What A Week!!!

My oh my I seriously don't know where to begin!!! My mind is just BLOWN by the announcement of the age for missionaries being changed.  But I will try to start from the beginning of the week.

 

Actually, the whole temple open house as just kind of merged into one continuous day, but it's SOOOOO GREAT!!!! The video presentation rooms look amazing!!! I will have to take a picture of and send them soon (haha, I know I've been saying that forever, but up here our p-days are even shorter.) Any who, we started off by doing tours for the contractors and VIP's.  It was a little intimated a first knowing that these are important people going through the temple.  But, hey, I'm not Canadian so...I don't really know who they are. I started a video for some MLA's and Elder Walker (he's on the temple committee...he may be a Seventy...not sure).  After the video was over Elder Walker stopped me and told me that I did the presentation just as he had asked. :) Oh my I was so nervous the first few video presentations I did, but like most things, it takes a few times and then you are able to get into the hang of it.  It's been amazing to hear some of the stories of people who have come through the temple open house.  I think we have had one person per day just ask how they can become members of the church. :) With the temple not quite being finished (this was a week ago)  we have heard stories of how they asked volunteers.  100 showed up the first day and then it just kept multiplying and the last day 1000 people showed up to help lay sod and clean up in the temple!!! The landscapers referred to the volunteers as God's Army.  We are told every day that we are truely God's Army and they refer to this temple as the Volunteer's Temple. :) Oh and amazing thing happened (a first in the church) there were NO protester for the open house.  A man in charge asked if the message could be sent to President Monson and say "That's just the Canadian way." ;)

 

 

Oh there have just been so many miracles with this temple I wish I could remember them all.  There was one man that Sister Hoyt and Sister Newby talked to that was just walking by the church and he asked if he could go inside the church.  I don't have the full story, but they just started to talk to him and teach him and Elder Melchin came over and talked to him too.  His name is Carl and he lives in Edmonton.  He had wanted to be taught by the missionaries before and he set up an appointment.  The missionaries were late and after waiting for a hour Carl drove to the church to find them playing basketball.  He was furious and never wanted to be taught again.  I don't know how he ended up in Calgary during the temple open house (God's timing is perfect) but he wants to be baptized and he came yesterday to volunteer for two shifts. :)

 

We, the Sisters, were able to have a tour of the temple.  It is unbelievably beautiful.  A man told us that there are LED lights in the stain glass so it glows!!! There is a lot of stain glass in this temple and the theme for the temple is wheat.  There is also a lot of the Alberta Wildrose theme in it too, especially the Brides Room.  When we went on our first tour going into the Celestial Room was amazing.  It gave me the spiritual reboost that I needed.  I just love how the Celestial Room just feels like home.  Then when we went into the Sealing Room our tour guide had us sit across from our companion, which was super neat.  It has been so much fun getting to know all of the Sisters in the mission and being able to work with them every day.

 

We gather up the comment cards at the end of the day and it's incredible to read what people write.  Someone put a very short message down, but it speaks volumes, its says "Amazingly beautiful- why do you people hide?" There have been many people of different faiths that have gone through and someone put "I may not share the same beliefs as you, but my God was glorified today." It is so interesting to see peoples demeanor change from when they enter the church and when they come back after the temple.  You can tell that people are being touched by the spirit.  I can just tell that missionary work is just going to explode after this.

 

We had dinner a Brother and Sister Palmer and they invited President and Sister Nicholas to attend too.  Brother Palmer is on the temple committee (here in Calgary).  Sister Palmer wants to have a "Sisters Conference" with us! yeah!!! Party!!!! Hehe :) Brother Palmer serviced his mission in Ontario and Elder Ballard was his mission President!! Oh and Elder Ballard is going to be coming to the dedication along with President Monson (if he's health is good. Please pray for President Monson to be able to attend the Calgary Temple Dedication). We had so much fun getting to know everyone. Sister Brower is a rock star.  She is an incredible piano player and has an amazing voice.  So, we sat around the piano and sang songs.  It was a great bonding moment with all of the sisters.  Also, the Palmers have a movie theater in the house.  Stadium seating and everything ;). It's pretty fantastic.

 

We called Andrea to see how she is doing.  She is beyond amazing.  Andrea is doing things that before she joined the church she never thought she could do.  She's volunteering twice a week at a senior center and is baby sitting three times a week.  She has indexed at least 4000 names.  She is going to the ward to their ward temple night and is going to help out cook and watch children and maybe go and do baptisms.  She's so excited to watch General Conference as a member and LOVED the RS Broadcast.  She misses us be knows that we will be back soon.  Ah, she is just so great!!!!

 

Okay I will add more stories about the temple as they come to me - now onto the first session of Conference.

 

WHAT!?!?!?! How amazing is it that the missionary age is now 18 for young men and 19 for young women!!?!?!?! That means I will probably be training a 19 year old!!!! Crazy!!!! We feel that this means something big is just around the corner!!!! Sister Hoyt was super duper excited about the announcement of the Tuscan, Arizona temple. :) Ah, I still can believe it!!!! So amazing!!! I just love conference.  We had to work the evening shift last Saturday, so I have not seen the RS Broadcast yet, I think we are planning on watching it tomorrow evening.

 

I love conference (for the umpteenth time). I have been praying about a question/something I've been struggling with and BAM!! It was answered in the first session.  I love how bold the Brethren are.  It's a good example for be to not be afraid to open my mouth and to share the gospel.  Oh, and if you have a question, ask a missionary. ;) hehe General Conference is right up there with Christmas as a missionary. :) And being able to spend it with all of the other Sisters is just the bomb.