A Busy Week

Since cameras are not allowed in the temple, we don't have many pictures to post. Most of our time these last few days has been spent in the temple.

We said a heartfelt farewell to the Russian members. Babushka even gave me a hug goodbye. Though we may never see any of them again, they are our friends forever. We will have a joyful reunion in heaven. 

We still have several members from India with us. They are delightful too, and so faithful. Dennis says he doesn't know which is harder--pronouncing Russian names or Indian names.

We have worked hard this week with baptistry, initiatory, sessions, and laundry. I learned firsthand that the sealing sessions go all morning. It helps patrons to understand that the session will be long before they enter the sealing room. In Mesa, sealing sessions are every half hour or so. Here you come and go and may be there much more than an hour. Maybe two.

Some short highlights of the week: A group of about 30 BYU study abroad students came to do proxy baptisms; Bishop Causse gave the temple a short visit, unannounced to the workers. I recognized him right away and got to shake his hand. :-) We had a thunderstorm yesterday--which was nourishing to my Arizona soul; we bought an adapter so I could use my favorite curling iron brought from home. I plugged it in and sparks flew. Thank goodness for circuit breakers. I hope my iron is still functional when I get back to USA. We figured out the oven, and I made brownies from scratch.

I helped a sister from India at the veil ceremony. Indians speak English, so I thought perhaps she didn't read well. We struggled to finish. Later, she told me her language is not English but another language of India. I'm learning to be patient and trying to understand.

The missionaries from the MTC came to do ordinances. Several were to receive endowments and I was to assist in getting them ready for the ordinances. I helped issue their clothing, etc. The joy for this new step in their lives glowed in their faces, and I loved being a part of it. But in the midst of it all, the supervisor took me out to assist in sealings. How disappointing to not be a part of these young people's experience! But I enjoyed the sealings too.

A family sealed for eternity on Saturday.

Several Thai temple workers want to do the ordinances in English and are working hard to learn them. Many have asked us how to pronounce words, even the sealers. They need to "pass off" the English before they use it in the ordinances. Some of the hard words are place, authority, faithfulness, and anything with "th" or two consonants together. Their language emphasizes vowels, and in English the consonants are what are important.

Dennis and I were assigned to the Saturday 7:30 PM session due to several English speakers who had made appointments. At 7:15 PM, Dennis came upstairs where I was waiting to start the session, and said no one had yet arrived, and that we might need to cancel the session. At 7:20, two Thai sisters came. Okay. We could do the session for two people. Then a third sister came. I thought she might be Thai but she explained she was a part of a BYU Study Abroad program (I don't know if they were part of the same group earlier this week), and the others were downstairs getting dressed for the session. They had been delayed in Bangkok traffic! (Not surprising.) They trickled into the session two and three at a time until 19 had finally come. In total, we had six Asian sisters, ten BYU men and nine BYU sisters. The session started nearly 20 minutes late. For a session that we thought might not go, we nearly filled the room. (The rooms hold about 30.)

Here, we put the name-slips in our pocket at the veil and turn them in to the supervisor before we leave the session. One slip got stuck in my pocket when I pulled the rest out. Since it was so late, Dennis and I hurried down to our apartment and dressed for bed. A knock came at the door. I opened it a sliver. "We are missing a name-slip and we know you have it." Sure enough, the slip was still in my dress pocket. I will break policy from now on and not put the slips in my pocket!