Week#4 USLCHM

This week focused on learning about the scope of the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission (USLCHM) strengthening my faith in Jesus Christ. Like any large organization, people in the USLCHM love to use acronyms. The first ones we encountered were COB (Church Office Building), NOB (North Church Office Building) and WOB (West Church Office Building) as the places we needed to be for our training. Our week closed in NOB where Sister Schlachter and I received our specific assignment in the “Collections” Zone at the Church History Library –rest assured we’re not tracking down tardy tithe payers. We don't know how long we will be serving here as we are waiting for visas for Mexico, but work we will.

With us there are three other 'visa waiter' missionary couples in the photo below, another couple waiting to go to Mexico City, another waiting for a visa for Colombia and another for Japan. I met one of the grandsons of the couple waiting for visas for Japan in the gym at the Missionary Training Centre when we were there. He and his grandparents have been called to serve in the same mission. This will be his grandparents' third mission to Japan. The grandfather's quips during our training made me smile. He observed that the large number of protocols and policies closely resemble those of governments.  In the Church History Library there is even a six page plant policy. His quip that still makes me smile is after we were instructed to not engage in any way with general authorities of the church unless they initiate (we are at church headquarters) - his comment was "same as with Emperor of Japan".  In the church's case, the instruction is to allow the general authorities to complete their assignments here without the burden of our adding to the paparazzi-like attention they can sometimes attract from well-meaning church members.

USLCHM is the largest in the church with respect its number of missionaries, with over 800 serving, and it is also the second smallest in geographic area. The smallest is the Temple Square Mission that encompasses only a single city block. It has about 200 sister missionaries and 4 senior couples like us from about 50 countries, they speak 45+ languages representing all parts of the world. Their specific country flag is appended under their missionary tags. We spoke briefly with two of these missionaries (photo below) on our way back from doing our laundry on Saturday -  our "P"-day (preparation day). 

Sister Gonzalez (on the left) is from Mexico City and her home is within the Mexico Mexico City East Mission's boundaries where we will be serving when we get to Mexico. Her companion, Sister Tsai, is from Taiwan. We chatted briefly about a work trip that included an official dinner in Taipei 101, the first building to break the half-kilometre mark in height and which was the world's tallest building up until March 2010 (today it no longer ranks even in the top ten). The floor of the private room we ate in jutted out from the main structure and was made of glass allowing us to see how far up in the air we were - the meal too was other-worldly. Sisters missionaries serve for 18 months. These two have a month left in their missions before they return to their respective homes. While I am still firmly attached, I haven't missed "home" in Lethbridge yet and strangely enough "home" already seems to be only a distant memory - almost forgotten are the strawberries, tomatoes, and other garden delights of this time of the year.  I have a Fitbit scale in our bathroom in Lethbridge that connects to my wrist watch - the day we left I weighed in at 173.l lbs - I noticed yesterday that the scale reported I had lost a couple of pounds. I think our son Levi who is looking after our house while we are gone must have tried it out. We have a benchmark to keep track of his health and wellbeing from a distance. 

Highlights of the USLCHM orientation this past week are as follows.

Security – This presentation and discussion were real eye openers. From the very beginnings of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the early 1820’s, its members and supporters have been targets of violence, successively driving them from the church’s upper New York State beginnings to the expanding western frontier of the United States. They eventually settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley which later also became part of the United States. Sadly, threats of violence against the church and its leaders continue even today attempting to silence Jesus Christ’s teachings of hope, peace and loving kindness that our church invites the world to hear. 

President Nelson celebrated his 99 birthday this past week. Highlights of a talk by President Nelson were shared during our training this week.  One that changed my heart, strengthening my faith in Jesus Christ and giving me an even brighter hope for the future is the following:

Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him.

No matter how far we might stray or even defiantly run from God, once we have made a covenant (i.e., baptism) He does everything except take away our agency to help us find happiness in this life and return to him.  If you are interested in hearing the counsel and direction President Nelson will give this coming weekend, the conference proceedings are available online or on Youtube. If you miss it you can watch it later as the sessions are recorded. 

Back to security: When we lived in Canada’s National Capital Region one of my annual spiritual highlights was to take our family, or at least any of our sons I could convince to come with me, to the Hill Cumorah pageant in Palmyra, New York – I never understood what drove the protesters outside this event but the contrast of their screaming unfounded conspiracy theories and condemning us to Hell with placards and megaphones with the peaceful feeling of having crossed their lines to see the re-enactment of Jesus Christ’s appearance and His teachings in the Americas only bolstered my resolve to associate and bind myself even closer with the Saviour. Sister Schlachter and I have never been to the Church’s semiannual General Conference in-person but we will be going to the Saturday afternoon and evening sessions this coming week. We have been told the protestors will be outside here too. At church on Sunday we ran into President Stuart Morgan from the Lethbridge Alberta Young Single Adult Stake - he is here for training for his work. We served in the YSA stake before leaving on our mission. It is joy to meet people you know and love, like President Morgan, in far away places even more so when as Alma described     

...Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord (Alma 17:2)

Seats at conference are free but limited in number. As missionaries we were given tickets to the Saturday evening session. President Morgan provided us with tickets to the afternoon session - a tender mercy for which I am most grateful. 

In a conversation with another senior missionary from Texas this past week he mentioned he was feeling a bit exposed as he wasn’t able to have his revolver with him while serving as a missionary. It hadn’t occurred to me how the right to bear arms here in the United States ups the ante with respect to what is potentially at stake if we were to engage with the protestors – understandably, we are counselled not to.

Security works to ensure everyone’s safety on what they call the “campus” (i.e., Temple Square and the other church assets that surround it) but specifically the safety of our beloved Prophet, President Russel M. Nelson, his two counsellors, the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and the presiding Bishopric who they told us are often the recipients of death threats. The entire campus here is under video surveillance, and we were told that if we ever felt threatened, all we would have to do is wave and an armed security officer would be there... in under a minute. 

I have been trying to befriend a younger fellow that lives on the street that we saw standing on the same corner as went to and from our training. He isn't a panhandler nor is he asking for anything other than to be heard. The first time we came across him he was pointing to and yelling a scripture from somewhere in the Bible that he interpreted as there being no women allowed in Heaven. As I looked in his eyes I sensed his emotional pain and to a degree my own was rekindled as many walked by him as if he were invisible - I stopped to listen. Over the course of the week, he told me what his first name was - the security personnel referred to him as "John" because he cites portions of his letters to the ancient churches and maybe because he has a large busy beard. In one of our brief conversations he asked me if I really believed that members of our church were "saved". It's a very good question. I told him that my belief is we can be but this depends on how we use our agency.  I hope to be able to talk to him more to make the linkage to grace, after all we can do. Salt Lake City has many resources available such that no one need live on the street. However, my experience is that no matter where I currently stand, I am only two or three decisions away (mine or others) from living on the street. I would hope that I too would be treated with kindness.    

Our security tour included looking through a plate glass window at the security control center – dozens of active screens on the walls as well as a host of consoles manned by security personnel. They said they work closely with other security entities in the United States and globally to share information and co-monitor security risks in real time, 24-7. For the upcoming General Conference, the Conference Center will be closed to the public the day before and swept for bombs. Conference speakers are escorted to the podium through underground tunnels. Understandably, conference participants like Sister Schlachter and I must pass through security and metal detectors. 

When I worked for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP-Canada’s federal police force) were assigned to accompany our delegations to countries where security threats were high. One time an RCMP officer travelled with just me in our official motorcade to meetings in Antigua, Guatemala – he wasn’t armed. He said his role was to only liaise with the local enforcement officers who were responsible for my safety. This didn't give me much comfort. I felt like a sitting duck in a car with a target on it. When we returned to Guatemala City - I felt much safer in the taxi I hired right off the street to take me to and from the temple in my free time there.   

FamilySearch Library: We were given an overview of the library's activities that introduce guests to the joy of family history and provide experiences to feel the spirit of Elijah (i.e., the workings of the Holy Ghost upon individuals that creates an excitement and desire “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers”).  We later acted as "mystery shoppers" entering the library in plain clothes and without our missionary tags to experience this first hand - and it worked. I wanted to see what new genealogical information might be available since I last searched for my own ancestors who our oral history indicates came from near Odessa, then Russia, now part of Ukraine. The FamilySearch library allows patrons like us to not only create a free account, search for their family's roots and to connect with others doing the same, but to also upload written and recorded oral stories, histories, photos and many other documents to preserve them for posterity. Our son David created an account many years ago with the information he had - I have much more to add. My sister has been doing a lot of active digging into the stories of those that came before us and writing about them. I will be reaching out to her to see if I can upload them onto the site. I was also excited when I saw that one of my cousin's daughters had entered information about my aunt Eva and my grandmother on my dad's side.   

Renovation of Salt Lake City Temple: One of the presentations this week outlined the renovation work taking place on the Salt Lake City Temple.  It is a massive undertaking to protect the building from earthquakes with the intent that it will serve to and through the millenium (the second coming of Christ).  Notably, the work isn't about about preserving the building as a museum, rather equipping it and expanding it (underground) to continue to be an efficient working temple. 

Like the Salt Lake City Temple under renovation, I too benefit from the 'scaffolding' of our church to help keep myself together in my life’s quest to become more like Jesus Christ before my own foundation is firm enough and my spirit can sufficiently master my body to withstand the shocks of a mortal life. I mentioned last week that I found a BJJ gym here. Its about a 30 minute walk from our apartment. During one of the classes this past week I was the recipient of an accidental elbow to my face which resulted in immediate swelling and a sizeable bruise on my left cheek. It was greenish black for our photo on Friday with the mission President and his wife, President and Sister Holmes. On Sunday it was blacker.

One of our sacrament meeting speakers on Sunday was a young woman who joined the church just over a year ago - she shared her experience of embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ - like me she had been raised as a Roman Catholic - which is a good thing. Her change of heart to join with us was based on her new-found relationship with God as knowable and her experience in that process that he answers questions - her questions. I joined our church over 35 years ago. Some of the questions I was asking were, "why I am here?" and, "what happens when I die? - I too received personalized answers - I still don't know everything but I know enough and how to find out more if I have a need.

Notable this past week, "On the evening of the...twenty first of September [1823]...I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God..." and so begins the account of the first appearance of the angel Moroni two hundred years ago on this past Thursday in answer to the Prophet Joseph Smith's questions that resulted in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon which continues to fill our entire world with hope for a better, happier tomorrow as another testament of the light the gospel of Jesus Christ brings into our lives. 

As I mentioned, we received our specific assignment on Friday in the USLCHM. We met with our zone leaders that afternoon. Since the beginning of our church we have been a record-keeping people. In Doctrine and Covenants Section 21 verse 1, the Lord commanded, “Behold, there shall be a record kept among you”. This is the revelation upon which the office and work of the church historian and recorder are based. We have been assigned to work in the Church History Library, specifically in the Latin America area of its collections activities. The facility is like none I have ever seen before with respect to the technical and high security measures they take to preserve historic documents and historic artifacts of significance. The collection includes both information supportive of and critical of the church's precepts and views. 

A lingering pragmatic question I have about the measure to protect the collection is what happens to me when all the oxygen is sucked out of the building if a fire is ever detected - as sprinklers and water from firehoses would destroy documents. One of the answers I got was to hit the floor and army crawl my way to an exit...I'm not sure they were kidding. Only unflavoured water is allowed in the office spaces we will be working in and no food of any kind. The water we bring to our cubicles needs to be kept in a container that cannot spill and the container cannot be on your desk at the same time as any historic documents. Like the Government of Canada - at the end of the day everything has to be locked back into its place. The library’s collection is accessible to the public in the library’s reading room but only on an appointment basis. 

Earlier in the week, the other visa waiter couple going to Mexico introduced us to a sister missionary serving in this same area of the Church History Library. She is researching information for an additional volume of "Saints" which will provide a written history of the church in Latin America. She is conducting videoconference interviews to gather information. I connected her with a dear friend of ours in Cholula, Mexico, where they recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first baptism there.  We will receive specific instructions this coming week on how we can help but it would be pretty awesome if we got to interview our friend. 

Saturday was "P" day.  Last night we attempted to try out the laundry facilities in our apartment complex but without success.  The state of the art virtual pay system simply wouldn't work - after 3.5 hours of downloading the app, charging it with cash and trying various approaches and advice. On Saturday morning we walked a couple of miles with our laundry to another laundromat. US$3 a load to wash and only US$2.50 a load for the dryer for 45 minutes. It was a clean friendly place.

In the afternoon we took the light rail transit system to a grocery store, WinCo, recommended by our son Alex who lives here with his girlfriend - I too am now a fan, our groceries this week cost only US$63.69 (CAN$87.85).  We spent US$171.71 (CAN$238.52) last week at a place called Harmons Neighbourhood Grocer - yes, the exchange rate is brutal. It was an ouch moment that made me long to get to Mexico even more. En route to and from the grocery store we came upon many Fanx participants (this is Salt Lake City's version of Cosplay (i.e., "costume play", where participants called cosplayers gather together wearing costumes and fashion accessories of their favourite science fiction and other popular culture figures). We re-met and sat with the gal with the egg and her partner in the train en route to the grocery story. The couple in red, donned horns just before they got off the train. I am out of the loop with respect to popular culture like this but it was fun to see them. Wendy was concerned about my chatting up people and asking them if they were on their way to Fanx, lest I offend - sometimes its hard to tell these days.  

 

Sunday night we went to send off for another senior missionary couple who just got their visas for South Africa - they had waited here for about two months. Hopefully ours will come sooner but in the interim its going to be another great week here!