Challis Power

Payson Temple It’s impossible to write about the highlights of the week with my limited vocabulary:   happy, beautiful, sublime?     No doubt, I need to study more of “Word Power” in the Reader’s Digest .             We welcomed Jaynie, Henley, Hal, and Phillip back from Alaska on Tuesday.   Happy! We met them at the airport at 7:30am.   No, Hal did not follow Jaynie’s plan to sleep through the night flight.   Phillip has a heart-melting smile.               On our temple day, Thursday, we gave Jaynie a bit of a break from the kids, helped her with some projects, visited with Harold and Doris, and went to the Payson Temple.   The temple is beautiful in every detail, as all temples are.   And most are unique in their beauty. (We have been to twelve of the seventeen Utah temples--a mission "perk.")  The windows in Payson ...

Tuesday through Friday afternoons last week, we were in “Disneyland.”   Well, not quite.   We were in a meeting room at the Library with the rest of the full-time missionaries in our zone learning how to deliver customer service to our guests as Disney does.   The purpose statement of the Family History Department is, “We create inspiring experiences that bring joy to all people as they discover, gather, and connect their family—past, present, and future.”    Most days I wish it said, “We try to create...”   The FHD created joy for us with the tasty fruit, crackers, cheese, and candy they provided.   Maybe we should do the same for Library Guests.               The Mitchell family, dear friends from Olathe, made Monday afternoon joyous for us when they came to the library to visit.   The only disappointment was discovering that we are not related—even with the name Mitchell.   ...

Early morning on the Fourth of July we, along with Lindsey, watched the unfurling of the largest free-flying American flag in the county across the mouth of Grove Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove.   “Big Betsy” is over a quarter acre in size with six-foot stars.   The flag was folded, inside casings, on a cable that stretched from one side of the canyon to the other.   During the ceremony, the casings were slowly pulled to either side, revealing, first, a white star on a blue field, then more stars, then red and white, until, finally, the entire flag dropped and caught the breeze.   Inspiring!     The “stars and stripes” did unfold in a magnificent way!   We were sad to learn later that Big Betsey was damaged beyond repair in a short-lived, but fierce windstorm that blew through Utah Valley about dusk that evening.    We hope that Follow the Flag organizers will have the means to continue their mission:     honor, heal,...