Tom and Debbie's Mission Blog: We are back!

As Coronavirus restrictions have eased, life has returned to a sense of normalcy. However, participating in temple ordinances for the dead has been one of the last restrictions to be lifted. When the temples began moving to phase 3, which includes proxy ordinances for the dead, we knew that we were truly back. When the Jordan River temple opened for phase 3 on July 6, 2021, we couldn't have been happier. This has been the highlight of several wonderful experiences over the past two months with our family on both sides of the veil.

Visits to the Mount Timpanogos Temple and the Jordan RiverTemple on July 8-9, 2021

Early in June, we heard that temples in Utah would be moving to phase three during June and July. This was exciting news to us after 16 months of waiting to return to do proxy ordinances in the temple. We knew it would probably wait until we returned from our maintenance break in early June. While we served in the temple on Wednesday, June 23, we were overjoyed to hear the announcement that the Jordan River temple would move to phase three on July 6, 2021. As soon as we returned home we were able to schedule our first visit back to do initiatory work and attend an endowment session on Thursday, July 8 and again on Thursday, July 15. We also scheduled our first visit back for sealing families together on July 17. We were also able to schedule a baptism for the dead session on August 3 with seven grandchildren during our cousin retreat, which made us very happy. The following comes from my journal of the week when we were finally able to return to the temple to participate in ordinances:

"I need to record an amazing week. This week was highlighted by the opening of the Jordan River temple in Phase 3. We have waited a long time for this day to come. Debbie and I had served on a limited basis as ordinance workers in the past 3 months under Phase 2 and 2B. On Wednesday, for the first time since March 2020, we were able to work in the temple serving a greater number of patrons who were able to do proxy work. What a joy it was to once again officiate in the initiatory ordinances and at the veil and in other functions. On Thursday we h participated in proxy work as we were able to have reserved time for initiatory ordinances and for an endowment session. I probably can’t identify a specific spiritual experience, rather the cumulative feelings of being in the temple and hearing the words of these ordinances again.

As I received the initiatory ordinances as a proxy, I noted several workers struggling to administer the ordinances in the correct way. As I did, the distinct impressions came to my mind of how the grace of God works. We do the best that we can and He makes up the difference. I know that when there is human weakness, which always occurs, He accepts our best efforts and always makes up for our weakness. This opportunity to do work for our ancestors got me back into reviewing the hundreds and thousands of names that we have reserved. We were able to do the endowments for a daughter of Debbie’s great . . . grandmother and her husband. We will be able to seal them together in a sealing session scheduled for July 17. Each of these received their baptism ordinances just weeks before COVID shut down our temples. Now they are ready to be sealed. This brings great joy to us. It also brings great joy to listen to the endowment ordinance and sit together in the celestial room with my eternal companion.

After coming home from the temple on Thursday, we wanted to try and schedule another endowment session in the temple, which is only permitted after completing the previously scheduled appointment. We were able to schedule again for later in August. However, we had been able to schedule some endowment sessions in other temples. I thought I would see what else might be available in neighboring temples, since cancellations are leaving some temples with less participants than is allowed. I couldn’t find anything in July or August in the Oquirrh Mountain or Draper temples. Then I looked at the Timpanogos Temple and found two sessions available the next day, Friday. All other sessions were booked up for the next two months. We decided to schedule for the next day on the 1:15 session which had 13 available spots. This was quite quick, but we did have time available the next day.

On Friday we arrived at the Timpanogos Temple a little early. As we came into the chapel, we saw my Sister-in-law and niece waiting in the temple. This was their temple district so we thought it was a nice coincidence. We eventually learned that this was the session that my nephew, Joshua Rueckert, was receiving his own endowments before beginning his mission next week. We had been totally unaware of this fact, but were led to be apart of this special occasion. I found my self even more alert and attentive knowing that my nephew was experiencing these wonderful teachings for the first time.

This week we were also studying Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. One of my great joys has been to study the scriptures in the temple. This had given me special inspiration before COVID. During our service on Wednesday and our visits on Thursday and Friday, I was able to read and ponder every word in this very special section. I certainly felt like the spirit was strong and my understanding was enhanced. I love “The Vision” and the increased understanding that I have received this week, including in the temple. I have certainly received a greater appreciation of the role of Jesus Christ and the Father in the plan of salvation as highlighted in our Come Follow Me study. I was also able to see how dependent we are on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all the promised blessings that we learn about in Section 76. We have certain steps required to qualify for the promised blessings, but what is offered in the wonderful mercy of our Heavenly Father is amazing. Those feelings were much greater as we pondered them in the temple.

The next week we returned once again to participate in an initiatory and endowment session and on Saturday in a sealing session. We were joined by two of Debbie's siblings (and one spouse) and with our son Dan and his wife, Amy. We were able to seal 9 couples together and 15 children to their parents. This is always a culminating and sublime temple experience. Certainly, we are back!

Some of the sealing ordinances that we were able to complete on July 17, including three couples whose endowments had been received in the previous 10 days.

We have found that we are able to schedule temple ordinances in many other temples and have taken advantage of this where possible, including for our planned Church History visits in September. We have since been able to add a scheduled visit to the Palmyra Temple and are still hoping that we can schedule a visit to the Nauvoo Temple before September.

My scheduled ordinances the night of July 8, 2021

Other ordinances for our own grandchildren:

We had a few other special experiences with gospel ordinances with our grandchildren. We were able to participate in a blessing day with Pollyanna's two daughters on June 20, 2021. The following comes from my journal entry that day.

"A few weeks ago Pollyanna talked to her bishop and arranged for her daughters, Paisley and Haivyn, to be blessed today. At that time she asked me if I would perform the blessings. Paisley is now four years old and was never blessed previously and Haivyn was born just a few months ago.

When it came time to bless Paisley, I told her that she had a gift of reverence for God and sacred things. She was blessed to foster that gift and use it to invite sacred moments and experiences into her life. As I blessed Haivyn, I told her that she had a gift of light that radiates through her personality and smile. I blessed her that her light would influence and strengthen her parents and family. There were other blessings promised but these have stuck in my mind.

I am thankful to have this experience with two special granddaughters. I am grateful to Pollyanna and Rick for allowing me to be the voice to deliver Heavenly Father’s blessings to their daughters. I am thankful for the promptings of the Spirit that reminded me why we give blessings and to not shy away from blessing these two girls as Heavenly Father desires."

Pollyanna with her family on this special day

Haivyn in her blessing dress

Paisley in her blessing dress

On July 10, we were able to participate in the baptism of Jared's daughter, Ellie. The following comes from my journal entry on that special day:

"Today we had the privilege to go to Hyrum, Utah and participate in the baptism of our granddaughter, Ellie Digerness. She was so happy and excited for her baptism. She seemed to have a maturity that we wish all of our grandchildren could experience. She was radiant. I was very impressed with Jared as he performed the baptism and the confirmation for his oldest child. I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I stood in the confirmation circle. This was not only for Ellie but for the joy of seeing Jared honor his priesthood and give a beautiful blessing to his daughter. These are the times when we see the fruit of our labors with our children."

Ellie with her grandparents before her baptism

Ellie with her dad, Jared

Ellie with her parents after the ordinances

"After the baptism we all went to the Hyrum Fire Station where Jared volunteers to accommodate the large number of relatives that wanted to honor Ellie and support her. Jared took the opportunity to take many of Ellie’s cousins for a ride in the Fire Truck afterwards."

Ellie at the fire station with her baptismal dress

With her grandma in front of the fire truck

Answers to Prayer:

With our teenage cousin retreat coming up, we wanted to have copies of "My Life Journey" to share with each of the teenage grandchildren. Before printing the volume of books, I decided to make one more update of formatting, which included adding a few more photos. The following comes from my June 26 journal:

"Today I was completing a final version of My Life Journey, fixing final formatting, etc. To get my formatting correct, I added or resized a few photos so that my pages would print as I desired. Therefore I added a few photos that I had recently found from my young mission days.

In this process, I once again searched for a photo that I had several months ago of myself and my three friends that had gone on a post high school graduation trip to California. I had felt that this would be a perfect photo to put in my childhood chapter in the “Friends” section. Somehow I had found this photo several months ago, but when it came time to scan photos into the computer I could not find it. I had talked to my mother about this particular photo. She remembered it, for it was sent to my mother by my grandmother Rose who took the photo when we had visited her on this trip. I have searched all of my locations and my mother’s files repeatedly over the past few months without success.

Today I searched in my locations again without success. I thought, I will make my final published version today. It is now or never. So, for the first time in this process, I offered a prayer to my Heavenly Father on this matter. I told Him that I would like this photo to be included and that I would take one last look through my mother’s photo and history journals. If I could find it, I would include it. If not, I would forget it.

As I completed my prayer, I went to my mother’s closet and looked at her many journal books. I decided to look first in her first life story Book of Remembrance which is about 5 inches thick. As I got the book down and I flipped it open, it opened exactly to the page where this photo was. I was amazed. I had thought that I had looked here previously. Finally, in answer to my first prayer asking for help with this specific matter, the answer opened immediately to my view.

I have heard of this kind of answers from others, especially from my wife. However, I have never experienced this personally. I am ashamed to say that seldom have I asked for this type of help, generally trusting on my “arm of flesh”. What a kind and wonderful Heavenly Father that I have. I pray that I can trust Him and ask for His help much more in my life."

The missing photo, found by prayer

Some of the author copies of My Life Journey purchased for our Grandchildren retreat

Preparing for our "Teenager Cousin Retreat 2021":

This week we will be holding our Teenage Grandchildren retreat, beginning on July 29. We have been planning this for two years. It was postponed last year due to the Pandemic. We thought about doing this once we saw the friendship that developed during our Bear Lake family reunion in 2019. We wanted to have a way to keep these relationships developing. We planned on bringing cousins from Pennsylvania to Utah and inviting them and all others to participate. For this year, we ended up inviting 16 cousins from the age of 11 to 18. The invitations that we sent out this year follow:

As we pondered this retreat, we recognized that our grandchildren are from very different backgrounds with different faith experiences. In September 2019, I recorded the following in my Come Follow Me study notes while studying the book of Galatians:

From Come Follow Me: Perhaps you are trying to walk in the Spirit, but it doesn’t seem like your efforts are bearing the promised fruit. Read Galatians 6:7–10 (often referred to as the law of the harvest). What message do you feel the Lord has for you in these verses?

To not be weary in well doing. Some who have felt judged by me will need much time, especially when they do not allow interaction at this time. But “in due season we will reap”. When the moments are right for them I must be strong in my meekness and love. I should focus more efforts on those who “are of the household of faith”.

I have felt this as we reach out to our teenage grandchildren. We should reach out in a way that will strengthen those who are on the covenant path and invite others, but not diminish our efforts to those of the household of faith. This should guide our efforts for our teenager activity week next summer."

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Therefore, as we planned this activity, we wanted to focus on an activity with several spiritually oriented experiences to strengthen the faith of those who are on the covenant path. As we have invited 16 grandchildren, we believe that 12 of them will be attending. Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in getting responses to our communication with Camila's children.

We have felt driven to do this Cousin Retreat. Consecrated funds have been used to make it a reality. It feels like the Lord is guiding our plans along the way. As we have tried to prepare, the following are a few of the spiritual experiences that we have already felt:

Initially we had planned on spending a full day doing baptisms for the dead in various temples. Even though temples are now open, it is impossible to get appointments to accomplish what we had planned. Before we knew it, the time in the Jordan River Temple for July 29 had already been taken. I was frustrated and didn't know if we could do any baptisms for the dead with our 7 grandchildren who had temple recommends. As I prayed about it, the Lord made it clear that performing these baptisms at the end of our retreat would work out better. Trusting the Lord, I still tried to find when I could be successful in getting this appointment scheduled. On June 23, I was able to talk to the Assistant Recorder of the Jordan River Temple, who I had known from my working days. He clarified to me that the August schedule will become available at 12:00 midnight on June 30. I was able to log into the Temple reservation system at this time and was successful in scheduling these baptisms at 8:00 am on August 3, our last day of the retreat. As we have put together the final plans, this has worked perfectly. We were also able to add a visit to the Church History Museum, which only opens to the public on August 2.
During our April 30 anniversary celebration, Debbie and I were able to visit Thanksgiving Point for the Tulip Festival. As part of that visit we were able to see the Light of the World sculpture exhibit, which is amazing. At this time we decided to include this in our plans for the Cousin Retreat. We were able to buy an annual grandparent pass to Thanksgiving Point which includes unlimited grandchildren. The Thanksgiving Point visit with many other fun activities planned will begin with each of our grandchildren sharing one of the sculptures with their cousins. We were also able to schedule a visit to the visitors center at the construction site of the new Orem Temple, relatively close to Thanksgiving Point. This is supervised by our dear friends from our mission, Elder and Sister Hacking.
We have wanted to have a hike experience, including a solo experience for our grandchildren to reflect on God's nature and their own lives. I wanted to make sure we had the right spot, so I planned on making the hike last week to check it out. On Monday morning, Debbie told me that she had felt impressed that I take our grandson Jon on this hike with me, to involve him in the process. Her suggestion felt perfect with me. On Thursday morning, Jon and I spent a delightful 4 hours together, bonding in a way well beyond my expectations. I was taken back by the goodness of this grandson, that has been hidden behind some of his sometimes misbehaving actions. He shared his testimony with me in a very tender way. Two immediate benefits: I was able to get a glimpse of his goodness, as God sees him. Second, Jon has bought into this activity and will be a major asset, where he could have been a distraction in our week.
We are excited to experience the Family History Interactive Discovery exhibit on Thursday before we go to feed the homeless at the Rescue Mission. Both of these activities came together in the past few months. In fact, the Family History library only opened to the public this month. We had a delightful experience previewing this amazing interactive opportunity that we believe will be super enjoyable for all of our grandchildren.
We have even added a movie theater experience with the new "Witnesses" movie that was released the first of last month. We have found that although most theaters no longer are showing this movie, one in Sandy still does and Tuesday is their discount admission day. So it will be a perfect way to follow up on our visit to the Church History museum before we wind up our activity.

There are other miracles that have occurred. At least ten of our grandchildren plan on being with us the entire time. Others will participate in some activities. All will be exposed to spiritual experiences in the middle of fun activities. Our goal is primarily to strengthen relationships with each other and also with God. We are excited and anxious. We will report back in our next blog.

Some of the Light the World sculptures at Thanksgiving Point

Hiking with Jon in preparation for the Cousin Retreat

Checking our LEGO sculptures at Thanksgiving Point with our son Jacob

Neighborhood 4th of July gathering:

Our ward has tried to encourage us to be more missionary minded within our own community. The Elders Quorum has been planning ways for us to get to know all of our neighbors better, if they worship with us at Church or not. The ward was divided into several groups and asked to organize a neighborhood breakfast or other activity sometime around the 4th of July. Debbie and I and another couple were asked to organize this activity for the 16 condos close to us.

We visited with the neighbors in the eight condos near us, inviting them to participate in this breakfast on the morning of July 5th. As we invited them, we got to know neighbors in a wonderful way. All were happy to be invited and accepted the invitation to bring food to share. The other couple had the same experience with their eight condos. In the end we had a wonderful breakfast with individuals from 13 of the 16 condos participating. We were thrilled to get to know our neighbors better, including some that we had never met before, even though they lived close by.

We find that when we follow our local leadership with obedience, blessings flow. What a joyful way to start our 4th of July holiday!

Set up for our breakfast in the parking pads between two of our neighbors, central to the 16 condos

Plenty of food prepared and shared between neighbors

Another view of our neighborhood breakfast. Yes one family even has two children at home.

Most importantly, a good time was had by all

Serving in the Homeowner's Association:

One of the benefits of serving in the Homeowner's Association of our Condominium is meeting so many of our neighbors. Sometimes it is in the middle of adversity. In the past two months we have had three water line breaks, causing disruption of water service and costly repairs. However, in the middle of all this, the residents work together to find solutions and help one another. It is a wonderful neighborhood to live in, with so many kind individuals.

Working with one of the contractors who repairs our water leaks

Digging to find and repair another water leak near to the foundation of one of the condos

A major water vault installed at the end of our property to be a water shut off for the water lines going to the temple. All this is part of our role in the HOA.

Zoo Days:

In early June we enjoyed a few Zoo Days with our grandchildren before our annual pass expired. We scheduled two different visits, June 11 and 14 while the temple was closed for maintenance. We had 11 grandchildren each day, with several parents coming to help out. This has become a memorable activity that really helps our grandchildren to get to know each other better.

The Wednesday group. Twin babies are not in the photo.

Saturday group, also missing little Haivyn from the photo

Other miscellaneous photos from the zoo:

Other Activities:

Debbie and her siblings planned a much needed family reunion for her and her four siblings and their posterity. It was held on July 24. Even though many were not able to be there, there were from 80 to 90 attending. It went really well. We need to be able to connect with our extended family more often. We provided croquet and frisbee golf as activities. We were inspired to prepare a similar activity for my siblings and their posterity in September. Hopefully it can be as successful as the Moeller Family Reunion.

Many of those meeting and eating in the back of Gary Moeller's home in Midway

A few of the children and youth playing Frisbee golf

We were also able to support our daughter-in-law, Renica, as she plays football with the Utah Falconz. In this game they won the semi-final game of the Western U.S. regionals by a score of 40-0. Renica is number 56, in the middle of the action of this photo.

We enjoyed one more theater show at the Hale Center Theater, also a special time.

Moroni and his car. Helping Moroni with his car challenges has been a continuing part of our lives. It is amazing to me how much Heavenly Father helps out. Early this month, Moroni had a break down in his car that we just purchased in February. It seemed to be a problem in the engine, not an exciting situation. We arranged for a tow truck to tow the car into a repair shop. They suspected that it was a bad engine. When we bought the car, we had problems with the check engine light, which was finally resolved by the dealership, somehow getting the emissions testing to pass.

As we pondered what to do, Moroni looked on-line and found that Kia had a recall out for engine defects for his model. We went ahead and had the car towed to a Kia dealership and invested money for a diagnosis. Amazingly, we have found that the bad engine is covered under this recall that came out a few years ago. Moroni will get a brand new engine in his car at no cost. I do believe that Heavenly Father looks down on Moroni more than Moroni is aware. We have to wait for the car to get repaired. In the meantime, Moroni is borrowing our second car, but at least there is hope in the future.

Recall notice for 2012 Kia Optima Engine

We do use our birthdays and Mothers and Fathers Days to make purhases that help make our life easier. For Mothers Day, Debbie got a study desk. For Fathers Day, I received a new office chair. Now our office is much more functional.

When we were driving to the Mount Timpanogos Temple, Debbie got a phone call from our Bishop asking her to speak in sacrament meeting two days later. He asked her to speak on her ancestors, celebrating Pioneer Day this month. Debbie couldn't accept since we were attending the missionary talk of our nephew, Joshua Rueckert that Sunday. The next week, the bishop sent an email asking members to volunteer to give Pioneer related talks the remainder of the month. We decided to accept his general request if he would let us speak on our German ancestors. Therefore we each spoke the next Sunday, July 18, about our German ancestors who were pioneers in a different way. The talks went well and we learned even more about our amazing ancestors who first accepted the gospel in Germany.

Birthdays and Other Family opportunities:

With as many grandchildren as we have, we constantly have opportunities to visit with our children and their families. Sometimes we are able to provide some child care service also. All together, we are pleased to be able to always be visiting with our children throughout the year. The last two months have provided this same opportunity:

Celebrating Ellie's 8th birthday at the end of our Zoo visit

Dawson enjoying his books for his 6th birthday

Grandma sharing Come Follow Me videos with her grandchildren, while their parents were at the temple, before the birthday celebration

Tending Serenity while Kari and Michael celebrated Kari's Birthday

Enjoying bubbles with some of Jared and Kari's children during our overnight tending opportunity

Tending Pollyanna's kids while she was at a work meeting

Celebrating Naliyah's 18th birthday and graduation, also with Natalia present. This helped us also to arrange their participation in the Cousin Retreat.

Celebrating Jasper's 8th birthday the next day

Owen, enjoying his birthday book on his 2nd birthday

Grant enjoying his birthday book on his 3rd birthday, two days later

Quinn and Reilly during Grant's 3rd birthday

Ella celebrating a birthday party in Nibley while she is with her dad during summer parent time. Her 6th birthday will come later in the year. We had to attend this one by Zoom.

During these visits, we also got to see our newest granddaughters again. Some of the perks of celebrating or tending.