Sights at the Office

Every morning when we arrive we park in the Conference Center parking ramp and walk across the street to the Church Office Building. The temple is lit and glows white against the dark sky. I'll have to get a picture of that and post it next week. We enter the building through the revolving doors and swipe our security badges to gain access to our elevators and then up we go to the 7th floor. We are in our cubicle in about 10 steps and begin our day at the computer. We meet with other Welfare Services missionaries for a devotional each morning about half-an-hour after we arrive and then return to our desks. The phone rings and we make calls all day. We search information about missions, missionaries, and the nations they will potentially enter.

We see the temple as we enter the Office Building and from our office windows.

Our office is on the 7th floor of the Church Office Building. We have access to some of the tunnels between our building, the temple, the Lion House Restaurant, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the Church Administration Building where the first presidency have their offices.

My side of the cubicle. The plants are living now... we'll see if we can keep them alive through the winter.

Grandma at her desk on the other side of our cubicle.

Welfare Training

We received Preach My Gospel training the first week and came off a spiritual high to start the second week of training. The second week started off with a tour of Welfare Square, complete with samples of the bread, honey, jams and cheese made there and we washed it down with chocolate milk. We can be very proud of the wonderful foods that are produced through the welfare facilities of the Church.

Our Welfare Services missionary group. Hazlem to Philippines, Lindsay to Salt Lake, Meinzer to Cambodia, Murdock to Tonga, Tolley to Jordan, Orton to Albania

 Missionaries gathering for a tour of the Bishops' Storehouse at Welfare Square

 Shelves stocked and ready for the patrons today.

 Fresh produce and dairy areas

 The back room is a storehouse with inventory for a month. Additional inventory is available from the main warehouse.

 Employment is key to personal well being, so there are Employment Resource Centers Worldwide. We recommend qualified missionaries to staff these facilities.

 The grain elevators are filled with millions of bushels of wheat. More than a year's supply!

 Deseret Industries provides a great training ground to prepare people for employment as well as provide affordable goods to the public.

 The Dairy building produces milk products and Atmit... a protein supplement to treat malnutrition.

 The big blocks of cheese are cut into 5 lb. blocks and wrapped here.

 This is a big vat where the milk is curdled and made into cheese.

 Milk bottling is done here and product is distributed throughout the Intermountain West.

 Our sampling table with fresh hot bread... thick sliced, butter, honey, jams, cheese and my favorite... chocolate milk!

We traveled across town to Temple Square and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for our luncheon and more training meetings.

 View of the Salt Lake Temple from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith building.

Sister and Elder Lindsay

A view of the Utah State Capitol building from the Joseph Smith Building

The next three days were spent at the Provo MTC, training and learning systems, protocols, administration duties, do's and don't s of providing in the Lord's Way. We learned about the major initiatives: Vision, Clean Water, Wheelchairs, Neonatal Resuscitation, Benson Agriculture and Immunizations. We also learned how to develop working relationships with local charity organizations and develop projects together with them to meet the local needs of the people. We also learned to use the record keeping tools and how to get projects approved and funded. It brought back such sweet memories of our previous humanitarian experiences. Another great week!

MTC Week

We entered the MTC on Monday, October 6th, 2014, the Monday after General Conference. That was a great way to start out with the words of the prophets ringing in our ears and the influence of the Spirit in our hearts.

Here we go again! This time we are traveling each day to the Church Office Building in Salt Lake.

Glad to continue the tradition of missionary service. Tyler completed the first year of his mission in July and will return next July. We will be here to welcome him home.

 

 It is a beautiful fall with bright colors of yellow, orange and red.

 This is our district with our morning instructor, Sister Frandsen.

Lindsay-Salt Lake City, Robison-Netherlands, Rushton-North Carolina, Allen-North Dakota

 Alpine Loop this week

This is our district with our afternoon instructors, Bros. Gubler/Floyd

Robison-Netherlands, Lindsay-Salt Lake City, Allen-North Dakota, Rushton-North Carolina

Alpine Loop

 We are in this group. Can you find us?  Hint... look for green.

 This is the other half of the senior missionary group. There were a total of 84 senior missionaries this week.

Set Apart

We were on a spiritual high after General Conference and time to be with and talk with family, but now came the start of our mission... we were set apart by President Brinton tonight. It was a quiet time, but our blessings were specific for each of us. We look forward to our calling and the good work that will bring us closer to one another, our family, and to the Lord.

This is one of the best times of the mission. No responsibilities yet and we enter the MTC tomorrow.

President Brinton and Elder Lindsay