trip was a great big success. We saw and learned some wonderful things. We learned that there is a lot of LDS history here in the UK. These saints were really special. Some of the other couples who went with us had direct ancestry involved in the places we visited. They were more than thrilled to walk in their footsteps. Bro. and Sis. Murdoch, we found out, are descendants of a Mary Murray Murdoch, who was called “Wee Granny”. Sharlene Stulce is also a descendant of her too. Look up her story.
We paid an LDS fellow, Peter Fagg, to guide us and he did a wonderful job of helping us feel and experience just what it was like to live at the time the saints were being converted etc. Needless to say, our testimonies have been greatly strengthened and our appreciation of those who have preceded us has too. We returned to the accommodation center each night completely spent, but it was worth every minute.
On Thursday night we all attended the temple and experienced the new film. It was a complete success. Some said that they would get used to it in time, but still thought it was well done.
Now, we are packing again to go on to Cornwall. This will be a longer trip and Dad will be driving our little car.
Love to all, say your prayers and be grateful for how much the Lord has blessed all of us.
Love, Carolee aka. Granny, Mom and Niel, aka. Gramps and Dad.
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