Anxiously Engaged in a Good Work

This morning I received a phone call from the Logan Temple President, Ward Taylor.  I always wonder what a Church leader is wanting me for when they call.  This time it was not the "voice of doom".  That's kind of a private joke Iris and I have had over the years because so often those calls from church executive secretaries have been to call one or the other of us to a church calling, not that we have not appreciated and loved all of the callings we have had and the service we were able to give throughout our lives.  We have grown through those callings more than those we were called to serve.  I think that is pretty much the way it always goes, especially, if we serve with no hidden agenda of scoring points for ourselves.  President Taylor simply asked if I could come over to his home this evening and help him get more involved in his personal family history work.  It seems I get those requests from time to time these days.  I certainly don't claim to be an expert by any means, and there is still so much more to learn, but I have learned how to find family names and prepare them for the temple ordinances which are so vitally important.  It feels so good to be useful and gives me a reason to be excited about something and to carry on in my advanced years.  I love the Temple.  I love the good, selfless people we work with each day, both those who come as patrons and those who have callings as officiators.  They are all in it for the benefit of others.  It feels so good to cast off tendencies toward selfishness along the path that leads us back to our Father in Heaven and to see others do the same.  In the Church we call it putting off the "natural man."  In the eternal scheme of things, this is really what it's all about.  There is still a long way for me to go, but I feel joy with each step, knowing that I am on the right path and that my elder Brother is waiting there to greet us all when we arrive.

Again, I got a quick picture of President Taylor and me at his desk in President's home across from the temple just to remind me that I was there and of the great relationship we have with our temple president and his good wife.

More Used/Useful Would I Be

We had a dear sister, Lou Ella Ryan, in our ward here in Logan who was moved to a different ward a few months ago when the ward boundaries changed.  She is a wonderful lady in her upper eighties, keen of mind and active in many ways both mentally and physically.  She has been taking a sister in our ward and they have been going to the Logan Temple at least once a week, sometimes more.  They found out that we had some extra ordinance cards and volunteered to do some of the work for us.  We were of course both happy and grateful for the assistance.  She had mentioned to me one time that she wished she could find some of her own family names and I volunteered to help her.  Sometime later we made an appointment and I went over to her house and showed her what I do.  She was very interested, but a little overwhelmed, I think.  Anyway, I helped her set up her account with new family search and helped her find a few of her relatives.  She wanted me to come back and help her again.  In the mean time I went to work on her family and in the past couple of weeks was able to find numerous ancestors of hers , who needed temple ordinances done.  Today I went over to her house and showed her what I'd done.  She was so excited and grateful and wants to get her family involved  in doing these ordinances.  I worked with her and another sister who had come to visit for an  hour or so and I think they both learned a lot and will pursue this work further.  Interestingly enough, as I was working on her family I found some of our own family ancestors, Juchaus and Hymas's on her lines, which means we are family, albeit distantly, so her work is my work and her work is ours.  As always, I happened to have my camera with me, so here is a picture of our friend, and  now we know, also a relative, taken after our little session this afternoon.