"What trains?"

Another week has come & gone & there's not much news to report. It's still too hot to go out & about, sightseeing, so we can't tell you about interesting things that we have done. As we have tried to decide what we could write about we came up with an idea.

We are very blessed to have as our Temple President an Emeritus General Authority. Pres. Wood is an amazing man. Every week he prepares a message for our Preparation Mtg. & we love listening to his messages. We decided that since we don't have that many new or exciting things to write about each week, we would share some of the spiritual thoughts we receive from Pres. Wood.


Comments by Pres. Hinckley at the dedication of the Bountiful Utah Temple.

Now my mind has gone back to some of the previous dedications. I have been to many of them. It has been a great blessing. The other day there was handed to Sis. Hinckley a letter from one of the brethren who has been serving in this temple at these dedicatory sessions.

Dear Sister Hinckley;

I would like to thank you for the influence you have had in my life. Ten years ago after the last dedicatory session of the Stockholm Sweden Temple, we had two hours to get all the chairs out, vacuum, and place the furniture so the Temple would look normal again. I was the construction representative at that time. When everything was about done, I walked into the celestial room and there were President Hinckley, you, and Brother Arthur Haycock.

Brother Haycock made the remark that he had heard every train going by during the dedication. True, there was one coming by every ten minutes, and we had discovered a noise problem the week before. President Hinckley remarked that he also had heard some trains go by, but you said, "What trains? I listened to the speakers."

Sister Hinckley, you cannot imagine what help this has been to me during the last ten years. When I sit in sacrament or other meetings, on the stand, or in the audience, when children make noises, I hear your sweet, gentle voice saying, "What trains? I listen to the speakers."

About two weeks ago I was struggling with a problem, and I needed the help of the Lord. Earthly things kept me from getting through, and again your words were setting my priority straight. "What trains? I listen to the speakers."

Thanks with all my heart. Sorry it took this long to write.
With gratitude and devotion, /s/ Henry A. Haurand.

I guess there is something to that. Most of us listen to the noise of our lives - the trains going by, the noise of the freeway, the noise of our homes, the noise of our work --- and we do not hear the voice of the Lord, because we are not tuned to it. We are thinking of something else.


We can't say more than what the Prophet has said, but we do bear our testimonies that if we get rid of the noise & listen to the Still Small Voice in our lives, we will be blessed.

The other day, Rod asked me if I have as much joy here on our mission as I would if we were at home. My answer was, "YES". Of course I miss my family & my home, but we are receiving so many blessings & I wouldn't trade this experience.

We send our love to everyone.

Wonderful Parents

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since we wrote in our blog. We had a lot of problems last week keeping logged on to the internet. We really didn't have any news anyway. It's been another quiet week again. We are on the morning shift at the desk this month. We really like mornings but each shift has it's benefits.

We love checking our emails & the mailbox. Sis. Dory is my visiting teacher & she sends me messages every month. Then last week we got a manila envelope in the mail & there was a big poster that had been signed by members of our ward. It was very exciting & reminded us how much we appreciate & love our ward family.

We have gone to the Central Falls Ward in Rhode Island for the past 2 weeks. Yesterday we spoke in Sacrament Mtg. & taught the youth during the 3rd hour. It was a little distracting giving our talks because the missionary was translating into the headphones to Portuguese. I had to try to block him out & keep my focus.

When we taught the youth, there were only 3 young women & 1 young man. One girl had to leave at the beginning & the boy had to leave for about 1/2 the time. The only leader that was there is from Alaska & is Bishop Wilde's grandson from Willow Ward. What a small world.

We talked to the youth about how our parents made the decision to get married in the temple & how many lives have been affected by that decision. We added up how many they have of their posterity & multiplied that number by 6 generations. There will be millions affected by their decisions. Then we told the kids that if they continue to make right choices & get married in the temple then they will be able to affect millions of lives also. It's amazing how many people we each have the power to affect.

We love our parents so much & are grateful for all they have done for us. We are thankful for their wonderful examples.