7 October 2012

General Conference, Sunday session

This morning I put up the rest of my window gels. I guess I am still an elementary teacher at heart. I like having some kind of seasonal decoration up. The window gels are fun. Jeanne sent me some after I first moved here and I have just been adding to them.

Today during General Conference I made a fleece, tied blanket.  I remember Jeanne doing that with the kids during one conference.  I thought it would be fun to do while I listened to the talks.  It would also be nice to have a warm blanket as the weather gets colder.  It turned out to be a lot of hard work, however.  I thought the scissors in our drawer were pretty sharp.  I guess for paper, but not for cutting fleece.

President Monson's, Elder Holland's, and Elder Hales' inspired me.  President Monson advised us to be sure to go back and read the the talks when they come out in the Ensign and Liahona for more depth and meaning.  Elder Holland's talk about John 21 impressed me. When I heard him quote versus 15-17, I immediately thought of the song I have sung in choir "Feed My Sheep."  This time around the story seemed to have more meaning for me.  Elder Hales also went John 21 but took a different  approach.  He focused on the role of the Holy Ghost. 

6 October 2012

Sister Bews and I decided to check out the Deseret Book store sale during Priesthood session. They do this every General Conference, but this is the first time I have been close enough to a bookstore to take advantage of it. They have a 20% off sale during the two hours of Priesthood. The place was packed with women and children. They had lots of chairs out for sitting around in. They do a drawing about every 15 minutes and lots of women hang around for it. Sister Bews found a great bargain, a lovely painting priced at $75 on sale for 80% off. The frame alone was probably worth more than the $15 she paid for it. We have decided that we won't need to go to another one of these special events.  Too many people for our taste; great place for others to socialize.

SEPTEMBER

10 September 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Had a wonderful birthday.  This morning seemed to drag a bit, but the afternoon was full. To celebrate my birthday we went the Brigham City Temple Open House.  It is a lovely temple, but I still like Oakland best.

As we were getting ready to get on the shuttle bus back to the parking lot, I met a older lady with the last name of Frahm  She and her husband came over from Germany in 1952 to be sealed together.  She is from the same part of Germany that my grandfather was from.

After the temple tour we came back to Logan to eat dinner at Chuck-A-Rama.  It is a buffet and they had some great choices.  I tried to eat just a little, but I still came away feeling stuffed.


17 September 2012

Job Offer!!!

One of our candidates received a job offer today and it is for a job placement she has wanted.  She had interviewed for an HR position at USU a couple weeks ago and didn't get the position.  They called her today for another HR position that had just opened.  She was second in line for the job offer on the first interview, so they decided to offer her this one.  Hurray, there are success stories!  It just takes patience.

19 September 2012

Job Fair/Tech Expo

Today there was a Job Fair at Bridgerland Applied Technology College (BATC).  LDS Employment Resource Services and Department of Workforce Services (DWS) worked together with BATC to present it. I guess it has been ongoing for a number of years.  Sister Bews and I were able to attend it this afternoon.  The center wasn't very busy because a lot of people were at the Job Fair.  It was fun and enlightening.  I have a better understanding of what some of the businesses do (not that I'll remember that tomorrow) and some ideas for DI associates.  We ran into our AJS candidates and they were dressed for success with résumés in hand.  

22 September 2012

Road Trip again

The other day I was searching around the apartment to find what was burning.  It kind of smelt like potatoes had boiled over on the stove.  It turns out it was just some of the smoke drifting down from all the fires in Idaho.  I think I heard they had at least nine fires going up there.

Today we went to see the autumn leaves in Logan Canyon.  They are suppose to be very beautiful.  There is color there, but not as much as I had expected.  Maybe we can check again in three weeks.  The drive was interesting and fun.  It filled our afternoon.  I think I wore out Sister Bews.

 23 September 2012

Brigham City Temple Dedication

Today church was the dedication of the Brigham City Temple.  There were three services:  9am, Noon, and 3pm.  We went to the noon service.  They were showing temples, inside and out, before the services started.  I was getting teary-eyed while watching then I realized I was homesick for the Oakland Temple.  Who knew you could be homesick for a temple.

The service we went to was very nice.  President Boyd K. Packer presided; he also presided over the ground breaking for the temple.  He and his wife were born and raised in the Brigham City area so they have special feelings for this temple.  Elder Russell M. Nelson conducted and spoke. 

Brother Steed, 1st Counselor in the Temple Presidency, spoke about entering the temple with an attitude to be taught and learn and go for the personal blessings you receive.  His wife spoke of making service in the temple be a priority. 

Elder Allan F. Packer (son of President Packer), a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, spoke of doing family history and ordinance work.  He said they go together and quoted President Howard W. Hunter regarding everyone being temple worthy. 

Elder Whitney Clayton, President of the Quorum of the Seventy, importance of baptism and the joy it brings of feeling clean.  He went to say that temples provide an opportunity for all of God's children to be baptized and in the temple we can find peace from the world. 

Elder Nelson said that temples were only for the living before Jesus was born and for the dead too after his death.  He went on to say that temples are essential to the restoration of the gospel.  He said that Joseph Smith epistle to the Saints in Doctrine and Covenants 128 about temple work, in particular verse 15 where it says our salvation is tied to the salvation of our dead.  He also referred to Doctrine and Covenants 138 reemphasizing the importance of temple work by President Joseph F. Smith.

President Packer spoke next. He shared that he was born and raised in Brigham City and met his wife there who was also from Brigham City.  He said the purpose of the temple is the purpose of the celestial kingdom.

Elder L. Tom Perry gave the dedication prayer.  The whole service took just under 90 minutes.


29 September 2012

Busy Saturday 

 We started the day out going to the Providence Stake Center for a Humanitarian aid day activity.  They had a continental breakfast and quite a few projects going on.  We could chose between making file folder games, tying a quilt, sewing baby nightgowns, stuffing fabric ball toys for babies, or sewing t-shirt dresses.  There might have been more, but I can't remember.  I worked on the t-shirt dresses and learned some new sewing techniques, besides how to sew a t-shirt dress.  I learned an easy way to gather is to sew a zigzag laying cotton crochet thread down the middle.  Instead of pulling thread and having break, you pull the cotton thread.  I also learned the it is easier to sew on the inside of circle rather than the outside.  This is especially nice when sewing gathering with the gather on the inside.

We were at the the stake center from 8:30 to noon.  We rushed back to the apartment, ate a quick lunch, and headed to Salt Lake for the Relief Society's General Women's Conference.  I wanted to be sure we were able to find parking because I had been told it was harder to find the closer to the start it became.  We actually found a parking lot on So Temple and N 300 W that was free for the day.  We had time to do some sightseeing before heading over to the Conference Center.  We arrived in SLC about 2:45pm.  We toured the South Visitor's Center and the Beehive House, then went over to City Creek Mall for an early dinner.  We had to be in our seats by 5:30pm.  I was worried about crowds so we were there by 4:45pm.  We had an assigned section, but not seats.  We were able to get seats close down in our section (Terrace) and I had an isle seat.  We were just a couple rows up from the reserved section for the deaf; I could actually see the screen with the text on it.  If I missed something I would look  at it, but it went pretty fast.

Needless to say, there were lots of cars and people and traffic when it was time to leave. We decided we weren't in a hurry so we brought up the rear leaving the conference center. I used the restroom before leaving. It was a huge restroom with lots of stalls. No waiting! We stopped in Brigham City for cheap gas and a treat at Sonics on our way home.  I'm tired!

While getting gas in Brigham City, we met Harry Potter.  His name is actually Harry Potter.  He works with young adults and has fun doing Firesides with the aid robes and broom stick.

Football Season

Thursday, August 30, BYU, UofU, and Utah State had their first football game of the season.  Go figure.  Logan is the home of Utah State, so they are not very partial to BYU fans.  There are, however, quite a few BYU grads in Logan. 

The women in my family are the football fans: Grandma Mutt, Mom, me, and Jeanne.  My Grandpa Bjorgum was a coach at Eastern Montana (now Montana State, Billings) and had played football.  He coached everything at Eastern; consequently, Grandma Bjorgum became familiar with sports.  She loved following professional football, especially Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts.  

My mother was a fan of the University of Washington Huskies when they were called the "heart attack" team.  They were called that, at least in our in house, because they always seem to come from behind to win in the last moments of the game.  Mom became a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and Lenny Dawson when she and Dad lived in Kansas City.  She continued to support them when she and Dad moved to the Bay Area in California.  Then she also adopted the Oakland Raiders.  Grandma and Mom had their football rivalries.  

I liked football in monsoons.  It was so fun watching the guys slide down the field when they were tackled in the rain at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.  When I was back in the States I followed the Chiefs when I lived in Jeff City, Missouri, then the Raiders when I moved to Fremont, California.  I became a 49ers fan when Joe Montana and Steve Young were their quarterbacks.  I haven't kept up with professional football since the 1990s

Jeanne is not into professional football, but she loves BYU football.  She knows more about what is going on with that team then I ever did when I was following football.  

I think the only men in our lives that enjoyed sports were my grandfather and now Jeanne's husband, Jared.

Labor Day

No. 119 coming up the track.

September 3 was Labor Day so the LDS Employment Resource Center was closed.  We used the day off as an opportunity to go on a road trip.  We went to Promontory Utah where the East meets the West; the place the transcontinental railroad was completed.  It was about a 90 minute drive, approximately 60 miles on local highways.  We arrived there around 11am and left about 1:30pm.  We had our choice of parking places when we arrived, but there weren't any spaces available when we left.  For being in the middle of nowhere, it was very popular. 

Driving the last spike.

They do a reenactment of the "Last Spike" ceremony several times during the day in the summer with some history about activities leading up to the ceremony.  The last spike ceremony was suppose to have happened on May 8, 1869, but the No. 119 was two days late due to weather and a labor dispute.  The No. 119 was the Union Pacific locomotive from Omaha and the Jupiter was the Central Pacific locomotive from Sacramento.  The trains at the Golden Spike Historic Park are replicas and actually function; however, they don't let people on board.  The Jupiter burns wood so it blows white smoke from its stack.  The No. 119 burns coal so its smoke is black.  One of the rangers gave a little history of why the trains met at Promontory Utah in the auditorium of the Visitors' Center.  There was as much political maneuvering back in the 1860s as there is now. 

The cast.

Okay, here is something you don't see very often in California.

If you can't read the sign (sorry that it is blurry), it says:  FREQUENT CATTLE CROSSING NEXT 1/2 MILE.  Luckily we didn't come across any on our trip.  Too bad!  That might have been fun too.

23 August 2012

Truth be told, I miss starting school.  We saw several children on their way to school today with their backpacks slung on there shoulders or carried by mom.  What fun and excitement!  Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.  The first days of school are nervous for the teachers as well.  The children bring so many interesting talents and persoalities to the classroom.  Each child is so amazing in their own special way.

25 August 2012

Box Elder Tabernacle

We drove to Brigham City today for a Culture and Brotherhood celebration at the Tabernacle; however, we couldn't find it.  We walked around the Tabernacle there and saw lots of people going to the Temple open house.   The Box Elder Tabernacle is across the street from the new temple.  (I've been calling it the Brigham City Tabernacle and now realize that it is the Box Elder Tabernacle.  Brigham City is on the eastrn edge of Box Elder County.)

Brigham City Temple

Just on a chance that we had it wrong, we went back to the Logan Tabernacle.  Sure enough, they were having the cultural fair there.  It was mostly Hispanic culture. I was expecting a little more diversity.  I guess I have been spoiled by the Provo multi-cultural celebration.

pioneer family

On the grounds outside the Logan Tabernacle there is a statue of a pioneer family.  If you stand behind the statue you can see that the family is looking towards the Logan Temple.  If you look at my picture you can see the spires of the temple between the man and the woman. 


The Logan Tabernacle was giving tours.  (They give tours six days a week anyhow.)  I learned a few things I didn't know before about tabernacles.  Until I arrived at Logan, I thought the only tabernacle was the one in Salt Lake City.  Wrong.  There are over eighty in Utah and eight in the Cache Valley area.  The tabernacles were built as a place for the community to gather.  It wasn't just a meeting house for church services.

The organ pipes to the right in the picture are the actual pipes of the organ; the rest are a facade.  The smallest pipe is the size of a #2 pencil; the largest is 17 feet long.

27 August 2012

My companion thinks she knows why there is a flag on the fire hydrants ... so they can find them when it snows.  I don't relish seeing that much snow.  That means I will have to drive in it!

Sunset in Providence, UT

The past week or so the sky has been very hazy.  Being a Californian, I think of it as smog, but there isn't the traffic around here like the Bay area or LA to create that kind of haze.  This morning I woke up to find it smelled strongly of smoke.  I learned that it is smoke from all the fires burning in the states around us.  The smell permeates through the walls.  It seemed like I could smell all day in the office and now it seems to fill the room.  We have kept our windows and doors closed today.

Everyone in the Cache Valley area is excited for the Brigham City Temple Open House which begins tomorrow, August 18.  It is interesting to note that all the young sister missionaries from our mission have been pulled into Brigham City to help with the open house; the elders will have to cover the sisters' area for the next month.  Because it is a small temple, everyone is required to have tickets to attend the open house; the tickets are at no cost.  They will only be able to accommodate 300,000 people.  We have tickets for the afternoon of September 10.  The last day of the open house is September 15.  The temple will then be closed until September 23 on which day they will dedicate it.  After that only members with temple recommends will be able to go into the temple.

This is only the second open house that I have been able to attend.  The first one was for the Billings Temple.  I don't think we needed tickets for that one.  I remember taking my dad and step-mother to the Billings Open House.  I had made a special trip to Billings to see them and go through the temple.  It was fun to show them how beautiful the temple looks on the inside.  My step-mother really appreciated all the richness of it.  I always enjoy being able to attend the temple in Billings. 

We have two more missionaries on-board for the Accelerated Job Search (AJS) program.  They are residents of Logan and have been called to serve a full time mission in the employment center.  After some confusion over paperwork, it was decided that they didn't need to attend the MTC in Provo because Becky does her own MTC.  I am sorry they didn't get to go to Provo because that is a very special experience.  Becky's MTC focuses on the employment center services, no Preach My Gospel.

We now have 11 candidates participating in the program.  Part of our objective is to get the candidate ready to go out to do intensive job hunting after one week of preparation.  We spend a week building a résumé for their number one targeted job, practice interviewing, developing skills for networking, and being sure they know how to dress for success.  At the end of the week they hit the streets.  Every morning they come in to review how their job search went and do networking with each other, the missionaries, and on the internet besides following up on any leads they have received.  The first résumé for each individual is the hardest one to put together, generally, after that the résumés for their second and third targeted jobs go together faster.

We have a great group of candidates that are hard workers.  They are very supportive of each other and share leads to jobs that even they are considering.  It is amazing to watch how they boost each other up in the down times and help hone each other skills.  The candidates care about each individual and are concerned about each person's welfare.

The AJS  candidates are asked to spend eight hours a day, five days a week job searching.  Job search authorities say that if you want a 40 hour a week job, you spend 40 hours a week looking for it. Statistics show that those who do this will get a job much more quickly.  It is a lot of hard work! 

Job hunting is not like it use to be when I first started looking 40 plus years ago.  At that time you had one résumé that you passed out to everyone.  In today's world you make a specific résumé for each job that you are interested in.  Occasionally you can tweak a résumé that you already have, other times you have to create a new one.  The job of the résumé is to get you the interview.  In the interview you show that you are the best candidate for the position.  Résumés don't get you jobs, they get you interviews; you get the job.