Tuesday, March 29, 2016

EASTER

Easter week was glorious in Salt Lake City.  The Spring flowers are just coming into bloom.



On Monday at our Mission Devotional, we were treated to a beautiful musical program presented by the Elijah Choir.

On Saturday afternoon the Stake Relief Society put on a lovely luncheon before we adjourned into the chapel to see the Women's Session of General Conference.  What a wonderful meeting that was.  Our Stake Center is just across the street from our apartment.  The luncheon was delicious and there were hundreds of sisters in attendance.  We came away physically and spiritually fed.



On Sunday we went to Arlene and Cheryl's for Easter Dinner.  It was so much fun.  All of Arnold's brothers and sisters were there and a few nieces and nephews.  The food was great and the company was too.

 


 


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

SOME POWER STOPPED ME

On September 9, 1957, Elder Robert Thomas Stout recorded this experience in his Missionary Journal.  Elder Stout and his companion were tracting that day in Matsumoto, Japan, when they came to the home of a Mr. Ogawa.

Elder Stout opened his visual aid kit to a picture of the Presidency of the Church, but the man instead noticed immediately another picture which Elder Stout had bought in Hawaii.  It was a post card picture of the Laie, Hawaii Temple from the air.

Mr. Ogawa turned pale and seemed shocked when he saw this picture.  Then he told the missionaries about his experience at the Temple.  He had flown a fighter bomber during the Pearl Harbor attack.

He said, "I had a very large bomb left after leaving the Pearl Harbor area, and I hoped to find a very special target for my bomb before returning to our carrier ship.  Then I saw this place (pointing to this aerial view picture of the Temple), and I was determined I would destroy that building.  I circled and dove, but my bomb would not fall.  I tried again and again, but SOME POWER STOPPED ME.

"Then I was so angered that I decided to dive and empty my machine guns, but I was really disgusted with my guns wouldn't shoot.  I FELT A STRANGE FEELING COME OVER ME.  I tried two more times, but the bomb would not fall and the guns would not shoot.

"I began to fear that I would run out of fuel, so I tried one desperate try, and I even thought I would suicide dive my plane into that building, but my controls would not work.  They were just stiff (or frozen), and I could not dive.

"I then had great feat, and I realized A STRANGE POWER PROTECTED THAT WHITE BUILDING WITH THE BLUE POOLS.

"Less than two minutes later when I was out over the sea, I dropped my bomb and shot my guns, but I had hit nothing.  I felt disgraced that I used my bomb for nothing, and I could not report my failure and strange story.  So since my plane was now operating perfectly I thought I would go back and try to empty my guns into that mysterious building with its magic power.

"But as I tried to turn around and go back, again my controls would not respond to my commands, and I felt a POWERFUL INFLUENCE, and I felt that I had angered a God."

The Missionaries told him that the reason he couldn't destroy the Temple was because it truly was THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.

He said, "It has a giant magic power that protects it.  You missionaries make me feel those feelings again.  You must leave me alone and not torment my mind and heart.  Please excuse me; I am very busy."

Elder Stout says he did not really understand that Mr. Ogawa had said when he met them at the door ("Mo kekko desu").  He thought it meant "come in," but found out later that it meant "No thanks." He was grateful he had not understood, or they would not have heard this marvelous testimony of how the Lord protects His Holy House.

Condensed from Elder Stout's Missionary Journal, by Marvel M. Young.




Sunday, March 20, 2016

LEATHERBYS

We invited Elder Lyle and Sister Larae Peterson to go with us to a local ice cream shop (Leatherbys) for Elder Peterson's birthday.



The portions were huge.

Arnold digging right in!

 Sister Peterson was more dainty and only order a small cone - but she loved it!
Elder Peterson was in heaven and despite what his wife thought, he finished every drop.

PROVO CITY TEMPLE PICTURES


All of these photos and captions came from Daily Herald newspaper, Provo, Utah, January 11, 2016.
© 2016 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved

The Provo City Center Temple.  The LDS Church released photos detailing the interior of the temple that was built from the ashes of the Provo Tabernacle.

The chandelier and ceiling inside the celestial room of the Provo City Center Temple.


Art glass windows and hardware have been customized for the Provo City Center Temple.  


 Oval-shaped baptistry of the Provo City Center Temple.  

The celestial room on the top floor of the Provo City Center Temple.  

This pulpit was found completely intact following the tabernacle fire and was placed in the chapel of the Provo City Center Temple.    

 The north side of the Provo City Center Temple.  

 A wooden staircase adds elegance to the Victorian interior design of the
Provo City Center Temple.   


A three-story staircase inside the Provo City Center Temple was crafted out of wood, keeping with the Victorian interior design of the tabernacle.


The main entrance to the Provo City Center Temple includes a
reclaimed stained glass image of Jesus Christ that dates back to the early 1900s …

  Floral patterns can be found in the Provo City Center Temple, including art glass featuring the lotus flower common in religious buildings th…

Art glass windows can be found throughout the Provo City Center Temple.   

Bride's room in the Provo City Center Temple.

The entrance to the Provo City Center Temple in Provo, Utah.  

A sealing room inside the Provo City Center Temple.  

For all of the above - © 2016 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved

These are some pictures of the temple before:


PROVO CITY CENTER TEMPLE CELEBRATION AND DEDICATION

150th Temple Is Dedicated

Provo City Center Temple becomes the 16th Utah temple

And we were there watched it from our stake center - across the street from our apartment.

We needed special "tickets/recommends" to be able to attend.  It was a very moving, inspirational dedication.
The 150th temple in the world was dedicated by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, March 20, 2016. Tens of thousands of Mormons participated in the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple by viewing the three sessions from their local meetinghouses.


The dedication concludes over a century of Church and community history for the Provo Tabernacle, which was completed in 1898, but it also includes the early morning fire on December 17, 2010. The fire destroyed most everything inside the building — the exterior walls, however, were saved.

After months of assessing the structure’s loss with hopes of salvaging the tabernacle’s shell, President Thomas S. Monson announced in the October 2011 general conference that the Provo City Center Temple would be built.

Elder Kent F. Richards of the Seventy said, “Everyone in the [Provo] community and throughout the Church felt the tragedy of the fire … and the loss of this tabernacle with its history and everyone's personal experience that had ever participated here. There was always hope that it could be restored as a tabernacle at least. And I don't think anyone had an anticipation that President Monson would receive a feeling that it should be converted into a temple. When he announced that a year later in October conference, everyone was absolutely delighted.”

Now, said Elder Richards, the building has been restored to feel like the original tabernacle with the millwork, artwork and glasswork. “But even more, now, it will become a house of the Lord.”

Prior to the first dedicatory session, Elder Oaks and Elders Lynn G. Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Richards and the new temple presidency, helped secure the cornerstone with mortar, the symbolic completion of the temple.

Elder Oaks also invited a young woman and young man to place mortar around the cornerstone to represent, what he called, “The rising generation that will come to the temple in the future.”

“A little later,” Elder Oaks quipped, “learned professionals will finish the job [of the cornerstone] in the appropriate way.”

On Saturday night, March 19, 4,500 Latter-day Saint youth gathered in Brigham Young University’s Marriott Center for an evening of entertainment and historical reflection. The young people presented the history of the Church in Utah and celebrated the completion of the Provo City Center Temple.

Church leadership in attendance at the cultural celebration were President Russell M. Nelson, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elders M. Russell Ballard and Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Bishop Dean M. Davies first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.

“I am thrilled to be with you” said Elder Oaks. He reminisced about the many events he has attended over the years in the Marriott Center on the Brigham Young University campus. “Now we add to that great list of occasions our gathering here for this cultural celebration preceding the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple.”

A seven-week public open house, which began January 15, 2016, provided an opportunity for more than 800,000 people to tour the temple before dedication.

The temple will serve Latter-day Saints living within the Provo and the Springville areas.

Other temples in Utah include the Salt Lake, Brigham City, Logan, Ogden, Bountiful, Jordan River, Draper, Oquirrh Mountain, Vernal, Mount Timpanogos, Provo, Payson, Manti, St. George and Monticello. Under construction is the Cedar City Temple in southern Utah.

Latter-day Saint
temples differ from meetinghouses or chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services. Temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where Jesus Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ordinancs that unite families for eternity. Inside, members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ and their fellow man.