Utah and General Conference



Alpine, Utah looking out from the Welch's front door

We ended up leaving at 5.15am and got to Utah mid afternoon.  Sarah and I were able to pick up our tickets to attend the Young Women General Meeting.  What an incredible experience to actually be in the Conference Centre for the first time.  It's an amazing building and filled with 20,000 young women and their mothers!  We had excellent seats, about 20 from the front.   The speakers were of course, exceptional and we both loved it.  Big colour banners were outside, in the foyer and inside representing the Young Women Values of: FAITH, DIVINE NATURE, INDIVUAL WORTH, KNOWLEDGE, CHOICE & ACCOUNTABILITY, GOOD WORKS, INTEGRITY AND VIRTUE.  This was a wonderful experience to share with Sarah!

Lining up at the Conference Centre Ticket Office



In the foyer in front of the Value flags



We Believe...



How fortunate to be so close!



So many Young Women all in one building..



We are just so excited to be here!!



After the meeting outside the Conference Centre

We stayed for 6 nights with Pam & Ross Welch and their family.  They lived for nearly two years in Adelaide 11 years ago, so it was really nice to catch up with them all again and remember old times and compare notes on living in each others country!  While staying there, we were able to have a good look around the Salt Lake Valley and the Utah Valley.  These are so big, surrounded immediately by mountains that rise straight up from the valley floor on all sides.  Pam gave us a great tour of the local area.


Mt Timpanogas, this is up the 'hill' that connects the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys.  (Huge homes!)



The Draper Temple, there was a wedding party at the front..

A house under construction near the Draper Temple.  Harry Potter's?

The Salt Lake Valley basin

The Welch's live in Alpine, in the Utah Valley and have this amazing view from their back deck of the valley, mountains and Lake Utah.  This area is populated by 90% Latter-Day Saints.  Pam drove us around her ward boundaries which consisted of about three streets on their hillside, and pointed out two homes that belonged to people that are non-members, but which they all know and are friends with!!  Crazy!  I had heard about this density, but to see it was quite an experience.  The local high school and businesses are likewise.  From the balcony, Tom counted 11 chapel steeples and 2 Temples, with most chapels having 3 congregations meeting there.  Driving around, it is not unusual to see at least  3 steeples in your line of vision!!  We got used to that after a few days, but it had to be seen to be believed!!

Looking out towards Provo and Lake Utah

The base of Mt Timpanogas with its various canyons.

We were able to go to the basketball to see the Utah Jazz play.  This game got very exciting at the end of time, with the score dead even. The Jazz had a chance of a shot in the final seconds, missed and the game went into overtime.  Five more minutes, but they lost against the Washington Wizards.  Great game!

We toured Welfare Square, an operation of the Church that provides assistance to those needing food and clothing.   We visited the Bishop's Storehouse, which was like a supermarket with no checkouts!  We saw the warehouse stacked with 3-6 months supply of  bulk foods depending on demand, passed the bakery, which bakes 2000 loaves of bread every day for those who might need it and the cannery was producing jam when we toured it.  It was very interesting to see the processes and products produced to assist the needy and to make up emergency kits ready to go at a moments notice. These emergency packs vary for different cultural needs. We saw the Diary, and cheese was in the final stage of preparedness.  Huge blocks made on site.  We had a tasting of very delicious chocolate milk, cheese and bread (that wasn't sweet).  Very good!!  Deseret Industries, also on site, is a big thrift store where anyone is able to go and buy what they might need.  Clothes are also sorted and packed ready to send to emergency areas of need.  There are trucks ready to go with supplies if an area of disaster occurs, for example, when cyclone Katrina hit Georgia, the church was one of the first on the scene with relief supplies.  We heard in General Conference that 750 tonnes of supplies were sent to Japan to aid the relief effort there.  It's very impressive and good to know what happens to the funds we regularly pay in. 

We went Prom dress shopping! And fortunately had success!   Sarah was determined to find something different, and is very happy with what she found.  So that was good shopping, and photo's will follow detailing the Prom in the next entry.  The Prom is this coming Saturday night, and both Sarah and Tom have dates, now this will be a very American experience for them!

After dress shopping, we met up with Pam & Ross in Provo and visited the Carl Boch exhibition at the BYU Museum of Art.  There were many paintings of his there, all original from Europe.  Many of them were enormous altar pieces, and all depicting the life of the Saviour.  Many of his art pieces are used by us today, with copies perhaps even hanging in our homes!  I really enjoyed seeing this wonderful exhibition.
Afterwards, Ross gave us a personal tour of BYU.  Both he and Pam went there, it was really wonderful to see this famous university first hand that I have heard of all my life.  There was a time, I dreamed of coming here. We were able to see also the Missionary Training Center (from the outside) and drove past the Provo Temple.  I imagined what it was all like when Jonathon was here a couple of months ago, but of course it looks completely different!  Thanks Ross, that was excellent!

Altar Piece: Healing at the pool at Bethesda (1883)

Rick, Pam & I climbed Ensign Peak.  Sarah unfortunately, was unwell for a few days, and spent time sleeping in the car or happy to just limit her activities.  But what a nice climb!  It didn't take to long, but once we reached the summit, we were afforded an amazing panoramic view of the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley.  There is history in this spot.  After two days of the pioneers entering the valley, Brigham Young and others climbed the peak and planned the layout of the future city, with extra wide streets, schools, businesses and of course the Temple, which in the end took 40 years to build made of granite carved and transported from the mountains.   The Temple is the centre point of the city, but is now surrounded by high rise city buildings.  From this Peak, Brigham Young waved a banner tied to a walking stick as an ensign to the world, to fulfill prophecy in Isaiah that Zion will be built on the mountain tops as an ensign to the nations and many nations will flow to it. (Paraphrased roughly!)  

Ensign Peak. Behind us is the city centre of Salt Lake, find the shiny roof of the Tabernacle and then you see the Temple!

Meanwhile, Tom was well looked after by  Michael Welch who took him snowboarding and shooting!!  He had a great time.  Tom and Sarah also went to the school dance on the Friday night.  They loved it, the gym was full of over 1000 students, mostly all LDS!!  Sarah was bemused by a school having dress standards for a dance!! (Nice..!)

Tom trying his skills at target shooting with Mike Welch

Rick & I were able to attend the Mt Timpanogas and Salt Lake Temples.  This was particularly good for me as the week before I was struggling emotionally.  I always feel a deep sadness when I think of Andrew and my family, but I am feeling more at peace now, and am so grateful for the peace and comfort, and answers to prayers that comes from attending the Temple.  We also took Tom & Sarah to the Salt Lake Temple, and all of us spent time in the baptistry.  The beauty and craftmanship of this Temple is simply stunning!  To see what the pioneers were able to build is amazing.  Original paintings and details still grace the whole building.  I love the history it tells.

We toured the Church History Museum which has some fascinating artifacts and historical paintings and pieces.  The woman who greeted us at the entrance must be given the quote of the week when she realised we came from Australia and said "YOU DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH GOOD!" (What the...?)

A dreary morning, but happy to have attended the Mt Timpanogas Temple with Rick.

We had a lovely time staying with the Welch's and thank them for their kindness and hospitality.  It was excellent to be able to reminisce a bit and renew our friendship.  We will see them again while we are here in the States.

On Friday, we had a game of miniature golf, good old putt-putt!  I am pleased to say that after a slow 

Self portrait - nice, Sarah!!

 start and a couple of appalling holes, I made a come back and won by one point!!  Well, as you can imagine, that was an upstart, so we played another round to make Rick & Tom happy, this time Tom won by a tiny margin and I came gracefully third!  The weather was beautiful, and that was really fun!! (winning, that is!!)

 On Friday, we also went and stayed with the Jensen's.  The Jensen's served a mission in Adelaide and were ready and waiting for us.  They sure spoilt us, and were so kind and generous.  As Sarah was not feeling well, she and Tom gave their tickets for the Saturday sessions of conference to the Jensen's who were very thrilled, and Tom caught up with Ben Crosley.  It's actually nice having a cousin here in the States!  They met us downtown in time to go to the evening Priesthood session.  Meanwhile, Sherry, Sarah and I went to Ladies Night at Deseret Book where they had authors book signing and prizes as well as discount on purchases!  That was fun but soo many people crushed in there, that we didn't stay long and went somewhere else cosy and had a bowl of soup.  The weather had turned cold and wintery again.  We had a lovely chat about all sorts of things.  The same thing that happened with Andrew happened to Sherry's son, it was really good to be able to talk about things with her.  I am constantly amazed at how people are placed in our lives when we need them most.

Sister Sherry Jensen, it was so nice to be 'mothered'

What can you say about General Conference?  It was an amazing experience being in the Conference Center with 20,000 other people listening to the Prophet, Apostles and other speakers.  We belong to a worldwide church of over 14 million, and to feel just a tiny part of that was wonderful.  We travelled in by train on Saturday, and drove on Sunday.  The train was full of people going to conference!! It snowed overnight, so the spring flowers were blanketed by heavy snow.  The branches on the trees were also adorned by snow, and everywhere looked amazingly beautiful..  We trekked a couple of blocks from our parking spot through the slippery ice to conference and in between sessions, we ate then lined up again to get back inside - it was cold!!  So many people, and such a pick-me-up.  I will always remember this experience of attending conference, especially standing as a whole congregation of 20,000 singing at the top of our voices "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning' and 'I Know That My Reedeemer Lives", what an incredibly moving experience! What a great priviledge, one I didn't ever think I would get to do.  I just loved it.  To view the sessions online, please visit http://www.lds.org/

                                Snow that looked like tiny polystyrene balls!

Tom & Sarah also caught up with Sevy, who also served in Adelaide.  They managed some bowling time, and Sarah after some tips from Sherry, mananged a few strikes!  Good Work Sez!
Sherry cooked us 'an authentic American Turkey dinner' as she discribed it, and also taught us 'Chicken Feet' a game variation of dominoes.  Good fun, thank you Sherry! 

Bro & Sis Jensen - thank you!

We drove back to Denver on Monday, which took about 9 hours.  I really enjoy driving through the Rockies, the scenery is ever changing, and with snow still about, it's very beautiful. We had a slow climb down the hills after the tunnels due to road works, so it was very nice to get 'home' again.

The past few days have been spent preparing for the Prom by Tom & Sarah, and with myself painting and painting.  I enjoy it so much and find much satisfaction in seeing a piece, work out pleasingly! Sadly, the last watercolour class was held this week until Fall, so Chuck can prepare for an exhibition, but I have learned alot from him and will keep on painting.  Bette took me out for lunch after art class and we had a really nice couple of hours 'visiting'.

Chuck demonstrating, while we observe very carefully!

South West Scene -  use of bold light & dark

Colorado Bear -  a lesson in fur!

Morning at Currumbin Beach (repainted).  I'm happy with this one!

School and routine has returned which is good too. The weather is warming up, and although there is still possibilities of spring snow, the bulbs are coming up. I have tulips, daffidols and other unidentified flowers popping up.  Hedges, grass and trees are turning green.  It's very nice to see green grass and colour again.. I must away now, to finish work on Sarah's Prom dress.

(movie to be added)