Birthday Memories

Becky's birthday was on the 15th.  We went to a nice Mexican restaurant down in Hamilton on the 17th to celebrate both of our birthdays.

The temple attendance has slowed, but at the same time, we have cut back on the hours that we are open.   As a result we only have 6 shifts a week instead of the twelve that we had during the summer.  But we still work 5 shifts a week.  As shift coordinators, we find ourselves busier now than ever.  We get to coordinate the efforts on Fridays.  Next Friday promises to be extra busy with 3 weddings, 3 missionaries coming in to be endowed, and a chapel session for the Quincy Ward. 

 On Christmas Day we will be joining with the site missionaries for a Christmas program and dinner.  But as the temple will be closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we will take off tomorrow and go to Kansas City for a few days.  There we will spend time with Kristy and her family.  We need to be back for a Christmas program here in Nauvoo, so we will come back on Christmas morning.

We got our third big snow storm of the season last night.  It was preceded with several hours of freezing rain – laying close to 1/8 inch of ice on the roads, and on our windshield, etc.  This is a new experience for us.  Temperatures have been below freezing for some time now – sometimes down to single digits.  Tomorrow it is supposed to get down to -5.  How exciting.  I guess we are earning the title of "Winter Warriors" that is given to us missionaries that are here in Nauvoo through the winter.

I am gearing up to teach a Spanish class to the temple workers once a week thru the month of January so they can perform the ordinances in Spanish. 

We also have the special blessing of having George Durrant and his wife Susan Easton Black Durrant here as temple missionaries as well.  She is also providing a free on-going lecture series for all the site missionaries, temple missionaries and anyone else that wants to attend.  Following the curriculum she used for a BYU class, we are learning all about Joseph Smith and Church History two nights a week.  It’s great.  But it isn't leaving much time to do anything else!

Last week, I got to work for a little while in the baptistery.  A young lady came in with her parents to do baptisms.  It was on her 12th birthday.  Her parents took her out of school to bring her here on her first possible day to be in the temple.  They also brought over 50 family file cards to keep both her and her mother busy in the font.  It is a tradition the parents hope to continue with their three sons when each of them, in turn, turn 12.  Certainly it will be a day long remembered by these kids as they look back on the day they became eligible to go to the temple.