Change in the air

 

Today has been a busy day.  We started off with a sacrament meeting at 8:00 am.  At 10:00 we were attending a stake conference.  We aren’t really members of the Nauvoo Stake, but since we meet in the same building, and our Sunday School, Priesthood and Relief Society Meetings would conflict with their overflow areas for Conference, they invited us to join with them instead.  We had choir practice, and then home for a short break before we go back to the temple this evening for a special Temple Devotional and then a farewell for one of our number that has been called to serve in Seattle as a counselor in the temple presidency there.  I suppose that doesn’t seem like all that much, but the time leading up to this sacrament meeting was occupied heavily by our trying to prepare talks since we were asked to be two of the speakers.  We are now glad that it is over, and basking in the thought that we probably won’t get that opportunity again for the rest of our stay here.  Speaking in Sacrament Meeting here use to be like speaking in a stake conference.  But as the autumn has worn on, many of the missionaries have either been transferred or released.  So now it is like speaking to just two combined wards.  Still a lot, but not as many. 

In two more weeks we will be saying good-by to two-thirds of the temple missionaries that are here.  That will definitely reduce the number in attendance.  And many more of the site missionaries will be leaving as well.  At that time we will then go into winter mode.  Instead of twelve shifts at the temple, we will be down to just six.  But that does not mean that we will no longer be needed as shift coordinators – we are among the lucky six couples that get to continue on with that responsibility through the winter.

We will also be saying good-bye to our temple president and one of his counselors at the end of the month.  The other counselor has been called to continue on and serve in the new temple presidency as well.  We will miss Pres. Condie.  His shoes will be hard to fill.  But the Lord always seems to be able and find just the right person to do it.  And we look forward to meeting our new president when he arrives.

With so many of the temple missionaries leaving, we will then have the option to move into one of the vacated apartments, if we want to.  And we do.  So in November we will be moving from our current apartment on Kimball Street to one on Parley Street.  The other apartment appears to be quite a bit larger, and will allow us more room for when visitors come to stay with us – and we hope that several of our family and friends will consider doing just that.  It’s too bad that we will still be here on Kimball Street when Heidi gets here at the end of this month.  We could have used the extra space.  But we will manage.