Park City - A Mission Vacation!

We wanted to share our mission 'vacation' with you. Part of our mission is the Family Tree Center in Park City. Occasionally (we hear its 2-3 time during our mission) we will be assigned to that venue for a week. Such was the case in June. We were assigned to cover the center from June 22 - June 28. What a treat!!!

For those of you who have never been there, the Family Tree Center is a small version of the family history library. Anyone can walk in and we will teach them how to look up family ancestors. It's a very fun place to serve. Park City is a very big tourist attraction in the winter because of the wonderful skiing available. We found out that it is also a big attraction in the summer as well. There are art shows and other venues that come to Park City on a continual basis.

The Family Tree Center is right on Main Street so multitudes of people walk up and down the street every single day. It is open to the public from 10:00am until 9:00pm. It is a 3 story building with a basement. The center is on the main floor and the basement level and has about 10 computer stations where the guests can look up their ancestors. It's very exciting to watch someone come in and find a grandparent or other relative that they never knew about before. They are thrilled to pieces!

The 2nd floor is an apartment for the 2 sister missionaries who are assigned there for a 6 week period of time. There is also an office on that floor. The 3rd floor is an apartment for the missionary couple who is assigned there for the week. We have most mornings off until 3:00pm and work the 3-9PM shift with the sister missionaries.


When we went up we worked with Sister Bleazzard (from the USA) and Sister Gasmin (from the Phillipines). They were so fun to work with. We took them out on their p-day to Heber City (they chose where they wanted to go). We went to the Heber Creeper, the crater, up main street, ate lunch at the Dairy Keen (I said it right - it's not the Dairy Queen, but the Dairy Keen) The food was delicious and they always feed the missionaries for free. They gave us more food than we could eat so we took it home and had the rest for dinner. The sisters had a great time kissing the frog at the golf course to see if he would turn into their 'prince charming'. I didn't need to do that because I already have mine!

While we were in Park City Mike and I also went to the Olympic Park Village (where part of the winter olympics were held). It was very interesting. We took the tram to the top of the Olympic Ski jump. It is so high I don't know how anyone would have the nerve to go down and jump off................!!! We did ride the Alpine slide though. It was so much fun!! There's a picture of Mike on it but you can hardly tell it's him. It takes off at the top of the hill by the ski jump
and goes to the bottom. Each person rides it by themselves and can control their own speed. We did NOT ride the bobsled which is driven by someone else and goes anywhere from 60-70 miles per hour down the hill. I wanted to keep my sanity a little longer (at least what I have left).

Every morning we woke up and went for a walk through the city. They have a wonderful walking trail that is a few miles long and takes you though their beautiful parks. We also walked up into the hills and overlooked the city one morning. It was breathtaking. The walks were great but I still didn't loose a single pound. We also had the excitement of the city loosing all its power one evening. It happened a little before 8:00pm and after about 20 minutes without any power and then finding out that they were not going to be able to get the power on for several hours we decided to close up shop. We then went up to the balcony off our apartment and invited the sister missionaries up. We brought all our 'junk food' out and had a party on the balcony. We had so much fun and laughed like crazy. What a fun experience - one we'll never forget.


We had a great time. We just found out that we have been assigned to go again on September 28 for another week. YEAH!!! Here's an invitation to anyone in the area to come and visit us while we're there!!!

It's Luau Time!

The Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission has a tradition of having a luau every summer. This summer was no exception. We were asked to be on the committee (along with 3 other couples) to organize and put on the luau this year. It is actually held twice because only half of the mission can come to it at a time. Temple Square is open to the public 365 days a year so half of the mission needs to stay home to "man the fort" (or is that "man the temple")

The luau's were held July 15th and 17th. It was held up in Big Cottonwood canton at a really nice campground. Out assignments were to buy and prepare the green salad, homemade root beer, rolls, paper products, sound system and ice. We had never made homemade root beer before so it was quite the experience for us. We made 35 gallons and the sisters loved it. The menu was bbq chicken, slow cooked pork, rice, salad, pineapple, rolls, watermelon, root beer, cake and smores. Everyone loved it and there was more than enough food. There was entertainment put on by the polynesian sisters in the mission. After their entertainment they had different groups get up and taught them different polynesain dances. We have sisters from Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and we had a sister from Nepal dance also.

There was also sand volleyball, frisbee, dance contests, and a huge tug of war at the end. The first night we fed about 125 people and the second night it was about 110. What a fun activity. It was amazing to see some of these very quiet, reserved sisters let their hair down and just have fun. We have some amazingly talented sisters here on Temple Square. Many had never heard of root beer before let alone taste it. They had also never heard of smores. What fun to teach them and then watch them make and eat them over and over again. We still hear about it today.

Our children will be happy to know that I did not embarrass myself by 'trying' to do the hula. I can't say the same for Mike. He did get a lot of whoops and hollers when he was up there though. His hips didn't want to cooperate real well but you have to give him credit for trying! I'm just thankful that he didn't put his back out trying.

The first picture you see here is Mike stirring the homemade root beer. We found that when you use dry ice to make it you have to stir it constantly or else the mixture freezes to the dry ice and it not longer keeps it cold or adds that fizz to it like you want. We now feel very comfortable in being assigned to make homemade root beer.

The second picture is of all the polynesian sisters who put on the program for us. They are all wonderful dancers. It's hard to understand how those hips can sway so gracefully no matter what build you have. We have sisters who range from the very most petite to exactly the opposite (sort of like me!). The next picture is of me helping cut the cakes for dessert.

The following pictures are of Mike and I with some of our special sister

who we have gotten to know very well and feel very close to. The first one is Sister Amado from Brazil, the second one is Sister Gradupe from Latvia, the third one is Sister Rodriguez. She has recently come on her mission from Mexico and I am her mentor in learning to speak English a little better. Don't ask me how they think I have the ability to do that but I'm trying. I'll say one thing, we do laugh a lot!!! The last one if Sister Bak from Russia (on the left) and Sister Thorn from Sweden. We would adopt any one of these girls in a heartbeat. They are so wonderful.