I Love to See the Temple

Many of you know that I have been staying with a family, the Samuelsons, for about a week and a half. They do not have high-speed internet, but they do have a good wireless signal from the school. I haven't been able to get it to work on my laptop, though. It has been driving me nuts! So, finally I figured out that my computer was trying to use the wrong program to connect. Once I figured that out, I just had to change the default setting, and now I have no problems connecting.

My life has not been exciting. Pathetic is more like it. The Samuelsons have been so good to me. I am grateful that they are here and so able to help. I have become a little sister (again!) to Elisabeth, who is 21 as well. We have a great time together. Although they have an a spare bedroom, I sleep on a mattress on the floor in Elisabeth's room. She has been so gracious in sharing her space. Shauna (Sister Samuelson) has become another mother, which is just what I need. We watch "What Not to Wear" and "Cash Cab" together during the day, and she makes sure I take my medication and eat three meals a day. . . . She won't let me leave the house unless I've eaten breakfast, and even if it's time for the next meal and I haven't eaten, she'll make sure I eat two meals. Brother Samuelson makes sure I'm included in family scripture study and prayer, he checks up on me a few times a day, and he gives me occasional friendly reminders to do my English 370R homework. . . . He's the teacher.

Last night I was able to go to the Cultural Celebration for the Rexburg Idaho Temple. Elder Nelson and Elder Bednar were both there with their wives. I was at the earlier performance, but I think President Monson was at the later performance. Too bad. It was quite a big production. It basically went through the history of Rexburg from the time the pioneers came here to settle to now. There was singing and dancing and videos to tell the story. They talked about how the conditions were for the pioneers, then about the beginning of Ricks Academy. They talked about a big fire in West Yellowstone that several students helped with and, of course, the dam flood. They then talked about the expansion of Ricks College and BYU-Idaho, and then about the construction of the temple and how it is a fulfillment of the prophecy made my Wilford Woodruff so many years ago.

This morning I went to the first of four sessions of the dedication. I was in the Kirkum Auditorium on campus for the dedication. President Monson, of course, presided, and he was accompanied by Elder Nelson, Elder Bednar, and Elder Costa (Presidency of the 70). President Eyring was supposed to be here, but he broke his ankle and was not allowed to travel. President Monson proved that he has the same sense of humor as President Hinckley when they were sealing the cornerstone. He is a great man, and I am so glad he was able to be here for this.

So, I guess that's all for now. I'll try to keep you all updated if more happens. Maybe I'll start going on hot dates and get engaged in my spare time. Or not. I don't have a very good record. I just realized that now that I am 21, I have been on one date every seven years of my life. Three dates, divided by 21 years. Pathetic, huh? Oh well. Some day. Maybe.

This just in!

By no stretch of the imagination would I ever claim to like Scroll, but yesterday I was able to get a glimpse of why real journalists like their work. Because of the recent passing of President Hinckley, Scroll decided to do an insert in this week's issue (that came out today) about President Hinckley's life. This meant we had an extra five pages put on us at the last minute. We were scrambling all day trying to get the paper ready to go to press. We were able to convince our gracious printers to give us a deadline extention so we could do the extra pages, but that just meant we all (or at least copy and a small handful of editors) had to stay late. I think it turned out all right, but we were sure in a rush to get it done. And we still got it to the printers late.

So while I was in the Scroll office last night, we began talking about the Rexburg Temple dedication, and how that might be affected by President Hinckley's passing. He, as well as several other apostles, were supposed to be in attendance. We started having a long discussion about when the funeral would be, an item we certainly wanted to be able to print on the front page. Brother Warnick, the i-Comm advisor, said, "Who can we call? I'll be back." He came out of his office a few minutes later and said, "President Hinckley's funeral will be on Saturday, as per his request so that people wouldn't miss work to attend." So then the inevitable question of the temple dedication came up. Who would dedicated the temple on Sunday? Again, Brother Warnick left, this time for a little longer, and came back, grinning ear to ear. He hardly made it into the office when he burst out, "This just in! The temple dedication has been postponed until the following Sunday!" We all asked how he found out, and he said, "I have friends in high places." He is on a first-name basis with many of the Church public relations people. I'm sure that's how he found out. Anyway, it was a very busy but exciting night as we were among the first in Rexburg to know the news. I was excited to tell my FHE group that night something that I was positive they did not know yet. We went to our bishop's house for FHE last night, and he told us the news. When everyone said they already knew, he said, "How did you guys get word so fast?" I smiled and said, "I work for the newspaper."

We're still not sure how all the details will be worked out as far as who will be in attendance now, but we're still excited for the dedication. There may be some upset brides (the temple is already booked months out), but I'm sure they'll get over it. They have no other choice.

The Rexburg Temple

The temple is definitely in the air here in Rexburg. I went through the Open House on January 17. When one of the ushers was showing me where to go, he said, "Single? All by yourself?" and he shook his head. Thank you, kind sir, for reminding me of my pathetic single life. The temple was absolutely amazing. I had never been inside a temple before, other than in the waiting room or baptistry. All of the designs, motifs, and murals were created by locals. A common motif throughout the entire temple is wheat. The idea stemmed from the wheat fields next to the temple. Even the refreshments after the Open House are from Broulim's and Albertson's. The temple will be dedicated on February 3 at 9:00 a.m. My ward is assigned to meet in the Kirkum for the dedication.

I have also been involved in a temple art project with one of my English teachers who is an accomplished watercolorist. He made 24 Rexburg Temple paintings that now hang in the McKay Library. I quickly learned the virtues of art critiquing and was able to give feedback and suggestions for how to improve the paintings (I hope!). I also helped edit his artist's statement, which is a talk that he gave at the show's opening reception. The night before the show I joined his family (or at least part of his family) in hanging the paintings. It was a lot work--deciding the order of the paintings according to size, color, theme, etc.; bending and cutting the metal hangers so the paintings would all hang at the right height; leveling the paintings; measuring the distance between paintings; hanging placards; and then taking the paintings and placards down and starting all over again whenever someone would say, "I don't think that is going to work. Those two paintings can't go next to each other." Two-and-a-half hours later, I was tired and sore, but very happy with out how it turned out. I also attended the opening reception Thursday night, which was wonderful. Being involved in this whole process has been very educational and provided me with many opportunities to meet new people. After working so closely with these paintings, I was almost sad when Brother Samuelson said he'd already sold four of them. I think I'll take pictures of them all before the show closes in March. They are beautiful paintings.

I received two new callings last Sunday. Last semester I was the compassionate service leader, and I figured I would stay there. This semester, however, I was called to be the Enrichment leader. I'm not sure how this is going to work out--I've never been in charge of something like this before, and the thought is very scary. My other calling was one I kind of asked for. Our ward was assigned to fill five slots for weekly Rexburg Temple workers, and I volunteered to be one of those five. I'm not sure what my assignment will be, but I was assured that I don't have to be endowed. It sounded like I will be doing baptisms every week. The student stakes also will have a monthly cleaning rotation. It's so cool to see how the temple has and is drastically changing the entire community.