Happy, Beautiful, Sublime

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 are especially striking with leaves and apple blossoms, even in the baptistry.  
            Friday evening, Harold and Doris, joined us for the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Program in the Conference Center.  The guest performer was Sissel, a female vocalist from Norway.  I had not heard of her previously, but now I have!  Her voice is sublime!  After singing, “Slow Down,” mid-way through the program, she received a standing ovation.   It was a “one moment in time” experience.  
            The library continues to be busy—and the training transition continues to frustrate.  I did have a couple of great “finds” in my own research, thanks to family search handing me a “hint” or two that sent me looking.  I discovered that one of my second great grandmothers had a younger brother who died at the age of 5 when she was about eight.  His name was Jesse.  My grandmother named her oldest son, Jesse. 
            A distant cousin who collaborates with me helped me discover that Richard James Evans, a descendant of our common fourth great-grandparents, was a famous cricket player.  He was raised in South Africa, joined the South African Air Force at the beginning of World War II, and was killed at age 28 when his plane went down into the waters off the Cape. Body never recovered.  His family’s story sounds like it would make a good BBC production.  I love when details are revealed that make the people “live.”    

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