Good - All Around Me!

This is Salt Lake City.  Nowadays it is pretty much like any other big city.  You can find anything you want here, I mean anything.  However, I feel like where I have been all week I have been surrounded by good.

We have been assigned to the Church History Library.

I love libraries.

I love books.

I love the Church.

I love Church History.

I love old things.

I am surrounded by good in my mind.

There are a lot of professional librarians, historians, and curators here at the library.

Also many missionaries trying to be professional and exact at their tasks.

There are 270,000 books, pamphlets, magazines and manuals.

500,000 historic photographs, posters, maps.

23,000 audio and video recordings.

120,000 local histories for Church units.

150,000 journals, diaries, papers, and manuscripts.

20,000 rolls of microfilm.

4.5 million patriarchal blessings recorded for Church members.

The Joseph Smith Papers have recently been published along with the 

Church History Biographical Database that contains the information of 100,000 early members of the Church and the records of the early pioneer emigrants and wagon train companies.

There are twelve storage units the size of a tennis court that are temperature, humidity and light controlled.

So this is where Kristi and I are being trained to host visitors and explain the display in the main reading room.  It is called "The Foundations of Faith."

Four simple cases of documents and artifacts that blow my mind to see them all together.

First hand and contemporary accounts of Joseph Smith's first vision.  Original manuscript of the Book of Mormon translation.  The printers copy of the Book of Mormon.  A first edition Book of Mormon, Book of Commandments, 1st edition of The Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.  There is also the Women's Exponent Journal where the storage of wheat was first reported and the Articles of Retrenchment, where programs for the teaching of youth began.  Finally the sketch of a modern prophet when it was revealed to him to make temples available to as many as possible by making them smaller.

Foundations of Faith - worth a "good" visit in Salt Lake City.

We were surprised that before the start of each day there is a devotional.  I am a little pessimistic and I was surprised how spiritual and interesting they were.  The folks I have met here really seem to be good.

This last Tuesday was a little different.  The morning devotional was canceled and at 2:30 a "Special Devotional" was held in the main auditorium of the Church Office Building.

Everyone seemed to know what was going on but us newbies.

The church historian, Elder Kyle McKay, presented what had been in the works for three or four years.

The Community of Christ church had asked the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to buy some Nauvoo, Illinois properties and Kirkland, Ohio properties.

Kirkland Temple as seen from Joseph and Emma's home.

This was on the list:

Red Brick Store in Nauvoo where many significant events happened.

It was quite an emotional meeting as it represents a more formal closure of the schism that has existed between the two churches since the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum.

There was no gloating or celebration but a welcoming of more artifacts that can tell the story of the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ.  The Salt Lake church has had all of that information and copies of all the documents for many years but now these items can help lead people to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This was a "GOOD" day.

We have walked a lot, everyday.  The best thing is after 55 years we are holding hands all the time.

This is a good benefit I had not anticipated.  In our walking we explored the Conference Center.

It can hold 20,000 good people!

We met many "good" young missionaries from all over the world sharing their testimonies of Jesus Christ.

This painting is of "Other Women" mentioned in the New Testament.  They are "good" women without names but witnesses to the life of Christ.

I took this photo of one other woman that has borne witness of Christ, but I know her name.

It is Kristi.

The two buildings here are full of good people.

The one on the left is the Family Search Library.  They will help you find your ancestors.  If you walk in they will go right to work and eventually print out a multi-generation fan chart for you for free.

You can even access everything they have online at FamilySearch.org

That building on the right is its twin but it houses the Church Museum.  It is full of good stories and artifacts of good people.

This is Martin Harris' wallet.  He loaned Joseph Smith $3,000 so the first copies of the Book of Mormon could be printed and distributed telling of Christ's visit to the Americas.  It is a second testament of the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ.

Martin Harris was a good man.

The Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build but only one year to shut it down.  After 128 years it needed some earthquake upgrades.

This is how deep the work has gone.

Straight across is one of the doors folks have wedding photos taken at.

That hole is four plus stories down.

They seem to be doing a good job according to the sidewalk superintendent.

This bride forgot her wedding dress, but I know she can still fit in it as I caught her in it a while back.

It was a good discovery.

I always knew that the temple could be an allegory of the stairway to heaven.

I was happy to be able to see part of that actual stairway being installed in the temple.

I could go on about all the good that has surrounded me these last three weeks.  

If you are just reading and playing golf and waiting for the grandkids to show up, you might try praying about what is next in your life.  Not everyone gets the same answer but I guarantee your answer will be to do some good for someone.  It might be just a smile at the right time but you will be part of the good.

This man had a pretty good idea.

Not a bad promise

We are giving it a try.

I hope to do good.

Friday we got some news about Macedonia.  The Mission President in Albania has been working to get us on our way to what we were called and set apart to do.

We now have plane tickets to fly to Frankfurt, Germany and then to Tirana, Albania.  After a week in Albania we will drive to Kosovo and stay in a Bed and Breakfast until an apartment is ready on the first of April.  We can travel as tourists to Macedonia until a visa for an NGO charity work arrives.  The Stringhams have got us started on one project in Kosovo so we hope to hit the trail running.

We just got word there will be an airline strike in Frankfurt on the Tuesday morning we arrive so we hope everyone in Frankfurt is behaving and being good so we can move on to Albania that day.