Interview, Inspirations, Family

 Monday 9/23/24. Biked 9+ miles. Deep Cleaned the stove and oven and inside garbage cans.  Got a haircut at 2:00 at Tangles —not a great cut this time but I won’t need another one. 

Tuesday:  6:05 am preprep to be EWS, EWB 7 am session (endowment sister, endowment brother). At 9:45 we had our exit interview with President and Sister Church. Six months goes quickly.  Though I’ll have to say that we really miss our family. Biked 9.13 miles

Wednesday:  6:50 am temple. My first position was the celestial room. While I was there, Brother Larson came in and asked if I had the family I wanted sealed with me.  Yes, I did.  I had asked him a month ago if he would seal them. He had sealed the last family I had that was twin boys and three brothers. He doesn’t know when he will be scheduled as a sealer but he kept thinking of me. Rest of story, he got me and two young missionary sisters out of the celestial room, arranged for Jane, President church’s wife to take my place and we went into the sealing room.  He sealed Karen Reigstadt to her parents, then her husband Purvis as husband and wife then all the children were around the altar (4 daughters and 1 son) and sealed as a family:  so maternal grandparents, husband and wide and all the children sealed this morning for time and all eternity.  It was an amazing experience. All participants thanked me for letting them be a part of this sealing.  We all felt their presence and happiness at receiving these blessings.  So many miracles happened before this.  I had a thought in the morning as I came to the temple “to take my packet up to the sealing area but I got my schedule and no sealing opportunity was going to happen for me so I passed off the thought. (Your first thought is the Spirit.  The second is trying to doubt.). We’ll, I didn’t have time to get my packet but as I stepped out of the sealing room, Sister Larson was there and let me use her packet right there so in a way she was part of this experience also. I went back in and we were ready to go to work.  Miracle one:  last week in initiatory a patron came in with the name—Hazel Irene, grandma ROBINSONS name and I started crying and could feel her presence. All in the compartment could feel it. After I regain composure, I followed through with the endowment.   This family that the sealing was for this week was her family from Norway. I know she was helping get this all together. It was all an amazing experience!  

At 2 pm we were off shift and we stayed and ate in the break room and attended an endowment session.  When we arrived home, we rode the bike 8.89 miles. 

Thursday:  regular temple shift, then lunch in the break room, then a proxy endowment session, home at 4:00. Biked 8.97 miles

Friday:  biked 9.04 miles, pretty cool and crispy at 7:30 am. Went early to do a proxy endowment at 11:15 before our regular late shift, ate lunch after or before our shift. Finished at 7 pm. 

Saturday:  biked 9.89 miles. Listened to BYU football game BYU/Baylor until first quarter was over; it was time for our shift. After shift at 5:00 Brother Weed took Rays place in the celestial room so we could go to Keokuk and get chicken, bacon, ranch thin pizza at Angelina’s and then go to Weeds house as they had recorded the game.  We ate and watched the last half of the game. BYU won but it was a bad half played. 5wins!  We’ll take it. Side message— on our way back from Keokuk we were delayed 45 minutes—an accident, motorcycle. The helicopter picked up the body.  We don’t know how he was but the motorcycle was in pieces.  It was very sad.  No other vehicle seemed to be involved.

Sunday:  we watched BYUTV—music and the spoken word, devotional etc.  our church time was changed to 12:00-2:00 now. It was the 5th Sunday. The meetings were great, you know the kind you just want to sit there and enjoy the Spirit.  At 6 pm we went to the Visitors Center East Theater that was opened for us to listen to a presentation by Sister Kristi Peterson about Emma Smith. It was the temple missionaries that attended, good crowd. We didn’t learn anything new but it was tender.    We love you!  Mom Grandma (Ray). Carry on, carry on, carry on!