We had a little different week of missionary activities. On Monday we ended up taking some sisters to a training meeting in Ogden. While we were there we did some shopping for family birthdays that are coming soon. Tuesday was one of the first prep days we have really used to rest even though there was plenty to do around the house and yard. It was a very nice day so in the afternoon we picked up some sandwiches and drove up Blacksmith Fork canyon for dinner and a walk. It was great to be outside and see the beautiful canyon. We saw several deer and wild turkeys on our trip through the area.
On Wednesday we had a new sister arrive in our area. She is Sister Sekoda. She is from Hawaii, her family are Tongan. She has a good attitude about the work and we feel she will be a good companion for Sister Hadden. One of our ward missionaries set up several appointments in her ward for visits with families about Family History. In some cases we also included the new Easter video recently released by the Church. It is a great reminder of the Savior's love and wonderful sacrifice for each of us. We also dropped in to talk with several people because it was hard to find families home since it was Spring break in the local schools. We had a great visit with a sister that lives next to our stake center. She has some health challenges but since she lives next to our stake center parking lot she is able to listen to Sacrament meeting on a device from her living room. That is a wonderful service that is available but unfortunately the signal doesn't travel too far so it has very limited use.
We had dinner with a neat young couple who have been married for about a year and she has a daughter from previous relationship. They are anxious to be able to go to the temple in the near future. After dinner we took Hallie and TeTe for yogurt treats because we are not going to be in town for Hallie's birthday on Friday.
Thursday we were able to meet in a zone study and meet most of the new missionaries that have transferred into our zone.Then we had a wonderful meal with a family who had three girls at home. What a delightful family! The father is from West Virginia and know quite a bit about his family. Being a good story teller, he frequently tells the children these stories and ties in a Gospel principle to the story. We encouraged them not only to work on the spiritual passport challenge in family history, but to also record or write some of the family stories and share them with other family members.
 Friday was a different day. We took two sisters to the Ogden Temple so they could attend a session with a recently reactivated sister they had both worked with. We then went on to Salt Lake and had lunch at the Lion House then went to the Legacy Theater to see "Meet the Mormons." We had seen it when it was first released but it was on a small screen and from a computer so it was difficult to feel the full impact of the film. We really had a great experience and we were pleased to see the size of the crowd that was there.
Our main reason for going South for the day was that our granddaughter Caroline had begun to write a play sometime ago. Recently she decided to complete the writing as part of her Young Women's medallion requirements. She chose a cast and wrote some music and had tryouts and was the director for the production.. After many practices and much hard work it was time to put it all together. The cast was prepared for the evening. They really did a nice job and had a pretty nice turnout from family and ward members. We were happy we made the effort to be there.
 Obviously, the highlight for the week was General Conference. We watched all the sessions from home and on Sunday had a sister who is returning to activity come to the house to watch with us. I debated on what to do Saturday night for the Priesthood session and decided to go to the stake center and watch with other priesthood holders there. I was thrilled that Pres. Monson spoke in the Priesthood session, then again on Sunday morning. He is obviously aging but has such a wonderful spirit and attitude for his calling. What a wonderful example of dedicated service!
I was sad to see some protesters register "no votes" during the sustaining of leaders and officers of the Church. All of the talks were obviously inspired. I was particularly touched with the talk on Grace by Pres. Uchtdorf. One of his statements was, "Salvation cannot be purchased with the currency of obedience." Then went on to explain that none of us can earn salvation, the only way we have hope for salvation is through the generous mercy and love of our Savior. He paid the price for our admission and no other way is available to reach that station of glory.