To Russia with Grandparent's Love and Thanks

Today we had a wonderful experience for which we are deeply greatful.  At one o'clock this afternoon Grandma Iris and I went up to the Temple with  the names of eighty-four of her ancestors, which had been cleared for temple ordinance work.  We deliberately had chosen forty-two females and forty-two males at this particullar time for a special reason.  One of the best parts of the experience was that Elder Jason Taylor Eborn was with us and that he had the opportunity to baptize his grandparents, Grandpa Bart and Grandma Iris, as proxies,  for these deceased relatives of his Grandma Iris.  He did a wonderful job and we were so happy to have him with us and to intorduce him as our missionary grandson, who will soon be off to the Russia Novosibirsk Mission to share the glorious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in that far off land.  We are honored to have a grandson who is so anxious and worthy to be involved in this great work.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people, the living and what we have come, since we have been actively working in the temple, to call them, "the living dead."  That is truly what they are.  Indeed, all of us fit into the category of the living dead unless we have become as Christ would have us be.  As JT was here at our place this afternoon, he was standing beside our  December Calendar with it's picture of Mary and Joseph and the Christ child.  I couldn't help but think at that moment,, that the Savior came, as a child, and grew from grace to grace, to fulfill a mission and "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"  Now our first grandson is off to do his part in this great mission.  What an honor it is to have him in our family, and what a privilege it is to be able to do our part, here at home, to be supportive of him, through our prayers and through our own actions, as we try more perfectly to understand and live the real message that we celebrate during the Chritmas season and throughout the year.  JT will be a great missionary, and we will all be better for his service and our prayers and actions in his support.  Thanks for this special day, JT.  We will always love you.