This morning I awoke a little before 4, so I had time to read scriptures. I was glad to find in my reading of 3 Nephi the Isaiah 54 passage that I recognized as the basis of the video Gregory sent me a few days ago: "Kindness", from the movie "Ephraim's Rescue". "..with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee....For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee...saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." I hope that each of you, like me, can see the kindness of the Lord as you look back over your lives. He is in the details of our lives.
Our choir director has us do a warm-up which involves counting: 1, 1, 2,1, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1.......1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. This is quite hard for me to keep track of! I have to shut my eyes and really concentrate on singing the scale in this manner. It is rather fun, though, and the difference that the instructions and practices make are quite impressive. Today we sang "Where Can I Turn For Peace?" In the last verse as we testified of the peace we receive from the Savior, the power of the words were matched by the power of our voices, followed by a peaceful ending.
One of the speakers today talked of walking into an LDS chapel for the first time--and feeling he had come home. I had exactly the same experience, 4 August 1974. And in one week, 29 August, I will celebrate my 42nd baptism birthday. What a wonderful journey this has been! I am grateful beyond words for the opportunity to be a Latter-day Saint.
My morning at the Library was pretty quiet, so I finished up the two batches of German record indexing I had left. I helped one guest confirm that the family he was looking for was not included in the family register in the area his relatives came from.
After lunch was my first Trainers Meeting. I know all of the trainers by now, and they all welcomed me warmly. I think I was able to contribute a little of use in the meeting. I have three assignments: to review the Swedish Case Study to see if there were any problems with it, as one of the young elders had some complaints about it [and I actually remembered having issues with it, and tonight as I worked on it I remembered some of the issues I had with it]; to train or mentor a couple who will be starting with us next Monday; and next week to do one of the in-service lessons after prayer meeting. Just like my feeling that I could do all the positions OK except the Helper position, which is the basic reason to be here, I feel like the other tasks as a trainer will be fairly easy--but I feel a bit nervous about actually mentoring! I know it will work out fine, and once I have done it the concern will subside, but for now I need to do some praying that I do it well.
After the meeting I was in the Floor Manager position, but I let myself get distracted into helping a woman with Family Tree and her Italian ancestors. I worked with her also the last hour of the shift.
On my way to the apartment I saw I had gotten a call from my daughter, so I called her back. Among other things we discussed the overgrowth in the yard which is the result of hot, wet weather! She sent me some pictures via text, and there certainly are some challenges! I am hoping to retain some winter onions, and most of the day lilies.
My evening would not be complete without a talk with my Sweetheart, and tonight was no exception. We got to talk for more than an hour. I am grateful for this time that he is willing to grow our relationship even though we are 1300 miles apart.
I will always have fond memories of my conversion and baptism too! It was on May 9th, 1974, so, we are both going strong after 42 years!
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