TEMPLE YOUTH CELEBRATION & TEMPLE DEDICATION.

Last night was the Youth Cultural Celebration for the Temple. It was held at the fairgrounds and also broadcast to all of the Stake Centers. Most people were not invited to go to the fairgrounds. We had to watch it at the Stake Center. In a way, it was better, because we got to see President Monson a lot closer than the people in the bleachers. He rode into the area on a golf cart and had his only daughter with him. He visited with the youth as he was walking on stage. The sound wasn't turned on yet, so we couldn't hear what he was saying. There was a temporary stand with a podium set up for him. Since it was temporary, because he would be in the bleachers later, he was facing the sun. He had been setting down and put a pair of sun glasses on. When he got up to speak, he forgot about the sunglasses. I guess he realized that he still had them on and didn't know what to do. Leave it to him to do something cute. He took them off and put them on Elder Brent Nielson. Elder Nielson kept the sunglasses on until President Monson finished talking. When President Monson went into the bleachers, he took time to shake the hand of each Stake President and their wives.
The celebration was about the history of Idaho and the cultures of the people that came to Idaho. It lasted about 1 & 1/2 hours. They did a good job. One sad note about the event. The man in charge of this had cancer. He was in remission when he was first asked to be in charge of the event. He passed away on the 21st. (That is Rick's birthday and also President Monson's birthday.) He was able to see the kids perform in their dress rehearsalbefore he died.
I don't know about any of you that don't live in our area and what you got to see for the Temple dedication. But in our area, we were assigned 2 times to watch it-either 9:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. I had Rick get tickets to the 2:00 session in case I got to work, I could get in a half day at least. I don't know if the 9:00 a.m. actually showed the cornerstone ceremony or not. (When I've watched other dedications-they have.) Well, the 2:00 session did not show the cornerstone ceremony. I was a little bummed about that. Then I looked at the Times News on line. They have a short video of the cornerstone ceremony. If you didn't get to see it when you watched the dedication-click on the Times News link that I have on my blog.
This coming Friday-the 29th of August is my first time for serving in the Temple ! I'm excited.

Our last day serving at the Temple Open House and other information about the Temple.

We served our last day at the Open House on Friday the 8th of August. Elder Nielson said that we're averaging between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors a day. Fridays and Saturdays are averaging between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors. As of 7:00 a.m. that morning, there have been 295 self-referrals to the church. That's pretty exciting. He didn't have any neat stories to share this time. (Some of the neat stories will be written down and put into the cornerstone-to be opened in 100 years from now.)
Both of the other times, we were able to serve in the Temple for at least part of the time. This time, Rick served in the Temple, but I volunteered to serve in the Stake Center. ( I was directing traffic flow in the chapel. We were so busy for about 2 1/2 hours, that even the choir seats were full besides the chapel being full. Everyone came at once and had to go on a first come basis.)
I was aware of 2 situations that I know happened because Heavenly Father wanted them to happen. There was a small group of people that had at least one Japenese with them. They wanted someone to translate for him. One of our security people from our Stake that was assigned to work - just happened to have gone to Japan on his mission. He was their translator. Another incident like that: A small group came in that had a deaf person. He wanted someone that could sign for him. I told them that I would find out if we had someone. Sure enough, we did. The wife of our 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency knew how to sign. She was actually one of our tour guides. We had to do a little switching around of people, but she ended up being their translator. Heavenly Father makes things happen in such a natural way, that many people don't realize that He has a hand in all things-but I know He wanted these people to be there when we could best serve them.
We were only assigned to work the early morning shift. That's all Rick served. When it got time for my replacement to come, not many people showed up. I volunteered to work a double shift-after we got some food for Rick. It's a good thing that I did go back. Almost all of the ushers that were assigned to the early morning shift (in the Stake House) ended up staying for all or most of the next shift. At first, the afternoon wasn't as busy as the morning. It ended up being almost as busy for about an 1 1/2 hours. I caught a ride home with someone from our Ward.
My girlfriend is in the choir that sings for the dedication. She gets to see the Prophet. She is allowed to take her family. Both Rick & I told her that we thought we were part of her family-so she should invite us also. I don't think she's falling for that line.
I can hardly wait for the Temple to be open. My first day of serving is Friday, August 29th.
There's some confusion about the times that people can go. At first, we were told that it was by appointment only. I don't think that's right-but I'm not sure. Now, my understanding is that appointments are taken for the 1:30 session only. All other sessions, they will reserve 10 seats for out of town patrons. The rest of the room is filled by first come-first serve. The sessions will be every 2 hours, iniatory will be every 2 hours also. If needed afterwards, the sessions will be every hour instead of every 2 hours. The sessions start at 7:30 a.m. except on Wednesdays. That day, they will start at 5:30 a.m. The last session starts at 7 :30 p.m.
Baptism sessions: Weekdays will be at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and also 1:30 p.m.

4 wheeling adventure

We took our 4 wheelers out for the first "real" ride. We've taken them out for a few short rides before. We went up to the South Hills (near Hansen). We went on the back side from the Rogerson area. We had never seen that area before. We're always looking for new scenery. We went up the back side of Deadline Ridge near Fawn Springs. WE ADVICE YOU NOT TO TAKE THIS AREA - UNLESS YOU ARE VERY EXPERIENCED IN DRIVING! This was the worst road we've ever been on. It was very steep and also very rocky. Really, the road was full of 2-3-4 foot boulders all over. We figured it would be just a little ways. No, it went on for quite a ways. Of course, once you've started up one of these areas, there's no turning around. You just have to keep going. Everytime we thought we were to the top of it, it got worse and more steep. A few times we thought we were going to tip over. Thank Heavens for experience in driving. However, we're still learning on the 4 wheelers. They steer a lot different than motorcycles do. Motorcycles are easier to steer. Needless, to say, we went down the hill the other direction.
Even though the road was terribly rough (part of it), we still enjoyed the day. It slightly rained on us. That's kind of nice. We've been rained on (or snowed on) so often, that we've come to expect it. It was good to take advantage of one of my last free days before work starts again.