Obedience and Charity

Yesterday we received an invitation to join some members of the Ward at a "Game" party to be held Saturday evening. That was very nice, I thought. We won't go because they showed pictures of the games they play and "playing cards" were included. I learned a long time ago by my parents example, and by the counsel of local Church leaders and Prophets, that playing games with "playing cards" is an unwise use of time.

Someone once said to me that I was missing some really great movies--that I was missing out on some of the "really good things in life"--because I wouldn't watch a really popular movie that had rave reviews. It was also rated "R," so I wouldn't watch it. I told them, and I really feel it to my core, that it doesn't matter if I miss some "really great things" by living high standards. The Celestial Kingdom with my family is my goal, and it will take my concentrated, happily obedient, willing to serve effort! As long as we don't miss that, it won't hurt to miss some of  what others might consider "the really good things!"

I don't know why all that popped out of me, but I believe it with all of my heart! Now I will get to the subject I intended to share.

I am to give the Spiritual Thought this morning in District Mtg. I came across this scripture in Hebrews 13:1-3

"Let brotherly love continue, Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being ourselves also in the body."

The Lord teaches so many things on a mission! We discovered on our first mission that it was not so scary to meet new people. That was such a blessing to us shy farm children! Even tho' we were in such a controlled atmosphere--the new people we were meeting were all missionaries! Then we had all those years of loving the students in our music groups! What a blessing that has been in our lives! And what a blessing it is to us now as we meet all these new people to discover more and more love growing in our hearts. We are always meeting angels!

This is our District from the MTC. We grew to love them, and all the people we worked with, so quickly!

This picture from the MTC is of a baptism where missionaries are baptizing while the villagers are ready to fight off crocodiles! It is a beautiful example of love to me, and of the importance of obedience to the Lord's commandments!

Moroni 7:46 reminds us that if we have not charity we are nothing.  How kind it is of the Lord to answer the prayers we have sent up to Him begging for that gift, by giving us these great opportunities to learn to love!

Today was "Apartment Checks" in Port Angeles and Forks!

 

It has been 5 weeks since we first did apartment checks. We had asked the missionaries if they would like us to come right before transfers or right after. They all said that it would be better for them if we came after, so that is what we scheduled. The new missionaries coming in felt the brunt of that decision and from now on we will check right before transfers! 

I got up early this morning and made 6 loaves of bread and as soon as they were out of the oven we headed out. 

The Sisters in Port Angeles II are so bright and cheery that it is a joy to visit them! Their apartment was clean and they had exciting experiences to share with us! They wanted some advice about a tulip plant someone had given them that was looking a little pale. I couldn't help them.  They had drowned it with love.

The new Elder in Port Angeles I, looked a little frightened as I made suggestions about what needed improving, and was so glad to tell me that the dresser with clothes hanging out and on it was the Zone Leader's--not his! It is a hard place to clean because it is old and small and the missionaries are big but the Zone Leader did go in and shut his dresser drawers. I asked him when he planned to get married. Dad was a bit shocked at the question, but the Elder could tell me right off! His girlfriend will be returning from her mission just after he gets home and they already have a time in mind. I explained that she probably thinks he is a knight in shining armor, but she won't if she finds out he is a slob! Instead of lovingly searching for ways to serve him she will feel like a maidservant! He blushed a little and said he could see my point. 

We went with them to look at an apartment they had found that they felt would be better, but when we saw it we thought it was still too small and $300 more! Empty, it looked much better to them!

     The trip to Forks is always beautiful, and tho' we were in a hurry because we were taking the Elders to lunch, we did take a minute to stretch our legs and shoot some pictures--not much different than our last trip but with clear skies in stead of rain.

Crescent Lake is huge! It goes for miles and is very beautiful.

 Dad read the information on this marker that declared the lake was created by a huge glacier millions of years ago and wondered just how they knew! Then he showed me where we would go wading when it was summer time.

 I wanted a picture of the stones covered with moss so he made me stand by them and then I caught a picture of him as he came up from the lake.

 There wasn't a place to pull off the road so I didn't get a picture of a tree trunk so thickly covered in moss that large ferns were growing out of it!

 Forks isn't that far away from Port Angeles, but the road is all curves so one can only drive 35 - 45 miles per hour. Its a good thing the scenery is pretty!

The Elders in Forks are great and while we were there the Zone Leader called and said they had found the perfect apartment for us to look at when we got back in town. We had thought of taking the long way home on the road that follows the ocean, but because we needed to help them we hurried back the 35 mph way we had just come.

The apartment was great! I would love to move into it! The rent is $375 more than their current apartment so we will see what the Mission President says. The Elders felt so loved tho' that we talked to the Housing Coordinator and pulled for them. (The Housing Coordinator calls me "Sis" because I look like his sister, the non-member man (and his wife) that we so love and visit every week says I look like  his first wife, and a woman at a fireside Sunday evening asked me if I had been there to speak about 12 years ago--she thought she recognized me. It happens to me all the time! I must have the most generic face in the world!

Love you all! Thanks for sharing our adventure with us!

We're glad that you live in this beautiful world Heav'nly Father created for us!

"We Are As the Army of Helaman"

Tuesday was Transfer Day in the Washington Tacoma Mission. That means all the missionaries were on pins and needles the end of last week waiting to see if they were moving or staying. Sister Harris and Sister Wilkinson had only been here together for 6 weeks and were working so well together that they were sure they wouldn't get moved, but Saturday evening after "the call" Sister Harris came to say goodbye. Both Sisters will be training brand new missionaries and Sister Harris will be in a new Zone.

Everyone is excited to go to Transfer Meeting! It is the only time you get to see all your old companions and the missionaries you came out with--and you can only go if you or your companion is being transferred. It is a coveted opportunity because you get to hear all the missionaries speak who have completed their mission , and meet the brand new "baby" missionaries who are introduced. The missionaries pray together, listen to each other speak, receive instruction and encouragement from President and Sister Blatter, sing together (music is big in this mission) and then they leave for their new assignments.

We hauled luggage for 3 departing Elders in our car to the meeting and returned with two Elders and their luggage.

One last group hug before transfers! The Sisters in the middle are Sister Harris and Sister Wilkinson.

It was while we were sitting in the meeting, watching the missionaries we knew and loved, that I realized how very much they were like the Army of Helaman. Their beautiful smiles were real, but there was a strained look on their faces and even a pallor in some as they headed out to new assignments with their new companions. You could see that they were having to "gird up [their] loins, fresh courage take." Their parents would have been so proud.

When we had our first interview with the Mission President he said, These are not your typical, "came out of a strong Church heritage, missionaries. Even though several of these missionaries are from Utah or Arizona, many of them come from difficult backgrounds and have had to fight for a testimony." We have heard some of their stories and find what he said to be true. We are proud of them!

"... and we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth!"

Linda's Talk in Sequim Bay Ward, Sunday, Feb 15, 2015

I lived in Heaven a long time ago, It is true.
Lived there and loved there with people I know, So did you.
Then Heavn'ly Father presented a beautiful plan,
All about earth and Eternal Salvation for man.

I know I am a beloved child of Heavenly Father--and so are you...I know that we are brothers and sisters. We chose in the Great Council in Heaven to come to earth for we understood what the Lord showed Moses, as recorded in Moses 1:33, 39

"And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for my own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine only Begotten.

For behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

Father said He needed someone who had enough love

To give His life so we all could return there above.

There was another who sought for the honor divine.

Jesus said, Father, send me, and the glory be thine.

I know that we loved and trusted our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that we had been taught the Gospel--the great Plan of Happiness and Exaltation.

In D&C 138:55-56 we read of the vision of the Spirit World given to President Joseph Smith:

"I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God. 

Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in His vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men."

Tho' we knew mortality would be challenging and full of tests and trials, even pain and suffering, when we understood that Jesus Christ would come too, to teach us and lead us by example, and with His great Atoning Sacrifice, would open the way for us to return to the presence of our Father, we shouted for joy! Job 38:7

Jesus was chosen and as the Messiah He came, 
Conquering evil and death through his glorious name,
Giving us hope of a wonderful life yet to be,
Home in that Heaven where Father is waiting for me.

And so we came to earth life, to receive a body, to learn how to care for it, how to master it--to use it as a sacred gift that would help us become like our Father in Heaven.

The very senses of our wonderful bodies can help us to recognize the love of our Heavenly Father!

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose or walk by our lilac tree,
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings. He gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things. He gave me my life, my mind, my heart, 
I thank him reverently,
For all His creations of which I'm a part,
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

I was 15 years old. My good LDS friends were doing something my parents felt was unwise and could lead to trouble in their lives. I wanted to do it too, but my parents counseled me against it and I was feeling rebellious toward them for "everyone else was doing it and their parents were ok with it!" I could not understand why my parents had to view things so differently!

I confided my frustration to my best friend saying, "I feel like my mom is just jealous of my opportunities!"

Mother felt that it was time for my sister and me to have a Patriarchal Blessing. The Stake Patriarch's name was Scott B. Brown. I had never met him before, nor had my mother. Though I did not feel really worthy of a blessing because I was upset with my mother, when we got there he said a prayer and then invited me to sit upon the chair and placed his hands upon my head. He pronounced a blessing upon me of teachings, promises and counsel.

My blessing started by reminding me that I was here in this earth life to build upon a foundation which was laid in the Spirit world before we came to earth, that in the councils of Heaven I had chosen to follow the Savior of the world and to keep His commandments. Then he said,

"You selected to come and certain parents were chosen for you, that you might be born of goodly parents and be instructed by them in the ways of the Lord. Now, Sister Higginson, you parents are very desirous that your life be clean and pure and upright, not because they are jealous of you, but because they know what the future holds for you--and there is a great future for you."

I wondered if he could tell that figuratively, I had crawled under my chair!

And then, I received the very counsel from the Lord that I had been receiving from my mother!

What did I learn from that experience?

        That I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows me intimately!!
        That Priesthood power and authority is real!
        That the choices I make in this life are very important to my success and happiness.
        And I learned that I would be wise to follow the counsel of my parents!

My life is a gift, My life has a plan, 
My life has a purpose, in Heav'n it began.
My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth 
And seek for God's light to direct me from birth.

I will follow God's plan for me,
Holding fast to His word and His love.
I will work, and I will pray; I will always walk in His way.
Then I will be happy on earth, and in my home above.

I know that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and has a perfect plan for my happiness and eternal glory. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, and through Him I can be healed and cleansed and empowered to accomplish all that is required of me. I know that through the Prophet Joseph Smith the priesthood of God has been restored to the earth and with it all the ordinances of salvation, and that living prophets and apostles walk the earth today. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. I know that things I have taught are true and I testify of them in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

After my talk, I sang with a women's group, the Primary Song, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." We had arranged the chorus in three parts and the women were willing to work together for 2 hours to make it beautiful! It was really fun. Now the Bishop of Sequim Ward wants me to put together musical numbers and coach the people on them so that we can have musical numbers in Sacrament meeting and bless the lives of the people who sing and listen. I said I would love to! 

Dad gave a wonderful talk but didn't think that putting talks on the blog was a good idea because no one would want to read that much. I said they didn't have to if they didn't want to but I will put it on as soon as he gives it to me. (After looking at this I think he is probably right, but I will still do it.)

Our first talks, given in the Dungeness Ward were on Reverence and the Book of Mormon. These, in the Sequim Bay Ward, were on the Plan of Salvation, and next Sunday we will speak in the Happy Valley Ward on the Four Gospels. It will be fun to see how that turns out!

We have had such wonderful experiences visiting members, some very active--even temple workers--who the Bishops see need encouragement! And we have had inspiring experiences visiting non-members and helping the young Sisters and Elders teach them as a second witness and someone who can share experiences and understanding. We are teaching one part-member family the Ward Mission Leader in Port Angeles asked us to teach because the wife did not like the Elders. A widow and her grandson that we helped teach came to Church this Sunday and J----, who we taught with the Sisters on Saturday, came to Church to hear us speak. He explained to Dad afterward that he felt he had done pretty well putting together the puzzle of life and suddenly, a whole lot of new pieces had been dumped in his lap! He was emotional about it and seemed very willing to learn more. On the way out of the church building he saw a picture of the Savior visiting the Nephites. He stopped and said, "So, this looks like you believe that Jesus came to the Indians!" When Dad explained to him that indeed we did, and that he could read about it in the Book of Mormon, he was thrilled! Now he said, he understood why the natives knelt before Cortez and other Spanish conquerers thinking that they were the White God! (Most people don't connect the dots that quickly!)

Today we had a wonderful visit with J____ and H____. I was determined that we would sit down so I took our family newsletter and Dad took some pictures of the log house to show H___ and the census record of his family that Dad had found. We did indeed sit and they both seemed to enjoy what we brought. Then at the table both during and after lunch they started asking more questions! We were delighted and I started sharing the first part of my talk. They were carefully listening and then their Catholic neighbor came to visit. I thought, "Oh dear, we are going to lose our opportunity again!" I started praying about what to do and that the lady would leave, but the strangest thing happened...suddenly H___ and J___ started telling her the wonderful things about the Mormon Church! How it is so family oriented that they even have the littlest children with them in their Sacrament, which they said would be like her Mass. The Lord was softening their hearts by letting them defend and explain our church to their friend! 

After she left, they wanted to talk more, but we needed to leave, so we asked if we could bring the Bible and the Book of Mormon next week and start at the very beginning to teach them what we believe!!! They said, "Yes." We are so excited!

Tomorrow we will take our car full of Elder's luggage to Tacoma for transfers. We will lose 6 of the 8 missionaries in our District! 
We will miss them!

Love you!

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know who I am. I know God's plan. I'll follow Him in faith.

I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ. 
I'll honor His name. I'll do what is right; I'll follow His light. His truth I will proclaim!

The Old Sequim and the New Sequim.

The Sequim of a few years ago was a big dairy community. 

"President" and Sister Shaw, who first started inviting the missionaries to lunch each Wednesday about 35 years ago when he was the Bishop and then the Stake President, and has done it ever since, was telling us about it. He said when he grew up here, and even when he and Sister Shaw were raising their children, there were about 300 big dairy operations here. Now, he says with regret in his voice, there are only 3 left. Most of the people have sold out to developers because they couldn't make enough money or they retired and their kids wanted a different kind of life. 

The land that the chapel sits on was donated to the Church by his dad and was built in 3 stages. Fifty years ago there was a little Branch here, part of the Northwestern States Mission. Now there are 3 wards in Sequim, 2 in Port Angeles, a Branch in Joyce,  2 wards in Chimacum (the Port Townsend Ward and Chimacum, which includes Port Ludlow,)  and a ward in Forks, all part of the Port Angeles Stake.

This old grain elevator, so much the center of the economy years ago, represents the old Sequim.

This is the new Sequim. With all the stores we think of as necessary to our convenience in this day and age--a Walmart, a Costco, a small JC Penny's. We can tell that President Shaw, who is now in his 80's, misses the old Sequim, and Sister Shaw feels very uncomfortable with the new "round-a-bouts" that one is never sure how to safely get in, and uncertain if one will ever get out!

There are many people here that have moved up from southern California, from the eastern U.S., and from other parts of Washington, because the weather here is so beautiful--especially they say, in June. They all say, "Just wait until summer! You will never want to leave!"

I want to tell you about some of the people we have met and learned to love.

First there is the couple who rent an apartment to some of the Elders. They are not members of the Church, but for some reason, when we met them the first time we loved each other! He is 89 years old and she is probably in her late 70's. He is so deaf that he wears some kind of head phones hooked to a machine that amplifies everything. Still, he mostly lip reads. He was an architect by profession, and when he retired he decided to build his dream house with big beams and real river rock. He planned it, then set about figuring out how to do it. He found an old bridge built of huge beams that was being demolished to make way for a steel bridge. He bought the whole bridge for $5,000. He hired someone to help him pull the bridge apart and haul the beams to his site. He and Dad laughed because He spent days and days pulling 10 inch spikes out of the 18x18 beams, while Dad was pounding them in to build our log house! He hauled large river rocks to the site and used them to build some of his walls and the fireplace. We loved seeing the house and looking at his dreams come to reality.

We stayed for almost an hour the very first time we met and they begged us to come again to visit. We said we would come the next week because we would be coming to check the Elder's apartment again so that they could pass my inspection! (We have to score the Elder's and Sister's cleanliness and since I won't turn in a bad score they sometimes have to do it over. It was much cleaner the second time!)

We visited again the second time--mostly about the houses and horses. He loved that Michael trained horses! And as the first time, she and I mostly talked together and Elder Walker and he mostly visited and laughed. When we left, afraid that we had overstayed our welcome, they begged us to come again the next week. We couldn't come on Saturday, but said that we could visit on Monday. We had discovered that visit that one of her daughters was a Mormon! In fact she called while we were there and "J" showed me pictures of her fine family. The daughter has done very well in real estate in Seattle, and she and her husband are planning to retire early and soon serve a mission!

The next time we visited we sat down in the living room together and we asked them to tell us about themselves. This is a third marriage for both of them--their second marriages were to each other, and their third also! They were cute explaining that one! We asked more questions and "H" grew softer and softer and more and more open. He talked a little about the religion he had been raised in and how he had attended other churches--rather the opposite of Mormons. It was harder for her to share with us and as he got softer she got a bit more tense. It was time for us to go--probably past time--when "H" asked Bruce if he had gone on a mission as a young man and why we were serving a mission now? They had company coming and we needed to get out of their hair so we couldn't answer, but they invited us to come back for lunch the next Monday, which is tomorrow.

I was amazed that they would continue to invite us--afraid we would wear out our welcome, but the Elders say that they love us and as long as they are the ones inviting we have nothing to worry about. We are praying that tomorrow we will be inspired and the Spirit of the Lord will help us and will testify to them if we get to go further in our discussions. It will be interesting to see if the subject of religion continues or is skirted. Pray for them and us, please!

Another couple we love is the Pinkstons! They are members of the Church who moved here about 12 years ago with 3 other couples from southern California. She was a city girl, raised in a part-member family where the parents turned to alcohol when heavy financial troubles came. She wanted to be pure and clean and stayed away from the life style her parents and brothers and sisters adopted. She went to BYU where she participated in the Women's Chorus, and where she met Brother Pinkston.
They fell in love and married August 18, 1961-- just 4 days before us!

They are such a happy, positive couple! She loved to paint and has beautiful paintings all over her walls! She loved learning and taking part in cultural things so she always wanted to live in the city. Brother Pinkston always longed for a more rural setting.

Then Sister Pinkston was stricken with MS. She lost her ability to do the detailed movement oil painting required and turned to water colors. Soon she lost the ability to paint at all. She is essentially quadriplegic. Since she couldn't enjoy participating in the city life she loved, she told her husband that it was his turn to choose and she would go anywhere he wanted. They came up here to visit friends and fell in love with the area. They live in a beautiful setting and she lays in a chair all day. She smiles and laughs gently when we come, and loves visiting. He says he is relegated to visiting with the RS sisters about recipes, etc! Who would have ever expected such a fate! (He also says he would like to learn how to make bread like mine, so we will have a bread making day.) But, he says it all with a smile, teases his wife, shows us pictures of the beautiful girl she was when they met, and tells faith promoting stories.

When we were admiring them for the positive way they handle the big challenges or problems in life she said, "If you're positive about your big problems, they become little problems!"

What great people!

Whoops! It is 11 pm! Past our bedtime. I'll try to write more soon.

Love you!
Elder and Sister Walker

I read all my blogs last night and realized I left you in the middle of a story!

Remember the fort and the "Fabulous" on the door? Well, I had decided that to show my gratitude for those "tender mercies" in my life I would bake some bread and take it to both those neighbors and express my appreciation to them. It took a couple of weeks to get everything in order so that I could do it--like one day I was ready and realized when I went to the freezer to get yeast that it was in the freezer at home! Then I thought perhaps I had better not make it straight whole wheat, I had better get some white flour to put in it! Finally I was ready!

I mixed up a beautiful batch of bread, let it raise and then opened the cupboard to get the bread pans.......whoops! No bread pans! I had already punched the bread down twice and I was afraid to do it again and then still have to let it raise in the pans! Bruce generously offered to make a  mad dash to the store with me yelling, "Hurry! Hurry!" and I called Laura to share my dilemma! She had the perfect answer! "If Dad doesn't get back in time just make slits across the top like they do in French bread and bake it on a cookie sheet."

Well, Bruce hurried, but so did the bread on its third rising! Before he got home I felt I had to put it in the oven. It turned out very nicely! Attractive, kind of crusty, but really good! I took it out of the oven, wrapped tinfoil up around three of the loaves, put one loaf on a towel and headed out to meet and thank the neighbor with "Fabulous!" on her door. I rang the door bell in the front and no one came, but soon a lady peeked around the corner from the back of the house. "Do you need something?" I introduced myself and told her how much that word on her back door had cheered me, and how I wanted to meet the positive neighbor who had put it there. She laughed and said, "OH! That's my salon. I do nails! The name of my business is "Fabulous Nails!" She took the bread into her salon and had me take a peek. There was a lady sitting up on a raised platform soaking her feet so I didn't stay. I felt a little silly for some reason.

Then I decided to take two loaves to the neighbors with the fort. I knew someone was home because they had just let the 2 big dogs back in the house. I got the big gate open with a loaf of bread in each hand, and rang the doorbell. The dogs barked ferociously on the other side of the door, but no one came to answer. After I tried a couple of times I gave up and went home. It was very disappointing.

I watched for several days trying to catch the two high school boys who lived there when they came home from school to no avail, but one day I saw one of the boys come home with his girl friend. I ran out of the house and across the street calling to them. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" (I didn't know exactly what to say to get their attention.) They finally turned around and I told them I was  new neighbor and I had come a few days before to thank them for building that fort in their yard, but no one had answered the door. The boy said his parents had been sick with the flu. I asked if I could bring some bread over at 5 pm and meet their parents. He said, "Sure!" I asked him if he would watch for me because I didn't want the dogs to eat it before I could get it to the door. He and his girl friend laughed and agreed, so that evening I took two big loaves of hot fresh bread (made in my new bread pans) over to them and met Lisa, the mom. She even hugged me so I felt appreciated, and a little worried about getting the flu-- but I didn't.

Our First Trip to the Seattle Temple

Each month Senior Missionary couples are able to make the trip from our mission area into the Federal Way Mission and attend the Seattle Temple, so last Friday  Elder Walker and I set out with the trusty GPS, "Carmin," to do just that! We had the money ready for the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge and everything under control and then Carmin led us off the main road, to what purpose we knew not! But, being the naive, trusting people that we are, we followed obediently, saying things to each other like, "It says there is some delay ahead, perhaps there is an accident and she is taking us around it!" "This must be a detour! These Washington roads wind around so--you can tell the Mormons didn't settle this area!" etc.
We saw a notification about the Kingston Ferry up ahead. We still didn't know that meant we were taking the ferry! But we were in a line of cars pulling up to a booth with no where else to go!

The fee was $11.80, not too bad for a boat ride, we decided. I wondered at first if we had to leave our car parked there and take public transportation the rest of the way...but it became obvious that we were going on with our car and the 8 or so lines of other cars that were parked there. When we looked surprised at where we ended up the lady said, "Yeah, GPS's don't usually tell you that there is a ferry at the end. When you get off just take  I-5 and you'll get to Bellevue."

Well, the ferry ride was great--only about 25 minutes long, and then the harrowing adventure began! There were so many twists and turns and lane changes and road changes and everyone jumping in the almost too small space in front of us and lanes merging from the right into our lane as another lane merged into theirs--that means three lanes merging into one--and the exit just seconds ahead on the right! We were so uptight and nerve wracked, so certain of looming extinction--except that we were missionaries--so white knuckled and tooth-clenched--especially when Carmin was a little too fast or too slow so that we made a wrong lane change and ended up downtown looking for the escape route that would take us back into the insanity, that when we arrived at the beautiful serene temple we said, "Never again, no matter what, will we ever take I-5 through Seattle!"

 The temple experience was worth it all! It is a spot of Heaven in the midst of madness! So beautiful and serene. Such a perfect reminder of the Lord's way instead of the world's way!

We were invited to be the witness couple, which was a very sweet experience.

The Seattle Temple is the most reverent temple we have ever visited. Everyone was very quiet and led with inviting gestures instead of speech wherever possible. It was so calming and healing! (I wish everyone could see the difference in reverence when we remember we are there to visit with our Heavenly Father and not with each other.) 

They seem to have  learned that a warm smile and handclasp can communicate our regard for each other. (Reverence is stressed here in the chapel also. The Bishopric is always on the stand sitting reverently, smiling, rather than speaking, at least 10 minutes before Sacrament Mtg. Because it is taught and exemplified, people are not expecting the back-slapping friendliness we so often show in our chapels.)

We felt strengthened from the session and enjoyed eating dinner in the cafeteria downstairs. There people did speak to each other in friendliness but were still reverent!     It just didn't get noisy!

This bottom picture is of Dad doing his unconscious whistling (that I love) while he waits for me. The only time I didn't appreciate it (the whistling) was when he whistled once when I was saying prayers! I think that is proof his mind had wandered!

You might wonder how we got home. We drove south to Tacoma and around the long way. It was still very difficult because it was 5 o'clock traffic, but less nightmarish because we had been there before and knew what to expect. Oh, for the roads of home--or even of Utah where the streets make sense!

We love you all! Every day we meet more sweet and interesting people and feel more like we are able to contribute. If this weren't so long already I would tell you some experiences, but I will save those for another time.

Lots of love! Elder and Sister Walker