On October 16 we flew to Salt Lake City to our scheduled Area Audit Conference. This is a conference we will attend every October while we are serving this mission. We took the 9:15 pm flight out and everyone dreads this flight as it is sooo long! However, we were geared up for it and were really looking forward to the experience before us in Salt Lake. Our flight was uneventful aside from the fact that in the early hours of the morning when the flight attendants served us a "breakfast,"
Mike and I managed to spill orange juice all over his suit pants! The lady in front of us had her seat way back which was part of the problem.This was not a good moment. Michael did not bring an extra suit so it was a little stressful! However, the suit eventually dried and nothing showed so we got over it......
When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we were stunned as to how peaceful and empty it seemed! Mike said,"where are all the people!!" The contrast to Buenos Aires was stunning!
We arrived Wednesday afternoon and our conference was to begin early Thursday morning and go through Friday.
We changed and took some time to walk around downtown Salt Lake around the hotel. The City Creek area across from Temple Square is amazing! Beautifully designed and put together and it is a great enhancemet to the city. We did a few close by errands and enjoyed the beautiful day and breathing some fresh air!
Our conference included Area Auditors from around the world. There are about 20 of us. There were couples from Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Africa, The Carribean, Europe, Russia, Asia, Mexico, central America, northwestern South America, Brazil, and the Phillipine Islands. Most of these people were missionary couples, but about four or five were couples who were native to the country where they were serving. The largest representaion was from Africa. There were four couples who serve as Area Auditors there. Two are native and the other two were regualr senior couples. It was a wonderful mix of very interesting people and we so enjoyed meeting everyone! We had met Brother and Sister Casos in September as they came out the same time we did. They are serving in the northwestern part of South America. We were so happy to see them and enjoyed our visits with them during those two days.
The church auditing department organized and delivered this conference in an amazing and wonderful way! The members of the audit team at church headquarters are wonderful, down to earth people. The presentations and discussions were very engaging and involved everyone! We didn't even fall asleep nor were we tempted to do so! The conference was held in the very beautiful Joseph Smith Memorial Building which is so stunningly restored. Our food and snacks were provided in an elegant manner and we just thoroughly enjoyed our association with everyone there. We all shared experiences..... the joys and frustrations of our assignments. And I have to say everyone was excited to be there and learn and share. All of the audit people are very genuine and down to earth , very approachable and easy to talk to...... and this made for a full and rich experience. One of the highlights of the conference was two talks by Scott Grow who developed the this new (2 years old) audit program for the church. He is a 70 and chairman of the church audit committee. A very engaging man and he honestly had a sincere interest in every person there. He knew everyone's name and the area where they served. He was very aware of us and the challenges we face here in the South America South Area. He spoke with each couple individually during the two days there. He approached us the first day as he is particularly informed about our area. He gave Mike a big abrazo and joyfully welcomed us to our new assignement! He gave each couple an abrazo and words of encouragement as we each left the conference. Once again we were struck by this genuine love from those in charge ........ who care about each one of us and clearly manifest it in their actions towards us. We have experienced this several times since leaving our home for this mission. It has warmed our hearts and souls, and we want to be able to share our love with others in a more meaningful way as we meet new people and have new experiences.
We left the conference with new ideas and a fresh determination to fulfill our assignment in a meaningful and effective way.
We stayed through Saturday and left on Sunday. We enjoyed a brief visit with our dear friends the Kemps from Olympia. The kids had sent boxes to us and Cherie had kindly kept them for us and we were very grateful for her kindness. We did some errands, one of which was to buy a pair of shoes for one of our Argentine friends in the office. He wanted a pair of dress shoes for his son from WalMart. We were able to do that !! We had breakfast with my cousin, Margaret and her husband Dave on Sunday morning at their home and enjoyed wonderful fresh tomatoes from their amazing garden! Our flight left at 2:15 for Dallas and we once again prepared ourselves mentally for the all night flight! We arrived in Buenos Aires around 9:00 the next morning. We went home, freshened up and walked a mile to the office to take care of a few things. We were excited to get back and begin our work.(okay, I was a little homesick! being so close to home and not going there was a little hard!) But I am fine !
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is beautiully restored and a wonderful and peaceful place to be day after day. We spoke with one of the docents in the building during a break one day. The Joseph Smith Memorial Building used to be the old Hotel Utah. She was telling us that the original Hotel Utah was contructed under the direction of several different religious faiths. These organizations in Salt Lake City at the time felt that there should be a wonderful hotel where visitors could stay and be very comfortable. So many people of different faiths enjoyed this building for decades, and that is also the case now.
Our lunches were served on the tenth floor everyday in a wonderful large room that overlooks the entire downtown area. The picture above is through one of the windows on the tenth floor. Eating lunch there was actually breathtaking as we were surrounded by these enormous windows overlooking the city.
We love our mission and are enjoying each day and the exciting challenges we face. We are grateful for the enormous support we receive from our family......without their support we would not be here..... We are always happy to hear from friends and family and we are interested in how each of you is doing.
We extend our love to each of you!
Abrazos,
Michael and Dorothyannd (mom and dad!)
Looks like a wonderful trip!!
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