Aug 27 - Sep 2, 2017 - Shopping, Burritos, Gym, Recommend Desk, Hardings, Walk to Walmart

Week 2 ... Aug 27 - Sep 2  2017   

Food shopping, Mexican eats   

We -- 3 of the 4 temple missionary couples from North America -- were driven to three popular shopping centers, in the temple president's van. The president and his wife were with us too. In Canada, Dollar City is known as Dollarama. We were on our weekly grocery trip. 

Z

For supper, all 8 of us who are the temple missionaries from North America walked five minutes to a reasonably-priced upscale Mexican restaurant named Tacontento, a chain. Babette and I had burritos. 

Gym, Desk, & ... Hardings

I went to the gym at the missionary training center (MTC “CCM” in Spanish) and did the 10 machine exercises there, noting what settings I used, for reference when I come again. 

At 1 pm I started my first of five 8-hour shifts this week at the recommend desk at the main door. I didn't get much training. I write down the name of temple workers as they come in and note the time. They don't always show up when they are supposed to. They often are stalled in traffic, whether driving or riding the bus. Temple patrons, known here as "participantes," are noted by gender and ticks on the page. When the 28 seats are filled in "sala 1," one of the four ordinance rooms, I start keeping track for "sala 2." We try to start sessions on the hour. If there are 8 or more patrons overflowed into Sala 2, we will start a session there on the half hour. The seats actually are three semi-circle benches, women on one side and men on the other. If they get there early, a husband and wife can sit together in the middle. 

Today, there were 11 endowment sessions with 125 patrons attending. That's an average of about 11 persons in each session. The Temple president told me that was well below average. But it was a Tuesday, typically the lightest attended day of the week. 

When people asked me questions at the desk, I usually could not understand them. So I pointed toward the office counter and said, "pregúntale a ella," which means "Ask her." It always worked, but it made me feel useless. It would nice to have had training in this. Someone should create a dialogue sheet that newbies like me can memorize. But, given time, I WILL be able to understand ALL that people say. 

Guess who walked into this Guatemala Temple today? Sandra and Dalton Harding from our  church ward in Calgary!  What a nice surprise! We hadn't seen them for a couple of weeks!!

The Hardings 

7 new temple patrons

We had seven people become temple patrons today, by becoming endowed. It was a glorious experience. They were all so happy, along with all those came with them. One of them, a young woman had been called to the Tijuana Mexico Mission. Babette was helping with that session and observed the ecstatic mother holding onto her daughter all through the session. After they and their group left the temple, everyone wanted to have their photo with her. I observed this long, happy event through the lens of a close circuit monitor on the recommend desk where I was serving. 

Shortcut to Walmart?

Q

Walked to Walmart

Shopping, 8 new patrons, BYU

For our weekly shopping, we again went to Walmart, Dollar City, and Price Smart, chauffeured by the temple President. I asked John Norman if driving us to three stores each week was in his job description. He said, "I've been looking for that job description for a long time!" 

Q

Saturday was my last of 5 days of sitting at the front of the temple and scanning patrons' recommends, at least for 3 months. I kept track of how many were there to do endowment sessions. 

391!

There were 391 people in 17 sessions, for an average of 23 (capacity is 28). Two-thirds were women. Pres. Norman said, for a Saturday, that was a commendable turnout. There were 8 people who came for the first time, taking out their endowments. That was tremendous, I thought, based on my Calgary Temple experience. But the assistant recorder here said, for a Saturday that was below average. He said there was a Saturday when 96 new patrons were created. Babette and I led a session with three of them. In Calgary, I don't think I ever lead a session with more than one new patron. Associating with them in a session is always special and rewarding. They look so happy and eager to learn. The male newby was in a wheelchair (missing a leg). I helped him with his robes. 

Saturday night, Pres. Norman invited us over to watch BYU play Louisiana State in college football, the New Orleans Super Dome. He had made chicken wings with a crisp breaded covering. Mmm. BYU played so badly, that, after the third quarter, I decided to go home. LSU was ranked 13th nationally. BYU is ranked 397th, probably.